Comments on: Myths Dispelled: Gamers Have Friends, Girls Like Grand Theft Auto

By: Jeremy (PsyBlog author)

Jeremy (PsyBlog author) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 15:53:00 +0000

Randy, thanks very much for that reference - looks like fascinating research. Some material for a future blog post I would have thought.

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:34:00 +0000

Love the reference to the journal article on online gamers. Along these same lines, I would recommend a review of some research done by PARC, Palo Alto Research Center, great article called: “Alone Together?” Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Online Games.

It describes the different demands in World of Warcraft using longitudinal data, depicting graphically how the level of players influences their social interaction online.

It's available online as well:
http://www.parc.com/research/publications/files/5599.pdf

By: Tehsha

Tehsha — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:46:00 +0000

I agree, multi-player games bring a lot of social behaviour - and in general, by their nature they tend to construct relations in real life as well.

But in my opinion, gamers tend to relate more to their game companions, rather than 'outside' persons. While this might not be so bad or uncommon (maybe it could be seen as a common hobby) - how much does this influence the sociability towards persons that are not players?

A good example are the massive multi-player games that are becoming more popular nowadays, do they promote a more social behaviour in the 'outside' world as well?

By: karl

karl — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:03:00 +0000

violence is just awesome

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 09:28:00 +0000

I consider myself a gamer, and i play all sorts of games. Granted its mostly violent games, but its not the violence that is so appealing, they are just more fast-paced than lets say adventure games.

By: OCD On A Stick

OCD On A Stick — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:35:00 +0000

I'm not sure if this information leaves me more disturbed or less disturbed. I love gaming, but I do not fancy the violent stuff.

I'm glad that young people are more sociable, but it sounds like their socializing is more or less violent in it's intent.

On the other hand, maybe that's not true at all. If a multi-player puzzle game were available and as attractive as Grand Theft Auto, maybe scads of young people would be socializing over Tetris as well.