Octopus Overlords

New study proves it. So play away.

Granted it's from the ESA who has a stake in the continued popularity of gaming, but it seems accurate to me.

EDIT: Just don't tell anyone that their 11 hours/week for an "avid" gamer is a freaking joke. That's a light weekend.

Sorry, but I don't believe this one whit more than a study 'proving' that gamers are all maladjusted malcontents who would happily kill police officers for fun.

Follow the money, folks. I know my share of well-adjusted gamers, and I know more than my share of malcontents, too. What the hell is the point of categorizing 'gamers' as a group, especially for something as ethereal as their social well-being? If you're going to analyze, shut up and analyze how I spend money, or at the very least, which corporate cultures turn me off to buying games from said corporation, so maybe EA can stop bending their employees over their desks long enough to make a game I actually want, or Troika can bother to hire someone, ANYONE to do QA on a game they make. THAT would make the gaming industry stronger and better, not telling their consumers that 'hey, we like you, you're good people'.

This is why I grow ever sicker of these trade associations.

"Gamers are everywhere and they're everyone. They are your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and kids..."

So don't cross us, or we'll kill you.

We're watching.

Clanwolfer wrote: This is why I grow ever sicker of these trade associations.

The ESA is a PR firm basically. They aren't a trade union or a regulatory agency. They aren't a standards body.

Let the government enforce labor laws and let market forces favor quality.

And the ESA will have time to come out with studies promoting their members.

Clanwolfer wrote: This is why I grow ever sicker of these trade associations.

I'd agree, if it wasn't for the ugly fact that gamers need organizations like this these days to stand up for our side of the story when Lieberman or some other well-meaning moral cleansing activist starts trying to shut our hobby down.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Let the government enforce labor laws and let market forces favor quality.

Nobody has banned Ashlee Simpson yet, and she's still making enough to try the whole 'public career' thing. I think we've hit the critical mass of stupidity where market forces no longer work properly.

Besides, market forces in this case don't favor quality, they favor high margins. And as long as the market forces push companies thus, there will be companies that try to push the labor laws as far as they can, while simultaneously putting out fluff games that sell mass amounts of copies; if not EA, it will be whatever monolith starts buying up developers after them and commodofying games.

LawBeefaroni wrote: EDIT: Just don't tell anyone that their 11 hours/week for an "avid" gamer is a freaking joke. That's a light weekend.

OMG! If they consider 11 Hours as week as "Avid", we all must like teh mutant abominations.

~Head

Head wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote: EDIT: Just don't tell anyone that their 11 hours/week for an "avid" gamer is a freaking joke. That's a light weekend.

OMG! If they consider 11 Hours as week as "Avid", we all must like teh mutant abominations.

~Head

If your game of choice is solitaire - 11 hours/week would be pretty avid...

Like all studies referred to in print, you need a little more information...

Pyperkub wrote:If your game of choice is solitaire - 11 hours/week would be pretty avid...

That's scary because my mother probably plays 2-3 hours of solitaire, minesweeper and jewels (or whatever that game with the falling jewels is called) every night.
I always thought anyone who played twenty hours of "Free Cell" a week would be far more likely to go on a shotgun murder spree than someone who played a ton of GTA or Postal.

Kaigen wrote:

"Gamers are everywhere and they're everyone. They are your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and kids..."

So don't cross us, or we'll kill you.

We're watching.

Yeah.. I couldn't help but imagine that string of "friends, neighbors" etc.. moving into a line from Fight Club.

"We cook your food, we pump your gas, we protect you in your sleep. Do not **** with us"