Gamers – why the stereotypes no longer apply

The past six years have seen the gaming industry changing at an exponential rate, with a literal and figurative corresponding change to the face of gaming.

Gaming was once the domain of a small handful of companies servicing a niche audience largely composed of teenage males, but by 2016 the market was worth in excess of $30bn.

The explosion in popularity of PC gaming has resulted in many new software and hardware competitors entering the marketplace, creating new challenges and innovation in addition to helping to reduce costs, which has, in turn, enticed more newcomers into the world of gaming.

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If gaming has changed, so too has the perception of gamers themselves. The gamer of today is not a stereotyped teenage nerd playing all alone in the basement. In fact, gamers are more likely to be married coworkers with kids of their own, spouses, friends, brothers and sisters. The days when being known as a “gamer” was a derogatory slur are well and truly over in 2020.

Where once the assumption was that a gamer was a lazy youth who was wasting their time on an unproductive and useless hobby, this opinion has gradually begun to change as gaming becomes more and more mainstream.

In the age of the coronavirus pandemic, video gaming has become an ever more accepted method of fostering social connections.

Most of the really popular games in the world are actually very social and require a good deal of cooperation and teamwork, and there are just as many female gamers as there are males.

Gaming has not only made it easier to keep in touch with family and friends during lockdowns, and in a less formal fashion than making Skype calls, but has also helped to foster the creation of friendships between people on opposite sides of the world.

Video games can also serve as a useful distraction from the stresses of the real world, particularly given the times we live in.

There are even some video games that have been specifically designed to promote wellness activities such as the likes of self-care and breathing.

The gaming community has grown exponentially in diversity, inclusiveness and size, fueled by PC gaming rig innovations and the rise in popularity of e-sports.

Gamers are never backwards about coming forwards with their enthusiasm for their hobby either, often introducing friends and family members to the gaming world.

There are many different reasons why people become gamers.

Relaxing, relieving stress or just passing the time are all common reasons, and some of the top players have even been able to make a very good living out of it.

Gaming has become a community that accepts anyone who is interested in the hobby, and for the most part players are interested in the skill level of other gamers that they are matched with, with little interest in their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender or political views.

The stereotype about gamers being recluses who have no life outside of their hobby has also been well and truly squashed in recent years. Most gamers have busy lives and spend time with family and friends and have other hobbies and interests such travelling, reading, writing and listening to music.

Some stereotypes have even changed as recently as this year. Just two years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) was classifying “gaming disorders” as a form of addictive behavior.

However, in 2020, WHO went so far as to create a hashtag Twitter campaign called #PlayApartTogether that encouraged online socialization for youth in order to help stop the spread of the coronavirus by interacting in person.

The negative stereotypes have also decreased alongside a greater understanding of the positive benefits that gaming can bring, such as honing useful skills.

Research and the anecdotal evidence of gamers themselves suggest that gaming results in an increase in skills in strategic thinking, reaction time and hand to eye coordination.

Research has even suggested a correlation between teenagers who are avid gamers and those who scored better than average results in reading, science and math exams.

Advanced gamers are also more likely to have better technological skills than those who do not game at all.