Research indicates we're not all a bunch of slithering fatbodies

Posted by Gary Hodges at 2:54 PM Sep 30, 2008

MSNBC posted a story the other day with some shocking implications: that maybe, just maybe, real life gamers don't precisely match the caricature of them drawn by the media. I know, I couldn't believe it either.

Gotta love the headline: "Video gamers are surprisingly fit, says study". (For the record, I would've found this article 95% less irritating if the headline just dropped the word surprisingly.) The research also indicates that women don't just play games, they actually seem to enjoy playing them. Next thing you know, some wacky study is going to say the same thing about women and sex - just you watch!

But don't worry, all's not lost: the study also points out gamers are significantly more likely to be depressed (+50%) or addicts (+20%). The researchers responsibly point out it's hard to know what that means (does gaming encourage such problems, or are people with such problems more drawn to gaming?), but rest assured whoever inherits Jack Thomspon's mantle will have a pretty strong opinion on which way the flow chart goes.

Other surprising findings from USC: blondes aren't necessarily dumb, not all brown people are lazy, and the link between tank tops and spousal abuse is tenuous at best.