Meet Dave S., Uber Gamer

Are Gamers Really 'Geeks'? Is Gaming a Modern Addiction?

Question 4: Internet MMO gamers have a negative reputation in some circles...they are called "geeks" and "nerds" by many people who don't know gaming. And others will say that only adolescents play MMO games. Is this a fair assessment? Are all MMO gamers geeks and nerds?

Gamer Dave S.: If you go back far enough, a geek was pretty much anyone that could operate a PC and knew what Ultima Online was. These days it's getting harder to distinguish the nerds from everyone else, as the entire computer and video game industry has become a great deal more mainstream. Either non-geeks are playing, or there are more geeks out there than anyone imagined.

Depending on how you define "geek," they may already be the majority! While there are a lot of adolescents that play, according to the ESA the average video gamer is 33 years old and has been playing games for 12 years. I've come across players of all ages in these games, including seniors, couples, and even entire families.

Question 5: Tell us about the psyche of being an MMO gamer. Is there one kind of person that is ideally suited for MMO gaming? Is an online gamer's brain different in any special way? Are you more addictive than the general public?

Gamer Dave S.: It's worth noting that there are a large variety of MMOGs that appeal to different people for different reasons. Roleplaying games like WoW specialize in giving you a persistent, highly customizable character that gets better equipped as you advance through the game. Subsequently they have a strong appeal to people with rewards-driven natures. Almost everyone plays games of some kind, however, so I doubt there is anything particularly unusual about the brains of video gamers.

I'd say the fact that online games are available at home 24/7 makes it difficult for some people to limit their intake. "Addictive" has become a pretty loaded term in recent years, applied to everything from gambling to shopping to heroin, which doesn't make much sense to me. I really don't know whether I'm prone to addiction or not, but I'm often too busy to touch a game for days and I don't start to shake or go into convulsions - perhaps Age of Conan will change all that.

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