Everquest 2 players more fit than average American

[Bateluer]

Cool

 

[pontifex]

does anyone believe anonymous internet surveys? I mean, based on surveys here, everyone is fit and muscular, was a millionaire by 20, makes several hundred thousand a year (if not more), drives fancy cars, and dates models.

 

[skace]

No I don't believe anonymous internet surveys, but it also wouldn't surprise me that gamers are fit. People want MMO players to be ugly and fat because it helps them steer clear of something they view as addictive or a waste of time. They don't want to find out these people are completely capable of having a social life, looking good, holding a job, staying in shape and playing MMO video games. That shit would blow their mind.

 

[coloumb]

If E3 and Pax are any indication [as well as myself and my son] - the survey holds true.

"I think a part of it is that the culture of video games is not necessarily a culture of consumption, whereas the culture of television clearly is".

That's very true.

When I'm gaming - I'm not thinking about snacking - I'm an active participant - it's twitched based so I'm more involved with what's going.

When I watch TV, I find myself wanting to snack because it's a passive form of entertainment with commercials that are targeted for you to buy or consume food.

 

[BudAshes]

Originally posted by: skace
No I don't believe anonymous internet surveys, but it also wouldn't surprise me that gamers are fit. People want MMO players to be ugly and fat because it helps them steer clear of something they view as addictive or a waste of time. They don't want to find out these people are completely capable of having a social life, looking good, holding a job, staying in shape and playing MMO video games. That shit would blow their mind.

I'd say most of the fat losers stick to WOW.

 

[TidusZ]

If you've got time to be working out or having a social life you obviously aren't farming enough or spending time researching encounters, and you're dragging down your guild. If you don't feel guilty about it, then maybe you should.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: skace
No I don't believe anonymous internet surveys, but it also wouldn't surprise me that gamers are fit. People want MMO players to be ugly and fat because it helps them steer clear of something they view as addictive or a waste of time. They don't want to find out these people are completely capable of having a social life, looking good, holding a job, staying in shape and playing MMO video games. That shit would blow their mind.

Have you seen pictures of MMORPG meetups? It's an orgy of goatees and denim. Nobody grossly obese, but everybody looking appropriately out of shape.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: skace
No I don't believe anonymous internet surveys, but it also wouldn't surprise me that gamers are fit. People want MMO players to be ugly and fat because it helps them steer clear of something they view as addictive or a waste of time. They don't want to find out these people are completely capable of having a social life, looking good, holding a job, staying in shape and playing MMO video games. That shit would blow their mind.

Have you seen pictures of MMORPG meetups? It's an orgy of goatees and denim. Nobody grossly obese, but everybody looking appropriately out of shape.

I've seen pictures of SOE's Fan Faire, don't recall seeing anybody grossly obese either. But I'd still place the people I saw above the average American.

Edit - The 'average' American these days is pretty large.

 

[flunky nassau]

Originally posted by: TidusZ
If you've got time to be working out or having a social life you obviously aren't farming enough or spending time researching encounters, and you're dragging down your guild. If you don't feel guilty about it, then maybe you should.

*funny post*

 

[CKent]

In the EQ & WoW guilds I've been in, most people who posted RL pics could have stood to lose some weight.

 

[Feneant2]

I think if you stay out of the harcore raiding guilds most gamers (not just in Eq2) are normal people. The fat stay at home virgin stereotype is long gone, you have families playing now to spend time together , friends keeping in touch over long distance etc...

I've seen some pictures of folks in Eq2 and very few were overweight. It's folks with careers, who want to stay in shape, who exercise, etc...

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: Feneant2
I think if you stay out of the harcore raiding guilds most gamers (not just in Eq2) are normal people. The fat stay at home virgin stereotype is long gone, you have families playing now to spend time together , friends keeping in touch over long distance etc...

I've seen some pictures of folks in Eq2 and very few were overweight. It's folks with careers, who want to stay in shape, who exercise, etc...

:roll: You're just telling yourself that because you wish it was true.

 

[Dumac]

Actually, the fat stay-at-home virgin stereotype was a new thing. Back in original EQ, all of my friends were married couples from around America. Most of them were normal sized and carried out regular lives outside of EQ.

I don't think it's really that easy to find people like this anymore..

Anyway, every old EQ convention I saw/went to just had hot chicks dressing up like the mascot High Elf.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: Dumac
Actually, the fat stay-at-home virgin stereotype was a new thing. Back in original EQ, all of my friends were married couples from around America. Most of them were normal sized and carried out regular lives outside of EQ.

I don't think it's really that easy to find people like this anymore..

Anyone, every old EQ convention I saw/went to just had hot chicks dressing up like the mascot High Elf.

That was 10 years ago. Before broadband was ubiquitous. Before MySpace and Youtube. Before smartphones and iPods. Before teachers started sending assignments through e-mail. When most people still had to disconnect their phone to be online.

You had to work for your Internet back then. Teenagers were still riding skateboards and playing hackysack and playing sports after school. With the Internet being always on and omnipresent, kids are gorwing up with it and WoW is basically just another Active-X plugin they load.

Back when I was a kid, being an outcast in school meant a) buckling down so you could start your own successful company and marry a trophy wife by the time your 10 year reunion rolled around or b) picking up a guitar, and losing the next 15 years of your life in a glitsy drunken orgy. Now it means numbing your feeling in a virtual world that turns you into a human hamster. And you know what happens to hamsters when you give them too much food.

 

[novasatori]

I'd think, if anything, there's more reefer smoking bums who play MMOs than greasy obese people.

That's what it seems like to me.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: skace
No I don't believe anonymous internet surveys, but it also wouldn't surprise me that gamers are fit. People want MMO players to be ugly and fat because it helps them steer clear of something they view as addictive or a waste of time. They don't want to find out these people are completely capable of having a social life, looking good, holding a job, staying in shape and playing MMO video games. That shit would blow their mind.

QFT.

 

[AlgaeEater]

Originally posted by: pontifex
does anyone believe anonymous internet surveys? I mean, based on surveys here, everyone is fit and muscular, was a millionaire by 20, makes several hundred thousand a year (if not more), drives fancy cars, and dates models.

I remember that. It was hilarious. It was like all the millionaires / successful people in the world were at Anandtech haha.

Good times.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
That was 10 years ago. Before broadband was ubiquitous. Before MySpace and Youtube. Before smartphones and iPods. Before teachers started sending assignments through e-mail. When most people still had to disconnect their phone to be online.

You had to work for your Internet back then. Teenagers were still riding skateboards and playing hackysack and playing sports after school. With the Internet being always on and omnipresent, kids are gorwing up with it and WoW is basically just another Active-X plugin they load.

Back when I was a kid, being an outcast in school meant a) buckling down so you could start your own successful company and marry a trophy wife by the time your 10 year reunion rolled around or b) picking up a guitar, and losing the next 15 years of your life in a glitsy drunken orgy. Now it means numbing your feeling in a virtual world that turns you into a human hamster. And you know what happens to hamsters when you give them too much food.

My cousin is 13 and she plays WOW, been playing for a few years now even. She isn't fat, hideous or greasy. She's incredibly intelligent and active, she also has an amazingly positive outlook on life. I think you need a reality check.

EQ did have a lot of people in it that were sick in some way. You know the whole 'hiding from reality' deal, which usually gets a negative spin, but can be very positive at times too. I met people with serious diseases, the kind where you might only have a year left. And people who were paralyzed from the legs down, etc. These aren't the kinds of people you see at the meet ups, however they were out there, finding happiness in their life. There was one person on our server who got progressively worse until she could barely even play, but she'd log on just to make jewelry for people.

However, I'd also say you will never see pictures of the best looking MMO players from fan faires, you just won't get normal people going to those things. It takes a bit of an eccentric to go to some of that shit.

The WOW Faces site, however, made it abundantly clear that there were plenty of normal looking people on any given server.

 

[TidusZ]

Originally posted by: TidusZ
If you've got time to be working out or having a social life you obviously aren't farming enough or spending time researching encounters, and you're dragging down your guild. If you don't feel guilty about it, then maybe you should.

On a more serious note, personally I played WoW in a hardcore guild (overrated) and during my playing time I got in worse shape, gained weight, lost muscle. I lost motivation to go to the gym and my diet consisted of very quickly heating up pizza pockets during raid breaks and the like. After quitting I got back into regular exercise and better eating. I'm definitely in better shape and health both before and after playing WoW than when I was playing.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: TidusZ
If you've got time to be working out or having a social life you obviously aren't farming enough or spending time researching encounters, and you're dragging down your guild. If you don't feel guilty about it, then maybe you should.

I guess that is where the higher rate of depression, mental health issues and substance abuse comes into play in this so called survey.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: TidusZ
On a more serious note, personally I played WoW in a hardcore guild (overrated) and during my playing time I got in worse shape, gained weight, lost muscle. I lost motivation to go to the gym and my diet consisted of very quickly heating up pizza pockets during raid breaks and the like. After quitting I got back into regular exercise and better eating. I'm definitely in better shape and health both before and after playing WoW than when I was playing.

I usually lose muscle playing MMOs in hardcore guilds, but I usually lose fat also. Like I suffer from a wasting disease.

However, my problem in MMOs has always been the west coast punks, they keep east coasters up longer than we should be, until I'm suffering from insomnia.

Edit: But I was able to see 100% of WOW in under 3 months (pre-expansions) right when it came out due to a hardcore guild. Did everything there was to do and then stopped playing, which felt amazingly productive for an MMO. Join a hardcore guild, see it all, no regrets about quitting. Plus, the time felt effective since we were always progressing as opposed to just spinning our wheels or some shit.

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: skace
She isn't fat, hideous or greasy.

That's your opinion..

She's incredibly intelligent and active, she also has an amazingly positive outlook on life. I think you need a reality check.

The exception doesn't make the rule.

 

[skace]

Yea but you aren't proving it's an exception, you're just saying that in the face of a complete lack of evidence.

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: skace
Yea but you aren't proving it's an exception, you're just saying that in the face of a complete lack of evidence.

I don't have to prove that it's an exception. You offered a single example, and then based an entire generalization upon it. Therefore, your evidence is far from compelling. I was simply offering a suggestion that your cousin is an exception rather than the norm. It was merely a suggestion, rather than a claim by my part.

I, on the other hand, offered no generalization about the current MMO population except for the simple statement that it has evolved beyond the MMO population of 10 years ago. I didn't say how or which direction it evolved, just that it has changed.

Arguing about the MMO population is pointless, and it is a fluid population bound to change from year to year, and even month to month. There is no concrete way to survey this population either, as voluntary polls are far from decisive.

On a sidenote, the only person examples of MMO players I now have are all teenagers. Based on these limited examples, I would assume that the MMO population has changed to consist mostly of young adult. However, I don't know if this is true or not...

 

[Elcs]

I work for a professional company, ok fitness, ok weight and walked into GAME in business attire (suit) to pick up Age of Conan on the day of its release.

Yes, if i was in control of picking out which new product would be a success then obviously I would have failed but despite being quite hooked on AoC for the first two months, I was fitter when I stopped playing than when I started.

Quite often, watching TV is one dimensional and is not a participation sport. Playing a computer game is interactive and makes your brain work. I feel much less compelled to eat when gaming or even internet browsing to eat than when watching TV, mainly because of the interaction part.