Gamers Show Common Traits With Asperger
A joint study between the University of Bolton in the UK, and Whitman College in Washington State have found that the more addicted characteristics displayed by a gamer, the more likely they were to display “negative personality traits”. Highly addicted gamers showed increased incidence of neuroticism, lack of extraversion (social withdrawal), and lack of agreeableness.
Dr. John Charlton, who worked on the study at Bolton, explained the rationale and results by saying:
“The thinking in the field is that there is a scale along which people, even those considered to be ‘normal,’ can be placed upon. And that people such as engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists are nearer to the nonempathising, systemising end of the spectrum, with people with Asperger syndrome even further along again. Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming.”
To me, this study doesn’t link gaming and Asperger any more (or less) than any other developmental or psychiatric disorders that I could randomly pick out of a text book. Dare I say that this is head-bashingly obvious and rather stupid? You could say this about addicts to anything, whose need to satisfy their addiction interferes and negatively impacts their everyday, and particularly social lives. Of course they show lack of extraversion, they’re glued to a screen every waking moment, and their lack of socialization….do I even need to comment?
As a side note, I love how people are throwing around the “Autism” card simply because it’s more impactful and recognizable then stating exactly what the study said, which is that gamers exhibit characteristics similar to individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Although AS is one of many disorders in continuum of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), it ain’t autism folks. </minor science rant>
Via | GameSpot
Image Courtesy of SCEA Inc.
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