Scientific Duhthrough: Most gamers are not shy nerds

Dan Laton, a Psychology graduate from Victoria University, recently conducted a study on the effects of games on social well being. Gamers tend to be thought of as a group of socially awkward, shy nerds. The purpose of the study was to find out whether or not that stereotype is actually true.

His study had shown that there are no clear links between shyness and gaming, since only one percent of his subjects actually suffered from shyness. The gamers that have been found to have problems socially end up being the players of MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Everquest. These findings have some implications for the American Medical Association (AMA) which will be readdressing whether or not video game addiction as a mental disorder by…