The Most Common Misconceptions About Gamers

Despite how far the industry has come how different the world is now compared to when video games were first introduced, there are still holdouts who hold some strange beliefs about people who love video games. Older gamers are used to the stereotyping and some of these ideas have been around for decades, but that doesn’t make them true. The average gamer nowadays is a far cry from what people used to think gamers looked like.

We hope that we can debunk some of the most common misconceptions about gamers so that we can all come to a place of mutual understanding. Gamers are no different than non-gamers, and some of the stereotypes about them can be downright harmful to people when used incorrectly. Here are some of the more widespread ideas about gamers that don’t really have a basis in reality.

“Video games make people violent.”

Unfortunately, we have to start with this misconception because it’s an actively harmful one that some people still hold to this day. No, violent video games do not make people more violent in real life. Violent video games are no different than watching a violent or gory movie. Multiple peer-reviewed studies over years of research prove that playing violent video has little to no bearing on someone being violent in real life. This was a hot-button topic for a long time, certainly when video games started to become more widespread. This may be a misconception that will take a while to go away, but the evidence shows there’s no real correlation.

“Gamers are all men.”

The idea of video games as a boy’s club is quite an outdated one, and one that makes the hobby less inviting towards gamers who aren’t men. Originally, marketers would focus their advertising efforts on young boys more than girls. This, combined with early video games having many more male characters than female ones, made the hobby of video games seem like it was only for men. Nowadays, you can find all genders in most gaming spaces. While the demographics of those who play still lean more towards males, the scale has evened out over the years.

“All gamers take video games extremely seriously.”

There’s an image that a lot of people have of gamers sitting in dark rooms staring at a screen for hours upon on hours at a time, to the detriment of everything else around them. In reality, only a small subset of gamers take their gameplay so seriously. For the most part, gamers play video games in smaller sessions, and the number of casual gamers has skyrocketed in recent years. And most importantly, not everyone who plays video games considers them to be the center of their existence.

“Gamers aren’t well-adjusted socially.”

Another holdout from a different era is the idea that gamers are socially isolated and tend to stick to themselves. One only needs to look at the games being released to see how that image isn’t accurate. Multiplayer games have been on the rise for years, with many people only playing games when they can share them with their friends. Some of the most popular games in the world are completely multiplayer experiences and require cooperation and communication with other gamers. There isn’t really room for the idea that gamers are all loners anymore—it just doesn’t hold any grain of truth when you examine the video game landscape.

“If you play games, you must know everything about technology.”

While not necessarily the most harmful stereotype, one of the most common misconceptions about gamers is that they are all experts in technology of all kinds. This idea most likely comes from PC gamers and their desire to upgrade their computers for a better playing experience. In truth, gamers come from all sorts of backgrounds. Buying a video game console and putting a disc into it doesn’t mean that we know how to fix your computer, write lines of code, or execute any programming languages. Playing video games can certainly spark an interest in these things, but many people use video games as a leisure activity and don’t go much deeper into it other than that.

“Only people that never grew up play video games.”

A strange bit of double standards that video games have to deal with is that people think that video games are too violent, yet video games are also something designed only for little children. It doesn’t really make sense when you think about it. There are plenty of video games that children shouldn’t play because of the subject matter or content within it. So, how do video games also have a reputation as something only children do? The average age of someone who plays video games regularly is much older than it was back when they were first created. People all over the age spectrum play video games now; they aren’t just for children anymore.

“Gamers waste tons of money on video games.”

There are two problems with this idea. The first is that most people who play video games don’t buy every single one that comes out. Because consoles and PCs have relatively high price points when you compare them to other hobbies’ supplies, people assume that gamers spend inordinate amounts of money to indulge in their pastime. Just as with any hobby, there are people who will pay for the best experience possible, and there are those who spend more casually.

“Gamers don’t take care of themselves.”

The rather insulting stereotype of gamers as unclean and out of shape is one that somehow still survives to this day. Just because someone plays video games doesn’t mean that they don’t take care of themselves. There are plenty of sources that try to reinforce this stereotype, but it just isn’t true anymore. Gamers come in all shapes and sizes. The fact that gaming is a mostly sedentary hobby gives the false idea that if you play video games, you never want to move your body. We’ve long since moved past this, and only people who have never met a gamer in real life still believe this to be true.

The reason we made this list is to show that people who love video games aren’t any different from anyone else who has a passion for something they love. We make our prescription gaming glasses for gamers because we’re passionate about video games and the people who play them.