You know gamers… They’re teenagers or young adults, slothful, lazy, without motivation and spend all of their time, well, gaming. They’re also typically unattractive, probably fat, and are pale from spending so much time indoors playing video games.
Well, if this is your idea of someone who plays video games, unfortunately your idea is pretty much completely wrong. Sorry.
So says new research just published from German researchers who examined 2,550 actual video game players.
A lot of video game players — practically all of them at one time or another — complain of the phenomenon of “losing time” while gaming. This should come as little surprise, however, as video games have become far more immersive, social, and intricate (both in plot and detailed graphics).
So what’s to account for this losing track of time while gaming or playing video games?
Psychologists to the rescue! New research (Lukavska, 2011) suggests it may be related to a theory called “time perspective.”