New study shows gaming more social than ever before

Video games are creating a rapidly growing, social community, a new global study sponsored by Dell and prepared by Researchscape shows.

From search collected from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, the term “gamer” is consider by 35% of respondents as “fun”, followed by 29% as “cool” and 26% as “excited”. Less than 1 in 10 of those surveys considered the term “gamer” as childish or embarrassing.

Of respondents, 27% have introduced three or four family members or friends to gaming, and 25% have introduced five or more people. Of those surveyed, 39% believe that gaming makes them a strategic thinker, 37% believe gaming encourages better hand-eye coordination, while 36% believe gaming has increased their reaction time.

Socially, 26% say they’ve made new friends through gaming, while 25% have become closer to existing friends through gaming. Perhaps unsurprisingly, teenage respondents are the most likely to make friends through video games, with 45% of those surveyed saying they’d done so over popular titles like Fortnite: Battle Royale.

You can take a look at an infographic of the Dell survey below.

Dell was also able to provide the following local statistics, chronicling responses from Australia and New Zealand.

• Gaming is friendly! Almost 30% of ANZ gamers have made new friends through gaming and almost a quarter (24%) have become closer to friends.
• ANZ gamers are not sore losers with less than a quarter (23%) stating losing an intense match is worse than receiving telemarketing calls, 21% saying a low battery, 20% traffic jams and 19% stubbing a toe or computer updates.
• ANZ gamers are loud and proud! When called “gamer”, 30% said they feel fun, 29% cool, a quarter feel competitive and 21% are proud.
• What will ANZ gamers give up to continue gaming? Seems sweets are the easiest to give up with almost a third willing to ignore their sweet tooth. Playing barefoot is not a problem with 21% willing to give up their shoes, while less than 20% are willing to give up social media and Netflix – caffeine must help fuel gamers on as only 20% are willing to give up the energy boost. ANZ gamers are less likely to give up social media when compared to the global gaming community (23%).
• Today’s ANZ gamers are more social with only 20% saying they would bail on holiday celebrations, 18% on a friend’s celebration and 17% on a family member’s birthday, in order to continue gaming.
• However, almost half (45%) are willing to forgo a good night’s sleep and 29% are happy to skip meals to keep the game alive.
• ANZ gamers believe that gaming is helping improve beneficial skills such as problem solving (43%), strategic thinking (42%), faster hand and eye coordination (40%), increased reaction time (35%), a competitive drive (32%) and teamwork skills (26%).
• Just over a quarter (26%) of ANZ gamers think they’re ‘pretty damn good’ when it comes to their skill level, while 44% aren’t at all concerned with their skill level, they’re just in it for the fun!
• ANZ gamers don’t just love games – almost two thirds are into music, 60% love spending time with their friends and 56% with their family. Gamers also love travelling (43%), reading and writing (42%), watching sports (39%) and working out (33%).
• What would get ANZ gamers out of their chair during an intense gaming session? Having to answer nature’s call is the most likely say more than half (53%). Having a prior appointment and needing to be somewhere was second (46%), must… go… to… sleep was a close third (45%) along with a hungry, grumbling stomach (45%).
• Mum, get off the computer! 13% of ANZ gamers have mothers who game and 2% have grandmothers!

What do you make of all those stats? You can read the full report here.