14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday I was so happy psychologists finally started to understand that video games are not the root to all evil in this world, but it seems I couldn't have been more wrong, since the published results of a new study claim that people who are addicted to playing games show the same personality traits as people with Aspergers syndrome - a variety of high functioning autism. And I really don't know what you think about this, but I am completely tired of these 2-hour long studies that claim to have found the golden rule of thumb. Let's be honest, these are nothing but outrageous results that have nothing to do with real life! And I am actually afraid of the day when a bunch of "scientists" claim that every gamer should be killed (I really doubt they are far from saying that!).
Now, back to the study. Dr John Charlton of the University of Bolton and Ian Danforth of Whitman College questioned 391 computer game players different things and they claim to have found out that the closer the players got to addiction, the more likely they were to display negative personality traits. Also, players were increasingly characterized by three personality traits that would normally be associated with Aspergers, of several autism spectrum disorders (neuroticism, lack of extroversion and agreeableness, if you are really interested in what your biggest problems are now!).
Dr Charlton said: "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."
It's just like saying that people who hold a knife in their hand, at home, are closer to stabbing somebody than people who have no knife in their hand or anything like that. However, this kind of studies really shock me and I just wonder when these things will stop. Gamers are not autists, nor violent people who only want to cut somebody with a chainsaw - we are just normal people like everybody else. So, please, let us be!