Are gamers smarter?

[Zander]

Right. You want us to tell you if gamers have more of a thing, without having a handle on what the thing is?

The trouble is that would have resulted in a discussion of what intelligence is rather than whether gamers are more gifted with it. If a definition is required, how about "the mental ability to learn and understand things" (Oxford English Dictionary)?

Edit: My question above is rhetorical. Please use that definition.

 

[Dimwhit]

Well, we're all geeks, right? (Though some may be unwilling to admit it ) Are geeks generally smarter? On average, perhaps. But where you find a large group of people, you'll always find some dips.

Yours truly,

Dimwhit
a dip

 

[The Sigil]

To go back to the original question...

Yes, I believe gamers are above average in intelligence.

BUT I believe "average intelligence" today is sickeningly low compared to "average intelligence" twenty years ago... when most of the gamers got their start.

In other words, I believe you're pulling an anachronistic sample when you study gamers.

To me, and I don't want to sound all "high and mighty" here, but I'll say it anyway... the "average person" of today is a blithering idiot... as evidenced by the success of such shows as "American Idol" and "Survivor" and other such drivel.

I recall fondly a conversation I had with a classmate after class in college once...

CLASSMATE: "You know what bothers me?"
ME: "What's that?"
C: "Here we are, at the University of California Irvine. In theory, the UC System admits the top 4% of students in the state, right?"
M: "In theory..."
C: "And we just walked out of an honors class which in theory comprises the top 1% of those students, right?"
M: "Right... in theory..."
C: "So we just walked out of a class of the best and brightest 0.04% of the minds in the entire state, right?"
M: "Again, in theory..."
C: "Does it bother YOU to see how MIND-NUMBINGLY STUPID most of our classmates are?"
M: "So, in other words, you're saying there's not much hope for the other 99.96%, huh?"
C: "Bingo."

The sad thing was, it was true. There were students in that honors class that - I am not making this up - could barely READ (and not because English was their second language, either).

The world is absolutely full of stupid people. And odds are, you and I both are some of them.

--The Sigil

 

[LGodamus]

I think being around all these mentally gifted gamers are giving you a disproportionate view of average intelligence...you must remember the greatest fraction of people are incredibly stupid.......did I mention, most people are dumb?.....

 

[Wormwood]

In my experience, gamers are just like everybody else.

Often depressingly so.

I am no exception.

 

[Wormwood]

Well, we're all geeks, right? (Though some may be unwilling to admit it ) Are geeks generally smarter? On average, perhaps.

Geeks are just folks who spend entirely too much time on a hobby. There are sports geeks, lanyard hook geeks, cat fancier geeks, SCA geeks, computer geeks and gamer geeks---to name only a very few.

We geeks are notorious for fooling ourselves into thinking that our obsessive, encyclopdedic knowledge within our chosen focus somehow translates into general intellectual power.

Sadly, that is rarely the case.

 

[barsoomcore]

What's all this moaning and groaning about how stupid people are?

Pshaw.

Plenty of people, gamers or not, indeed, I would say MOST of the people I know, are clever, insightful people well worth spending time with, who make the world around them a better place.

Truly stupid people exist, but I find them to be by far the exception.

Pollyanna? Me?

 

[The Sigil]

Truly stupid people exist, but I find them to be by far the exception.

Pollyanna? Me?

Look, half the people in this world are below average intelligence. That's the realist in me.

The pessimist in me says that Southern California has a larger density of that population, as evidenced by what I see every day, though. I don't expect much in terms of intelligence... I expect kids playing in the street to actually move when a car is coming... I expect people who work at the local restaurant to not look at me like I've arrived from another planet when I announce that I only want an ice water to drink... I expect people on the road not to attempt to turn right from the far left lane... and to go at speeds greater than 10 miles per hour when driving... I expect that when someone calls my home by mistake and asks for "Charles" and I say "I'm sorry, you must have a wrong number, there's no 'Charles' here," they won't try to convince me for 10 minutes that they did indeed dial the right number, I'm just clearly in the wrong house.

I see far more evidence around me that most people around where I live are below average than above average.

--The Sigil

 

[barsoomcore]

Look, half the people in this world are below average intelligence.

Sure, but that's only a cause for whingeing if below average is somehow unsuitable.

Maybe I just set my satisfaction bar lower than most.

I see far more evidence around me that most people around where I live are below average than above average.

Well, of course you do. You always find whatever you're looking for.

I stated something like this in BardStephenFox's thread on excuses for not entering Ceramic DM -- if you want to find reasons to complain, you'll never have any trouble. You'll never accomplish anything, but you'll never have any trouble.

You always find whatever you're looking for. Keep looking for stupid people, and you'll just keep on finding them.

Not meaning to sound super moralistic, honest. But the world only becomes a better place if we look for what's good and try to nurture it.

Now I'll take my pratfall into a Boston cream pie and let you yahoos yuck it up.

 

[KingOfChaos]

I don't know if gamers are more intelligent, but they're definately more creative than most non-gamers.