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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 1212361" data-attributes="member: 7240">I would put the question this way: do players of amateur sport have above average athletic abilities? do amateur musicians have above-average musical talent? No doubt some people in amateur sports leagues have below average talent in athletics; similarly, no doubt, some amateur musicians (and I'm sure we all can remember a few individuals of this ilk) have below average musical talent. Similarly, I am sure that many gamers have below average literacy and numeracy skills.However, it does seem to me that enjoying a passtime and being good at the skills associated with it are not wholly disconnected. While we can find many individual amateur musicians of below average musical talent, it seems quite a stretch to me for people to argue that having some innate musical ability has no statistical relationship whatsoever to wanting to spend one's time playing music. While not being a necessary condition for attraction to a hobby, having an above average proficiency with the skills associated with the hobby does seem to be one of the factors that would attract people to said hobby. It seems to me that some people attracted to a hobby are going to be attracted to it because they have some degree of innate talent with the skills set associated with the hobby. So, to argue that gamers have identical literacy and numeracy skills, on average, to the population at large is essentially the same as arguing that proficiency at a hobby is never a factor in whether someone chooses to take it up. Even if only 20% of gamers are attracted to gaming, in part, because of their proficiency with the literacy and numeracy skills required to practice it, this is sufficient to make the argument that, on average, gamers are more literate and numerate than the population on average.Furthermore, even if you try to make the case that proficiency at a hobby has nothing whatsoever to do with people's attraction to the hobby, you must contend with another problem: in order to play D&D, a minimum set of literacy and numeracy skills is required. While most people have the minimum necessary skills, a minority do not. That minority is automatically disqualified from gaming. So, supposing that you need to be in the top 90% of the population in terms of literacy and numeracy in order to become a gamer, the barriers to entry will guarantee that those involved in the hobby are more literate and numerate than the population as a whole.Now, if people want to dispute the idea that above average literacy and numeracy constitutes above average intelligence, fine. All I am arguing is that, based on the D20 rules' definition of the attribute "intelligence," it is impossible to argue that gamers are not smarter than average.</blockquote>

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