5 Destructive Stereotypes About Gamers That Need To Stop

3. Gamers Are Immature Teens/Children

This stereotype is so laughable it's amazing we haven't been able to harness the expelled mirth to create a new form of energy. I'm sure there are many of you reading this who have encountered your fair share of folk who refuse to see gamers as anything other than children with no direction in life. Alongside the whole gender divide, this is an equally ill-informed perspective that needs to be given the heave-ho. Not only is it incorrect (the average age of a gamer is around 35 - for comparison sake, I'm 30, and by all accounts, I'm still five years behind the average player), but the idea that only children play video games is a logical absurdity. Walk into Game. Seriously, walk into any high street game retailer or browse a website that specialises in games, and you'll notice a distinct pattern, especially when you browse the chart lists or popular titles. You'll notice many of them have an age restriction printed on the front of the box that disallows minors from purchasing them. As a man who used to work in retail that specialised in PC and console gaming, I can tell you how strict these conglomerates are about serving games to underage people. The short version is, it doesn't happen. Ever. They simply will not allow it, and if somehow one sale slips through the net and is found out, the repercussions for the seller are huge. "But parents can buy it for their children," I hear you cry between reading Daily Mail articles. While this is true, even more studies show that the vast majority of parents are vigilant about what their children actually do play. So even though the average age of a gamer is mid-30's, children that do play are under the watchful eye of responsible adults.