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[SALT] Age in the Playerbase

Sir ArmaMalum··6 votes·858 views

Hello and welcome to the continuation of my series of Sir ArmaMalum's Let's Talk. If this is your first time, welcome! The idea here is for me to present and outline a certain topic, complete with my own bit at the end, for the sole intent of talking about it. Whether it be with me or another replier. I tend to stick to out of game subjects like ethics, behavior and other such things but that doesn't mean I'm avoiding things like gameplay and balance, feel free to ask for that next time!

#####BTW, you can vote on the next post's topic in the poll below.

Quick Guidelines on replies:

  • Be constructive
  • Ask questions!
  • Talk!

http://i.imgur.com/kvyyBNu.png Age in the Playerbase

Quick! How old was your last random player?

If you're like most people, myself included, you probably didn't think about it too much. Maybe not at all. Of course, now that I mentioned it, you're probably making a few guesses. Let me take a guess myself: around your age, possibly younger?

How many players did you run into that you could see being older than you? Probably not much. I'll get to why that is a little later.

Anyway, back on this section, League is the largest MMO game when it comes to a regular active playerbase. Not only is it massive geographically, but it's also done another amazing, lesser seen thing. It's broken the normal social stigma that most MMO's carry. Whether it's because of it's pro-scene, competitive nature, high streamer presence, free-to-play nature or simple massive numbers it's very hard to find a reason to dismiss LoL. As such, there are a lot of different people with varying tolerances and upraising that enjoy the game just as much as everyone else. Nowhere is this more apparent than if the age difference between players is big enough, because an older person will have a much different reaction to things like stress, criticism, and even jokes than a much younger player. I won't bring out the 'maturity' card, because I've seen immature adults an mature kids, but either way age can play a very large but unnoticed role in how interactions between players unfold.

For example, what happens if a forty year old starts getting talked down to by a 11 year old? That brings us to the next section....

http://i.imgur.com/21Tl23L.jpg?1 Perception of Age

The perception of age is simply not how old you actually are, but how old someone else sees you. In this case how you see random people, and how random people see you. The driving force behind the perception of random individuals is a trait called generalization, meaning the experience and characteristics of what you feel has been the majority of your experiences with something you will then subconsciously assign to everyone in that area until shown otherwise. Look at the data in the next section to see what I mean.

####Why does this matter?

Well, quite simply, there's not a lot of small talk in League chat. So there aren't many opportunities to shed a generalized perception of someone. And if the difference between the person and your generalized view is large enough, it can create very real mis-interpretations and problems. Especially in a high stress environment like a ranked game.

For example, the aforementioned 11 year old talks about how their top lane "Is feeding like a scrub. Look at this kid.", naturally the 40 year old won't take this well. If the older player is particularly vulgar, they may leave that 11 year old in a daze that he/she really shouldn't be exposed to. What happened here? What if the same situation happened when both players were instead the same age?

While this is an assumption and should be treated as such, the 11-year old was likely not thinking about how the person in top was as an actually person (This is called dehumanization, and a new possible topic for later), but as a username. Therefore he will normally fall back onto his generalized view of a random player and talk to them like he would with his friends or even himself, which in this case is not a good idea. And that's the issue, not even age itself, but the perception of age.

Just to prove a point, reply in a comment below with a guess of MY age, I'll post later telling you exactly when I was born, but for now let's see where the average League forum browser puts their perception of my age shall we?
(Hint: I am between 15 and 35 years old)

http://i.imgur.com/AufmQWZ.png An Age 'Barrier'

Unlike the summoner spell of the same name, this barrier is on at all times, but is only seen a few times. Honestly, it actually rarely comes up in a game, as the singular experience of the game itself usually gives a nice anchor point to bridge the gap in ages. So in this section I'm going to actually talk about the forums, because this where it can be seen better.

I could give you a book’s worth of discussion on different generations having different reactions to the same issues and topics based on the events and environment of their upbringing, but I already type a lot, so let’s just agree a 30 some year old will approach a problem or topic from a different venue than a teenager. Not to mention someone who is older will have access to more experience and base-line knowledge than the one they are conversing with. Sometimes, this can be a good thing, because just because someone is 13 doesn’t mean they won’t have a good point on a subject. But it will naturally put the younger user at a disadvantage, and one both parties may not be aware of. This difference in experience and values can easily create discrepancies between things as simple as the use of a word to things as nuanced as mutual respect.

Essentially, a large enough age difference can actually impede proper communication and relaying of ideas, and this impediment can be mis-interpreted very easily, because you don’t know it’s there!

http://i.imgur.com/zYyEeRh.gif?1

######That is literally my first home-made gif, and yes I know, it's awful. But I'm working on it! XD

So just in case you missed both posts, I went around both in GD and the CB and even Leddit to get demographic data myself because I wasn't able to find specific data on the League playerbase that had already been recorded. If you would like to see other sources of more official organizations you can look in my preparation post.

Please keep in mind the sources of both of these surveys, they both are more accurate representations of League forum goers and Leddit users respectively, and can only be used as an inaccurate and bias representation of the League playerbase, but it was all I could get so...meh.

The average actual player probably falls under a higher age based off of the trends of the video game industry as a whole, and Riot's latest public release of data gave a broad range of 16-30 years old for 80% of players.

http://i.imgur.com/rulN4pc.png?1

Raw Data

Forums: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/180cvSbXj4RDyb5QdmZFzU6O3QUphCy3GdtAjM_YKVpk/viewanalytics?usp=form_confirm

Leddit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Hx4W701GWDy4yfYoGErdBJpG9yX3Pnl6HPf5H6sXFmQ/viewanalytics?usp=form_confirm

######These are still partially ongoing so they may have a small bits of inconsistency.

http://i.imgur.com/WmgxVcp.png The Question(s)

So, did the results surprise you? If so, what age did you think was the average forum poster before?

  • What age do you think your normal random league player is?

  • Will this discussion change your outlook? Why or why not?

  • What other problems can you think of that could be created by age differences?

  • What instances, looking back, can you think of where age discrepancies may have played a part?

  • Only if you feel comfortable of course, shout out your own age! And then shout out how long you’ve been playing League, because, come on, that’s the only age we really care about amiright?

  • Talk! Seriously, this can be a huge topic if we get this going, ask me questions, ask other people questions, point out mistakes in my argument (I’m not perfect guys :P) and why they are so. Shout out your own opinion on the matter, ESPECIALLY if it differs from my own!

http://i.imgur.com/3GGZn7r.png My $0.02

I honestly don’t have too much to add on a personal level. I was actually surprised at the amount of 11-15 year olds on the forums, and also a tiny bit worried on that regard (mainly with the 11-13 year olds) but hey that’s not my problem so I’m not going to judge. I usually don’t think about someones age when I play with them or talk with them, I just focus on trying to communicate with them the best I can, and I;ve found (through trial and error) that treating everyone with as much respect as possible and trying my absolute best to keep a level and neutral tone can be the best catalyst for relaying ideas and opinions. Of course, I’m only human so I;ve broken that from time to time. There have been times when I beleive I’m talking with someone much younger than myself in which case I don’t get smug or uppity, I try my best to be instructional. Yes, I default to a teacher, as lame as that sounds :P

Overall your age doesn’t change much, and I’ll still listen to you no matter what, but my main concern with this entry was the awareness some people may not have, ala perception of age.

And don’t foget, try to guess my age in a reply below!

###Previous: Casual vs. Serious, Where and When?

###Next: Dehumanization of the Playerbase

###All Topics

#####Don't forget! You can visit my All Topics post above and suggest as many topics as you'd like, if I think I can do it justice I'll happily put it up in the next poll!

33 Comments

Caoil3 votes

I like to think I can accurately (within 3 years) guess a players age in-game simply by the way they play and their participation in chat. Younger gamers (11-13) tend to play more egocentrically, and that is why the younger players make up a large portion of low bronze. Obviously there are some younger players who play amazingly well, and there are also older players who play completely egocentrically. Ive also found through playing tournaments and watching tournament streams that older players participate less in the chat. I think it would be interesting for you to do a SALT on egocentric vs. allocentric (self vs. team focused) playstyle and the age and rank of the players in that playstyle. It would be tough to do a self-reported study though because people cant accurately categorize themselves that way.

As for your age, I`d guess 22-23 and in college/university. I'm 21 and study neuroscience, so I really like some of the psychology and number crunching behind your SALTs. :)

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

I have taken a whopping total of one psych class, an intro course, and while I thought it was immensely interesting I got a C-, lol. So I'm actually kind of surprised to be complemented by someone at least partially in the field rather than being corrected, although I do my best to make sure I'm not using terms incorrectly and remaining accurate.

Egocentric vs. allocentric is a very good topic, I'll be sure to tack that one in, but I'll probably not be able to put too many numbers behind it except for direct replies and (as you so beautifully mentioned elsewhere) through interviews. Nonethless though, team vs. individual priority and the sub-topics stemming from it (like champion design focus and influence on lane / ELO level among many others) is a great subject to breach!

MackleDoge1 votes

I'm guessing you're 22.

Honestly, this topic for me is mainly just an interesting small talk point, kind of like the weather or how bad the neighborhood mail man is. The data is pretty interesting, I can't say I'm particularly pleased with the amount of children under 16 playing the game and on the forums. I recognize that its a generalization and those are generally unfair but I have a hard time believing (due to my experiences going through that age gap and in games online over 10 years) that the players within that age group are particularly respectful or have enough general life knowledge and experience to appropriately balance their time on this game with the importance of their responsibilities in real life. I think we can all acknowledge that such a statement isn't accurate for all the players within that age group, but I don't think anyone can say that they haven't had a game with someone that speaks or behaves in such a manner that you immediately think of a petulant child throwing a tantrum. And don't even get me started with some of the flat out ridiculous and nigh on unbelievable posts or comments that telegraph "I'm a little kid that has no idea what I'm talking about or what any of these words mean". See that far too often.

Overall though, I think that having a few age demographics is good for community health because it provides varying perspectives and that allows for learning, albeit in different aspects, for each of the age demographics.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

Yeah, the annoying part is that even though it is a very interesting topic, there's not much to actually do with it. Part of that is also the lack of confident data, which could have probably been handled better on my end, but hey, I'm a Materials Science Engineering student not a Market Analyst :P

For the sake of discussion, what would you find more likely, a player throwing a 'tantrum' being actually quite young, or an adult who has been socialized into that kind of behavior?

MackleDoge1 votes

I find it more likely that the person throwing the tantrum or behaving poorly is young and acting just as immature as their age would indicate. To me the difference between a young person's immaturity and an older person raging is pretty obvious, I can read through it based off the way it goes in chat and how it develops. I find that the tantrum side of thing is overwhelmingly based off of immaturity and childish antics than it is from raging.

Angry Monster2 votes

I am noticing that we share a trend, We tend to get down voted for sharing our (honest) thoughts. I can not add on to your post about the female gamers(max response BS) but i share your general feelings on the topic.

So what is your response to always getting down voted? I persoanlly take it as ignorance and people wanting to bury contrary thoughts. Do you think they are trying to stifle opposing opinions?

MackleDoge1 votes

Yea I've noticed that too. Not a big deal to me, I'd say that less than one percent of the community has an opinion that is worth the time it takes them to type, so their downvote is equally worthless especially when they don't even have the spine to back it up with a counter argument.

I think people downvote anything they don't agree with, despite that not being the purpose of the downvote system. People are quick to try to abolish any sort of opinion that isn't an exact carbon copy of their opinion. Combine that with the fact that most people nowadays are spoiled brats that can't handle any criticism or conflict and you get stuff exactly like this: I point out an obvious circumstance that shouldn't be relevant to gaming and they get butthurt because it would mean they aren't special any more.

Tulare1 votes

I guessed that the average age of players would be 21-25 - college students - and the results were surprising to me. I'm 33 and I've come to expect that most of the other players in online games will be younger than me. I was surprised to see how many players are so much younger, though. I don't think it's much of a stretch to guess that half of LoL players are 15 years younger than I am.

Since I was assuming that most other players were younger but still adults, that definitely led me to expect a certain standard of behaviour. I can't really say that I know what to do with this new information yet.

It looks like less than 20% are in the 26+ category. That illuminates some of the things I've heard other players say. For example, somebody criticizing a friend of mine, saying that somebody with kids (even if they're supposed to be sleeping) has no business playing ranked.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

Do keep in mind that the data I got myself isn't all that accurate for the playerbase itself, moreso a better representation of the forums or Leddit userbase. Using data from organizations like the ESRB and ESA, the average actual player is probably older, I'd ballpark it around 25 personally but that's just an educated guess.

Your example of your friend is a perfect example of perception of age (or lack thereof) playing a key role in how that comment would be interpreted. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but you would have a vastly different reaction to it if that was coming from a 30 some year old versus a kid?

Tulare1 votes

I was discussing these numbers with another friend and he had an insightful question. It would be interesting to know not only what the demographics of the player base are but how they're weighted by hours spent playing the game. If (suppose) 21-25 year olds play twice as many hours per week as other age groups, it will seem that there are many more of them than there actually are.

As for my reaction, I'd think I'd react similarly regardless of who made that comment. I think it's a discourteous and entitled attitude. I would be more surprised to hear another 30-something say it than to hear a 20-something say it but I'd be equally miffed either way.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

That's a very good point, and a dimension I did not actually consider in regards to generalization, give your friend a thumbs up for me. I personally will probably not be able to rally a large enough and accurate sample size to make that statistic workable, but maybe Riot will take it upon themselves to help us out sometime in the future? Fingers crossed I guess :P

Understandable on the reaction, it's always rude to tell someone what they should or should not do without knowing their full story.

Dragon Fang Shot1 votes

Everyone tends to think that gamers are teenagers/college students. It's an idea that's been planted in the minds of the people, mainly by the mainstream media. And it shows when people behave immaturely. No matter what someone's actual age is, immaturity will instantly make someone appear really young. The opposite is true about having maturity. But people can be immature in one game and act completely mature in the next one.

I find that other people's attitudes can easily affect others in League. It usually starts off with one flaming and then evolves into an entire team that bashes on each other. It happened to me in a game I played yesterday, where one early gank gone wrong caused the jungler to point their finger at me. I was playing with friends who backed me up in the situation, but I did get mad at the player. They maintained that attitude throughout the game and we ended up losing because the jungler wouldn't stop blaming me for everything that happened.

Alternatively, about a week ago I was going on a rampage through the jungle. One good game with coordination from my team led to another, and then another. But we did run into a roadblock. I queued up with three people who were from the first game I played, and we got a random fifth person. That player refused to play support, and decided to hover over Nami until there was a few seconds left on the clock and switched to Draven. In game, my first gank bot turned into a kill for me on Nasus, which prompted Draven to blame me for stealing the kill so he couldn't gain an advantage. I shrugged it off and continued playing normally. I ended up dominating that game, while Draven still did well. The overall positive attitude of our team won the game for us, and changed the toxic player's attitude as well.

The point is, maturity is a bigger factor in this than age. I had no idea what the people I was playing with age's were. They could have been teenagers acting mature or a parent with a full-time job acting like a teenager. As the saying goes, age is but a number.

Dragon Fang Shot1 votes

I forgot to add, I'm 17 and started playing when I was 16. And I'm guessing ArmaMalum is 22? Somewhere early twenties is what I feel he/she is.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

He, just to clear things up :)

MrBuffington1 votes

Lol see Sir ArmaMalum's response :P (to be fair though, I know of a girl who put a "Mr" in front of her IGN so she wouldn't get harassed by guys on the internet. That girl is not me, btw, I am in fact male :P)

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

In some cases 'Sir' is used to regard female officers in the military. Although if I've been informed correctly that's a matter of preference

Dragon Fang Shot3 votes

Have you thought about making gender a topic of a future SALT? It's got a lot within the topic and can be create lots of conversation.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

I have indeed, I guess I've just nestled my mindset in less controversial and emotional topics. But, of course, that's just limiting myself so I'll put it up on the next go! (Gonna say it now, it'll win....lol)

Dragon Fang Shot1 votes

Yeah, gender is a touchy subject, but that's why it spawns so much conversation. I only know one girl personally who plays League, and she just plays it regularly. No using her gender to her advantage or anything like that.

Caoil2 votes

I honestly don't think gender is as touchy a subject as some female gamers make it seem. From using Curse Voice and playing tournaments I'd guess that about 20-25% of the LoL community is female. Most females just don't make their gender known because it really isn't important. I've found that most of the females in the community who make their gender known are the ones who make a big deal about it and create stereotypes for females in the community.

It would be interesting to see what would come up if you interviewed females and males in the community separately about what they thought the generalizations were pertaining to gender.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

Ooooooo, interviews, I never considered that before! I'll give it some thought before I'm 100% sure but I think I can include those fairly easily.

As for gender, yeah that makes sense, and me being all cautious about the subject would probably just exacerbate the issue. I'll be sure to keep the same intended neutral but discussion oriented tone of course, but you have reminded me that I shouldn't let the topic get in way of potential conversation. Hey, look at me I'm learning! XD

Thank you for your input, it was very helpful!

MackleDoge2 votes

Honestly I'm sort of sick of hearing all this garbage about gender in gaming. Or sexuality in game characters. None of that stuff should matter, why does a discussion even need to happen? If a player is female or male it changes nothing, not a single thing. If a game character or player is of a specific sexuality, or not of any declared sexuality, who cares? It shouldn't matter. We don't have long drawn out discussions over whether or not more people with brown hair or more people with black hair play games. Why? Because it's an entirely unrelated and irrelevant detail. If people spent more time just playing and enjoying the game instead of looking for problems, these things wouldn't be an issue at all.

Caveat: There always have been and always will be blindly hateful and bigoted people no matter what efforts are made by society or a community to limit or eliminate such unfortunate things. As the saying goes, you can't fix stupid.

Angry Monster2 votes

i am with MackleDoge.

Though i am more curious who would down vote his thoughts in a debate thread. I can not reply directly to his post since it is at max responses.(bad setup).

MrBuffington1 votes

Not sure if you watch Game of Thrones, but (MAYBE spoilers if you haven't seen Season 4, pretty minor though) reminds me of when Podrick calls Brienne "Sir" and swiftly changes it to "M'lady" :P

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

Completely agree with you, but unfortunately maturity is such a qualitative value and while age is indeed just a number, that means it's at least trackable. As I mentioned Mr.Buffington above, my personal stance on maturity and the internet in general is that it's really a question of socialization. The internet is a culture in of itself, and if treated as such you can see things like accepted and unacceptable behavior, idols, core values and other traits associated with a full-blown culture. League being the internet generation's Superbowl, it only makes unfortunate sense that the same values are brought to the sport.

Angry Monster1 votes

I am sorta shocked by the whole teenage demographic. I wonder how this translates into the actual player pool.

I feel like that poll does not reflect the age of actual player base(and pray to). Considering the lack of moderation it does not surprise me that bored kids are massing to the forums in general.

Sadly I am 33. And i have been playing since season 1. (What ever year that was.)

you are 23?

The data could of been more interesting if it was broken down even further. 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, 21+. These lower ages tend to have mentality changes. Or at least as modern society we think it does.

I choose MOBA its personal, though i have no clue what that would be.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

If the data from the ESRB and ESA are to be considered the average player would definitely be older, I'd ballpark it around 25 due to the large collegiate presence, but that's nothing more than an educated guess.

I do agree that the age ranges could have been a bit better, 2bh I probably should have just done individual ages and then extrapolated from there, but hey, hindsight is 20/20.

To further explain MOBA: Now it's Personal (I was limited by poll option character limits), I would explain and discuss the MOBA genre in comparison to other Arena style genres like shooters and brawlers. My initial thinking is that I can argue MOBA's by their very nature of being dependent not only on teamwork but also of individual performance generates a higher emotional investment than other game types. You not only have to do well yourself, but have to do your best to make sure everyone else does well also to win, which means emotional high points not only for your own safety but the safety of your team. Overall, I feel MOBA's generate a much more personal feeling in its gameplay just from its core mechanics, and that may be a major factor in the genre's popularity.

Angry Monster1 votes

So this got long heads up.

So after a few days of thinking about this thread i have come back. And i am going to tell a grandpa story.

Back in my day kids did not play online. Simple fact most online games were text bulletin board base games and computer were to expensive to let teens touch and mess with. Almost no one owned a modem at this time either. Everything was console based and parents easily had control and could monitor their kids(yes i was monitored).

Modems became more come in the mid 90s but with limited speeds complex gaming was limited. Low ping for high reflex games did not exist. Also unlimited plans were not a concept that was even offered to the public. Internet was mostly a novelty at this time. Console games were what must kids played on so parents could monitor behavior since all the yelling was at their friends.

Now comes the new millennium. The internet speeds have been increasing. Shooters are becoming big online to versus real people. Consoles have not yet had ether net ports. So for a true challenge people are moving to PC. Internet cafes are big now. Online score boards, forums, trash talking are starting to make a real appearance as main steam. This age moves into what is the modern internet and gaming.

So this little story has a funny thing about it. It has happened in about 25 years. I am now 33 like i posted before. So here is the real problem. I am just old enough now to have a kid of 5+ years old. I grew up with the evolution of gaming and i will get to see the continued evolution also(its far from over). I will have a real understanding of what my kids can do and that them being silent is not them behaving. But parents that grew up in a pre computer world are giving their kids these machines and are not even aware what is possible.

Right now their is a whole generation of kids that are jumping from not gaming to online gaming. They are not playing with their friends learning any Etiquette. By planing with my friends i learned that my behavior can make my friends mad. Faceless voids and no consequences is what the current generation thinks of when gaming. Its a screen with no visual feed back minus some words.

This lack of understanding of what the kids are really doing is truly scary. the problem is that parents do not even have a basic idea of what is possible. They have been told be wary of the danger of violent video games, and the sexualisation in games. But parents do not even consider the behavior of their kids. Are they treating people right? Are they being racist in game? People just think that they raised their kids right and that they would not hurt another person. The problem is that instinctively the people that we can not see are not real people.

Now i am not saying that kids should not game. I am not saying that parents are the ones to blame. But we are at a time when we are defining what is allowed in online casual etiquette. The business world is its own world. The rules are already set in stone there. Even if they move into the internet your boss can and will fire you. At home we do not get fired. We just move from community to community, as they suit us.

Some people like Lyte are now in the process of doing what parents could not cause of lack of knowledge. They are raising kids and trying to teach them right from wrong. They are mentoring so that when the kids grow up they can raise them to behave correctly on the web and not repeat the past mistakes of their parents of not knowing.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

Good read, that's an interesting take on Lyte's job and funnily accurate in a lot of cases. You touched lightly into dehumanization, which honestly is such a large thing in this day and age it kinda deserves a topic in of itself. That being said it is a topic I really would like to talk about, because it can also be directly applied to the forums as well. It's quite common for me to see someone talking about the idea or post or words on a page without seeming to notice that there's a person on the other side (actually one of the major reasons I don't like vBull, lack of direct replies means a lot of side-topics and insults).

As for the kids, I do agree with you wholeheartedly, socialization is particularly effective against easily influenced people, such as kids, and internet active games are very good at socializing a new player. Partly due to game design (needing to make an easy to learn game and all) but mostly due to the fact you are playing a recreational activity with other people. A kid playing CoD will know that when you die the 'appropriate response' is to cuss out the person who killed them, even when they don't know what half the words mean. They don't understand the intent or mean anything malicious by it most of the time, they just think it's the normal response. Of course, then that bleeds into their everyday life and creates huge issues. A speculative and extreme example sure, but the same can be said with most online games. Hell, I can safely blame Runescape for a lot of my childhood traits.

Long posts are usually good posts so no worries, thanks for the response so far!

MrBuffington1 votes

I think you're in college, so I'm going to guess 22. If I hadn't known that, I would have guessed a bit older, maybe 24.

I think there's a general perception that video games are for children. Basically I think the stereotype is that an average videogame player, especially for online games, is between 13-22, and is Male. What I find interesting about your post is your comment that older gamers can be less mature than younger gamers (something I've experienced before), and I'm wondering if, since the general age range (or general percieved age range) is ~13-18 or so, if this perpetuates this immaturity (or percieved immaturity) in gamers as a whole. Basically, do gamers act or behave immaturely because that's who the gamer peer group is/is percieved to be, or are they innately immature? Sort of a chicken or egg question, based on the assumption that gamers are immature, but I thought it was interesting :P.

Sir ArmaMalum1 votes

That's a question of socialization to a sub-culture, someone conforming to a stereotype either intentionally or unintentionally. And that question can probably be expanded not only to gamers but the internet in general. A lot of factors go into it, the largest being access to quick detailed information, the expectation of immediate gratification and anonymity. And annoyingly there's not too much public data on that either, lot of paywalls in the way :(

That does kind of reference my previous point of League being in a somewhat unique situation as well. League is one of the first video games to really get into the public eye in a positive light. WoW did as well with their TV commercial campaign, but League has not only made ads but also made news thatisn't about how bad vid gaes are or the next school shooting, yada yada, which is good for the industry as a whole. As a direct result we're getting (this is speculation, mind you) a lot of people that break the sterotype. Older male and female players are coming over and actually enjoying themselves, as well as previously young players staying with the game. But this leaves us with an increasingly innaccurate stereotype, and this stereotype can still color our perception of age, creating a dissidence in perception and reality that may be a problem later.

MrBuffington1 votes

I do agree about the League being positively viewed (or at least neutrally). WoW had a lot of news on it, but it always seemed sort of framed as this "disease" that was taking over (same thing with those addicting mobile games like flappybird or candy crush or whatever, though not to the same degree since they're viewed as more harmless/less time consuming). Especially with it being sort of the most visible esport at the moment, with college teams popping up and even some schools offering athletic scholarships for the game. Video games sort of have a negative connotation but LoL is slowly changing some of that.

Remlap12231 votes

Honestly, I don't care about age. People know that online games are notoriously unregulated (not for lack of trying). The lack of maturity may cause me to draw conclusions that they're just a sad high school student wanting attention by trolling, but that's age discrimination and a stereotype. As long as you're cool, I don't care if you're 5, 15, or 50.

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STOP ALLOWING LEVEL 1 ACCOUNTS TO SEND FRIEND REQUESTS!!!
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Wanting to do something special for an awesome friend. Riot, please help? <3
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People that are telling others to kill themselves has to stop! Please help me get this noticed!
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