People who play video games are often called gamers. Many of us have heard stereotypes of gamers as lonely, antisocial young men wasting their lives in someone’s basement. But the truth is that gaming can be a positive part of your life and improve your mental health.

We have analyzed data from several studies to find that there are a number of different kinds of gamers. Some are esports competitors, some are socializers, and some are escapers. There are even gamers who get better at their job because of their gaming skills.

Achievers are highly competitive gamers who spend a lot of time playing video games in order to master them. They have high self-esteem and impulsiveness that affect their decision making. They are primarily motivated by escaping from real-life problems, and role-playing is important to them. Achievers tend to prefer action games, as well as multiplayer online shooters.

The Enthusiast persona is one of the smallest, but it has the highest percentage of women (12%). These gamers spend less time playing than the other two personas, and they place a much lower importance on hardware. Their top reasons to play are exploring detailed game worlds, storytelling, and the adrenaline rush that gaming can provide. This is also the first persona where RPGs enter the top five genres of choice.

These gamers love to watch and participate in gaming content, both in streaming and YouTube videos. They are also more interested in the social aspects of gaming than the other three personas. They like to comment on articles about gaming news, and they also enjoy participating in esports competitions. They like to talk about games with other gamers and enjoy interacting on Discord servers.

In addition to the social aspects of gaming, these people also feel that gaming helps improve their work skills and intelligence. Researchers have found that professional gamers have more grey matter and heightened connectivity between certain subregions of their insular cortex. This translates to improved problem-solving and logic skills.

People who belong to this persona mainly engage in multiplayer online role-playing games and esports competitions. They are motivated by the excitement of competing with other players, and they view their gaming achievements as a measure of their personal success. They are also more likely to be Achievers than any of the other personas.

Almost 40% of gamers think that gaming is a better form of entertainment than watching TV. However, the majority of adults do not agree with this assertion. Fully 23% of adults believe that most games do not promote teamwork and communication, and another 37% are unsure about this. This is a significant difference from the 10% of adults who believe that most games do promote teamwork and communication. Despite the lack of consensus on this topic, most adults do not want to ban gaming in schools. The vast majority of respondents (85%) want to allow students to choose which games they want to play in class.