Many people assume that the typical gamer is a socially awkward, pimply guy in his early 20s who wears the same stained sweatpants everyday and eats a box of Pop-Tarts for dinner. The gamer stereotype sits in his mom’s basement, feverishly playing World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto while cringing from any human contact. He refuses to leave his dungeon of doom except to use the bathroom or buy more videogames. Sounds like the gamers you see on tv, right?

Well a new study from the Entertainment Software Association suggests that the average gamer is 37 years old. Additionally, the study suggests the average game buyer is 41 years old. According to the ESA, parents are present 91 percent of the time when games are purchased or rented, and 45 per cent of parents play games with their kids at least weekly. It sounds like there are a lot of families who like to bond over a game on the Wii.

Additionally, forty-two per cent of all game players are women, and women over the age of 18 represent 37 per cent of the game-playing population, while boys age 17 or younger only represent 13 per cent of the market. So it’s not just little kids and teenage boys who are gamers. And gaming doesn’t exclude the elderly, either. Old folks are into gaming too. In 2011, 29 per cent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, which was an increase from nine per cent in 1999.

In 2010, purchases of digital content accounted for 24 per cent of game sales, and fifty-five per cent of gamers played games on their phones or handheld device. Nearly three-quarters of all American households play games, and 72 per cent of American households play computer or video games. Many gamers have long argued that most gamers come in all ages and both genders, and gaming is often a social activity, but there’s finally some hard data to back that up.

Photo Credit: Gaming Blog