Radiography of a myth: the social representation of gamers put to test in Chile
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Date
2023
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Publisher
UNIV CHILE
Abstract
Gamers are usually portrayed in the media and in cultural products as young boys or young men with limited social life, no engagement in community ac-tivities, sedentary habits, and low interest in work or studies. But, to what extent do these stereotyped representations have empirical support? By relying on data from the National Survey on Time Use con-ducted in Chile in 2015, and drawing upon the theo-retical perspective of social representation, this study tests the relationship between videogame use and the alleged lack of interest in social, work, community, and recreational activities. Findings in-dicate that, although young men are more likely to be gamers, there is no relationship between playing videogames and being satisfied with one's personal life or participating in work, social, community, or political activities. Likewise, findings suggest that those who play videogames also do sports, which debunks multiple myths about videogame players. We discuss how these results challenge stereoty-ped representations found in the literature, and how this study's findings differ from those obtained by studies in the Global North.
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Keywords
Social representation, stereotypes, Chi-lean gamers