Online gaming is good for you...
...in moderation, of course.
Digital entertainment services company RealGames Inc. has released the results of the firm’s latest commissioned survey, reportedly inspired by “billboards, TV ads and other campaigns” which “bombard consumers throughout the year, calling out bad habits and suggesting various methods by which to quit.”
Though surely expecting something showing that the occasional visit to an online casino is not detrimental to psychological or physical health, the results returned had to surprise even the RealGamers.
Results from the over 3,000 polled showed the following.
• Among dieters, 59% agreed that “playing casual games provides a positive distraction from snacking and/or overeating”; and
• among smokers, 42% agreed that “playing casual games provides a positive distraction from smoking.”
And check this out. Some of these clever folks have gone one step further in using the games proactively to improve their health:
• Some 28% of RealGames’ weight-watching crowd “reported using game play as a means to reduce their food intake,” while
• 42% of the smokers did the same to curb smoking. those who feel that playing casual games distracts them from smoking reported using game play as a means to reduce their smoking.
RealGames also enlightened with a few other factoids about smoking online gamers, including the trend for puffers to “typically play casual games on weekdays after work, before they go to sleep or on the weekends” (LCD surmises that slow periods during the workday are used to hit the butt.) and that “Hidden picture games are the most popular among smokers.”
February saw RealGames release results from an extensive 1,500-person survey focusing on advertising in online gaming which claimed that nearly 90% of RealGames gamers would “watch video ads before and during natural breaks in casual games in exchange for free game play.” Over one-third added that they “further action and click on in-game advertisements to learn more.”