Gaming is an increasingly acceptable outlet for recreation, social engagement, and professional practice. Despite this acceptance, perceptions of “gamers” have been slower to evolve. The traditional stereotype associated with the “gamer” label has persisted in popular culture and acts to perpetuate and reinforce the negative elements associated with gaming. The stereotype’s persistence begs the question of whether current gamers see themselves as having stereotypical traits and whether non-gamers would attribute these traits to game players. This study uses an established model of social perception to explore differences in perceptions of the gamer stereotype and game players among both self-identified gamers and non-gamers in the United States. The results show differences in perceptions between the stereotype and game players, reflecting persistence of the stereotype and recognition that it is not universally applicable to players themselves. Self-identified gamers also perceived themselves as exhibiting more positive and less stereotypical traits than “gamer” implies.

游戏是娱乐，社交活动和专业实践日益被接受的出路。尽管获得了这种认可，但对“游戏玩家”的认识却发展缓慢。与“游戏者”标签相关的传统刻板印象在流行文化中一直存在，并起到了延续和加强与游戏相关的负面因素的作用。刻板印象的持久性提出了一个问题，即当前的游戏者是否将自己视为具有刻板印象的特征，以及非游戏者是否会将这些特征归因于游戏者。这项研究使用已建立的社会认知模型来探索美国自我识别的游戏玩家和非游戏玩家对玩家刻板印象和玩家的认知差异。结果表明，刻板印象与游戏玩家之间的看法有所不同，反映了刻板印象的持久性，并认识到刻板印象不适用于玩家自身。自我识别的游戏玩家还认为自己展现出比“游戏者”所暗示的更为积极和刻板的特征。