I had an epiphany this weekend while I watched my wife play an old video game on our Xbox. I was not feeling well so I thought it to be smart to law on the couch and attempt to spend time with my wife. I was not looking for sympathy. I quickly realized the underlying reason why gamers are usually anti-social.

The vast majority of non-sports games these days are single player. Single player games allow for no interaction with the world that is not on your screen. So when you sit down to watch someone play a game you find yourself wanting to make suggestions to the player. “Go that way”, “use this device”, or, even worse, “you suck at this game” are all things that come to ones mind as you watch someone play a single player game. This causes one of three reactions from the watcher. Option one is you start to “help” the player by offering advice. Option two is you start to chastise the player as they make mistakes or don’t do things the way you see fit. Option three is that the watcher finds something more productive to do (this is typically the better option for the watcher).

These three options bring to fruition the anti-social nature of the gamer. Option one produces one of two responses from the player. Response one is thanks for the help while response two is let me do this on my own. Normally, if someone is playing a single player game and they don’t have a strategy guide nearby the, “leave me alone,” response is going to be the common one. Option two is quite abrasive and forces the player to create a very thick anti-social bubble very quickly. Option three is the exact reason why gamers are anti-social.

You don’t play a game unless you enjoy it. You can enjoy for any number of reasons; the challenge, the graphics, the plot, etc. If what you enjoy doing (even if it’s for an hour a week) doesn’t interest someone else then a natural reaction is for you to continue doing what you enjoy and let the other person find something that they will enjoy on their own. That my friend is why gamers get the anti-social label.