Being antisocial & playing video games was the correct answer
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I think it's more than that. The dynamics of social gaming might be particularly worse than other forms of gaming.
Eve and WoW players are effectively totally dysfunctional because of the obsession of which some of them approach the game. League of Legends players are almost exclusively known for being awful people.
However, none of that can really be said about players of single player games, or games without strong social mechanisms. Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Zelda, Tropico, Factorio, Stardew Valley, Pokemon, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Minecraft, etc, the audiences for these games are never seen as socially pathological. Some of the twitch shooters like Counter Strike and CoD can get bad, but the biggest problem there is the immaturity of a younger audience; or the grizzled bitterness of an old one.
I think the social component of some games can become pathological because the interactions are not incentivized for amicability (LoL); or are otherwise taken to seriously (Eve). Games without social pressures might be a time sink, but don't make you pathological. Pokemon, despite being around for 2 fucking decades, doesn't seem to generate a lot of pathological behaviors.
I think there does need to be a lot more thought given to how game mechanics cultivate negative or positive social behaviors within a gaming community, and how to build a game around avoiding the negative ones.
Meanwhile, the game mechanics of Social Media are probably the single most addictive and pathological mechanisms that you are going to find. The 2nd worst is Twitter, but the absolute worst is OnlyFans.
Zelda, Elder Scrolls, Pokemon, Street Fighter and Minecraft audiences "are never seen as socially pathological"? Even the average WoW player is less deranged than many of these, especially Pokemon and Zelda whose core fanbase consists of fat manchildren who send you death threats if you dare criticize their latest reskinned Nintendo garbage for kids.
I have not seen or heard that. Pokemon & Zelda's core fanbase are below the age of 20. Pokemon is particularly younger.
Being useless soycucks makes them less pathological that WoW addicts and LoL players.
That's true from experience, playing a cooperative game like Warframe they tend to be the most friendly and welcoming group barring certain game modes (cough eidolons) because you getting more powerful means the next time they play with you, you both get more rewards.
Though I can't tell because of the time it was released or BECAUSE of the game mechanics but I made a lot of friends online when I played Assassin's Creed Brotherhood multiplayer, mostly because I was VERY good at pretending to be a bot and reading people to kill or escape them. That seemed to get a lot more people to me to try and learn from me or at least beat me at my own game.
That's kind of what I've seen too. Like I said, I think someone should actually take the time to research it.