Gaming has long been the domain of nerds and geeks. For many years, gamers were painted as ostracized, antisocial, self-loathing recluses who were incapable of making meaningful human contact, instead delving deep into imaginary digital worlds to escape reality. But that stereotype is quickly changing as more and more people start to game, and a new study goes as far as claiming that gamers are "more social, more active, and more valuable as consumers" than non-gamers.

Together with IGN Entertainment, Ipsos MediaCT published the study entitled "Are You Game?". The work draws results from a two-phase study which began with a quantitative overview of gaming earlier this year in US households and then more intimate, qualitative, person-by-person research through means such as focus groups and in-home interviews in the Los Angeles area.

To tackle the study, the research team first had to define what a gamer was. The team broke gamers apart into a number of different labelled groups, including the likes of "Traditional Core" and "Weekend Warriors" to more modern collectives such as "Family 3.0," which embodies the connected families that game casually together, and "Social Troopers," which covers those who game for social stimulus and seek out others to play with in all circumstances.

Here are some of noteworthy findings of the study:

55 percent of gamers polled were married, 48 percent have kids, and new gamers – those who have started playing videogames in the past two years—are 32 years old on average

More than 75 percent of videogamers play games with other people either online or in person

More than 47 percent of people living in gaming households saying that videogames were a fun way to interact with other family members

37 percent of gamers said friends and family relied upon them to stay up-to-date about movies, TV shows and the latest entertainment news, compared to only 22 percent for nongamers

39 percent of gamers said that friends and family rely upon them to stay up-to-date about the latest technology

In terms of hard dollars, the average gaming household income ($79,000) is notably higher than that of nongaming households ($54,000), but the value of the gamer as a marketing target can be seen in a variety of ways

Gamers are 13 percent more likely to go out to a movie, 11 percent more

likely to play sports, and 9 percent more likely to go out with friends than

nongamers

likely to play sports, and 9 percent more likely to go out with friends than nongamers Gamers are twice as likely as nongamers to buy a product featuring new technology even if they are aware that there are still bugs

Gamers are also twice as likely as nongamers to pay a premium for the newest technology on the market

Gamers also consume media in different ways than nongamers, with hardcore gamers spending five more hours on the Internet, two more hours watching television and two more hours listening to music than nongamers per week

And the counterintuitive kicker:

Gamers are twice as likely to go out on dates as nongamers in a given month

"Based on the research, it's obvious that the gaming market has outgrown many commonly held stereotypes about the relative homogeneity of video gamers," said Adam Wright, Director of Research for Ipsos MediaCT. "Today's gamers represent a wide variety of demographic groups: men and women, kids, parents and grandparents, younger and older consumers. All this underscores the fact that gaming has become a mainstream medium in this country that appeals to people from all walks of life."

Many would contend that the stereotype that gamers are shut-ins has become archaic these days and Ipsos' study demonstrates admirably that the times are changing (well, except for MMO players. We kid.) While the survey was of course paid for by a company that primarily prospers from video games in IGN, and a few of the stats (particularly those with regard to income) are questionable, there's no question that gaming has very much become more a social activity than a solitary one.

The majority of games today ship with some form of multiplayer, and games without a multiplayer element often sell poorly—even when the game is extremely good otherwise. With cooperative gaming and online multiplayer on the rise, this is a trend that doesn't seem to be wavering, either. That said, when chatting someone up at the club, it's probably best to save boasts about your epic mount for later.