Fun stuff, Valerie.

Apparently I am not quite extroverted enough and a bit too neurotic to be perfect. :-)

At some level I believe that gamers (even the social ones) are all introverts on the bigger scale of things.  They prefer the more controllable rules of behavior in playing a game and us it for a social substitute for broader social interaction. Contrast this to the person who doesn’t like games because they find the social interaction (by focusing on a single activity) too limiting.

Almost a pefect match! I differ in the extroversion area. I don’t care if it is a big or small group, as long as we are gaming.

Ray,
I know a lot of gamers that are off the charts extraverted. In fact, I am one of them, scoring a 99 (out of 100) overall on the scale.  I really believe that gamers, as individuals, come in every shape and size possible.  That said, there certainly could be some personality traits that are represented more frequently in the gamer population than in the general population, but I’m not going to try to take a stab at that based on personal experiences.  Since I mostly meet new gamers at big cons, I am probably more likely to meet more extraverted gamers than someone who meets most gamers in smaller settings.
Valerie

"well educated but not intellectual”

Yeah, that test totally nailed me.

Jay,
Don’t feel bad.  I scored a 1 (out of 100) for an appreciation of the arts.  Unless it’s an intellectual discussion of sci fi, then I too could be described as “well educated but not intellectual.”
V

The test listed me as more agreeable than I anticipated, but with almost no openness to experience.  I think it overshot the mark a bit on both fronts, based on the smaller set of questions that I answered, but all in all, not too far off the mark.  It’s tough for me to argue for my level of creative thought over fact-crunching when I sit around running up probability tables for Marvel Heroes battles.

I understand your comment about subjectivity (creative vs fact-crunching comparisons), Stephen. I found that my results differed quite a bit by my ‘frame of mind’. For example when I first took the test I was thinking in terms of my interaction with gamers (which is most of my social interaction) and I got one set of values.  I retook the test and thought about myself at a social gathering with my son’s classmates parents (private school folks who only like Golf, sports cars, and the stock market and make funny faces at me if I talk about my passions for computer technology or even worse playing games) and I came off much more antisocial.

I understand I’m supposed to go with my gut in tests like these, but invariable half way through it I begin to think too much.  Any advice/technique, Val?

Valerie -

Fun test! Nice meeting you and Dale Friday night, even if I didn’t get to lose to you. 3 games, 3 last place finishes. I was getting my butt kicked all over the place.

Ray,
I totally understand what you mean about “over thinking it.” I have my students take this test every semester in PSY 100 when we cover the chapter on Personality Theories and I re-take it every time to see how my results change over time.  I do find that important events in my life can influence my answers.  For example, when we bought our house (a happy change in our lives), I took a more positive perspective on the questions about willingness to change than I normally would.  Generally, personality theorists are trying to identify those characteristics that remain relatively stable across time and situation.  On the other hand, Social Psychologists are very interested in the influence of the situation around us on our behaviors and our beliefs.  When I take the test I try not to envision one specific situation when answering a question.  Instead I try to identify the answer that would hold true across the most different situations.
V