That's Fit

Men can sometimes take flack for playing too many video games, but it turns out that it's just the way we're made! According to this article, gender actually contributes to guys' ability to get "hooked" to games like Halo. They use strong words like "addicted," but clearly it's just in our genes and not a problem (at least I'm going to keep telling myself that).

Interestingly enough, Stanford researchers hadn't meant to address video game habits with this study. Originally, they were trying to figure out territorial tendencies among the two genders. Twenty-two guys and gals were monitored while playing a special video game that was meant to gauge whether or not men were more territorial than women. It was a customized game where each player tries to gain as much territory as possible.

The results showed that the men's brains reacted differently than women's. When they were playing, the area of the brain that's connected to the feeling of reward and addiction was active -- and even more so when they gained territory! This proves that we're wired differently when it comes to video games, as much as the industry would hate to admit it. Now guys can arm themselves with science next time they catch and earful for spending too much time behind a controller.