When it comes to social games, U.K. players are more likely than U.S. players to cheat. And according to a new report, these dishonest gamers are three times more likely to engage in immoral behaviors in real life.
The majority of social gamers don’t cheat, of course: just 11 percent of Brits and 7 percent of Americans admit to it, but that still works out to 10 million people. And 54 percent of these dishonest players are male, despite accounting for only 45 percent of gamers overall.
There’s of course the inherent difficulty of asking people if they’ve been dishonest, but PopCap Games commissioned the research from Information Solutions Group so the study was completed with those considerations in mind.
In the study, cheaters admit to other fairly despicable behavior. Half of them (51 percent) report parking in spaces reserved for the handicapped despite not being eligible. Nearly the same proportion says they’ve cheated on their significant others (49 percent). Some of them draw the line at taking sugar, butter or jam from a restaurant, however, since a lower 47 percent report doing that.
It would be interesting to know how many social gamers even realize it’s possible to cheat. It’s not something that can be done on impulse – it requires preparation, since it usuall involves downloading software known as hacks, bots or cheats. These do things like constantly repeat tasks that earn virtual currency and claim gifts even when the gamer isn’t logged on.
The full report can be downloaded here [PDF].
Related links:
http://www.infosolutionsgroup.com
Of those who admit cheating, which games do they play at least once a week?
