Couples that play Mario Kart together stay together, despite the best efforts of the blue shell. And of course, couples that play Team Sonic Racing together break up before the first race is even over. Okay, the latter isn’t (probably) true, but according to a new survey, the former is. Couples who hit each other with banana peels and use lightening as the other is going over a jump actually love each other more because of it. Apparently, even Call of Duty is good for couples to play together, but not as good as the classic Nintendo series.
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CenturyLink surveyed over 1000 people to see if PC and console gaming has had a positive or negative influence on their romantic relationships. And according to the survey’s data, one in three couples aged between 18-24 claim games help their relationship. And half of these people said gaming in general has had a positive impact on their romantic life, presumably thanks to RuneScape chat.
Further, the survey found that Mario Kart has had the most positive influence on relationships. Behind it was Call of Duty and then Skyrim. And best yet, of the 1000 respondents, only 42 claimed gaming led to break-ups.
“Gaming can be therapeutic for couples,” said Ryan M. Earl, senior associate therapist at the Chicago Center for Relationship Counseling. “Video games can help people work together for a common goal, share challenges, compete, joint problem-solve, and more. Video games, like anything else, can be a shared activity, and shared activities can foster intimacy between people.”
Of course, the data is different depending on the generation. Gaming is more mainstream and accepted than ever, but this wasn’t always the case.
“Romantic partners from the millennial generation grew up with video games as a large part of their lives,” added Dr. James Gaskin, video game developer and professor at Brigham Young University. “Therefore, gaming is simply more natural and accepted. Whereas with older generations, a partner who played video games was perceived as juvenile and irresponsible.”
So, if you want your relationship to flourish, it’s time to break out a GameCube and play the best Mario Kart ever with your loved one: Double Dash. If you do this, you may just hit the relationship level of this elderly couple that has played Mario Kart 64 together everyday since 2001.
