People in long lasting romantic relationships are lucky people, and if their significant other understands their hobbies and mutually participates in them, they should be some of the luckiest people in the World. Seriously, they should all gather in one place, and buy lottery tickets, every day. So, if the difficulty of finding an individual who accepts another’s hobby, how hard is it find someone understanding of specific hobbies, like video games. Well, I take my shot at it with a scientific, kind of unscientific, method into finding the chances of finding that gaming significant other.
My Infinitely Malleable Control Group Morningstar
Morningstar is a fictitious character and acts as the control group. The minimum trait he is looking for in a partner is the bare bones gamer, someone who is willing to occasionally play a game with him and has an understanding of his video game hobby. Morningstar lives in Atlanta, GA, 21, and is willing to have a long distance relationship within the state of Georgia. These are his only restrictions. In order to figure out the percent of the Georgian population fits his desires, I start with the total population and then narrow it down with general estimates. Finally, the result is divided by the total population and that is percentage of people that match his needs. It doesn’t sound scientific, but for short hand calculations, it is.
The Method
According to the latest US Census data, there are 9,685,744 people living in the state of Georgia. The female population of 20-35 yr olds in Georgia is 1,001,985. Let’s say, half of those women are minimalist gamers, which makes the total amount of options 500,993. Morningstar isn’t a fan of drama or wants to create it, so he’s only interested in single women. Again, to keep things simple, let’s say half of the female gamer population between the ages 20-35 is single, cutting his total to 250,496. Let’s be generous and say half of these women will be attracted to Morningstar and will go out with him at least once. The final result is 125,248, which is 1% of the population of Georgia. Now, Morningstar isn’t a character set in stone, what if he was a woman with the same needs as his male alter ego? Case 2 shows going through the same process, she would have just as few options.
Other Considerations
Assume Morningstar is a self identified male homosexual. The demographic data on LGBT community is unreliable so the numbers might be inaccurate, but let’s just roll with it. Say, 35% of the Georgian population is males between the ages 20-35. Then, assume half of them are single, and 60% would be attracted to Morningstar. This results in 14,645 out of 9 million people, which is .15% of the Georgian Population. Recreate Morningstar into a self identified lesbian, where the population is much lower, her chances are even more dismal at .08%.
Lucky Folk
The final results only repsent a general sample. It also makes a lot of far-fetched assumptions. The possibility of Morningstar’s candidates being mentally insane, in prison, or not even speak the same language, is real. With those factors in consideration, Morningstar’s chances of finding his partner is pretty much zero. So for this Valentine’s Day if your significant other fits Morningstar’s fantasy, remember, they are someone worth keeping because they are very hard to find.
