From 'sweaty try hards' to 'basement dwellers', gamers have acquired reputations for being an unhygienic bunch, but is this really the case? To explore the level of cleanliness within the gaming community, Bonus Ninja surveyed 1,005 gamers from the US and Canada.
These are the results…
Gaming can be quite a dirty affair and no, we’re not talking about foul play…
We asked gamers how often they typically wash - let's just say the results were quite interesting. Results showed that most gamers typically wash every couple of days (14.33%), some gamers washed only once a week (11.04%). Most shockingly, 5.10% of gamers admitted that they typically wash less than once a week.
Worryingly, it seems gamers prioritise their gaming consoles more than they prioritise themselves. 37.31% of gamers said they cleaned their gaming console once a week or more. The runners-up were the gamers who cleaned their gaming consoles approximately once a year (28.66%), not too far behind were the gamers who cleaned their consoles at least once a month. Gamers who never cleaned their consoles came in last place with 8.96%.
The results showed that PC gamers topped the list across the board with 22.17% of gamers reporting that they washed every couple of days. This was followed closely by Xbox gamers with 14.29%, whilst mobile gamers came last on this front with only 7.25% of people claiming they washed every couple of days.
These findings are also very similar to the gamers who only washed once a week, where PC (14.35%), Xbox (12.62%), and Nintendo Switch gamers (9.80%) took the top three spots. Mobile gamers got the crown for dirtiest gamers with only 1.45% of respondents reporting that they wash more than once a week.
| Every couple of days | Once a week | More than once a week |
|---|---|---|
| | | |
| | | |
 | | |
| | | |
| | | |
Let’s just say that some gamers really love their consoles. This adoration shows in the findings: mobile gamers took the gold for gamers who clean their devices once a week or more with a massive 89%. Meanwhile, Xbox gamers (7%) came in last place, showing a massive disparity in the cleanliness of their devices. Xbox gamers topped the list for the gamers who clean their consoles once a month (34%), followed by PS4 gamers (31%).
Our research shows that the concept of cleaning isn’t exactly well understood by certain gamers as Xbox (45%) and PS4 (39%) take the grim lead for the gamers who only cleaned their consoles once a year. They took the walk of shame, each with 12% of their gamers stating that they had never cleaned their console. The most notable gamers were those of the mobile kind with 0%, confirming that there is still hope for humanity.
| Once a week or more | | | |
| Once a month | | | |
| Once a year | | | |
| Never cleaned console | | | |
A gamer’s first choice game can really impact their cleanliness, it seems. Interestingly, League of Legends topped the list with the most gamers who wash every couple of days (25.49%) followed by Minecraft (22.64%). On the other end, Battlefield (8.33%) and Grand Theft Auto (6.45%) took the bottom positions. Gamers who washed once a week had League of Legends (23.53%) and World of Warcraft (18.37%) as their top choices. Assassin's Creed took on a decent position with 15.63%. Other gamers washed more than once a week when measured to their first-choice game. In first place was League of Legends (13.73%).
| Game | Every couple of days | Once a week | More than once a week |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 11.56% | 9.05% | 7.83% |
 | 12.20% | 10.24% | 6.44% |
 | 13.40% | 12.37% | 5.65% |
 | 8.33% | 6.25% | 7.43% |
 | 6.45% | 3.23% | 2.22% |
 | 20.41% | 18.37% | 12.23% |
 | 15.38% | 7.69% | 7.69% |
 | 21.74% | 17.39% | 6.89% |
 | 18.18% | 12.12% | 9.76% |
 | 25.49% | 23.53% | 13.73% |
 | 22.64% | 15.09% | 11.23% |
 | 18.75% | 15.63% | 3.13% |
 | 19.23% | 13.46% | 5.77% |
We also received data on the gamers who clean their consoles based on their first-choice game. Minecraft tops the list with a massive 64.15% of its gamers stating that they clean their consoles once a week or more. Rainbow Six Siege had a decent position with 50% whilst Call of Duty: Modern Warfare took last place (20.60%). Counter-Strike (56.52%) and Overwatch (51.52%) gamers lacked a little more commitment as they preferred to clean their consoles once a month.
Other gamers were a little more relaxed when it came to cleaning their devices. FIFA (45.36%) gamers topped the list for only cleaning their consoles once a year. The gamers who play Counter-Strike (4.35%) and World of Warcraft (2.04%) were at the bottom of the list, highlighting a massive 43.32% difference between FIFA and World of Warcraft gamers.
If you thought gamers cleaning their consoles once a year was bad, believe it or not, some gamers admitted that they have never cleaned their gaming console (hey, who are we to judge?). Call of Duty: Modern Warfare gamers topped that list (15.08%). Hope is not lost, however, as 0% of World of Warcraft and Overwatch gamers said they never cleaned their console.
| Game | Once a week or more | Once a month | Once a year | Never cleaned console |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 20.60% | 20.10% | 44.22% | 15.08% |
| | 27.17% | 19.29% | 41.34% | 12.20% |
| | 22.68% | 20.62% | 45.36% | 11.34% |
| | 37.50% | 29.17% | 22.92% | 10.42% |
| | 62.90% | 9.68% | 20.97% | 6.45% |
| | 48.98% | 48.98% | 2.04% | 0.00% |
| | 50.00% | 42.31% | 5.77% | 1.92% |
| | 36.83% | 56.52% | 4.35% | 2.30% |
| | 45.45% | 51.52% | 3.03% | 0.00% |
| | 52.94% | 39.22% | 5.88% | 1.96% |
| | 64.15% | 18.87% | 13.21% | 3.77% |
| | 59.38% | 15.63% | 21.88% | 3.13% |
| | 59.62% | 21.15% | 13.46% | 5.77% |
To find out a little more about the hygiene habits of gamers, we asked them how often they typically wash - the results are quite interesting. 17.50% of male gamers said that they wash every couple of days compared to 9.63% of females, highlighting a significant difference between the sexes. More males (13.00%) also stated that they wash once a week when compared to females (8.15%). However, a higher percentage of males (6.33%) stated that they wash less than once a week compared to their female counterparts (2.96%).
Over half of female gamers (53.09%) stated that they cleaned their consoles once a week or more, which is quite significant when compared to the 26.67% of males. However, 30.17% of males said that they cleaned their consoles at least once a month, while 17.53% of women made the same statement. Similarly, 32.83% of male gamers responded that they cleaned their consoles approximately once a year whilst 22.47% of females said the same thing. More males (10.33%) than females (6.91%) admitted that they have never cleaned their gaming consoles.
Brace yourself because let's just say things are about to get a little... personal.
We asked gamers how often they change their underwear, to which 52.2% of gamers stated that they change their underwear daily. However, it was quite disturbing to find out that 16% of gamers went over a week without a change.
It may interest you to find out that more female gamers (60.8%) change their underwear daily compared to male gamers (46.1%). 20.5% of males admitted they went over a week without a change compared to 6.9% of females, highlighting a difference again between the sexes of 13.6%.
Gamers who play Rainbow Six Siege (76.9%), FIFA (72.1%) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (69.85%) were in the top three spots for the most likely bunch to change their underwear daily. However, disturbing results show that gamers who played League of Legends (45.1%) and Counter-Strike (26%) topped the list, with their respective gamers admitting that they regularly go over a week without changing their underwear.
Gaming can be very intensive for players. If you're in the middle of a challenging campaign, it's not an option to go on a snack or bathroom break. So you can guess where we're headed on this next section. Yes, we asked participants whether they've accidentally or even purposely soiled themselves whilst playing a game.
It may or may not surprise you to find out that PC gamers (43.4%) came in first place, though PS4 (33%) gamers also had a fair number of gamers who did a number two mid-session. With the lowest figures, mobile gamers were the least likely to have accidents during a game (8.7%).
According to our research, League of Legends (76.4%), Counter-Strike (56.5%) and World of Warcraft (53%) were the top three player bases most likely to soil themselves.
The main focus of our study was on the hygiene habits of gamers, though we couldn't resist probing and finding out if gamers were dirty in other ways, too.
Males (68%) were also more likely to pleasure themselves over video game characters than female gamers (20.4%) with a whopping 47.6% difference.
Given the wealth of video game characters and online fan fiction available these days, we asked our gamers if they'd ever pleasured themselves over a fictional, video game character. PC gamers (78.26%) topped the list, followed by Xbox gamers (50.50%). Mobile gamers, however, had the least with only 2.90%. These findings make sense when we look at respondents' first choice games Overwatch (72.7%), World of Warcraft (67.3%) and Rainbow Six Siege (59.6%), which comprised the top three.
