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No reliable average IQ for World of Warcraft players has been published. The studies that have examined WoW players measured other things: performance on laboratory tasks, decision-making under risk, personality traits, problematic internet use, and in-game expertise. Only one study administered an IQ test to adolescents who played games, and it grouped WoW with other online role-playing games, so it cannot give a WoW-specific figure. Any number presented as “the IQ of WoW players” would be invented.
Why there is no WoW-player IQ average
An IQ score is a standardized measure of a person’s performance on a set of reasoning, memory, and processing tests, compared against a reference population. Producing an average for a group of players requires three things: a standardized IQ test, a sample of players that represents the player population, and a way to identify who actually plays WoW rather than games in general. None of the studies located for this question met all three conditions. Most did not test IQ at all.
That gap matters because gaming research often uses words such as “cognitive,” “performance,” or “skill” in ways readers may read as intelligence. A faster reaction time on a button-press task, a better score on a decision game, or a stronger visual-attention pattern among experts is a specific result about that task. It is not an IQ score, and it cannot be averaged into one.
What the studies measured
The table below lists the WoW-related studies that address player cognition, personality, or behavior. Sample sizes and measures are shown as reported in each study’s record.
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| Study (year) | Construct measured | Sample | Method | Can it support an IQ figure? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decker and Gay (2011) | Reaction time, target discrimination, response disinhibition, word bias | 12 WoW players and 30 non-players | Go/no-go task (laboratory pilot) | No. Task outcomes only; small pilot. |
| Pawlikowski and Brand (2011) | Decision-making under risk; psychological symptoms | 19 excessive internet gamers and 19 non-gamers | Game of Dice Task and symptom measures | No. Excessive gamers, not WoW players as a group. |
| Implicit learning and impulsivity study (two-study article) | Implicit learning and impulsive behavior in internet addiction / Internet Gaming Disorder | Includes a WoW-player sample and WoW-naive controls in its second study | Laboratory tasks | No. Measures learning and impulsivity, not intelligence. |
| Adolescent gaming study (2019) | IQ, using the Turkish adaptation of the WISC-R | Adolescents who played games | Standardized IQ test with gaming questionnaire | No WoW-specific result. WoW was grouped with other MMORPGs. |
| Winter, master’s thesis (2009) | Five-factor personality traits (120-item International Personality Item Pool) | 147 WoW players compared with a normative sample of 20,993 | Personality questionnaire | No. Personality, not IQ. Some differences were statistically significant but effect sizes were small. |
| Questionnaire study (2021; PMID 34908947) | Problematic internet use, time played, alexithymia, impulsivity | 364 WoW players aged 18–48 | Self-report questionnaire | No. Self-reported experiences and traits. |
| Eye-movement study (2017, exploratory) | Visual attention and in-game expertise | 4 experts and 4 novices | Eye tracking while viewing game video, plus knowledge questionnaire | No. Expertise and attention, not IQ. |
Cognitive task performance
The 2011 pilot by Decker and Gay is the most-cited laboratory comparison between WoW players and non-players. Its go/no-go task separated speed, discrimination, and inhibition, and the player group differed on several of these measures. Because the sample was small and the task was narrow, the result describes behavior on that task. It does not describe how WoW players think in general, and it does not point toward a higher or lower intelligence.
Decision-making and excessive play
Pawlikowski and Brand compared excessive internet gamers with non-gamers using a risk-based decision task. Their findings concern a group defined by heavy, problematic play, which is a different population from WoW players as a whole. A link between excessive gaming and poorer decision-making on one task is not evidence that ordinary WoW play affects decision-making, and it is certainly not an IQ finding.
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Implicit learning and impulsivity
The two-study article on implicit learning and impulsive behavior uses WoW-player samples as one part of a broader study of internet addiction and Internet Gaming Disorder. The studies measure how people learn patterns without conscious awareness and how impulsively they respond. Those are cognitive processes, but they are not the general ability that IQ tests attempt to capture.
The adolescent IQ study
The 2019 study is the only one in this set that administered a standardized IQ test (the Turkish adaptation of the WISC-R). It is easy to misread, because it does involve IQ and it does mention World of Warcraft. The game appears as an example within the broader MMORPG/online role-playing category, and results were not reported for WoW separately. Its IQ data therefore describe adolescents who play games of that category, not WoW players as a distinct group.
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Personality
Winter’s 2009 thesis is the largest sample in this set, and it compared WoW players with a normative reference group on five-factor personality traits. Its significant differences were small in effect size, which means the group differences were unlikely to be practically meaningful for an individual. Personality traits describe temperament and tendencies; they are not measures of intelligence.
Problematic use, alexithymia, and impulsivity
The 2021 questionnaire study of 364 WoW players aged 18–48 examined how problematic internet use, time played, alexithymia (difficulty identifying and describing emotions), and impulsivity relate to one another. It relied on self-report, so its findings reflect what players said about themselves. It is a study of well-being and behavior, not of cognitive ability.
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Expertise and visual attention
The 2017 eye-movement study compared four experts with four novices while they watched game video. Its sample is too small to generalize, and its focus was how experts direct visual attention, not how smart they are. Expertise in a game is a learned skill and should not be confused with general intelligence.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why these results cannot be combined into an estimate
Readers sometimes try to average or rank findings from several studies. That approach fails for several reasons:
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- Different constructs. Reaction time, personality, and self-reported impulsivity are measured on different scales and mean different things.
- Different populations. The samples include excessive gamers, adolescents, adults aged 18–48, experts and novices, and convenience groups recruited for specific studies.
- Different scope. Some studies isolate WoW, others group it with MMORPGs or internet gaming in general.
- Small samples. Several studies use groups of fewer than 50 people, and one uses only eight.
What a valid answer would require
A credible WoW-player IQ estimate would need a study that tests IQ with a standardized instrument, recruits players from a defined and representative population, verifies WoW as the game played (rather than classifying it with other games), and reports the sampling method and the reference group used for comparison. No study located here meets all of those conditions. Until one does, the accurate statement is that the IQ of WoW players has not been measured in a way that supports an average.
Readers who want to evaluate gaming claims can apply the same test to each one: What was measured? In whom? Against what comparison group? Is WoW the game studied, or one among several? If a claim cannot answer these questions, it should not be treated as evidence about player intelligence.
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