Video gamers or just plain "gamers", as they like to be called, are extremely gullible. I'm not just talking shiitake either.
Observations
I've had opportunities to observe gamers more times than I care to remember, dating all the way back to 1996. Of all the gamers, the online gamers are the most gullible. When they're not playing online video games, they're searching for things to make their online gaming experiences better. These things include add-ons, special tools and game cheat codes.
When the online gamer gets to a page that has a lot of eye candy, especially if that eye candy includes image ads, they tend to click on that eye candy. I've seen it happen over and over again with people who worked for me, relatives in the US, relatives here, Internet cafes and even by observing my own son.
Gaming Niches
As HMTKSteve of Ramblings from the Marginalized can tell you, advertising to gamers can be extremely lucrative if you know what keywords to target.
My personal observations lead me to believe that image ads are very effective for attracting clicks from gamers while text ads do very poorly. That's probably not true of all gaming platforms or all methods of accessing the Internet, but it's certainly true with standard home computers and specific game machines.
In my opinion, if you're looking to target a specific demographic which crosses age and race barriers, I'd recommend you go after the gamers.
Their Ignorance is Truly Your Bliss
I've been doing some research and I know what I'm talking about. Gamers, as a whole, are ignorant as to what image ads really are. They may be tech-savvy, but that "savviness" is limited to the gaming world for the most part.
My research indicates that while advertisers don't pay a whole lot per click, there's a whole lot of clicking going on.
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This article is published as: Online Gamers – Their Ignorance is Your Bliss
I also tried the text versions and they did not work. But I found this wow first aid guide from that. :) Eric