MMO Study Suggests that Girls Game Better than Men
It’s time to throw your paradigms out the window, my fellow loot-tards. The science doesn’t lie: women are officially better at MMO gaming than men. At least that’s what a recent study published in the Journal of Communication suggests. Four American universities recently combined efforts to assess the online gaming habits of males and females. The study was mainly focused on Everquest II players and concluded with three major deductions:
1. Girls clock in more game hours than guys.
2. Girls underestimate their playing time more than guys.
3. Girls self-report healthier conditions than guys.
Bryan Edge-Salois of The Examiner suggests that number three may be due to hundreds of women simultaneously lying about their weight. Of course, there’s so much to gain by lying about your weight online for an anonymous survey. Ladies are just so afraid of your judging, Journalism of Communication. Sarcasm? I highly doubt that these Everquest girls are so self-conscious about their appearance that they’d lie about their physical condition to someone who has no desire to get in their pants. Someone who cares that much probably won’t even touch an MMO if it means sacrificing gym time. Really, why do people still assume that every girl is vain and will mislead people about her weight if she can get away with it? I like to think that the female population of Everquest II has the sense to understand that when someone asks you to take a survey, they’re not going to put up a plaque with your name and weight on it.
All sexist comments aside, the study itself is nothing entirely surprising. Girl gamers are still just barely a minority and both genders agree that video games are still a “particularly masculine pursuit.” Now, this study was geared purely towards the MMO community, so these results can’t really be applied to the whole “gurl gamer” stereotype. I’d be interested to see the results of a study focused on console gamers.
Perhaps one of the more interesting finds was the motivation comparisons. Three years ago, it was widely believed that men played for the sense of achievement while women sought power in their games. This study, however, has overturned that concept and suggested that women actually play for many social reasons as they are more inclined to develop relationships within these communities as opposed to men, who now seem to be purely motivated to reach max levels and gain epic loot rather than managing a large raid guild.
The results are numerical in value, assessing everything from average income to self-reported happiness levels. This could go so far as to suggest that women are healthier and happier because they seek more “wholesome” rewards within the virtual world. Since female motivation appears to be based on social needs rather than the male desire to conquer and acquire equipment, it appears that the more substantial goal leads to a more balanced person behind the computer screen.
Multiple novels could be written on this topic and I have no intention of writing one, so I’ll wrap this up for those of you who are still with me. You intellectuals, you.
Now, I dissected a pig once and it was awesome. I dig science. Real science, not theoretical physics or all that random explosion stuff. Give me quantifiable data. As a critical reader, you should understand that all surveys are samples and not complete diagnostics of a population. This study focused heavily on one MMO, and an older one at that with a slightly more mature player base (in age, not so much mental capacity) so you have to understand that the inclusion of World of Warcraft or Ragnarok Online may have completely skewed the results. That being said, read the report itself before you take my word for it. I can lie. Numbers can’t.
[Source Journal of Communication via Examiner]
