Gender Roles and Behaviors Among Online Gamers

[Philondra]

This is somewhat dense in terms of social anthropology, but it's a very, very interesting read. It's an academic paper about male and female differences in the way the approach playing online games.

http://dmitriwilliams.com/LFGpaperfinal.pdf

Brief Summary thanks to Terra Nova:

* Men are more driven to achieve within the game space, and women are more driven to socialize, although these differences are not as large as one might expect.
* Female players fall into two distinct categories: stereotypically feminine players, typically brought into the game by a partner, and very hard-core players.
* The hard-core women are more intense than their male counterparts: "The top 10% of male players played an average of 48.86 hours per week, while the top 10% of female players played an average of 56.64 hours per week."
* Female players are healthier offline than the males. This is especially true among older players.
* When males and females play together within a romantic relationship, the males are less happy and the females more happy. When not playing in a romantic relationship, these outcomes are reversed: the females are less happy and the males more happy.
* There are a surprisingly large number of bisexual females playing, but not males. While male bisexual players stuck to the national average, females were about five times higher than the national baseline rate.
* Females under-report their playing time more than males.

[Cartollomew]

* When males and females play together within a romantic relationship, the males are less happy and the females more happy. When not playing in a romantic relationship, these outcomes are reversed: the females are less happy and the males more happy.

This certainly makes sense to me.

[Dropdeadqt]

I dunno, I'm happier with qt playing than before she started playing...

[qt_pi]

Well we always knew you were the "girl" in the relationship ^_^

[Cartollomew]

I dunno, I'm happier with qt playing than before she started playing...

Alley man - you're like the classic example of an outlier.

Well we always knew you were the "girl" in the relationship ^_^

Heeeeyo!

[Derathius]

Well we always knew you were the "girl" in the relationship ^_^

Kermotheringfuckingsnapples!

[Infamous]

Wish my Mrs was still playing. She got to 71 and then lost interest

[Obsolet]

my relationship is better without us playing, shes not unhappy that we don't play together nor am i unhappy she doesnt play with me.

[Plexi]

my relationship is better without us playing, shes not unhappy that we don't play together nor am i unhappy she doesnt play with me.

Are you still talking about WoW? ._o

[Dropdeadqt]

Obs likes the floggers and handcuffs, she doesn't... or vice-versa

[Obsolet]

ill keep this to your imagination

[Dropdeadqt]

ill keep this to your imagination

Highly inadvisable. You have no idea how imaginative I can be...