Study Shows MMO Players Swapping Genders
Whether or not they’re technically a ‘role playing game’, video games always have you as some person or figure. Whether you’re a deity, a brilliant general or simply a humble explorer, we’re often drawn to games because they allow us to be something we’re not. The clumsy amongst us can become nimble warriors who elude their foes with lightning precision. Those possessed of a Napoleon complex can control giant war machines that reduce anything in their line of fire to rubble. The lowest cog in the corporate wheel can be a great king when they enter the realm of video games. A recent study conducted at Nottingham Trent University found that many gamers in MMOs change a very basic facet of their character: they swap their gender. It seems that both men and women are likely to play a character of the opposite sex more than half of the time. While men are much more likely to play male characters (the study found them playing females only 54% of the time), females were playing male characters more than 2/3 of the time (70%). Interestingly enough the males said they often did so in order to be able to flirt with male players to gain perks like items or gold in the games. Females often reported playing male characters in order to avoid such attention, often reporting that they felt male characters were treated better in the games. So remember folks, the next time you’re thinking of whispering a flirty line to that cute night elf over there, there’s a good chance it might be a guy.