Defying long-held stereotypes, a new study has found that girl gamers are actually more hardcore than the boys.
The gamer: In our mind’s eye, he’s a male, age varying, with soft, pale skin, indeterminate health and questionable hygiene. He dedicates hours upon hours, day after day, to what may once have been a hobby but has since grown into an obsession. Things like daylight and social interactions hold little interest for him; what matters is the next quest, the next level, the next victory. But according to a recent survey conducted by the Journal of Communication, we may have misjudged our prototypical gamer somewhat.
It turns out that the hardest of the hardcore bring something to the game that the rest of us don’t: Boobs. The survey of roughly 7000 Everquest 2 players found that the average age of players was 31 years, no particular surprise, and that people tended to play more as they got older. But the twist came when gender entered the equation: Females put in an average of 29 hours of game time per week, compared to 25 hours for men.
Even at the top of the scale, women come out ahead. The top male players sink 51 hours per week into the game, while the top women clock in an astounding (and rather disturbing) 57 hours. Yet while these female gamers may possess the same stunted social graces as their male counterparts, they at least have enough sense to try to cover it up: Women were also found to be more likely to underestimate the amount of time they spent playing online than men.
“As predicted, male players were more motivated by achievement-related reasons and female players more motivated by social reasons,” the study found. “Contrary to expectations, male players did not play the most hours, despite being more experienced with the genre. It was the female players who were the most intense and dedicated ‘hardcore’ players, playing more often (if in smaller overall numbers) and with more dedication than the males.”
I guess it’s like my dad always says: We should’ve seen this coming when we let them have the vote.
via: Scientific American
