A Neat Article On Gender Swapping in Games

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**LordofHats**

Gamer guys, beware: You may take on a female avatar in online role-playing games, but chances are, you're revealing subtle clues about your true gender.

Boys will be boys online, according to a new study of players of the massive multiplayer online game "World of Warcraft." Men who play using female avatars still display male patterns of movement, the research shows. And they don't act quite as feminine as actual female players during chat conversations, either.

The study suggests that true anonymity is hard to come by, said lead researcher Mia Consalvo, a professor of game studies and design at Concordia University in Montreal.

"You can't leave these things behind," Consalvo told Live Science. "It's not like what we used to think the Internet was — some crazy space where you could totally try different things." [Science Fact or Fantasy? 20 Imaginary Worlds]

Gender switch

Consalvo and her colleagues were interested in studying online gender swapping, because the practice is quite common. A previous study found that 79 percent of players in massive multiplayer online games report having played as another gender at some point, and about 30 percent do so regularly. Interestingly, women almost always play using female avatars, Consalvo said, while men are more likely to swap.

The researchers set up an add-on quest, dubbed "Menace of the Masked Marauders," and invited "World of Warcraft" players to join. They divided the 375 volunteers into groups of three or four , who worked together to complete the quest. The quest was set up to force players to engage in a variety of behaviors, from having chat conversations to waging battles and solving word puzzles.

The participants ranged in age from 18 to 55, and 56 percent were men. Twenty-three percent of the men swapped genders and played with female avatars, while only 7 percent of women played as male avatars.

Subtle hints

The researchers tracked the behaviors of men playing as males, women playing as females and men playing as females. (There were not enough women playing as males to analyze that segment.)

The results revealed that male players acting as male avatars issued more directions to fellow players and used fewer emoticons and less emotional language than women playing as female avatars. The male players with female avatars fell right between these two groups, issuing fewer directions and using more emotional modes of communication than male avatars controlled by men, but not to the extent of female avatars controlled by women.

In player movements, males playing as female avatars really showed their true colors. Men moved and jumped more, and stood farther from other players when they clustered in groups, even when they played as females. The jumping was particularly noticeable: Men playing as a female avatar jumped 112 times more on average during a quest than women playing as a female avatar.

It's not clear why male players jumped more than female ones, Consalvo said. "It could be attention-getting," she said. "A way to literally stand out in the crowd, sort of the equivalent of waving your arms around."

The players got to decide whether they swapped genders, so researchers also aren't sure how much of the behavioral changes occur because men are trying to alter their behavior when they play with a gender-swapped avatar, or whether the men who decide to swap avatars behave differently no matter what. They did not find differences in these behaviors based on the players' own levels of stereotypically masculine and feminine traits, however.

"We still believe a little bit that we can be different, be anonymous online," Consalvo said. "I think this research shows that we really do bring ourselves into these online spaces. … The traces of who we are, and how we build ourselves up, and how we act and how we talk — we're taking all of those things with us. And part of that is our gender socialization."

The researchers report their findings online in January in the journal Information, Communication & Society.

The thing I found interesting was how much more often male players jump. 112 times damn

**SilverMK2**

Jumping might be one of those things left over from games where you moved fasted jumping while encumbered and or leveld up acrobatics from jumping everywhere. Also helps you clear rocks and so on left scattered on the ground

**Palindrome**

Men who play using female avatars still display male patterns of movement, the research shows. And they don't act quite as feminine as actual female players during chat conversations, either.

A man playing a cosmetically female computer game character still behaves like a man? Earth shattering.

I think that the jumping thing is due to boredom, in WoW I tend to 'jump' a lot simply for something else to do other than hold down 'w'.

**purplefood**

I'm with Palindrome on the jumping thing. It's just a thing to do...
Though being male and not a sociologist or whatever ology these people study perhaps i'm not equipped to say.

**TheCustomLime**

Interesting piece. I was hoping it would delve into the why males play gender swapped characters but this is fascinating as well. I personally don't jump a lot because I think it looks stupid but I'm just a freak.

Though I will echo the above comment. The conclusion isn't as interesting as the results.

Yes, I played female avatars. You wanna fight about it?

**LordofHats**

The conclusion strikes me as nonsense. My initial guess would be that jumping is just something people do out of boredom (though that fails to explain why the men did it more frequently) or that its a left over from older MMO's where jumping conferred an advantage.

I remember seeing people who jumped constantly in WoW but I never understood why.

**TheCustomLime**

Space bar is big and makes the avatar do something somewhat amusing. Breaks up the drudgery of seeing a big burly man (Or really thin woman) walking through the Barrens.

**Kilkrazy**

Science needs some observations in order to formulate a hypothesis to investigate further.

The observation here is that the male players made characters jump a lot more than female players. The question is why?

The first thing to do is to repeat the experiment.

**purplefood**

Perhaps because a lot of these male players also played previous MMO's?
You'd need a background study to prove it but it might just be as Lime says. The spacebar is big and satisfying to press.

Though repeating it would probably help...
Maybe once or twice.

**Laughing Man**

TheCustomLime wrote:
Space bar is big and makes the avatar do something somewhat amusing. Breaks up the drudgery of seeing a big burly man (Or really thin woman) walking through the Barrens.

That, and jumping everywhere lets you get into novel places occasionally. That, and the floor is lava.

**EmilCrane**

I don't play MMOs, but I jumped a lot in Morrowind and Oblivion, but not as much in skyrim. In morrowind it was because I found out that jumping in confined space sometimes triggered a bug where you glided around the room mid jump, very fun.

Also I tend to play exclusively male characters. Not questioning the results of the study though, sounds interesting.

**Viktor von Domm**

Palindrome wrote:
Men who play using female avatars still display male patterns of movement, the research shows. And they don't act quite as feminine as actual female players during chat conversations, either.

A man playing a cosmetically female computer game character still behaves like a man? Earth shattering.

I think that the jumping thing is due to boredom, in WoW I tend to 'jump' a lot simply for something else to do other than hold down 'w'.

I am exactly with that comment...jumping makes the boring a little less boring...

and I often chose a female avatar in WOW ...because... it is nicer to look at a firm female bloodeves bum than at a males one... after more than two years you know what I mean...

**purplefood**

Don't most WoW characters have capes?
I mean it wouldn't matter if you were looking at a sexy female cape or a sexy male cape because they're both capes...

**Viktor von Domm**

well...you can not show the cape...and most peeps I know do that... cause capes look stupid...

**Soladrin**

Viktor von Domm wrote:
well...you can not show the cape...and most peeps I know do that... cause capes look stupid...

But then why would you make the woosh noises..?

And yeah, jumping in WoW? Cause autorun exists.

**Fafnir**

Sometimes you just pick whatever looks better. And in a lot of games, the male characters look more like a fridge than an actual human.

As for the whole jumping thing... boob physics.

**Sigvatr**

It's not clear why male players jumped more than female ones, Consalvo said. "It could be attention-getting," she said. "A way to literally stand out in the crowd, sort of the equivalent of waving your arms around."

Man, all the times when I stood at a train station and waved my arms around!

Got a source on this? This looks like a really, really terrible research.

**Lynata**

This study isn't particularly revealing - I think by now most people are aware that the gap between genders isn't as black and white as was once believed, and that there are many "shades of grey" in-between.

[edit] That said, the "why" would be more interesting than the numbers themselves. Do the players project themselves onto the character they play? I know I don't, at least not fully - and actually I find "playing yourself" a rather boring prospect. Shows and movies with female heroines are also popular with at least a portion of the male audience, which I'd wager is actually larger than the women who watch this stuff. Perhaps it's just because female heroes (understandably) feel less common, and thus come across as being more exotic, and thus more interesting to a large number of men?

[edit #2] I also remember that this topic came up before, and at least some people answered they picked female avatars just because they'd rather stare at a girl's ass than a guy's, so there is that, too.

(There were not enough women playing as males to analyze that segment)

This is a shame. I would've liked to see the data anyways, even if it was just 25-28 players.

TheCustomLime wrote:I personally don't jump a lot because I think it looks stupid but I'm just a freak.

Same here.

I too believe that jumping is popular because people get bored easily (especially in a theme park MMO that tries to overload your senses at every corner - it may support the development of players that behave like kids who are high on sugar), and "push button = something happens" works. I mean, you have some people jump even when they're otherwise not moving. It could also be attention-trabbing in that I always used to see this happen a lot more in crowded areas than less populated ones.
In truth, it's probably a mixture of several different reasons; perhaps the average male gamer just "owns" more of them than the average female gamer.

Edit - found something suitable to accompany this.

**TheCustomLime**

I played female avatars for variety in my characters. Gets kind of boring playing the same big burly men over and over again. I was also a roleplayer when I played so I did it to roleplay as a girl. I must say it was a very enlightening experience on how society treats the genders differently.

**Sigvatr**

I exclusively play female characters in MMORPGs - if I have to stare at a character's ass for tons of hours, I'd prefer it to be a female ass.

**TheCustomLime**

Sigvatr wrote:
I exclusively play female characters in MMORPGs - if I have to stare at a character's ass for tons of hours, I'd prefer it to be a female ass.

I don't know about you but I usually looked at the back of my character's head or at the area just before my character.

**flamingkillamajig**

Lynata wrote:
This study isn't particularly revealing - I think by now most people are aware that the gap between genders isn't as black and white as was once believed, and that there are many "shades of grey" in-between.

[edit] That said, the "why" would be more interesting than the numbers themselves. Do the players project themselves onto the character they play? I know I don't, at least not fully - and actually I find "playing yourself" a rather boring prospect. Shows and movies with female heroines are also popular with at least a portion of the male audience, which I'd wager is actually larger than the women who watch this stuff. Perhaps it's just because female heroes (understandably) feel less common, and thus come across as being more exotic, and thus more interesting to a large number of men?

[edit #2] I also remember that this topic came up before, and at least some people answered they picked female avatars just because they'd rather stare at a girl's ass than a guy's, so there is that, too.

(There were not enough women playing as males to analyze that segment)
This is a shame. I would've liked to see the data anyways, even if it was just 25-28 players.

TheCustomLime wrote:I personally don't jump a lot because I think it looks stupid but I'm just a freak.
Same here.

I too believe that jumping is popular because people get bored easily (especially in a theme park MMO that tries to overload your senses at every corner - it may support the development of players that behave like kids who are high on sugar), and "push button = something happens" works. I mean, you have some people jump even when they're otherwise not moving. It could also be attention-trabbing in that I always used to see this happen a lot more in crowded areas than less populated ones.
In truth, it's probably a mixture of several different reasons; perhaps the average male gamer just "owns" more of them than the average female gamer.

Edit - found something suitable to accompany this.

I am more surprised that some people found the movie predator to be a male power fantasy just because only Arnold the manliness of men made it out alive. This is funny to me since not every guy wants to be an alpha male. That's like saying every girl wants to be Barbie and yet whenever Barbie is thrown up it's about women having to live up to unrealistic standards. Now this is just me but when I watch an action movie stupid or not I watch it to get pumped and to laugh at how over-the-top ridiculous it is. It's like somebody trying to hit a passerby with a sword while commanding a tank (yeah that commissar in tank pic). Besides how is aliens not offensive to men? Mostly if not only men are basically getting face raped by alien bugs with giant testicles and then they have their intestines which is supposed to be like giving birth all the while the woman plays the hero and saves everybody's asses. I could be wrong but there seems to be a lot of worse guys characters in alien than good ones including bad qualities. I'm not sure if there have even been any female bad guys. One could almost make the claim that the movie is offensive to men but nobody would hear it and just consider it equal even though men are women's b*tches in aliens movies.

Here's the thing. People need to make movies and games where the men and women are both good or useful and can be sympathized with. I mean I'm not sure how what they've been doing but there seems to be infinitely more gender choice options available in RPG's and games that more frequently girls play. A step in the right direction but I figure military games should at least include 25-30% of the soldiers being women just like how a smaller but important percentage of women fight or at least work in the military.

@Sigvatr: It's an attempt by gaming companies to turn you gay all thanks to democrats pulling string in corporations. They want to increase the gay crowd and thus their probable percentage of vote at the polls ;P.

I kid though and it'd be a serious stretch lol.

**purplefood**

Fafnir wrote:
Sometimes you just pick whatever looks better. And in a lot of games, the male characters look more like a fridge than an actual human.

As for the whole jumping thing... boob physics.

Physics and MMO's have never really been on the best of terms.
They have gravity that means you fall down and not up (Most of the time) and that's about it.

**Lynata**

flamingkillamajig wrote:I am more surprised that some people found the movie predator to be a male power fantasy just because only Arnold the manliness of men made it out alive. This is funny to me since not every guy wants to be an alpha male. That's like saying every girl wants to be Barbie and yet whenever Barbie is thrown up it's about women having to live up to unrealistic standards.

You'll always have at least one person complain about anything. Some things should just not be paid attention to - it's when a pattern emerges that it actually warrants closer investigation.
And yes, Barbie does kind of indoctrinate little girls. There's been studies and experiments about this sort of stuff.

flamingkillamajig wrote:Now this is just me but when I watch an action movie stupid or not I watch it to get pumped and to laugh at how over-the-top ridiculous it is.

Agreed. The old Schwarzenegger movies in particular are a guilty pleasure of mine.

Though, as much as I loved Expendables 1 and 2, and can't wait to see the third, I think I'd enjoy it more if they'd throw in one or two female action vets too. The famous ones from the 90s are probably too old by now, and Hollywood needs them to look hot - but why not add Milla Jovovich, Kristanna Loken or Michelle Rodriguez to the mix? Just two would be enough - we wouldn't want some men feel threatened, would we.

flamingkillamajig wrote:One could almost make the claim that the movie is offensive to men but nobody would hear it and just consider it equal even though men are women's b*tches in aliens movies.

Well, the Aliens trilogy is commonly lauded as being THE breakthrough for the concept of a female main character, an exception from the rule, and a major step forward for the perception of women in the media.
So I suppose someone who thinks that women should never be heroes anywhere could make that claim, yes. I'm sure there are people like that.

flamingkillamajig wrote:Here's the thing. People need to make movies and games where the men and women are both good or useful and can be sympathized with. I mean I'm not sure how what they've been doing but there seems to be infinitely more gender choice options available in RPG's and games that more frequently girls play. A step in the right direction but I figure military games should at least include 25-30% of the soldiers being women just like how a smaller but important percentage of women fight or at least work in the military.

At the moment I'm not sure about the direction the video game industry is moving towards - there have been both steps forward as well as steps back as far as gender equality is concerned. In a way, it's a reflection of our culture's current struggle with the issue in that there are opposing trends trying to vie for acceptance, which results in wildly different products being released and then subsequently being ripped apart and defended from the gaming community in rather vocal conflicts that commonly feature a plethora of insults and sometimes even death threats.

It's not just gender, though. Race as well. I actually liked Sleeping Dogs simply because you played an Asian dude for a change (that, and the location was interesting)

Spoiler:

**flamingkillamajig**

Thing is I'm not complaining that a woman is the main character it's just the women are generally the b*dasses in that movie without much exception and guys are usually alien rape bait. Not always but more frequently.

Strangely enough I think somebody even said something along the lines of 'starship troopers' being unfair to women at one point and (on Cracked.com I think) and I don't see it. That seems like one of the more men and women working together and cooperating as a team movies that you could get. Women were not damsels in distress except for that one annoying ex-girlfriend but there were guys we hated too so that was ok. I think it was dizzy that was awesome

Speaking of starship troopers does anybody else feel weird that for such a gay looking guy (neil Patrick harris) which is actually gay in real life they oddly keep throwing him in roles as the manliest man who gets all the ladies?

----------

I'm not sure if I can speak for others here but being a guy isn't always super sunshine and rainbows all the time either. Guys can't do hurt women for crap but a woman could probably beat the crap out of a guy without fear of much legal repercussion. Have you ever heard anybody (man or woman) tell young boys to "Man Up!"? My mom and other women have as well as possibly my dad. The point being it was used whenever you cried, felt sad or showed too much emotion or even acted a little girlish in a way. Also if you're a nerdy guy (not sure if the case for all nerds) you get beaten up. Maybe nerds are frequently awkward or just annoying or something but bullies do what they will. Then there's all the societal expectations. Men have to pay for most of the date, men have to ask women out and not vice versa and so on. I mean sure women probably have more crap to deal with in general but guys have some huge things they had to do like the whole 'women and children first' bit on the Titanic where women and children went to safety and the men mostly died. I heard a girl I used to like say that 'it was still commanded by the men' but seriously would you rather be alive or dead? Then there's the deal on lots more men fighting wars (not just men but mostly men most of the time). Being drafted wasn't a choice and you couldn't do a whole lot once you went. I'd pick making guns and ammo over all the problems fighting a war has including the PTSD that comes after if you even make it back.

I also feel like it's true that women killed chivalry but let me explain. It was killed by equality. When things became more equal sacrifices had to be made and lots of nice things guys did for women for no real reason just went with it. In ways that's a good thing.

So I dunno things aren't always bad. Sometimes men are bad to men, women are bad to women and then they're bad to each other. It's not always about one gender treating the other like crap. Even beyond that in times where women didn't have it so good the guys had a lot more responsibilities with all the powers and freedoms they had (outside of kids and the house). Sometimes life isn't so easy as you could ask spiderman

(with great power comes great responsibility). There are positions people have that are very hard and stressful and women get them now too.

So yeah you have to take the good with the bad. Sometimes having more responsibility isn't always fun but it's right. As long as women want everything that comes with equality rather than what helps them only.

**streamdragon**

Viktor von Domm wrote:I am exactly with that comment...jumping makes the boring a little less boring...
and I often chose a female avatar in WOW ...because... it is nicer to look at a firm female bloodeves bum than at a males one... after more than two years you know what I mean...

Sigvatr wrote:I exclusively play female characters in MMORPGs - if I have to stare at a character's ass for tons of hours, I'd prefer it to be a female ass.

Yup. Also because the female models tend to be smaller, and take up less screen real-estate. (see especially: Draenei and Tauren)

**flamingkillamajig**

@steamdragon: A bit off topic but we should talk skaven more some time. I'm planning on trying out that triple warlock build again and getting it done correctly. I think I was the one to come up with it and tell Warp solution but for the life of me I can't get it to be effective enough if possible.

**Lynata**

flamingkillamajig wrote:Thing is I'm not complaining that a woman is the main character it's just the women are generally the b*dasses in that movie without much exception and guys are usually alien rape bait. Not always but more frequently.

Plural? How many women were there in "Aliens"? Ripley is badass, because protagonist, sure. I suppose you could say Vasquez was badass as well, but that was mostly because she defied the gender stereotype even more blatantly than Ripley, by violently punching it in the face in a display of what is still considered masculine behaviour. Still she didn't actually kick a lot of ass, she just had one of the two biggest guns and caused the most collateral damage when she freaked out and started blowing up the place. I'd argue that Hicks was a lot more professional than her, and badass in his own way in that he actually kept his cool and the ability to make rational decisions.
Then there was the female dropship pilot (Dietrich?), but that one actually was "alien rape bait". And Njewt(sp?) was the Damsel in Distress.

Maybe the movie would have had more female "alien rape bait" if the movie would've had more females to fill in as disposable Redshirts, like most of the male Marines were.

flamingkillamajig wrote:That seems like one of the more men and women working together and cooperating as a team movies that you could get. Women were not damsels in distress except for that one annoying ex-girlfriend but there were guys we hated too so that was ok. I think it was dizzy that was awesome

Yup. The movies cleverly honoured gender-based biological aptitudes by making the majority of men more suitable for the infantry and the majority of women more suitable as pilots, with some overlap presence of both, indicating that everyone got the same chance and it just depended on how well you'd score at their tests.

Also, unisex bathrooms!

flamingkillamajig wrote:Speaking of starship troopers does anybody else feel weird that for such a gay looking guy (neil Patrick harris) which is actually gay in real life they oddly keep throwing him in roles as the manliest man who gets all the ladies?

I ... don't think I've ever heard anyone describe NPH as "gay-looking" before he actually came out. Are you sure this perception is not influenced by his (courageous) revelation?
I don't think he "looks gay" rather than just elegant. Dapper. The same could be said about Tom Cruise or a whole lot of other male actors who fill "pretty boy" roles, but I'd never assume anything about their sexual preferences.

Though if this type of man actually is regarded as "gay-looking" by many people, then to me this says more about the "general male" stereotype than the "gay male" one.

flamingkillamajig wrote:I'm not sure if I can speak for others here but being a guy isn't always super sunshine and rainbows all the time either.

Getting a bit OT, but I'd rather see this discussion here than in Dakka OT, because that's a place I'd never go for a debate.

Current gender roles certainly have disadvantages for men as well. Expectation from one's peers is one (see the "general male" stereotype I mentioned above), and the persistent social perception that "women = weak" leads to a bias in the justice system that violent female offenders get off the hook a lot more often than male ones, simply because courts and law enforcement are more likely to believe they wouldn't be capable of such behaviour. All the more reason for greater equality, I say - ultimately, it's something that both genders can benefit from.

**Dark Apostle 666**

I've played as female characters before, I'd say with maybe a 70/30 split male/female, and I do try to act as I imagine my character would (I love making up backstories) - though I admit, I expect my characters do all have certain shared traits (like an affinity for stealth over tanking)

I think it is very difficult to TRULY roleplay any character who isn't pretty similar to yourself - whether that be because they're a different gender or because they have an ideology you don't share (Like in Fallout NV, I find it very hard to play as a low-INT, melee-based Legion courier, because I don't connect so well with the mindset that character would have)

**dementedwombat**

In the MMO I'm familiar with you're a spaceship (or more often a tiny dot in the middle of the screen obscured behind a bunch of info boxes)