I need a better definition of "hardcore" before I can really comment on the issue.

The women I've come across in games have often been more passionate about whatever they're doing.  They seem to invest a lot of themselves into the games.  The ones I've met have also been more vulgar (counter strike) and very involved and caring (DAoC, WoW) when it comes to guilds.

A girl I knew in SWG, went from full time RP'er to fulltime legendary PvP'er....

Just so she could dish out pain to the PvP'ers and uberjedi that spent their days harrasing RP'ers.

If that ain't hardcore, being a 100% RP'er, going "undercover" just to bring pain of legendary status to the ones that makes her RP game unfun... Then I dunno what is. Heck, she even assembled a posse of female RP'ers from across the servers to be her Jedi hunting Gang.... Successfully

Most females prolly play wow or those cutie asian mmo's.

For me the only usefull definition of 'hardcore' is the amount of hours online. Those people that put so many hours in the game are the hard core of that game's player society. This is probably also the only usefull definition for publishers and developers.

All the other ways of describing 'hardcore' come down to personal preference and have more to do with ego then anything else I think.

In terms of hours online, I can believe that many female players can be called hardcore players. I actually think that there isnt that much difference between male and female players in that aspect.

While I dont doubt there is a great deal of "hardcore" female players playing mmorpg's, I have my doubts about the credibility of the research. 2.600 players is a really small portion of the mmorpg community and I'm not really sure if Everquest 2 is really the right game to pick for an accurate representation of the genre.
The thing is that Everquest 2 isn't exactly a game that is widely known game among the mainstream and chances are if you're playing it you're really into mmorpg's. I think that the increase of females playing MMORPG's is something that is quite new to the genre. I think the noticable growth started with WoW, and I think the male - female hardcore ratio in that game is very different from EQ2's.

Since when were women let out of the kitchen? and who let them on the internet?

/joke

Depending on your opinion of what hardcore is, there could be a lot of women who would fall into that category.  I know a few who will spend 10-12 hours a day grinding away at crafting in EQ2 and have several level 80 crafters. While crafting isnt generally considered hardcore, they are putting in more hours then those people that grind away 5 hours or so a night at end level PvE content. As long as there is some sort of progression included in the long hours of play, then any sort of crafting, pve, or pvp activities could make someone hardcore.

This is surprising to hear. I guess, I haven't really known any female gamers that do play MMOs in a hard core kind. I met female gamers but none of them as so called hard core gamers and all.

I am currently playing this new MMORPG called Atlantica Online. And I believe I have met some considerable number of female gamers online. HEHE. Dont know why. lolz.

Originally posted by KrystDaymen

The gender of a person has little to nothing to do with being a "hardcore" gamer. 

Also I have to agree that the term "hardcore" here is being used in a very ambiguous manner.  To some, hardcore means "hardcore pvp'r" if you don't pk or if your just into duel type pk then your not considered hardcore.  To others if you are not on 24/7 then you are not hardcore. 

There are many types of "hardcore" players so I would have to say that the findings of this poll lack definition.

I mean my wife would play mario brothers and sonic the hedgehog all day every day if she could...does that make her a hardcore gamer?  I'm not sure. 

 I think they measured Hardcore not by skill but by /played. Infact in an articvle i read on CNN it said they measured time played. Because there is almost no way to measure skill in a game.

Originally posted by Arcken

Originally posted by Aeroangel

Originally posted by Arcken

Originally posted by VultureSkull

The virtual battle of the sexes -

But this stereotype has been challenged by a study investigating gender differences among gamers.

It found that the most hard-core players are female, that gamers are healthier than average, and that game playing is an increasingly social activity.

Despite gaming being seen as a male activity, female players now make up about 40% of the gaming population.

The study looked at gender differences in more than 2,400 gamers playing EverQuest II.

The participants, who were recruited directly out of the game, completed a web-based questionnaire about their gaming habits and lifestyles.

In addition Sony Online Entertainment, Everquest's creator, gave the US researchers access to information about the players' in-game behaviours.

Full write up found here
 

Female gamers, from my experience are in it for the social aspect. Im married and have 3 girls, and i can tell you, if its one thing females love, its non stop chatting. Im not saying its bad, but from a mans perspective, again from my experience, most of us dont place quite so much importance on socializing.

My wife and kids are constantly talking on the phone, texting, playing on myspace and facebook, etc etc. Theyre very much into that sort of thing, so I can see why female gamers would spend a lot of time playing MMOs Myself? I cant stand the racket. Fortunately thats why I have a den, I can close out the constant chatter. :p

 

Hey there. I don't chat non stop, and the majority of the time when I say anything on vent or in the game chat is if it's pertaining to a fight or something to do with the game.

thats why i used the term "in my experience' in there. Honestly if I had to pick which of the two sexes were more social, Id probably hedge my bets on females. Again nothing wrong with that. Im just getting old and cynical. :P
 

Both sexes are equallly social.  They just socialize different.  Women tend to want to talk about things, men tend to want to do stuff together.  The word "talk" here is not a great word as for women it is more about paying attention to other people than it is "talking" or even "communicating".  Those are part of it but you can quite often find quiet women.  Many women are chatty but many women are not chatty.  However most women have a different take on the chat or whatever than a man will.

Those two things bleed together of course.  Men talk while they do stuff and women do stuff while they talk.  So differentiating the two can be hard.   Its most noticable when you piss a women off and don't really understand why.  It tends to be because you missed out on what they thought was important  even though you thought you were both doing the same thing but really weren't quite on the same page at all.

I would actually say that often men tend to more naturally form small teams that work well together whereas women are more likely to create a more lasting and expansive social network.  You could say that is this is because men are all business and women are chatty and frivolous.  But you would be wrong.  Women are dead serious about what they are doing they are just in a slightly different business.

Obviously this is all generalities.  If you read between the lines I have essentially just said that women make better politicians yet there are many men who are perfectly fine policitician and vice versa for women being effective in small teams and wanting to get stuff done.  They are just trends.

I think opposite of this news. The news is more likely to stimulating more female to jump in to mmorpg. 

But I may believed that the in-game female character could be hardcore, and it is not true either.

I get this odd feeling the article was written by a feminist.

Originally posted by Illison

Originally posted by KrystDaymen

The gender of a person has little to nothing to do with being a "hardcore" gamer. 

Also I have to agree that the term "hardcore" here is being used in a very ambiguous manner.  To some, hardcore means "hardcore pvp'r" if you don't pk or if your just into duel type pk then your not considered hardcore.  To others if you are not on 24/7 then you are not hardcore. 

There are many types of "hardcore" players so I would have to say that the findings of this poll lack definition.

I mean my wife would play mario brothers and sonic the hedgehog all day every day if she could...does that make her a hardcore gamer?  I'm not sure. 

 

 I think they measured Hardcore not by skill but by /played. Infact in an articvle i read on CNN it said they measured time played. Because there is almost no way to measure skill in a game.

Well, then. If they went by time played, the women are not the most hardcore.
 

That title should go to the bots.

Err hello, it was a report by the BBC - cue political correctness. If the BBC are going to have any type of gender issue story it is going to always show one of two things:

That gender stereotypes which favour men are not correct.
That women are better than men are at doing some activity or pursuit.

Read the replies to this thread, nearly all disagree or say there is no difference. But don’t rely on your own online experience, always trust agenda driven media journalists.

I wanted to do some research on this topic so I googled hardcore and female, but the results didn't have anything to do with games. 

My girlfriend is probably more hardcore at gaming than me, bitch. ahah.

Hardcore female gamer:

Hmm thats strange how are the supposed to cook dinner, clean the house and so on if they are hardcore players.

GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeHUQAnzpF0
 

Originally posted by Najtro

Hmm thats strange how are the supposed to cook dinner, clean the house and so on if they are hardcore players.

GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeHUQAnzpF0
 

LOL

I do know someone in particular that players hard core at Atlantica online and at the same time is a female. I found out about it when she helped me about the game. Its pretty weird at 1st to know a female  who would play around 12 hours a day. Although I do not believe that most hardcore gamers are female but I agree that there are some.

Originally posted by KrystDaymen

The gender of a person has little to nothing to do with being a "hardcore" gamer. 

Also I have to agree that the term "hardcore" here is being used in a very ambiguous manner.  To some, hardcore means "hardcore pvp'r" if you don't pk or if your just into duel type pk then your not considered hardcore.  To others if you are not on 24/7 then you are not hardcore. 

There are many types of "hardcore" players so I would have to say that the findings of this poll lack definition.

I mean my wife would play mario brothers and sonic the hedgehog all day every day if she could...does that make her a hardcore gamer?  I'm not sure. 

How about just use a dictionary.

hard-core
–adjective
1. unswervingly committed; uncompromising; dedicated: a hard-core segregationist.

Originally posted by VultureSkull

The virtual battle of the sexes -

But this stereotype has been challenged by a study investigating gender differences among gamers.

It found that the most hard-core players are female, that gamers are healthier than average, and that game playing is an increasingly social activity.

Despite gaming being seen as a male activity, female players now make up about 40% of the gaming population.

The study looked at gender differences in more than 2,400 gamers playing EverQuest II.

The participants, who were recruited directly out of the game, completed a web-based questionnaire about their gaming habits and lifestyles.

In addition Sony Online Entertainment, Everquest's creator, gave the US researchers access to information about the players' in-game behaviours.

Full write up found here
 

I have been around a lot and can say i have seen it from both sexes,it is situational.You cannot stereotype it into ALWAYS more hardcore,it changes from game to game ,situation to situation.I have seen female players do the most redundant thing over and over to achieve that one level,but at the same time i have seen males do the same thing.

If there is one fine line to cross between gamers of both sexes it would be in the character customization.I would say females tend to go more for the complete look,matching gear that looks proper.Where as guys tend to go for the elitist numbers,the gear that matches up the best numbers,they couldn't care less if they have a red shirt,pink pants and orange hat,just as long as they have the top damage numbers.That is about the only distinction i have ever seen between the female and male gamers.