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
 

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

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.

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
 

I can believe it.  I've dated a few myself, and actually left one because of her hardcore raiding schedule in WOW a few years ago.  Though it may not be very common, you'd be surprised.  The top realm point holder by a huuuuuge margin(talking triple to quadruple the amount of realm points) for years in DAOC was Mistwraith, a male elf enchanter played by a female.   Biggest elitist player I've ever met in any game.  I don't think there was a time I logged in and she wasn't online during my DAOC career.

That's right!

I can believe it as well. When I used to play Lineage II I knew a lot of female players. In PvP they were the most ruthless vicious players I ever saw and they took most fights very personally. This made them very valuable members in my clan because if the clan got attacked anywhere it was usually the ladies that showed up first and kicked the tar out of the attackers. Some of them also seemed to play almost non-stop as well. I had one girl in my clan that no matter whenever I logged on she was almost always playing. Their dedication to the game and loyalty to the clan was outstanding to say the least.

Bren

I'm not surprised at all by this discovery. I've had many female members in my old guilds that were quite loyal to the entire clan, newbie or not. I distinctly remember one that gave away items she had looted from epics every weekend.

Females make very good guildmates, that is for sure. Not because they give stuff away or kill griefers for you, but because they actually care in the first place.

Originally posted by VultureSkull
...

In addition Sony Online Entertainment, Everquest's creator...
 ...

Well that's the first mistake they made. I'm pretty sure that was actually Verant's doing.

As for the article it's an interesting read, but I have a difficult time believing the majority of females play for social reasons. I guess I have just run into different types of females.

Today is definitely the gaming age though.

More like "Everquest's destroyer".

And yes females care.

the two most hardcore players I ever meet in a game were female, both were stay at home moms and ran guilds. these women played 24/7 and just owned the games they played.

When women get addicted to something they REALLY get addicted like my ex with The Sims.

"It found that the most hard-core players are female"

I about fell out of my chair laughing when I read that assertion.  If you actually think a second, you would recognize the absurdity of such a statement.  Remember anyone can make up a study on the internet  and have virtually no proof to back it up.

I have played a lot of MMO's with females and very very rarely run across a hardcore one.

The hard core players are most usually males in the teens or early 20 years.

If you read something that sounds silly on the net, it most probably is.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

"It found that the most hard-core players are female"

I about fell out of my chair laughing when I read that assertion.  If you actually think a second, you would recognize the absurdity of such a statement.  Remember anyone can make up a study on the internet  and have virtually no proof to back it up.

I have played a lot of MMO's with females and very very rarely run across a hardcore one.

The hard core players are most usually males in the teens or early 20 years.

If you read something that sounds silly on the net, it most probably is.

I would assume that they were meaning hardcore by the amount of time spent on the game, not by how much they raid/PvP. There are a lot of stay at home moms that play MMOs, my wife being one of them. I would say she gets in at least 8-10 hours of WoW each day. However, she has never stepped into a raid, has only done grouping in eq1 for LDoNs, and even then it was rare, and is a casual PvPer which just about any noob could more than likely drop.

So, I can easily see women putting in more hours percentage wise, but I have to agree with the above about what many people consider "hardcore". I would assume that most of the raiding populations are male.

Women in general are competitive.  And women who are into gaming for competitive reasons (not just the social aspect) will own 75-90% of hardcore guys.  If you see a female Hard-core MMOer...watch out, cause more than likely she will either use you or own you lol.

How exactly are we defining Hard-core here?

It has too do with time played? with better players? in what kind of games?

This is a too generic claim, one more to add to the "scientifical" claims that we have been seen lately that women are better than men.

Funny, i would never have thought that i could see this kind of propaganda from one day to another.

Originally posted by bluesession

How exactly are we defining Hard-core here?

It has too do with time played? with better players? in what kind of games?

 

This is a too generic claim, one more to add to the "scientifical" claims that we have been seen lately that women are better than men.

Funny, i would never have thought that i could see this kind of propaganda from one day to another.

 

 

I was assuming mostly competitiveness with a little of  overall gameplay (questing, raiding, pvp and such)

Originally posted by Ozmodan

"It found that the most hard-core players are female"

I about fell out of my chair laughing when I read that assertion.  If you actually think a second, you would recognize the absurdity of such a statement.  Remember anyone can make up a study on the internet  and have virtually no proof to back it up.

I have played a lot of MMO's with females and very very rarely run across a hardcore one.

The hard core players are most usually males in the teens or early 20 years.

If you read something that sounds silly on the net, it most probably is.

I used to know a girl in WoW who raided pretty much 24/7 and was easily up there with the most hardcore players on the server. She had multiple full tier sets, 2 rare drop mounts and a whole host of other stuff. She lived alone and basically WoW was her life, but it just goes to show that it is not a predominantly male hobby anymore.

I don't know if this is just an EU thing, but I know a lot of females in WoW that are far more hardcore than I am (i.e. raid on a regular basis). Most of them are Swedish or Dutch, so maybe it is. *shrug*

I'm not surprised.  I once knew a quiote hardcore UO player -- a bigtime PKer, too -- who was a female college student.  She eventually moved on from gaming, but in her peak she was quite the hardcore gamer.

         Its funny of all the MMOs I have played EQ2 had by far the most vocal female population...... WHen I first saw the thread title I thought "no way" but when I saw that EQ2 was the sampling then I could see how they might come up with that......Also if youre going to determine who is more hardcore shouldnt you actually take a game that is hardcore (ie Eve or something along those lines)?.......EQ2 is almost as vanilla as WoW.