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A new study reveals female MMORPG players log more time than their male counterparts and also are more likely to lie about how much time they're spending.  (Source: Sony)
New study reveals that many girls may be closet gaming freaks

A new study led by Dmitri Williams, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, revealed that in some cases every male geek gamer's fantasy may be true -- some girls really are closet gaming freaks.

The study, published in the Journal of Communication, and available here (PDF), examined the gaming habits of females and males playing the popular Massively Multiplayer Online RPG (MMORPG) EverQuest II.

The sample group was quite large, consisting of responses from 7,000 logged in players.  There were many surprises in the results.  First, the gaming wasn't dominated by kids -- in fact the average age was 31.  More interestingly still, older gamers tended to spend more hours on the game per week.

And female gamers spent, on average, far more hours than their male counterparts.  Top female players logged 57 hours a week, while top male players only logged 51 hours a week.  And on average, girls logged 29 hours a week versus 25 hours for males.

Age isn't the only thing women tend to lie about, according to the survey.  More women than men responded that they lied to their friends and loved ones about how much time they played.

Other dark elf slayers/professors and grad students that participated in the study included Mia Consalvo, Scott Caplan, and Nick Yee.

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There is nothing hardcore...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 11:06:44 AM , Rating: 1
About being an MMO player. Sorry, but the level of skill required to play the average MMO such as WoW or Evercrap is pretty weak.

If you're going to call a gamer hardcore, at least include the fact that they play games like RTS's such as StarCraft, Supreme Commander etc., FPS's such as Quake Live, Team Fortress 2, UT 3, Painkiller etc., or Simulators such as DCS: BlackShark, Falcon 4 etc.

But, MMO's? Come on.

Nothing against those who play them, I'm very fine with that. In fact, they're quite okay in my book. It is just the fact that Hardcore USED to be referred to gamers who played MULTIPLE genres of games, especially games that required high amounts of personal skill to play. One single genre does not indicate they are hardcore.




RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Motoman on 12/28/09, Rating: 0
RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 11:29:34 AM , Rating: 5
As another poster pointed out a few posts away from mine, most MMO players just sit around and socialize rather than gaming too much. I did like the fact that he mentioned he does things all by himself to add to the challenge so, while my previous post still stands, I do feel there are some exceptions to MMO's and that is those who push them limits.

However, I still think to be considered a Hardcore gamer, you have to participate in multiple genres and excel in them skillwise as well.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Souka on 12/28/2009 1:08:39 PM , Rating: 2
I"m the hardest-core then...

I play 148 hours a week on a MUD, so I'm even more of a gamer right?


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By sviola on 12/28/2009 2:01:56 PM , Rating: 2
wow (no pun intended)...considering a week has "only" 168 hours,I would say you are not the "hardest-core" but you are addicted to gaming...


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Souka on 12/28/2009 2:17:05 PM , Rating: 2
especially since MUD is a text based dungeon n' dragons fantasy type game of the early 90's BBS era.... :)

I played Tdome back in the day, plus some others...


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By HrilL on 12/28/2009 2:36:33 PM , Rating: 3
Next people will be claiming to be hardcore at Idle RPGs in IRC. while some people do pay for a BNC for this thing that. They are not hardcore gamers because of that.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 2:49:12 PM , Rating: 2
There once was a Rogue who fell in some MUD which took him down a plume into another strange world. That world was known as Moraff's World. Moraff's World was ruled by an evil wizard and he was quite mad at some rogue... Rogue infiltrating his kingdom. To top things off that very same Rogue brought with him a MUD Golem.

The Wizard would have none of that and with no more thought he set out to have his revenge. He came upon that MUD Golem and struck him down, quite swiftly in-fact. With a thunderous @ fireball shot -> out at him his outcome was clear. The MUD Golem crumbled away into a pile of rubble revealing the consumed Rogue within. The MUD, however, was dead.

The Rogue would not have it easily as he took a swipe with his | dagger and managed to connect * with a hit. It was a perilous strike but none perilous enough. Moraff's looked at this pitiful Rogue within his world and pointed his staff hither said scoundrel and incanted a verse none too friendly. With a poof of purple smoke and the gleem of a royal orb it shot forth at said ruffian, the Rogue and struck him square. He withered quite quickly and Moraff then smiled...

For he, the great Moraff, had finally his Revenge.

The days of old were great, weren't they. :)


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By DarkElfa on 12/28/2009 3:38:44 PM , Rating: 2
...and the legend of the rent was way hard core!


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Souka on 12/28/2009 5:35:24 PM , Rating: 2
LOL +1


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Samus on 12/29/2009 12:44:06 AM , Rating: 1
ugg, i flunked grade 7 because i cut 96 days of school, most spent making bomb ass warcraft II levels to play on DWANGO.

there were only 168 days in the school year so I had it coming. parents? don't ax.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By mmatis on 12/28/2009 4:05:03 PM , Rating: 3
And Danni Ashe is hardcore about something else...


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By bighairycamel on 12/28/2009 4:47:21 PM , Rating: 2
...being chubby and old. Nowadays anyway.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By jconan on 12/28/2009 9:14:24 PM , Rating: 2
but she's quite business savvy and probably has much more assets than most people.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By ipay on 12/28/2009 12:06:21 PM , Rating: 2
The majority of EVE players, especially those who PVP, would strongly disagree with your statement.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 12:24:27 PM , Rating: 2
I have never played EVE but from what I gather from those who I know that play the game, I can surmise that it does require a bit more skill than the average MMO. Average would include those in the category of WoW, Everquest, Star Wars etc. Eve as I take it is a lot like the X series, just online--combined with Tradewars.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By ClownPuncher on 12/28/2009 12:45:22 PM , Rating: 4
You are missing the important point, the picture of the girl licking the PSP is win.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By callmeroy on 12/31/2009 9:25:30 AM , Rating: 2
I have to say I never thought I'd ever wish for my "junk" to be a PSP.....


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Josh7289 on 12/28/09, Rating: -1
RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Hieyeck on 12/28/09, Rating: 0
By SavagePotato on 12/28/2009 1:15:16 PM , Rating: 2
Most people just hate uptight assholes that think they are better than everyone, go figure.

It's more of a normal human versus uptight asshole human thing than a hardcore versus casual thing.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Motoman on 12/28/2009 1:18:28 PM , Rating: 2
I think you've got it backwards.

Any time I see someone fly off the handle when any such topic comes up, its a "1337 hardcore" gamer doing the screaming.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Josh7289 on 12/29/2009 8:01:16 PM , Rating: 1
I'm not sure why I got downvoted while people with similar thoughts were not.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By SavagePotato on 12/28/2009 12:57:06 PM , Rating: 2
Isn't human nature fun. Two separate posts in the same thread from people with their noses out of joint over who is more "hardcore".

You are still a game playing nerd like all the others, there's nothing hardcore about it. Because your thumbs are moving a little faster while you sit on your ass for large amounts of time in front of a screen it doesn't somehow elevate you above an MMO gamer.

I play all kinds of games too, maybe a bit less than I used to, however I don't have any self delusions that I am participating in some kind of extreme sport by playing games.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 1:23:51 PM , Rating: 5
<nerdfight>

Whoa whoa whoa hold on there Mr. Potatohead. ;)

quote:
Because your thumbs are moving a little faster


Thumbs? Thumbs!? The games I mentioned are Computer games. Step off knave, before I railgun you after bouncing you into the air with a well-timed rocket. :P

I scoff at the concept of being called a contemptible console gamer.

I wouldn't call e-gaming a "extreme sport" by any stretch of the means but I certainly would call some FPS leagues and some RTS leagues/ladders equivalent to that of a sports league. They _do_ require both high amounts of motor skills and great degrees of intelligent thought, planning, positioning and execution. Far more than the majority of MMO's require (which typically only require you to lazily quick, not make split-second e-life or e-death decisions every tenth of a millisecond).

quote:
You are still a game playing nerd like all the others


Correct! And I'm proud of my nerdiness. :) I wear my wife-given nickname of "dork" with pride.

</nerdfight>


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 1:25:44 PM , Rating: 2
quick=click. :(


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By SavagePotato on 12/28/09, Rating: -1
RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 2:27:42 PM , Rating: 2
quote>Thanks for being a good case study example of the person who thinks they are far more special than they are for playing video games.

*pulls of Mr. Potatohead's hairdo and puts on a thinking cap*

There. Now perhaps you can see the nerd humor I tried to bleed onto the pages of DT for all to see in my previous post. :)

I never said I'm more special than yourself or others, I simply added fuel to the PC Snob versus Console gamer fight. I'm a dork, just like yourself.

It is quite commonplace in the annals of gamer history for a rivalry to exist between the PC and Console gamer tribes.

But, don't get too carried away:

quote:
Speaking of said tournament it reminds me of the first year I went when these two fat nerds decided to throw down and try to have a fistfight over quakeworld, it was funny as hell to all the more normal people.


In our little culture, the words "normal people" and a "gaming convention" full of geeks don't go together. Whatever you do, do not deny your nerddom. Once you accept it and embrace it, the world opens up, the skies become blue and life gets quite a bit better.

The need to worry whether you are normal or not just drifts away in a beautiful wisp of pastel blue and white, lofting up into the clouds only to be joined by the subtle beating of the bird's wings, free once more.

I once had another nerd-friend tell me once he was "normal" (I have lots of nerd friends, some more at one with themselves than other nerds) and I saw quite a bit of humor in it. For him, "normal" is subjective to his own little paradise as by any stretch of the term, in the eyes of my other nerd-friends, he was less normal than the rest of the lot.

Which reminds me, should there be some sort of nerd-heirarchy? Kind of like a pyramid of nerd-normalness that all geeks can strive to be a part of? Hmm... that makes me think a little more...

Remember kids, just because you're a geek, doesn't mean that you're normal compared to the rest of the geeks. You're still a geek no matter what way you look at it. :)


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By SavagePotato on 12/28/09, Rating: -1
RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By Belard on 12/28/2009 2:20:25 PM , Rating: 3
I agree with you on that. MMO/RPGs do require different thinking skills than plain shooters. I like playing Supreme Commander, controlling hundreds of combat units, air craft, tanks, ships - resources, tactics, etc. You can win or lose a battle at any time... sometimes by something stupid or how the cookie crumbles.

But most MMORPGs is going around, killing little things and leveling up to kill bigger things. Since my ex played this stuff too much online, she'd get on my nerves. I saw little to no skill other than social playing... fine, sure.

Otherwise, shed spend so much timing killing stupid monstars all day. Click NPC, click weapon or potion - rinse and repeat. If dying, team-mate heals you. Rinse and repeat. If I did that EVERY day, I'd be a grand-master level 95 elf warrior eventually or whatever useless title.

But I also find achievements in FPS to be kind of silly. To me, skill is in the ability to head shot your enemy, work as an ACTUAL team to fight and win in DM, CTF or vehicles. Your skill to NOT fall of the edge of a building, the speed to duck behind a wall when a big weapon goes BOOM... the fun of leaving a trap on a map. Or jumping off a manta (UT2004) while it slides into a group of several enemy players and wiping them out, etc. Such games require reflexes, thinking and team work.

Of course, even brain-dead game like Serious Sam is fun too :)


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 2:54:34 PM , Rating: 3
I agree with you on the achievements. I actually find them quite lame in Team Fortress 2. So much that I haven't even bothered with them. It is kind of funny, if you look up my profile I don't have even half of them (and those that I have I randomly got).

As you put it best, it is the

quote:
reflexes, thinking and team work


That matter most.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By HrilL on 12/28/2009 3:15:42 PM , Rating: 2
I completely agree. I realized I had 120 or so out of 300+ now days. Achievements are for people that need a way to feel successful without actually being good.

I never tried to get them. The ones I have I got from just playing and owning kids.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By rudy on 12/28/2009 3:36:09 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe it is true but it is the way everything is going. Look not everyone log the time and mental or monetary input to become a great 1v1 player. And the fact is the vast majority of gamers are just casual gamers. They do it to relax and have fun and do not want to be stressed out in the process. Any game that gives a gamer more achievable goals will give more gamers something to do and will hold on to more of them. Eventually all the true skill games like Quake, HLDM, UT will lose funding. I have played many unconventional sports like gaming, and paintball and in every one of them you have to respect the casual gamer because they are the ones who really make it all happen. More of them = more money and thats what it is really about.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By HrilL on 12/28/2009 2:34:19 PM , Rating: 2
while I think you needed my rating up I feel the need to comment.

I have to agree with you mostly.

Hardcore gamers push games to their limits they try new things they learn to move faster they learn tricks to make things happen faster like in SC you build a supply depot next to your gas to make the SCVs go in a strait line instead of a rounded one. Every little advantage you can use and take you use.

It seems like most people play games like clones. They don't try to learn new things and do things out of the ordinary. They just do what they saw other players do. This is Not make you a hardcore gamer just because you spent more hours playing a game.

When I was younger and a hardcore gamer my friend would sometime play the same games as me and for more hours but I'd always be better and know different tricks and moves that they didn't even know you could do. Some may have been glitches like the flying drone that no longer works damn blizzard for their updating. had a sunken in their base before they even had a spawning pool finished. It is things like that that make you hardcore.

Spending time in a game to talk to people does not make you hardcore it makes you lonely and you should probably go outside and make sure friends you can physically do something with.

Doing something that everyone else does doesn't make you hardcore. It makes you average. Spending a lot of time makes you dedicated but it doesn't make you hardcore. Remember that.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By HighWing on 12/28/2009 2:43:23 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
but the level of skill required to play the average MMO such as WoW or Evercrap is pretty weak.


From your statement I will assume you have never played any MMO at great length and/or reached any endgame content. While I wont argue with you that starting any MMO requires very little skill, that is however how they are designed. The easier it is to start, the more likely a player will continue with the game. But most, if not all, do get harder as you move up towards endgame content. And a quick chat with any MMO Endgame player will tell you that there is much skill involved to keep a party from dying over and over.

On another note, I know many RTS and RPG gamers who would easily argue that there is no real skill involved in fast FPS games such as Halo and UT.

In essence all I am saying is it's a matter of your perspective and what you are used to playing.

Also, a "Hardcore" gamer is really just someone who takes their gaming seriously, regardless of their choice of gaming genre and/or time spent on one/other games. Would you not agree that many tournament poker players are indeed "hardcore" poker players? Yet many of them either only play poker and might not even play it that often. The difference is their conviction to the game. That is what makes a player Hardcore.


RE: There is nothing hardcore...
By callmeroy on 12/31/2009 9:22:47 AM , Rating: 1
Why Mr. Blastman was rated down for what he typed is quite amusing to me (sorry I'm late on this topic - I was off the past week today's my first day back to work -- I never use this site when I'm off)....why, well I'm about as much a PC gamer as you can get -- playing computer games is the longest running "hobby" I've ever had -- about 25 years now and counting..

FPS games, RTS games, hell some of my fav times of all was text adventure games (Infocom was the master at those!)...these days I still do FPS and RTS , but I'm quite hooked on RP and MMO type games as well -- logging on a week to week average basis probably 25-30 hours (based on 7 day week not 5 day). Some times i don't play much at all though -- like I was off the last 7 days, I only played a total of 8 hours in the last 7 days.

Anyway the "funny" part is I've been playing WoW for the last 5 years, and I agree with it not being hard core these days. Also if you play WoW -- unless your server is special , on two I play on the players themselves are constantly saying the game is too easy now.

I tend to agree with them too -- gearing up and completing new content has never been easier in the history of the game than it is right now. Save for maybe the new ICC 25 man instance which offers some challenge but even then that's been out for just about a month and our guild cleare d it already.

Anyway - I have fun with the game because I like the storyline (I read the books) and there's good people I've known for years now and we shoot the shit all the time in Vent.


By MrPoletski on 1/4/2010 4:53:48 AM , Rating: 2
WHERE IS MY STARCRAFT 2?!?!?!? :C


Hm...
By amanojaku on 12/28/2009 11:22:15 AM , Rating: 3
Logging hours online is not the same as being a hard core gamer. It's every straight man's wet dream to find a hot woman who loves video games, comics, cartoons and anything with large explosions. I'm seeing one now, and she tipped me off to a few things.

A large number of people, many of them women, don't play games for the sake of kicking ass. They'll pay for a character that's already leveled up and then join a group to do stuff with. Half the time they don't care about the game objectives, they're just looking for after work friends. Have you ever been to a town in WoW? I've gone grinding and come back to see the same people sitting around hours later! Also, if you look at the stats a lot of people just aren't that good, or just aren't trying. At 54 my character has completed more objectives than some 70's, in some cases three times as many! And most people want to join groups. I like to solo because it's harder. Of course, you can't solo everything, but that's part of the challenge.

I dunno, I think this survey could use some more work.




RE: Hm...
By Motoman on 12/28/2009 11:28:33 AM , Rating: 2
...so your point is that some people are incorrectly enjoying WoW and incorrectly getting the value from their money they pay for it?

That's funny...I thought the point of gaming was to enjoy the time you spent playing it. Not living up to someone else's expectations of what you should or shouldn't be doing while online.


RE: Hm...
By jonmcc33 on 12/28/2009 12:12:45 PM , Rating: 2
If they are paying $15 per month to socialize then maybe they (somehow) aren't aware of Facebook?


RE: Hm...
By quiksilvr on 12/28/2009 12:32:12 PM , Rating: 2
Thanks to WoW, it wouldn't surprise me at all that Starcraft 2 will require a monthly subscription fee.


RE: Hm...
By theslug on 12/28/2009 12:57:22 PM , Rating: 2
Starcraft 2 is not an MMO.


RE: Hm...
By quiksilvr on 12/28/2009 3:51:22 PM , Rating: 2
Do you honestly think that's gonna stop them? They already split the game into three pieces (complete BS). And with the obsessive fan base, it would be dumb for them NOT to charge a monthly fee.


RE: Hm...
By HrilL on 12/28/2009 4:16:14 PM , Rating: 2
If there is a monthly fee I will not be playing this game. Never will I ever do a pay to play game. I'll pay once and maybe buy an expansion but I will not do a monthly fee. I think a lot of people agree with me.


RE: Hm...
By bighairycamel on 12/28/2009 4:59:37 PM , Rating: 2
Yep. Add to the fact they took away LAN based play, having to pay to use battle.net would be a stiff kick to the junk. Blizzard is still adamant that there will be no fee. Of course, some people think they say this till the day it launches when they announce it costs to much to run servers and they "reluctantly" have to charge fees.

We'll see.

I'm calling it now though... Blizzard says their working on a new MMO (non WoW), and they're seperating SC into 3 games to focus on story and gameplay. My guess is they are building a lore with heroes like they did with Warcraft, and someday we'll see a SC based MMO. God I hope not.


RE: Hm...
By Etsp on 12/28/2009 5:05:42 PM , Rating: 2
They claim that the new MMO will be a completely new IP (Intellectual Property), so it shouldn't be related to anything that they've done before.


RE: Hm...
By MrPoletski on 1/4/2010 4:57:14 AM , Rating: 2
IMO, if you want to see how starcraft 2 will be structured release wise and payment wise then look at Dawn of war 2, but take away the DLC.

First SC2 campaign terran, next 'release' will be zerg/protoss, just like the chargable chaos rising expansion for DOW2.


RE: Hm...
By rburnham on 12/28/2009 7:25:54 PM , Rating: 2
How would they justify charging subscription fees for people who only play the single player campaign?


RE: Hm...
By Reclaimer77 on 12/29/2009 9:27:04 AM , Rating: 2
Look, dumbass, this has been discussed into the ground. Starcraft 2 will NOT be pay to play. It will NOT be an MMO. End of discussion.


RE: Hm...
By amanojaku on 12/28/2009 12:14:28 PM , Rating: 2
You missed my point, which is funny since it was the first sentence.
quote:
Logging hours online is not the same as being a hard core gamer.
"Hardcore" means dedication, but in the case of gaming it's more than that. A hardcore gamer typically has a higher level of skill when compared to his/her casual peers. This is because the gamer spends all of his/her gaming time trying to accomplish goals and usually gets good at it. Like when Quake 1 came out and I was killing people with an axe while they had rocket launchers and lightning guns. Or taking on several people at once and walking away with victory.

Tallying the hours logged in doesn't say anything about what the person was doing. The only game I know of where you're supposed to socialize is the Sims Online. Hardcore gamers are usually trying to out-kill, out-steal, out-drive, out-fly, etc... the competition based on the game's design. I don't care if people want to play <insert game of your choice> just to socialize. They aren't "hardcore" if that's not the point of the game.


RE: Hm...
By sbtech on 12/28/2009 12:43:54 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
when Quake 1 came out and I was killing people with an axe while they had rocket launchers and lightning guns

Good Lord! Which country do you live in?


RE: Hm...
By Hieyeck on 12/28/2009 12:51:17 PM , Rating: 2
Must be somewhere in Europe, they were never very good at FPSs.

Which ironically proves the point. Their leagues are larger and they definitely have more hours put into the games, but none of them are particularly spectacular...


RE: Hm...
By Motoman on 12/28/2009 1:20:42 PM , Rating: 1
My point is that your point is without merit. You aren't the one who gets to define what is or isn't a "hardcore" gamer.

Someone who spends every waking hour playing, I don't know, Solitaire on their PC is as "hardcore" about it as people who spend every waking hour playing HALO and whatever else.


RE: Hm...
By MrBlastman on 12/28/2009 3:55:43 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
My point is that your point is without merit. You aren't the one who gets to define what is or isn't a "hardcore" gamer.


He doesn't, but you do?


RE: Hm...
By Motoman on 12/29/2009 9:42:11 AM , Rating: 2
The author of this article clearly used the term in reference to hours devoted to the game. And then we have fanbois freaking out about how "that's not teh hardcore like us l33t bastards!"

GTF over it. And yourselves.


RE: Hm...
By Proxes on 12/28/2009 1:56:22 PM , Rating: 2
I'm sorry but people sitting in Dalaran for hours doing "anal [Insert Skill Name Here]" and Murloc movie name jokes aren't exactly socializing.


RE: Hm...
By seamonkey79 on 12/28/2009 4:07:32 PM , Rating: 2
/leave 1
/leave 2
/leave 3
/leave 4
/leave 5


RE: Hm...
By Belard on 12/28/2009 2:06:33 PM , Rating: 2
Just because its a girl or woman playing a game, doesn't mean she is HOT.

And while I don't have anything too personal against MMOs - its business. Anyone who spends 30~60 whatever hours online a week playing games doesn't get out much.

Gotten in fights with my ex about that crap, since there were more important things for her to do.

In most MMO games - while if they really are in an actual battle, there is no real skill other than know what to buy and what your group consists of. Otherwise, its just a 3D Myspace game... perhaps they should just play Second Life?


RE: Hm...
By Reclaimer77 on 12/29/2009 10:24:16 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
In most MMO games - while if they really are in an actual battle, there is no real skill other than know what to buy and what your group consists of. Otherwise, its just a 3D Myspace game... perhaps they should just play Second Life?


Please, don't drag your personal feeling about your ex into this. This paragraph is a gross misrepresentation of the facts of MMO gaming. Gearing and group composition is only a part of the story. You still have to execute the proper strategy and perform your role with at least a minimal level of competence.

I'm sorry but I have played FPS's probably longer than some of you have had hair on your nuts, and it's not the Holy Grail of gaming that you kids are making it out to be. "Twitch" skill, believe it or not, exists in other games besides just FPS's. Tell the Rogue that has to pull eight thousand DPS on a boss, as well as interrupting his cast with a one second, yes ONE second window, that he doesn't have twitch skill. If he fucks up, 25 other people DIE. Tell the healer who has to juggle 25 health bars and make split decisions with the weight of those lives on his shoulders that he doesn't have skills. Go pull up some vids on the PVP tournaments and tell me that's "3D Myspace" you asshole. Sure it's not Quake, but it's far from Second Life.

I know the rush of being jacked up on Mountain Dew and running through a map with a gun "owning" people. But so what ? That doesn't give you guys the right to label everyone who doesn't do that and hurl silly insults at them. Helloo !? These are VIDEO GAMES. Period. If you applied the same standards to yourselves as you apparently do to MMO players, you would realize you sink just as much time into them and sacrifice just as much personal life.


RE: Hm...
By MrPoletski on 1/4/2010 5:11:16 AM , Rating: 2
wow is a cuddly teddy bear game that belongs on a nintendo IMHO, but I just dont like it.

You want a MMO that's gonna rack your brains for the correct stratagem then play EVE. For a start, when you get your butt kicked in EVE you stand to lose a LOT - potentially everything.


This is just one game
By lagitup on 12/28/2009 1:04:33 PM , Rating: 2
31 years old is the mean because every-fricking-body who plays evercrack started as a kid!

Seriously, though, when I play on tf2 I can count the average number of girls in a 32 player server on one hand. Admittedly, there may be quite a few others who just don't use voice, but from the recent games I've played everything except Hello Kitty Island Adventures seems rather male-dominated...




RE: This is just one game
By HrilL on 12/28/2009 3:04:40 PM , Rating: 3
probably because you play fast games that require some real effort and skill. FPS and RTS type games turn girls off because they have to suck and start at the bottom of the average skill of a a games players. This discouraged me at some points when getting into new games but you suck it up and get better and then you're someone doing the dominating in a game. This alone makes girls less likely to play because they get no satisfaction from getting it handed to them. MMOs allow people that suck at video games and a lot of times at life as well to feel successful at something and they is probably why the get addicted because that's the only thing in life they feel successful at even if they still suck at the game.


RE: This is just one game
By Reclaimer77 on 12/29/2009 10:29:06 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
probably because you play fast games that require some real effort and skill. FPS and RTS type games turn girls off because they have to suck and start at the bottom of the average skill of a a games players.


Shows how much you know about women...

Here's a thought ; maybe running around with a gun shooting other people over nothing more than a temporary objective just doesn't appeal that much to the opposite sex ??

Nahhh. It must be because they all "suck".

quote:
MMOs allow people that suck at video games and a lot of times at life as well to feel successful at something and they is probably why the get addicted because that's the only thing in life they feel successful at even if they still suck at the game.


lol right. And I'm sure all the "ZOMFG you got PWNZOREdD !!! " kiddies aren't overcompensating for something either, right ?


RE: This is just one game
By HrilL on 12/29/2009 12:14:57 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Shows how much you know about women... Here's a thought ; maybe running around with a gun shooting other people over nothing more than a temporary objective just doesn't appeal that much to the opposite sex ?? Nahhh. It must be because they all "suck".


I've learned quite a bit about women by dating quite a few and also being friends with many. I don't claim to be an expert by any means though. I used to know a few that played shooters and honestly once they got decent to good they really enjoyed shooting people in their heads. Who doesn't like the feeling of power over someone else? I'm not saying that not feeling successful discourages all of them but it does in general from what I can tell.

quote:
lol right. And I'm sure all the "ZOMFG you got PWNZOREdD !!! " kiddies aren't overcompensating for something either, right ?


I can only speak for myself and my life has gone really well. Finished school for the most part have a great job. Had a great Girlfriend but sometimes things just don't work out. Suck it up and move on. Overall I still game because it makes me feel good and it takes up time that I'd normally be watching TV.

While I have to agree that some people do overcompensate with gaming because they lack other things in life. Like having a relationship because really they're too damn wussy to actually ask someone out. Their fear of rejection overpowers everything else. So they avoid those kinds of interactions by playing games.


RE: This is just one game
By mmatis on 12/28/2009 4:08:29 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe you only THINK they're male.


RE: This is just one game
By mmatis on 12/28/2009 4:10:55 PM , Rating: 2
Just like you thought "She" was only 18 the other day...


OMG!
By Oobu on 12/28/2009 10:53:54 AM , Rating: 2
That is so hot!




RE: OMG!
By SavagePotato on 12/28/2009 1:10:12 PM , Rating: 3
You still won't be getting any, so don't get excited.


Sample size too small
By Sylar on 12/28/2009 11:49:44 AM , Rating: 3
If the sample size is only 7000 people, then they polled at best around the neighborhood of 2 females and all it takes is one freak outlier and blamo you get skewed results. =P




RE: Sample size too small
By Chernobyl68 on 12/28/2009 12:27:00 PM , Rating: 2
not much knowledge of stats I suppose


This article lies.
By CurseTheSky on 12/28/2009 12:42:39 PM , Rating: 5
There are no females on the Internet. Everyone knows that.




Actually
By VultureTX on 12/28/2009 10:50:40 AM , Rating: 2
The women did not usually "underreport" their online time. It was their male bf/partner/husband/roomie using their account to solicit from other male players or just be a mule for them that used all those hours ;)

/Seriously ever noticed how some accounts seem schizo, friendly & talkative on a raid and then voice off and short replies the next time you log. Then a couple of days later back to the original account owner.




RE: Actually
By HrilL on 12/28/2009 2:57:47 PM , Rating: 2
heh I used to run into this is Diablo. But people would be honest about it for the most part and say they're using their friends account or they gf's not home or on right now.

But overall I think the stats are probably correct. I know a lot of girls that play games a lot. My brother who is into MMOs has met quite a few really hot girls playing. I've seen them in person so I know they're hot but possibly socially awkward while dealing with people face to face.


heh
By TSS on 12/28/2009 11:30:46 AM , Rating: 2
Step on the e-penis of a lot of guys why don't you jason :P

i'll keep it short:

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=282




RE: heh
By mmatis on 12/28/2009 4:06:46 PM , Rating: 2
That's what SHE said...


By alpensiedler on 12/28/2009 11:50:14 AM , Rating: 4
take a look at what the guys are spending the extra time on. playing mmorpgs cuts into porn time.




Who Cares
By jtcartboy on 12/28/2009 1:29:12 PM , Rating: 2
Girls are more social so that is why the MMO RPG is so popular for them. Guys are more destructive unless you are some sort of pansy so we like games where stuff goes bang and boom. I would call myself a casual gamer. I take flack from guys on Modern Warfare 2 because I use grenade launchers. Think of it in real life if I have a grenade launcher and another guy is dumb enough to try to shoot at me with a rifle it is his own fault.

It is all funny, these are games they are for fun.




RE: Who Cares
By HrilL on 12/28/2009 3:10:25 PM , Rating: 2
heh used to be that guy complaining but most of the time never complaining and still owning you with a pistil to your face. I used to play Counter-Strike Srouce and played in leagues was pretty damn good. None the less going to a public server you can dominate noobs with their horrid reaction times with a few shots to their face before they could even get a shot off. It made me feel good to own people like that but it took some real dedication. Played on average 4-8 hours a night or so. That was my life outside of school. It was like a job. If you didn't show up you'd get kicked out of your clan just like if you don't show up to your job you get fired.


Surprise?
By smartalco on 12/28/2009 4:44:09 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
There were many surprises in the results. First, the gaming wasn't dominated by kids -- in fact the average age was 31.

This isn't surprising. This has been known for at least 5 years. Get with the times.




RE: Surprise?
By Chaser on 12/29/2009 7:33:03 AM , Rating: 2
Trying conducting the study from 7000 WoW players.


Depends on the game..
By StraightCashHomey on 12/28/2009 10:54:46 AM , Rating: 1
I'm willing to bet that the player base varies quite a bit across the MMORPG world. I played FFXI for about 6 years before I quit and sold all of my stuff for $4,700. There were quite a few females that played the game, but it was very rare to see any of them equipped with the elite gear.

I considered myself a hardcore player for a couple of those years, but I did know all of the hardest of the hardcore players on my server. I can only think of 2 or 3 females out of hundreds that would log ridiculous hours, set their alarm clocks for timed spawns in the middle of the night, give out cell phone numbers for the group to contact them in the case of a lottery spawn, etc.

If I had to guess, I'd say the average player age for FFXI is somewhere around 25-27.. just based on the crowd that I knew. WoW seems to have a much younger player base, but maybe that's just a stereotype.




RE: Depends on the game..
By UNHchabo on 1/4/2010 2:18:38 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
If I had to guess, I'd say the average player age for FFXI is somewhere around 25-27.. just based on the crowd that I knew. WoW seems to have a much younger player base, but maybe that's just a stereotype.


I don't know about now, but back in the early days of WoW, one of my friends looked at the graph showing when people were logged into the server he played on. It was quite interesting: on average the Horde players started trickling onto the server at around 10AM, with a big peak in the evening, then trickling back down starting at around 10PM, to around 4AM. Meanwhile, on average the Alliance players weren't on much during the morning and early afternoon; there was a huge spike at around 2:30 or 3PM (when school gets out), then a sizable temporary drop at around 6 or 7 (dinnertime), and a huge drop at around 10 or 11PM (bedtime).

He came to the conclusion that the Horde was mostly filled with college students, and the Alliance with high school kids (or younger).


And while it probably holds true...
By Motoman on 12/28/2009 11:26:54 AM , Rating: 1
...that, like their male counterparts, many (most?) gamer girls are not exactly supermodel material, some are (see many girl video game teams out there on the web).

Here's a few bits that are prolly NSFW...but knock yerself out.

http://hawtness.com/tag/video-games/




By stratosrally on 12/28/2009 9:18:46 PM , Rating: 2
Asia Carrera: Unreal Tournament player, skin-designer, and server-hostess...

and plenty hardcore she was, in more ways than one. I always thought she was quite attractive, as well!


poles
By omnicronx on 12/28/2009 11:24:30 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
The sample group was quite large, consisting of responses from 7,000 logged in players.
Really if the source can't be more specific than this, its not news worthy. This could mean many things, from asking logged in players directly (in which you are far more likely to have those more involved in the game respond) to it being totally random. Until we know this, this information is useless and doesn't prove anything as in the first case you would be far more likely to have hardcore gamers respond, regardless of sex.

I'm getting sick and tired of these DT stories that have no real scientific value.




Kitchen?
By Yawgm0th on 12/28/09, Rating: 0
RE: Kitchen?
By HrilL on 12/28/2009 3:12:37 PM , Rating: 2
Like having a boyfriend? The same can be said about a lot of male gamers...


By Chaser on 12/28/2009 2:02:21 PM , Rating: 2
Notice the study is more "hours" not more players. Easy answer there. Most MMO chick players get far more attention in an MMO than they could ever get anywhere else. Most being the key word.




This is why
By AliShawkat on 1/1/2010 8:43:11 AM , Rating: 2
All the girls who I've seen talk about games publicly are obese




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