Friday, July 8, 2016

Men are NOT better than women at video games: Gender has no role in ability, girls just spend less time playing, says study


A Long gender stereotype date was that men are better than women at the computer games.


Dr Cuihua Shen of the University of California, and Dr. Rabindra Ratan, Michigan State University, conducted a study to unders tand if men collect video games more quickly than women.


The pair explained the results of their study in an article for the conversation.



Although women now make up almost half of all video game players, the gaming community remains, in some ways, hostile toward women. There's also the long-held stereotype that men are simply better gamers than women

Although women now represent nearly half of all video game players, the community of the game is, in some ways hostile to women. There is also the long-standing stereotype that men are simply better players than women




How to study?



The researchers examined whether men really are better players than women and this led the performance gap between the sexes.


Specifically, they wanted to compare how quickly men and women leveled massively multiplayer online (MMO) that are online worlds where thousands of players are developing characters , make friends, join groups, quests and slay dragons together.


If men are actually better players than women, they should progress to higher levels in the same amount of playing time.


But if they do not progress faster, this finding would disprove one of the most common stereotypes that still exist in the gaming community.




Although women now represent nearly half of all video game players, the community of the game remains in some ways, hostile to against women.


For example, gamergate controversy, which began in 2014 and involved a campaign of harassment against prominent gamers women, journalists and designers, reflects a current long underlying misogyny and sexism in the community.


in some cases, those who challenged sexism found themselves threatened with rape and death.


There is also the long-standing stereotype that men are simply better players than women.


Women players are often seen as incompetent players who are not really interested in games but fall for attention.


If a female player does not play well, it is often derided as a hacker – someone who cheats to gain advantage – ‘. There is no way that a girl can be good “because


In a recent study, we decided to examine whether men really are better players than women and if so, what made the difference in performance between the sexes.


Specifically, we wanted to compare the speed with which men and women leveled massively multiplayer online (MMO) that are online worlds where thousands of players are developing characters, make friends, join groups, quests and slay dragons complete set.


If men are actually better players than women, they should progress to higher levels in the same amount of playing time.


But if they do not progress faster, this finding would disprove one of the most common stereotypes that still exist in the gaming community.



One of the Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games involved in the study was EverQuest II (pictured). MMOS are online worlds where thousands of players develop characters, make friends, join groups, complete quests and slay dragons together

one of massively multiplayer online games (MMO) involved in the study was EverQuest II (photo). MMOs are online worlds where thousands of players are developing characters, make friends, join groups, quests and dragons kill all




GENRE no role



Contrary to the stereotype, the researchers found the sex player itself does not cause differences in performance.


instead, the perception of women as poor players is fueled by other factors.


For example, they found women spend less time playing together as men and chose several classes of functional traits, such as the priests, who are better members healing group to fight on their own.


When they took these factors into account in controlling statistically in the analyzes, the performance gap between the sexes has disappeared; women have progressed at least as fast as men did in the two games.


They also performed various stakeholders are interested in different aspects of MMOs, and some of these differences may correlate with sex.


There is anecdotal evidence that men tend to focus more on success in video games – upgrade quickly obtain status in the game and compete against others – while women are attracted to social interactions, whether to help other players or build long-term relationships.


This suggests that men should move faster than women.


However, we found the opposite: women have progressed at least as fast as the men did. So, taking into account the different motivations of game (we were unable to do so in the analysis of this study) probably only strengthens our conclusions.




Getting to the next level


Our research has used anonymous server data more than 10,000 men and women in two MMOs EverQuest II ‘in the US and Romance’ Knights of III ‘in China.


“We knew that the real sex of each player through their registration information into account.


When players complete quests and kill monsters in MMOs, they earn experience points.


“When experience points reaches a threshold, the player goes to the next” level “, which opens up new abilities, skills and access to new content. As with most video games, the levels indicate the progress of a player.


Naturally, players who spend a lot of time in the game are likely to reach high levels.


This is why the leveling speed up, rather than the level itself, the performance measures in our study.


Before arriving at our conclusions, we emphasize a few things that we have considered.


First, players who have reached the highest level in games were not included in our analyzes. Because the top players could not advance further, leveling their rates by up was practically nil.


We removed these players to avoid confusing our analysis, but it also means that we are not able to measure the differences between the more advanced players.


Second, our analysis recognized that the leveling rate by up slows the progress of the players. For example, it would take much more time and effort to a level 60 player for the top level of a player level 30.


Our analysis compared apples to apples in evaluating the performance of the players against others who were at the same level.


Contrary to the stereotype, we found that the player himself sex does not cause differences in performance.



The perception of women as poor gamers is fuelled by other factors. For example, we found that women spent less time playing overall than men

The perception of women as poor players is fueled by other factors. For example, we found that women spend less time playing together as men



Instead, the perception of women as poor players is powered by other factors. For example, we found that women spend less time playing together as men and chose several classes of functional traits, such as the priests, who are better members of the healing group to fight on their own.


When we took these factors into account in controlling statistically in the analyzes, the performance gap between the sexes has disappeared; women have progressed at least as fast as men did in the two games.


We also realized that the various players are interested in different aspects of MMOs, and some of these differences may correlate with sex.


There is anecdotal evidence that men tend to focus more on success in video games – upgrade quickly obtain status in the game and compete against others – while women are attracted to social interactions, whether to help other players or build long-term relationships.


This suggests that men should move faster than women.


However, we found the opposite: women grew at least as fast as the men did.


Therefore, taking into account the different motivations of game (we were unable to do so in the analysis of this study) probably only strengthens our conclusions.



Studies have shown that video games can be an important gateway to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field

studies have shown that video games can be an important gateway to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field




The Conversation




www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech



Men are NOT better than women at video games: Gender has no role in ability, girls just spend less time playing, says study

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