A study in the University of California, Davis, recently conducted ensures that women are as skilled as men in video games, specifically in the online role-playing games.
Cuihua “Cindy” Shen, an assistant communication professor, and colleagues compared the performance of thousands of players of MMORPG genre and found that, when it is taking into account the playing time, choice of character and guild membership – the difference of gender is irrelevant as far as progress is concerned.
Research in academic institutions also participated in Michigan and Illinois, which analyzed data from more than 9000 users from the game of EverQuest II , as well as 2000 players for the Chinese title Chevaliers’ Romance III.
The study, published by the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, stressed that – the difference from other research that focus on short and simple games – this analysis is the first to compare the progress between men and women over time in an online multiplayer.
In addition, the report notes that 20% of current MMORPG players are women. The researchers hope their work will help break the stereotype that men are better in video games, and encourage more women to get involved in this activity.
