Spouse play (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Using the survey Info to make real factual argument WAS: Everquest player survey with interesting points)

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

Sasha Hart wrote:
> [Olof]

> Assuming that this is a meaningful result, it is gigantic. 69.5%!!
> How to interpret this?

The number seems a bit high, but I am not all that surprised about
the difference between genders. The games are designed to attract
men (boys), women watch their spouse play, their husband is eager to
get them on (to not feel guilty about playing, to share or whatever)
and buy an extra account. Indeed I have yet to meet couples where it
is obvious that the woman spends more of her free time playing than
her husband.  I have met men that either feel lucky about having
been able to persuade their wife to play or that feel let down
because the game doesn't provide a valid and efficient non-violent
advancement path which would be less off-putting to the spouse.

(When guessing about player gender my basic heuristic is: "Is this
player getting hysterical because me chatting with him/her prevents
him/her from obtaining xp?". Or if I am new "is this player dragging
me around killing all kinds of things so I can get xp, or is this
player helping me to understand the basics?". Not reliable at all,
but there seems to be some differences out there.)

> the generalization is; when I say (with justification) that a lot
> of women play EQ to be with their S.Os, I am only half right in
> the sense that probably at least 50% of women are NOT doing so,
> even if a number ARE.

More interesting to me and something I have been thinking about for
a long time is: there is a lot of men that probably would love to
have their wife appreciate their hobby and occasionally participate
in it.  Current games are not designed for "spouse play". Group
level limits means that the man will have to level his wife's
character. No valid alternative advancement paths. No useful classes
that are easier to play up (but less powerful in terms of brute
force). Etc..

> like it less?  Seems to me that EQ is a girl game as much as it is
> a boy game, that is, to the girls who are in there...

I found the following quote problematic: "In essence, I feel that
most EQ gamers frequent EQ websites, and that a non-random sampling
of these gamers who go to websites does a good enough, though
clearly not perfect, job of representing the entire EQ player
population. And that while slight skews do exist, that my findings
would not differ significantly from a study that was able to take
random samples"

I would a priori expect player frequenting websites often enough to
become aware of a survey and also willing to take the pain of
filling out surveys to be rather involved in the game. Of course, I
am also rather sceptical about quantitative studies where people
assess themselves and put themselves on a scale. People are not good
at this!!  Why not expect gender differences in how people interpret
questions and approach surveys? Gee, all the data are ruined even
before you got started.

What really bugs me about the site is that there is no real
analysis, just some averages of individual variables. Does the fact
that women are less willing to sell their characters tell me
anything?  I do need to know something about the correlation between
personal finances variables and this willingness to sell?

> If an opinion about a factual matter is one for which no
> information is available, maybe the time is not yet ripe for
> everyone to believe it without qualification. Unless the *goal* is
> a pissing contest. :)

Anyone that plays and socialize on EQ do have information on this. I
personally trust that in-depth knowledge in a smaller set of cases
more than surveys like these that tend to be shallow and hide a lot
of bias and misconceptions.

Ola.
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