[MUD-Dev] RE: Value of PvP avatars (was: To Kill an Avatar)

[katie at stickydata.com]

[Robert Lemos wrote]

> Has anyone studied whether men are more likely to buy a character
> through an auction than women? That is, are men more of the
> achiever mindset (which I would think by definition would be more
> likely to buy a character) than women? If so, that could also
> explain the heightened competition, and thus heightened price, of
> male characters.

Well, as a female, I must say that the only people I have ever seen
who have purchased other characters at auction have been male.  I,
and my (female) friend and playmate (for lack of a better word)
actually do own an account that once belonged to another person, but
we took it over without payment in either direction, mostly because
the person who had it before us could not keep it up any longer.

I can't vouch for Nick Yee's statistical authority (as an oft-token
female, it's probably appropriate that I be terrible at basic math,
which I am :) - I'm assuming you are familiar with his work, if not,
the url is nickyee.com - but I can at least vouch for the fact that
his studies ring fairly true in terms of my experiences.  There are
several demographic observations he makes that are particularly
relevant, at least to me.  Notably, that women are more likely to
have fewer but higher-level characters, are much more likely to be
playing with a partner, and are more likely to lead guilds.

When I was reading his studies, I mused to my boyfriend (who I do
play with, but it was actually I who introduced the game, which is
demographically unusual) why it might be that women have fewer but
higher characters, and as I was doing so it seemed to me,
personally, that of course women might become more attached to their
avatars - but that is not the key reason, at least that's not what I
think.  I think that men - at least the gamers I know - are much,
much more concerned with having the "best" character - following the
"best" template at the moment, leveling more quickly, getting more
stuff, etc.  The women I know are rarely concerned with this at
all. I think that due to this, males have a greater tendency to
start new characters in search of the one that is the "best."  Once
they have selected the one they feel is the "best," I have seen them
become at least as attached, psychologically, as women do to their
characters - but they spend more time on a trial period than females
do.

This would also relate to the auction concept.  Not many female
players I know would buy an EBay character - not because they didn't
think the character was good, but because that "goodness" doesn't
matter much.  To me, it would absolutely be a waste of money.  I
don't care about how excellent the toon is.  I like mine just fine.
And most of the gamer females I know feel pretty much the same.
They might consider a character on auction, but probably not for
long.

Additionally - and this, more than any of the above, is VERY
subjective - I do believe that women have a greater "I want to do it
myself" urge than men.  The men I know - in life and in games - tend
more towards the quickest route between A and B, whereas the women I
know wouldn't want to do something like buy a character simply
because they would consider it "not their own accomplishment."  I
know that is a huge reason for myself, and many other females I
know.  I see it as, um, I guess the best word would be "wussy" - a
copout, a lame way to go.

Now, what I think would be a GREAT study would be to look at how
many females versus males created and followed through on characters
that were considered "gimped."  I would also love to see an analytic
psychological comparison - with statistical significance - of female
gamers versus female non-gamers, since I have witnessed, per capita,
far more traditionally male-identified characteristics among gamer
females than among non-gamer females.

Katie
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