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Abstract

Sex differences in the use of competitive tactics have been well established. Although many factors may contribute to these sex differences, according to social role theory (SRT), stereotypes and expectations about men's and women's typical social roles are crucial. We addressed the potential impact of social roles by studying massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), a setting where individuals represent themselves with avatars and thus enjoy the opportunity to compete without regard to the typical expectations and behaviors associated with men's and women's roles. We surveyed players via MTurk (63 women, 191 men) and Reddit (166 women, 1,326 men) regarding their frequency of engaging in five competitive behaviors and the sex and role of their primary avatar. As expected, there were reliable sex differences in competitiveness: men were more likely than women to engage in player-versus-player duels (MTurk d = 0.19; Reddit d = 0.51), do solo runs of difficult content (0.30, 0.35), and work to acquire expensive items (0.32, 0.19); women were more likely than men to seek in-game awards (−0.38, −0.36) and spend real-world money on expensive microtransactions (−0.16, −0.27). Contrary to SRT, these sex differences in forms of competitive behavior were generally unrelated to players’ chosen avatar sex or avatar role. These results instead indicate that sex differences in competitiveness largely reflect evolved predispositions.

Keywords

gender differences evolutionary psychology video games online gaming competition social role theory

There are sex differences in the use of competitive tactics. In particular, boys and men are more likely than girls and women to employ direct (face-to-face, overt) competitive acts, such as physically dominating someone or trying to win a sports contest, whereas girls and women are more likely than boys and men to use indirect or relational tactics, such as gossiping and exclusion (Benenson, 2013, 2014; Campbell, 1999; but see Archer, 2004). These sex differences apparently occur in all human societies, although evidence of universality is perhaps strong only for the use of high-stakes physical aggression (Archer, 2004; Daly & Wilson, 1990) and competitive sports (Deaner et al., 2016).

These sex differences may reflect, in part, evolved predispositions that differentially facilitated reproductive success during human evolutionary history. For instance, women's lesser use of direct tactics is likely due to the fact that physical altercations are dangerous and self-protection generally has higher fitness value for women than for men (Benenson et al., 2021; Campbell, 1999); furthermore, a reputation of physical formidability was strongly associated with achieving status and reproductive success for men, but not for women (Archer, 2009; Benenson, 2013, 2014; Campbell, 1999). Similarly, men's lesser use of exclusion may reflect that this tactic can disrupt the formation of the large male networks that are important in hunting and warfare (Benenson, 2013; McDonald et al., 2012; Van Vugt et al., 2007).

From a proximate perspective, many factors—both biological and social—may contribute to, and moderate, the typical sex differences in competitiveness. One potentially important factor is the different roles that men and women typically occupy within their society. According to social role theory (SRT), the sexual division of labor produces, through several processes, stereotypes and expectations about men's and women's differing behavior and underlying psychological dispositions (Eagly, 1987; Wood & Eagly, 2012). SRT predicts that sex differences will be smaller in societies where men and women occupy similar roles and possess similar sociopolitical power. Although evidence for this cross-societal prediction across all psychological traits is mixed (Schmitt, 2015; Wood & Eagly, 2012), the prediction is supported for interest in competitive sports (Balish et al., 2016; Deaner & Smith, 2013) and in selecting tournament (i.e., competitive) rather than piece rate payment schemes in experimental games (Booth et al., 2019; Dariel et al., 2017; Gneezy et al., 2009).

SRT is also supported by many findings indicating that, within societies, sex differences are associated with men's and women's expected roles (Blakemore et al., 2008; Wood & Eagly, 2012). In the realm of competitiveness, for example, the sex difference in selecting tournament payment schemes is smaller, or absent, when the experimental task is gender-neutral or female-typical (e.g., writing) rather than male-typical (e.g., math) (Dreber et al., 2014; Grosse et al., 2014; Günther et al., 2010; Shurchkov, 2012). In addition, researchers have directly explored the hypothesis that the saliency of individuals’ sex can affect competitive behavior. In one study (Lightdale & Prentice, 1994), individuals played a video game, and some participants believed their identity, including their sex, was known to their opponents, whereas some participants believed they were playing anonymously; men were significantly more aggressive than women when identities were known, but there was no significant sex difference when participants played anonymously. Relatedly, in experimental games, the typical sex difference in selecting competitive payment schemes is smaller, or absent, in single-sex, rather than mixed-sex, settings (Booth & Nolen, 2012; Laury et al., 2019; but see Gindi et al., 2019)

In the current study, we will further address the hypothesis that the saliency of individuals’ sex, and of their sex-typical roles, is associated with competitive behavior. Specifically, we will examine the frequency of engaging in competitive behaviors in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). In this setting, where identity can be masked, individuals may express themselves without regard to the typical expectations and behaviors associated with men's and women's roles (Haraway, 1990; Hodson & Livingstone, 2017; Plant, 1999; Turkle, 1995).

MMORPGs

MMORPGs are one of the world's most popular genre of video games. Some (e.g., World of Warcraft) have hundreds of millions of accounts and earn billions in yearly revenue (“10 Most Played MMORPGs of 2021,” 2021; Tassi, 2014; Yee, 2014). Unlike some kinds of video games (e.g., first person shooter, sports), girls and women comprise a large proportion of MMORPG players (Yee, 2014). In academic studies, generally using convenience samples of adults, 20% to 45% of MMORPG players are women (Huh & Williams, 2010; Kneer et al., 2019; Lou et al., 2013; Martey et al., 2014; Williams et al., 2009; Yee et al., 2011, 2012).

In MMORPGs, players create and represent themselves with a character avatar in a fantasy or science fiction world that persists even while players are offline (Hussain & Griffiths, 2008; Martey et al., 2014; Poels et al., 2012; Yee, 2014). Players control their avatars and undertake many activities with them, including cooperating with or competing against (e.g., fighting) other avatars, defeating non-player agents (e.g., monsters), joining guilds with other avatars, buying and selling items with in-game currency, attaining higher levels, exploring new settings, and acquiring experience points, abilities, and rewards (e.g., in-game currency, equipment, gear).

Avatars are identifiable as male or female based on several visual cues, including hair length, clothing, and body shape (Wade, n.d.; Yee, 2014). Avatars generally have additional intrinsic characteristics besides their sex, including their “race” (e.g., elf) and specialty class or role (e.g., healer). A key point is that, in most games (including the ones under investigation in the current study), an avatar's role and their race are associated with particular abilities or skills, but the avatar's sex is non-functional and purely cosmetic (Lou et al., 2013; Poels et al., 2012; Yee et al., 2011). Another crucial point is that players often represent themselves with an avatar whose sex is not the same as their own, a phenomenon sometimes called “gender bending” or “gender swapping” (Hodson & Livingstone, 2017). For instance, in a study of World of Warcraft, 29% of men's primary avatars were female and 8% of women's primary avatars were male (Yee et al., 2011). Other studies similarly report more frequent “gender swapping” by men than women (Huh & Williams, 2010; Martey et al., 2014), although some studies indicate the opposite pattern (Hussain & Griffiths, 2008; Lou et al., 2013).

The Current Study

In the current study, we test the following predictions about sex differences in competitive behaviors in MMORPGs:

Prediction 1: Across all players, averaged across avatar role and sex, men more frequently than women will engage in player-versus-player duels (hereafter duels) where one avatar attempts to defeat or kill another one. This sex difference is expected because, as predicted from an evolutionary perspective, much research indicates that men are more likely than women to use direct competitive tactics in many contexts (Archer, 2004; Benenson, 2013, 2014; Campbell, 1999; Daly & Wilson, 1990; Deaner et al., 2016). By contrast, SRT predicts that in a context where players can mask their identities, sex differences in dueling would be smaller than in a similar context where players cannot. However, because all popular MMORPGs can be played anonymously, SRT cannot offer a clear prediction about sex difference in dueling across all avatar roles and sexes. Nevertheless, if an overall sex difference did not occur in this context, it certainly could be viewed as supporting SRT.

More frequent engagement in duels by men than women has been reported in two studies of World of Warcraft. However, the sex difference was significant in one study (Yee et al., 2012) but not the other (p = .07; Yee et al., 2011), and both studies were based on the ratio of duels to other behaviors, a measurement approach that could have obscured or exaggerated sex differences. Also relevant is that previous MMORPG studies indicate that stereotypical sex differences in motivation and roles (e.g., men focusing on achievement and women focusing on maintaining social relationships) generally occur in this context (Kneer et al., 2019; Lou et al., 2013; Williams et al., 2009; Yee, 2006, 2014).

Prediction 2: Sex differences in dueling will be absent (or smaller) when men and women are represented by avatars of the same sex (e.g., men and women both represented by female avatars) rather than by avatars that match their own sex (i.e., men represented by male avatar and women represented by female avatar). This prediction follows from the logic of SRT which suggests that, in online role-playing settings where one's identity is concealed, individuals can more freely express their true preferences, and these preferences do not differ substantially in men and women (Haraway, 1990; Kneer et al., 2019; Plant, 1999; Yee, 2014). An evolutionary perspective, by contrast, predicts that sex differences will persist to a similar degree whether men and women are represented by avatars of the same sex or by avatars whose sex matches their own, because men's and women's differing preferences are not a product of social roles.

No previous study has directly tested Prediction 2, but several have reported relevant results: in EverQuest II, men's behavior was unrelated to their avatar's sex, but women who played male avatars engaged in significantly more dueling than did women who played female avatars (Huh & Williams, 2010); in World of Warcraft, men and women whose primary character was female performed more healing and engaged in less dueling than did men and women whose primary character was male (Yee et al., 2011); in World of Warcraft, men whose primary avatar was female were more similar in appearance and linguistic behavior to women whose primary avatar was female than they were to men whose primary avatar was male (Martey et al., 2014); in Fairyland Online, men and women who played with female avatars achieved levels more slowly than did individuals who played male avatars (Lou et al., 2013).

Prediction 3: Sex differences in dueling will be absent (or smaller) when men and women are represented by avatars who occupy or play the same role. A key assumption underlying this prediction is that MMORPG roles partially map onto sex-typical roles outside the game (i.e., “real life.”) (DiGiuseppe & Nardi, 2007). For instance, the healer role focuses on restoring health and protecting allies and thus seems stereotypically communal and feminine; the damage per second (DPS) role involves dealing damage to a party's targets and thus seems agentic and masculine; the tank role focuses on absorbing damage and preventing allies from being attacked and thus seems masculine. Supporting this framework is the finding that individuals’ self-rated masculinity and femininity predict the roles they choose for their avatar (Poels et al., 2012; see also DiGiuseppe & Nardi, 2007).

Prediction 3 follows the logic of SRT, which implies that once a player selects an avatar's role, which is usually stereotypically masculine or feminine, they will conform to the role's expected characteristics. As was the case for Prediction 2, an evolutionary perspective predicts that sex differences in dueling will persist even when men and women play avatars with the same role.

Conforming to a role's expected characteristics has been frequently demonstrated in online settings, where it is described as an instantiation of the Proteus effect (Ratan et al., 2020; Yee et al., 2009). There is, to our knowledge, no published research that has directly tested the prediction that sex differences in online role-playing behaviors are moderated by avatar roles.

Besides testing these three predictions with respect to duels, we will also examine them for other MMORPG behaviors that may be competitive. For example, acquiring expensive gear for one's avatar or completing difficult quests are likely ways that MMORPG players compete for status. To identify additional competitive behaviors besides duels, we will conduct a pilot study where we will ask MMORPG players to report which game-relevant behaviors are generally done by players to show off their abilities and status to other players. Then, in the main study, we will test if there are sex differences in the frequency of dueling (Prediction 1) as well as the other competitive behaviors identified in the pilot study; some of these competitive behaviors may be done more frequently by men, but others may be done more frequently by women. Finally, we will test whether any sex differences in the frequency of performing competitive behaviors are moderated by avatar sex (Prediction 2) or avatar role (Prediction 3).

Method

Research Approval

All human subjects were treated in accordance with established ethical standards. The Chair of the Human Research Review Committee at Grand Valley State University reviewed the study protocol [20-105-H] and certified it as approved and exempt from full committee review on October 23, 2019. An amendment, to recruit from MTurk, was approved on August 13, 2020.

Pilot Study: Identifying Behaviors for the Main Study

The primary purpose of the pilot study was to identify, from MMORPG players’ perspectives, behaviors that are used to compete for status (e.g., “show off” behaviors). As a first step, the second author, an experienced MMORPG player, generated a list of candidate behaviors based on their own experiences and informal conversations with other players. They also nominated potential “foil” behaviors that could be rated despite being very unlikely to be status-enhancing (e.g., “browsing game forums.”) Foil behaviors were used to encourage variable responding.

Participants in the pilot study were recruited from a gaming forum associated with a typical MMORPG (“Path of Exile”). We chose to recruit from this forum because it was the only relevant official MMORPG forum we could easily post in. Official forums generally require that anyone who posts have a game account with a leveled character, which is a security measure to discourage low-effort posts or user harassment. It is time-intensive to level a character, so only serious players of a game will meet the requirements necessary to post in the forums. The second author had frequently played the game Path of Exile, had high level characters, and thus was able to make forum posts; the second author had not previously participated in this specific forum. No compensation was offered to participants for completing the survey. A total of 38 individuals completed the study between November 2019 and January 2020.

The pilot study was described to participants as endeavoring “to collect data about social behaviors in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs).” After providing informed written consent, each participant was asked to indicate which MMORPGs they regularly play; 14 of the most popular games were listed (e.g., World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online). The participants were then asked to report their primary and secondary MMORPG, i.e., the games they play the most and/or care the most about.

Participants were then asked to rate 15 behaviors in terms of why other players engage in the behavior, particularly whether the behavior was done “to HELP PLAYERS in their guild or social group,” “to SHOW OFF their abilities/status/accomplishments to other players,” and “because IT'S FUN.” They used the following scale to rate each of these three motives for each of the 15 behaviors: Never true (1); Occasionally true (2); Sometimes true (3); Often true (4); and Always true (5). We did not analyze the items addressing fun or helping other players.

In addition, the survey asked players to indicate, with a slider from 0 to 100, “What percentage of PLAYERS in your primary game are female?” They were asked similar percentage female questions regarding avatars in their primary game, players in their guild, and avatars in their guild. We did not analyze items addressing guilds. We did not collect any demographic information, such as participant sex or age, in order to assure participants that we would fully protect their identities. This was a potential concern because participants were recruited from an official game forum where their identities were linked to their characters and forum posts. Moreover, we intended to recruit only a small number of participants which would preclude reasonably powerful demographic comparisons. The median time to complete the survey was six minutes.

Table 1 lists the behaviors included in the pilot study, and the mean rating given to each behavior as a way to SHOW OFF their abilities/status/accomplishments to other players. The mean ratings for the 15 behaviors varied from 2.61 to 4.34, but there was an obvious break between 3.55 and 3.97. Therefore, for our main studies, we considered the five behaviors with mean ratings of 3.97 and above to be show-off or competitive behaviors.

Table 1.
Mean Ratings of the Degree to Which MMORPG Behaviors are Used to Show Off.

Behavior M SD

Trade 2.61 1.05

Browse gaming forums 2.66 1.05

Help out newbies 2.76 0.94

Quest 2.95 1.14

Do group runs 2.97 0.94

Craft 3.13 1.09

Post videos and/or talk about opening boxes/loot crates 3.26 1.31

Grind 3.39 1.03

Play a difficult character/build 3.53 0.73

Do special events as quickly as possible 3.55 1.25

Spend money on expensive microtransactions 3.97 0.94

Seek awards/achievements in-game 4.03 0.88

Do solo runs of difficult content 4.11 0.83

Kill players in PVP (player-versus-player duels) 4.18 0.69

Work to acquire rare/unique/expensive items 4.34 0.75

Another result from the pilot study is that participants’ mean estimate of the percentage MMORPG players that are female was 29% (SD = 13%). In our main study (below), the actual percentage of females was close to this in the MTurk sample (25%) but not in the Reddit sample (11%). Pilot participants’ mean estimate of the percentage of MMORPG avatars that are female was 52% (SD = 20%). In the MTurk sample and the Reddit sample, 41% of avatars were female. These results collectively suggest that MMORPG players generally are aware that, as is actually the case, there are substantial numbers of female players and female avatars.

Main Study: MTurk Sample

The MTurk study occurred in August and September of 2020. Although participants have been recruited from MTurk in many previous social science studies (Hauser & Schwarz, 2016; Huff & Tingley, 2015), the current study was complicated by the fact that only a small proportion of MTurk workers could be expected to be experienced MMORPG players. Thus, if we advertised the study as only targeting experienced MMORPG players, many other MTurk workers, motivated by the financial incentive, would likely sign up despite not being MMORPG players. Therefore, we developed a brief, 5-question, multiple choice screening quiz; if participants answered all questions correctly, they were allowed to proceed to the main study. MTurk workers were paid $0.05 for participating in the screening quiz, which generally took about one minute to complete. Example screening questions were “What is a synonym for farming in MMOs?” and “Which aspect of MMOs has come under legal fire?”

Of the 3,166 individuals who started the screening quiz, 300 correctly answered all five questions; they were then automatically sent a verification code that allowed them to access the main study. Most of these (289) individuals proceeded to complete the main study, although we removed 33 suspicious responses prior to any analyses. These responses were all submitted during one 20-min period of one day, and nearly all provided the same demographic information (i.e., a 20-year old female residing in India who had a Master's degree and whose primary game was World of Warcraft.) MTurk workers were paid $0.55 for participating in the main study, which generally took three to seven minutes (Mdn = 302 s). This is a pay rate of approximately $6.50 per hour, which fell within the middle of MTurk's suggested pay range.

Men and women included in the main MTurk study were similar in demographic characteristics. For both sexes, the most frequently reported countries of current residence were the United States (42 women, 110 men), India (6, 35) and Brazil (4, 14). For both sexes, the most frequently reported primary MMORPGs were World of Warcraft (22 women, 57 men), Final Fantasy XIV (10, 26), Lord of the Rings Online (7, 5), Guild Wars 2 (6, 15), RuneScape (6, 12), and The Elder Scrolls Online (4, 24). Women (M = 19.82 h, SD = 13.62) and men (M = 19.74, SD = 13.78) did not differ in the number of hours per week they reported playing MMORPGs (M_diff = 0.08, 95% CI [−3.88, 4.03], t(251) = 0.04, p = .969; d = 0.01). Women (M = 30.48 years, SD = 7.75) and men (M = 29.76, SD = 6.69) did not differ in their currently reported age (M_diff = 0.72, 95% CI [−1.28, 2.71], t(252) = 0.71, p = .479; d = 0.10). Women (M = 18.03 years, SD = 7.23) and men (M = 16.42, SD = 5.99) did not differ in their reported age beginning to play MMORPGs (M_diff = 1.61, 95% CI [−0.20, 3.41], t(252) = 1.75, p = .081; d = 0.25). A similar percentage of women (56%) and men (66%) reported earning at least a bachelor's degree (χ²[1, N = 254] = 2.45, p = .117, V = .10). Two individuals who reported their gender as “other” were excluded from analyses.

The main study was described to participants as endeavoring “to collect data relevant to social behaviors in Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMORPGs.” After giving informed written consent, participants provided demographic information (previous paragraph). Next, participants estimated their frequency of engaging in each of the 15 behaviors assessed in the pilot study (Table 1). Each behavior was described, sometimes in greater detail than shown in Table 1, and the response options were Never (1), Occasionally (2), Sometimes (3), Often (4), and Always (5). Participants responded to several questions about guild involvement; these items were not analyzed. Participants then reported the gender of their primary and secondary avatars (Male or Female) and the role of their primary and secondary avatars. Options for role were Tank, Healer, DPS, Supportive (i.e., Buffer), Hybrid, and Other.

Main Study: Reddit Sample

The Reddit study occurred in January and February 2021, and no incentives were offered for participation. Although we refer to this as the “Reddit” sample, participants were initially recruited by the second author from a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook and official game community forums. Almost all responses (> 99%), however, came from Reddit communities (subreddits), including r/MMORPG, r/DualUniverse, r/GuildWars, r/SampleSize, r/SurveyExchange, r/Trove, r/swg, r/ClubPenguin, r/crowfall, r/ddo, r/mmo, and r/takemysurvey. The subreddit r/MMORPG yielded, by far, the most “upvotes”, with 156 people upvoting it, which suggests that most participants were recruited from this community.

Men and women in the Reddit sample were similar in demographic characteristics. For both sexes, the most frequently reported countries of current residence were the United States (68 women, 447 men), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (12, 80), Canada (10, 65), Germany (6, 63), Australia (6, 27), and the Netherlands (6, 26). For both sexes, the most frequently reported primary MMORPGs were World of Warcraft (36 women, 359 men), Final Fantasy XIV (30, 126), Guild Wars 2 (28, 151), The Elder Scrolls Online (8, 67), and Black Desert Online (6, 47); many men and women reported “Other” (43, 431), indicating that none of the 14 listed games was their primary game. Women (M = 23.05 h, SD = 16.01) and men (M = 20.88, SD = 15.84) did not differ in the number of hours per week they reported playing MMORPGs (M_diff = 2.17, 95% CI [−0.41, 4.74], t(1,475) = 1.65, p = .100; d = 0.14). Women (M = 29.87 years, SD = 8.51) and men (M = 29.11, SD = 7.57) did not differ in their currently reported age (M_diff = 0.76, 95% CI [−0.49, 2.01], t(1,475) = 1.20, p = .232; d = 0.10). Women reported beginning to play MMORPGs at an older age (M = 16.14 years, SD = 7.98) than did men (M = 13.92, SD = 6.01, M_diff = 2.21, 95% CI [1.21, 3.23], t(1,488) = 4.30, p < .001; d = 0.35). A similar percentage of women (43%) and men (49%) reported earning at least a bachelor's degree (χ²[1, N = 1,491] = 2.50, p = .113, V = .04). Thirty-seven individuals who reported their gender as “other” were excluded from analyses.

The study was described to participants in Reddit sample the same way that it was described to participants in the MTurk sample. The content of survey, including informed written consent, was the same for the Reddit sample as it was for the MTurk sample.

Analysis

We conducted all analyses with Jamovi (The Jamovi Project (Version 1.6), 2021). Study materials (surveys) and data files (Excel) are available through the Open Science Framework (OSF) at https://osf.io/m9467/. This includes all data from the pilot study and, from the main study, the frequencies of all behaviors (including non-competitive ones). Below we report inferential statistics for comparisons of men and women only if each group under comparison included at least 20 cases.

Results

Prediction 1 was that men more frequently than women would engage in duels. The results are displayed in Table 2. Supporting Prediction 1, men reported engaging in duels more often than women did, although this sex difference reached statistical significance in the Reddit sample but not the MTurk sample. As shown in Table 2, in both samples, men were significantly more likely than women to report frequently doing solo runs of difficult content and working to acquire rare/unique/expensive items. By contrast, women were more likely than men to report frequently seeking awards/achievement in-game and spending money on expensive microtransactions, although this latter difference was only significant in the Reddit sample (Table 2).

Table 2.
Frequency of Performing Competitive Behaviors in MMORPGs by Participant Sex, for All Players and by Avatar Sex.

Men Women

M SD n M SD n t p d

All Players (MTurk)

Duels 3.00 1.10 191 2.79 1.18 63 1.27 0.205 0.19

Solo Runs 3.28 0.99 191 2.98 0.96 63 2.09 0.038 0.3

Expensive Items 3.71 0.93 191 3.41 0.94 63 2.17 0.031 0.32

Awards 3.68 1.10 190 4.08 0.79 63 2.63 0.009 −0.38

Microtransactions 2.11 1.23 191 2.30 1.09 63 1.10 0.272 −0.16

All Players (Reddit)

Duels 2.69 1.30 1324 2.04 1.14 166 6.18 < .001 0.51

Solo Runs 3.18 1.12 1325 2.79 1.15 166 4.26 < .001 0.35

Expensive Items 3.64 1.02 1326 3.45 1.08 165 2.30 0.022 0.19

Awards 3.15 1.16 1325 3.58 1.13 165 4.40 < .001 −0.36

Microtransactions 1.82 0.88 1325 2.06 1.04 165 3.23 0.001 −0.27

Female Avatars (MTurk)

Duels 2.93 1.14 45 2.74 1.16 58 0.84 0.403 0.17

Solo Runs 3.20 1.04 45 2.93 0.93 58 1.38 0.170 0.28

Expensive Items 3.69 0.90 45 3.40 0.95 58 1.58 0.117 0.31

Awards 3.49 1.16 45 4.12 0.77 58 3.31 0.001 −0.66

Microtransactions 1.93 0.99 45 2.33 1.08 58 1.91 0.060 −0.38

Female Avatars (Reddit)

Duels 2.65 1.28 459 2.03 1.15 146 5.14 < .001 0.49

Solo Runs 3.12 1.12 459 2.85 1.15 146 2.55 0.011 0.24

Expensive Items 3.63 1.03 460 3.46 1.08 145 1.74 0.082 0.17

Awards 3.15 1.17 460 3.57 1.12 145 3.87 < .001 −0.37

Microtransactions 1.91 0.94 460 2.08 1.04 145 1.79 0.074 −0.17

Male Avatars (MTurk)

Duels 3.02 1.09 146 3.40 1.34 5 - - -

Solo Runs 3.31 0.98 146 3.60 1.14 5 - - -

Expensive Items 3.71 0.94 146 3.60 0.89 5 - - -

Awards 3.74 1.08 145 3.60 0.89 5 - - -

Microtransactions 2.16 1.30 146 2.00 1.22 5 - - -

Male Avatars (Reddit)

Duels 2.71 1.31 867 2.05 1.05 20 2.24 0.025 0.51

Solo Runs 3.21 1.12 868 2.35 1.14 20 3.42 < .001 0.77

Expensive Items 3.65 1.01 868 3.40 1.10 20 1.10 0.274 0.25

Awards 3.16 1.16 867 3.60 1.19 20 1.69 0.092 −0.38

Microtransactions 1.78 0.84 867 1.95 1.05 20 0.92 0.359 −0.21

Note. Hyphen indicates that small cell sizes precluded analysis.

Prediction 2 was that sex differences in dueling and other competitive behaviors would be absent (or smaller) when men and women are represented by avatars of the same sex (e.g., all players using female avatars). This prediction could be tested because many individuals, especially men, reported “gender swapping.” In the MTurk sample, 8% of women (n = 5) reported that their primary avatar was male, and 24% of men reported that their primary avatar was female (n = 45). In the Reddit sample, the respective values were 12% (women; n = 20) and 35% (men; n = 459).

We first addressed Prediction 2 by comparing men and women who reported that their primary avatar was female. As shown in Table 2 and Figure 1, and contrary to Prediction 2, the sex differences in competitive behaviors among men and women playing female avatars were in the same direction and similar in size to sex differences observed in the sample as a whole, although only four of 10 possible sex differences across both samples reached statistical significance (compared to eight of 10 for all players). We repeated comparisons of men and women playing male avatars, although we did this only for the Reddit sample because in the MTurk sample there were only five women who played male avatars. Again, contrary to Prediction 2, the differences between men and women playing male avatars were the same in direction and similar in magnitude to the differences between men and women in the sample as a whole, although only three of five sex differences reached statistical significance (compared to five of five for all players).

Figure 1.
Sex differences in players’ competitive behaviors, for all players, for those playing with female avatars and with male avatars, and for those taking on different roles. Note. Small sample sizes in the MTurk sample precluded some comparisons.

To formally test whether avatar sex moderated sex differences, we conducted 2 × 2 factorial ANOVAs for each competitive behavior with sex and avatar sex as factors. (In the MTurk sample, there were only five women whose primary avatar was male, so we conducted the ANOVAs only for the Reddit sample.) For duels, there was a significant main effect of sex (|F(1, 1,484) = 16.39, p < .001, η² _p = .01) but no significant main effect of avatar sex (|F(1, 1,484) = 0.06, p = .799, η² _p = .00) or significant interaction between sex and avatar sex (|F(1, 1,484) = 0.02, p = .877, η² _p = .00). We obtained the same general pattern for the other competitive behaviors with the Reddit sample: a significant main effect of sex but no significant main effect of avatar sex or significant interaction. One exception to this pattern was that the main effect of sex was not statistically significant for spending on microtransactions (|F(1, 1,484) = 2.41, p = .121, η² _p = .00) or acquiring expensive items (|F(1, 1,485) = 2.79, p = .095, η² _p = .00). Perhaps more notably, for solo runs, the interaction between sex and avatar sex was significant (|F(1, 1,485) = 4.63, p = .032, η² _p = .00). This interaction indicates that women playing male avatars reported less frequent solo runs than did women playing female avatars; men showed the opposite pattern, albeit to a lesser extent. In summary, contrary to Prediction 2, avatar sex was generally unrelated to competitive behaviors, although doing solo runs was one exception.

Prediction 3 was that sex differences in duels and other competitive behaviors would be absent (or smaller) when men and women are represented by avatars who occupy the same role. Before testing this prediction, we investigated the frequency of the various avatar roles. As shown in Table 3 healer, DPS, and tank were the most popular avatar roles, although avatar roles varied significantly by sex in both samples (MTurk: χ²[5, N = 254] = 14.40, p = .013, V = .24; Reddit: χ²[5, N = 1,490] = 23.78, p < .001, V = .13). In the MTurk sample, women (27%) were more likely than men (14%) to be healers, men (20%) were more likely than women (3%) to be tanks, and both men (48%) and women (46%) frequently were DPS. In the Reddit sample, women (30%) were more likely than men (17%) to be healers, men (15%) were slightly more likely than women (13%) to be tanks, and men (46%) were more likely than women (40%) to be DPS.

Table 3.
Frequency Counts (and Percent Representation) of Avatar Role by Participant Sex, for MTurk and Reddit Samples.

Sex Avatar Role

Healer DPS Tank Hybrid Supportive Other Total

MTurk

Women 17 (27) 29 (46) 2 (3) 11 (17) 3 (5) 1 (2) 63 (100)

Men 26 (14) 91 (48) 38 (20) 24 (13) 10 (5) 2 (1) 191 (101)

Reddit

Women 50 (30) 67 (40) 21 (13) 12 (7) 12 (7) 4 (2) 166 (99)

Men 221 (17) 610 (46) 192 (15) 198 (15) 66 (5) 37 (3) 1324 (101)

Note. Percentages do not always sum to 100 due to rounding. DPS, Damage Per Second.

Visual inspection of Figure 1 (see also Table 2 and Table 4) suggests that, contrary to Prediction 3, sex differences in competitive behaviors were in the same direction and similar in magnitude for individuals playing each of the popular roles as for when all individuals were considered. Among DPS avatars, seven of 10 sex differences reached statistical significance (compared to eight of 10 for all players). Among both healer and tank avatars, two of five sex differences reached statistical significance (compared to five of five for all players). To formally assess the impact of avatar roles, we conducted factorial ANOVAs for each competitive behavior with sex and avatar role (healer, tank, DPS, or any other role) as factors. In the MTurk sample, there were very few women whose primary avatar was tank (i.e., 2) or healer (i.e., 17), which precluded conducting reasonably powerful tests; thus, we conducted these analyses only for the Reddit sample. For duels, there was a significant main effect of sex (|F(1, 1,480) = 23.1, p < .001, η² _p = .02) but no significant main effect of avatar role (|F(3, 1,480) = 0.27, p = .849, η² _p = .00) or significant interaction between sex and avatar role (|F(3, 1,480) = 1.56, p = .197; η² _p = .00). We obtained the same general pattern for the other four competitive behaviors: a significant main effect of sex but no significant main effect of avatar role or significant interaction. The only departure from this pattern was that the main effect of sex was not significant for acquiring expensive items (|F(1, 1,481) = 3.17, p = .075, η² _p = .00).

Table 4.
Frequency of Performing Competitive Behaviors by Participant Sex and Avatar Role.

Men Women

M SD n M SD n t p d

DPS (MTurk)

Duels 3.09 1.21 91 2.72 1.07 29 1.45 0.149 0.31

Solo Runs 3.26 1.08 91 2.76 0.83 29 2.30 0.023 0.49

Expensive Items 3.77 0.92 91 3.38 0.90 29 2.00 0.048 0.43

Awards 3.62 1.17 91 3.97 0.82 29 1.49 0.138 −0.32

Microtransactions 2.08 1.24 91 2.21 0.94 29 0.52 0.605 −0.11

DPS (Reddit)

Duels 2.77 1.36 610 1.85 0.94 67 5.37 < .001 0.69

Solo Runs 3.16 1.12 610 2.81 1.13 67 2.48 0.013 0.32

Expensive Items 3.65 1.00 610 3.34 1.07 67 2.39 0.017 0.31

Awards 3.24 1.17 610 3.73 1.10 67 3.32 < .001 −0.43

Microtransactions 1.84 0.90 610 2.10 0.97 67 2.29 0.022 −0.30

Healer (MTurk)

Duels 3.19 1.13 26 2.94 1.39 17 - - -

Solo Runs 3.42 1.03 26 3.35 1.00 17 - - -

Expensive Items 3.58 0.86 26 3.59 1.00 17 - - -

Awards 3.81 0.94 26 4.41 0.62 17 - - -

Microtransactions 2.69 1.52 26 2.24 1.09 17 - - -

Healer (Reddit)

Duels 2.67 1.28 221 2.10 1.18 50 2.90 0.004 0.45

Solo Runs 3.02 1.16 220 2.72 1.13 50 1.67 0.095 0.26

Expensive Items 3.59 1.05 221 3.55 0.98 49 0.23 0.821 0.04

Awards 3.01 1.19 220 3.47 1.06 49 2.47 0.014 −0.39

Microtransactions 1.75 0.86 221 1.94 1.07 49 1.32 0.189 −0.21

Tank (MTurk)

Duels 2.79 0.84 38 3.00 1.41 2 - - -

Solo Runs 3.24 0.91 38 4.00 1.41 2 - - -

Expensive Items 3.63 1.03 38 4.00 0.00 2 - - -

Awards 3.57 1.12 37 4.00 0.00 2 - - -

Microtransactions 2.00 1.14 38 1.50 0.71 2 - - -

Tank (Reddit)

Duels 2.62 1.20 191 2.24 1.14 21 1.40 0.162 0.32

Solo Runs 3.20 1.10 192 2.71 1.19 21 1.93 0.055 0.44

Expensive Items 3.68 1.05 192 3.57 1.16 21 0.46 0.649 0.11

Awards 3.07 1.16 192 3.29 1.35 21 0.81 0.421 −0.19

Microtransactions 1.81 0.85 192 2.43 1.16 21 3.04 0.003 −0.70

Note. Hyphen indicates that small cell sizes precluded analysis. DPS, Damage Per Second.

Discussion

This study had three principal findings. First, supporting Prediction 1, there were sex differences in the frequency of participating in player-versus-player duels in massively MMORPGs (Table 2). In addition, we found that men more frequently than women reported doing solo runs of difficult content and working to acquire expensive items; by contrast, women more frequently than men reported seeking in-game awards or achievements and spending real-world money on expensive microtransactions.

Second, contrary to Prediction 2, the sex differences in competitive behaviors were generally unrelated to avatar sex. For example, when we considered only men and women who reported that their primary avatar was female, the sex differences in competitive behaviors among these individuals were similar to when we calculated sex differences based on all participants (Table 2, Figure 1). That is, men using female avatars tended to behave like men using male avatars; and women using male avatars tended to behave like women using female avatars. Factorial ANOVAs with the Reddit sample confirmed this pattern more generally.

Third, contrary to Prediction 3, the sex differences in competitive behaviors were generally unrelated to avatar role. In particular, when we compared men and women who played the same popular role—healer, tank, or DPS—the sex differences were similar in size to when we initially considered all individuals (Table 4, Figure 1). Again, factorial ANOVAs with the Reddit sample confirmed this pattern.

Collectively these results indicate consistent sex differences in the use of competitive behaviors by MMORPG players that are robust to players’ choices of avatar sex and avatar role. That this pattern occurred in a setting where individuals have the opportunity to express themselves without regard to sex-typical roles contradicts SRT (Eagly, 1987; Wood & Eagly, 2012). Apparently, sex differences in competitiveness in MMORPGs are not due to social roles, at least in a proximate, near-term sense. Instead, these sex differences in competitiveness can be reasonably viewed as reflecting predispositions that evolved because they typically led to reproductive success during human evolutionary history (Archer, 2009; Benenson, 2013, 2014; Campbell, 1999; Deaner et al., 2016).

Objections

Several objections can be raised regarding these results and our interpretations. One is that sex differences in two of the five competitive behaviors—duels and spending on microtransactions—were significant in the Reddit sample but not the MTurk sample (Table 2). This raises the question of whether these sex differences should be considered reliable. This is a reasonable concern, but, because the magnitude of the sex differences in the MTurk sample were in the same direction as in the Reddit sample, and the p values for the sex differences were very low in the Reddit sample (duels: p < .001; microtransactions: p = .001), it is reasonable to conclude that these differences are likely reliable.

Another objection may be that the magnitude of the sex differences in the five competitive behaviors was not large; specifically, the average absolute effect size (Cohen's d) in the MTurk sample was 0.27, and in the Reddit sample it was 0.34. It is true that the sex differences are not large; that said, they were of a magnitude that is typical of those reported for studies of sex differences in behavior (d = 0.26; Richard et al., 2003; see also, Hyde, 2005), including aggression (Archer, 2004). A related point is that modest sex differences in individual traits can sometimes yield large differences if they are combined using multi-dimensional measures (Del Giudice, 2022).

One might also object that one of our findings actually supports Prediction 2, namely the significant interaction between sex and avatar sex for doing solo runs. In particular, among women, playing male avatars was associated with less frequently doing solo runs, whereas playing female avatars was associated with more frequently doing them. Although this result is notable, it cannot be considered meaningful support for Prediction 2 because only one of five competitive behaviors showed this pattern and if corrections were used for undertaking multiple comparisons of the same hypothesis (i.e., Bonferroni), the original p-value (p = .032) would no longer reach statistical significance. Even more crucially, the direction of the effect—women playing male avatars doing fewer masculine behaviors—is the opposite of that predicted by SRT.

A fourth kind of objection—a theoretical objection—is that MMORPGs are not truly a setting where individuals have the opportunity express themselves without regard to sex-typical roles; thus, MMORPGs cannot adequately test SRT. In other words, contrary to the forecasts of early theorists (Haraway, 1990; Turkle, 1995), online environments have frequently turned out to not be anonymous environments (Kendall, 2002; Yee, 2014). In MMORPGs, within-game interactions occur between avatars and the identities of the avatar-controlling players are unspecified; however, players often communicate in parallel platforms that support text or voice chat (e.g., Teamspeak, Whisper, Ventrilo, Discord), and some aspects of a player identity, including sex, are frequently disclosed or inferred (Hodson & Livingstone, 2017; Yee, 2014). In fact, individuals sometimes establish new personal relationships with people they meet in the game; conversely, some people play with previously established friends, romantic partners or family members (Yee, 2014).

This objection about anonymity—or lack thereof—has some validity: MMORPGs cannot be considered an environment where sex-typical roles and expectations are completely absent. However, there is an important counterpoint to this objection, which is that, although MMORPGs settings are not characterized by complete anonymity, all players enjoy the option of complete anonymity: players can choose to play games, or versions of games (i.e., “instances”), where other players are unfamiliar with their avatar, and they can refrain from communicating in parallel platforms or else not divulge their actual identity in these platforms. That many players do choose to conceal their identity is revealed in studies where women report playing with male avatars so that they will experience less unwanted attention and harassment than they would if their avatar was female (Chou et al., 2014; Hodson & Livingstone, 2017; Vella et al., 2020); conversely, men report playing female avatars so that they will be perceived as female and thus be more likely to be gifted gear or currency and less likely to be targeted for attacks by other players (Hussain & Griffiths, 2008).

It also bears mentioning that, although we view the present study's results as contradicting SRT, we do not contend that they pose a general challenge to SRT, a broad theory which encompasses several inter-related and fertile hypotheses (Wood & Eagly, 2012). Our point is merely that the present results contradict SRT's claim that social expectations contribute to sex differences and that the absence of social expectations via the shield of anonymity should therefore decrease sex differences (Wood & Eagly, 2012). Relatedly, economists, although often not invoking SRT explicitly, have repeatedly proposed that sex differences in competitiveness and other agentic behaviors can be expected to disappear or diminish when individuals behave anonymously in experiments (Bursztyn et al., 2017; Buser et al., 2021). The crucial point, in our view, is that had we found support for predictions 2 or 3—or, contrary to Prediction 1, found that that sex differences in competitiveness were altogether absent in MMORPGs—many scholars, including us, would have considered this to be important support for SRT and related ideas. That our results did not fit this pattern must therefore count against these views.

The Significance of Male and Female Avatars

To the best of our knowledge, all popular MMORPGs that feature living avatars require that these avatars be designated male or female, generally with a corresponding visual appearance. This is not logically required: an MMORPG could be designed so that avatars have no designated sex or there could be three or more sexes. One might wonder, therefore, whether sex differences in competitiveness would diminish or disappear if avatars were not so designated and appeared androgynous; SRT would seem to predict this pattern. We are unaware of data addressing this issue, but the fact that the designation of sex or gender is ubiquitous in these games has a notable implication.

In particular, we note that some scholars and activists advocate for a society that does not recognize the sex (or gender) binary, generally under the assumption that the distinction is entirely socially created and thus could be socially deconstructed (Butler, 1990; Hyde et al., 2019). There are several lines of evidence that address this claim (Hilton & Lundberg, 2021; Hooven, 2021), and we add to this conversation by arguing that the existence of the sex binary in all popular MMORPGs supports the hypothesis that the expectation that animated humanoid individuals be male or female is a pervasive aspect of human psychology. That is, because an individual's sex is an elemental aspect of its being, simulated interactions will be highly unlikely to achieve substantial realism without it. We thus predict that there will not be a successful MMORPG game in the future unless humanoid avatars are male or female. Several additional observations seem to support this hypothesis: (1) apparently all culturally successful narratives (e.g., orally transmitted stories, novels) indicate or imply the sex of all major characters, even when this is not relevant to the plot; (2) although many societies recognize a “third gender” social category, all apparently recognize the existence and importance of two kinds of biological reproducers that typically also differ in many non-reproductive behaviors (Brown, 1991; Lang & Kuhnle, 2008); and (3) young children eagerly categorize activities as male-typical or female-typical (Eichstedt et al., 2002; Gelman, 2003), and this process apparently begins during infancy (Johnson et al., 2021).

Why Gender Swap?

Why is gender swapping common among individuals in our study (about 10% of women and 30% of men) and in others (Hodson & Livingstone, 2017; Huh & Williams, 2010; Hussain & Griffiths, 2008; Lou et al., 2013; Martey et al., 2014; Yee et al., 2011)? Research suggests that gender swapping is not typically done so that individuals can more easily transgress sex-typical expectations, although this is sometimes the case (Huh & Williams, 2010; Martey et al., 2014; Yee et al., 2011). Instead, gender swapping may be done for mundane, instrumental reasons (Huh & Williams, 2010). As noted above, women may use male avatars to avoid harassment from other players (Chou et al., 2014; Hodson & Livingstone, 2017; Vella et al., 2020), whereas men may play with female avatars to receive better treatment from them (Hussain & Griffiths, 2008). In addition, men may choose female avatars because, in many MMORPGs, players experience the game from a visual perspective whereby they are looking over their own avatar's shoulder and also seeing its backside; if they are going to view an avatar's backside for extended durations, some men would prefer this be a female's backside, rather than a male's (Yee, 2014).

Patterns of Sex Differences in Competitive Behaviors

Previous research strongly suggested that men would be more likely than women to engage in duels while playing MMORPGs. Prior to our study, however, we did not have clear expectations regarding which other behaviors would be regarded as competitive by MMORPG players and which of these would show sex differences. Our pilot study indicated that four other MMORPG behaviors—doing solo runs, working to acquire expensive items, seeking awards, and spending on microtransactions—can be considered competitive because they are perceived as showing off or revealing a player's abilities, status and accomplishments. Our main study indicated that two of these behaviors were generally done more frequently by men than women and that two of these behaviors showed the opposite pattern.

With the exception of duels, we did not predict these sex differences. Nevertheless, they are understandable in retrospect. Men being more likely than women to make solo runs of difficult content can be understood as fitting the general pattern of men tending to behave more independently, especially when this can be viewed as distinguishing oneself from others (Baumeister & Sommer, 1997; Cross & Madson, 1997). Men being more likely than women to work to acquire expensive items might be similarly viewed in terms of men's greater independence and also in terms of their greater motivation to achieve success within MMORPGs (Jansz et al., 2010; Williams et al., 2009; Yee, 2006). By contrast, women being more likely than men to seek in-game awards and achievements seems difficult to reconcile with the sex difference just mentioned (i.e., men more likely to work to acquire expensive items), but it may indicate that the sex difference in achievement motivation in MMORPGs may be less reliable than is sometimes assumed (Kneer et al., 2019). A related possibility is that achievement motivation does not differ in men and women overall, yet the contexts that evoke achievement motivation may differ. For instance, surveys have found that men report greater motivation to win and compete against others, whereas women report greater motivation for mastery and to complete goals (Gill & Deeter, 1988; Gill & Dzewaltowski, 1988; Jamshidi et al., 2011). Finally, women being more likely than men to spend real-world money on expensive microtransactions echoes previous studies of spending in virtual worlds; these indicate that women are more interested in obtaining clothing and accessories to enhance their avatar's appearance (Guadagno et al., 2011). In addition, this sex difference appears broadly consistent with studies of online shopping in other contexts (Wang et al., 2021).

Future research should attempt to reconcile the pattern of sex differences in competitiveness documented here in MMPORGs with the framework that men are generally more likely than women to use direct, face-to-face, competitive tactics whereas women are more likely than men to use indirect tactics (Benenson, 2013, 2014; Campbell, 1999; but see Archer, 2004). Benenson (2014) argues that women often compete discreetly, which can involve public displays (e.g., wearing premium clothing) or achievement-oriented behaviors (excelling on an exam) that the perpetrator denies (even to herself) are competitive. The notion of discreet competition does not seem to easily fit into the direct versus indirect competition framework, but it may effectively account for women's greater frequency of performing some competitive behaviors in MMPORGs.

Limitations

Our study has several limitations. One is that our samples are unlikely to be representative of all MMORPG players. In particular, the MTurk sample will be biased towards individuals who choose to work on that platform, and the Reddit sample will be biased towards those who are active in that particular community. One indication of this bias is that the percentage of women in the Reddit sample (11%) is substantially lower than in other academic studies (20–45%), although these studies mainly use convenience samples and thus may also not be representative of all MMORPG players (Huh & Williams, 2010; Kneer et al., 2019; Lou et al., 2013; Martey et al., 2014; Williams et al., 2009; Yee et al., 2011, 2012). A few counterpoints warrant mentioning, however. The fact that the two samples yielded similar results should increase the chances that our results are robust. In addition, those women who choose to involve themselves in the (apparently) mainly male Reddit community are perhaps more masculine in their behavior than typical female MMORPG players. This would suggest that perhaps we may have found even greater sex differences if we had obtained a more representative sample of MMORPG players.

A second limitation, related to the first, is that our study is observational, not experimental. This is an issue because those individuals who choose to invest substantial time playing MMORPGs may be different and non-representative of the many people who do not participate in MMORPGs. Supporting this is a study that found women who play MMORPGs are several times more likely to be bisexual than are women in the general population (roughly 14% vs. 3%; Williams et al., 2009). A related drawback of our observational design is that, of those who do play MMORPGS, those who choose to gender swap or play avatars with sex-atypical roles may differ from other players. It seems plausible, for example, that women who choose to play male avatars are somewhat more masculine than women who play female avatars; this could mean that a male avatar effect (e.g., Proteus effect: Ratan et al., 2020) could be obscured by pre-existing differences between the two groups of women. The reason that we, and many other research groups, conduct observational studies of dedicated MMORPG players is that these individuals have invested much time and effort in these games; this may result in greater ecological validity than could be achieved with experimental manipulations of people who do not typically play. Future research could test Predictions 2 and 3 experimentally by recruiting MMORPG players and then assigning them to play avatars of varying sex and roles (see Martey et al., 2014).

An additional limitation of our study concerns the measurement of competitive behaviors. We focused only on the five behaviors rated as most competitive in our pilot study, but other behaviors, including others listed in Table 1, may warrant investigation. Furthermore, our measurements were based on players’ estimates of their behaviors, not their documented behaviors in the games. Future studies could test if these estimates are accurate, although we can note that the sex difference in reported frequency of duels that we documented here corresponds to systematic observations of actual game behaviors (Yee et al., 2011, 2012).

Concluding Remarks

There are well established sex differences in the use of competitive tactics, particularly men's typically greater willingness to compete directly (Archer, 2004; Benenson, 2013, 2014; Campbell, 1999; Daly & Wilson, 1990; Deaner et al., 2016; Niederle & Vesterlund, 2011). Because of the potential practical impact of this sex difference (e.g., on labor market outcomes), much research in behavioral economics has sought to document populations where this sex difference is absent (e.g., Booth et al., 2019; Dariel et al., 2017; Gneezy et al., 2009) or to create environmental interventions that can eliminate it (e.g., Alan & Ertac, 2019; Cassar & Rigdon, 2021; He et al., 2021). Despite the promise of these studies, nearly all of this research has assessed competition in brief, experimenter-created games that may have limited ecological validity (Deaner et al., 2021; see also Niederle, 2017). Under natural circumstances—where individuals decide for themselves whether to engage in direct competition in self-selected activities—there is mounting evidence that the sex difference is robust: males, on average, show higher levels of participation and interest in competitive sports (but not non-competitive exercise) in all known societies (Apostolou, 2014; Balish et al., 2016; Deaner et al., 2016; Deaner & Smith, 2013); on single-sex high school and collegiate sports teams, men are more likely than women to engage in overt physical aggression against teammates, whereas women are more likely than men to exclude their teammates (Deaner et al., 2021); and on single-sex collegiate cross-country teams, even among the fastest runners, men report greater competitiveness than women do, but women report greater commitment to their academic studies (Deaner et al., 2015). The current study corroborates this pattern: even in MMORPGs, a self-selected activity in which individuals can behave without regard to the typical expectations and behaviors associated with men's and women's roles, sex differences in competitiveness persist.

Behavior	M	SD
Trade	2.61	1.05
Browse gaming forums	2.66	1.05
Help out newbies	2.76	0.94
Quest	2.95	1.14
Do group runs	2.97	0.94
Craft	3.13	1.09
Post videos and/or talk about opening boxes/loot crates	3.26	1.31
Grind	3.39	1.03
Play a difficult character/build	3.53	0.73
Do special events as quickly as possible	3.55	1.25
Spend money on expensive microtransactions	3.97	0.94
Seek awards/achievements in-game	4.03	0.88
Do solo runs of difficult content	4.11	0.83
Kill players in PVP (player-versus-player duels)	4.18	0.69
Work to acquire rare/unique/expensive items	4.34	0.75

			Men			Women
All Players (MTurk)
	Duels	3.00	1.10	191	2.79	1.18	63	1.27	0.205	0.19
	Solo Runs	3.28	0.99	191	2.98	0.96	63	2.09	0.038	0.3
	Expensive Items	3.71	0.93	191	3.41	0.94	63	2.17	0.031	0.32
	Awards	3.68	1.10	190	4.08	0.79	63	2.63	0.009	−0.38
	Microtransactions	2.11	1.23	191	2.30	1.09	63	1.10	0.272	−0.16
All Players (Reddit)
	Duels	2.69	1.30	1324	2.04	1.14	166	6.18	< .001	0.51
	Solo Runs	3.18	1.12	1325	2.79	1.15	166	4.26	< .001	0.35
	Expensive Items	3.64	1.02	1326	3.45	1.08	165	2.30	0.022	0.19
	Awards	3.15	1.16	1325	3.58	1.13	165	4.40	< .001	−0.36
	Microtransactions	1.82	0.88	1325	2.06	1.04	165	3.23	0.001	−0.27
Female Avatars (MTurk)
	Duels	2.93	1.14	45	2.74	1.16	58	0.84	0.403	0.17
	Solo Runs	3.20	1.04	45	2.93	0.93	58	1.38	0.170	0.28
	Expensive Items	3.69	0.90	45	3.40	0.95	58	1.58	0.117	0.31
	Awards	3.49	1.16	45	4.12	0.77	58	3.31	0.001	−0.66
	Microtransactions	1.93	0.99	45	2.33	1.08	58	1.91	0.060	−0.38
Female Avatars (Reddit)
	Duels	2.65	1.28	459	2.03	1.15	146	5.14	< .001	0.49
	Solo Runs	3.12	1.12	459	2.85	1.15	146	2.55	0.011	0.24
	Expensive Items	3.63	1.03	460	3.46	1.08	145	1.74	0.082	0.17
	Awards	3.15	1.17	460	3.57	1.12	145	3.87	< .001	−0.37
	Microtransactions	1.91	0.94	460	2.08	1.04	145	1.79	0.074	−0.17
Male Avatars (MTurk)
	Duels	3.02	1.09	146	3.40	1.34	5	-	-	-
	Solo Runs	3.31	0.98	146	3.60	1.14	5	-	-	-
	Expensive Items	3.71	0.94	146	3.60	0.89	5	-	-	-
	Awards	3.74	1.08	145	3.60	0.89	5	-	-	-
	Microtransactions	2.16	1.30	146	2.00	1.22	5	-	-	-
Male Avatars (Reddit)
	Duels	2.71	1.31	867	2.05	1.05	20	2.24	0.025	0.51
	Solo Runs	3.21	1.12	868	2.35	1.14	20	3.42	< .001	0.77
	Expensive Items	3.65	1.01	868	3.40	1.10	20	1.10	0.274	0.25
	Awards	3.16	1.16	867	3.60	1.19	20	1.69	0.092	−0.38
	Microtransactions	1.78	0.84	867	1.95	1.05	20	0.92	0.359	−0.21

	Sex	Avatar Role
MTurk
	Women	17 (27)	29 (46)	2 (3)	11 (17)	3 (5)	1 (2)	63 (100)
	Men	26 (14)	91 (48)	38 (20)	24 (13)	10 (5)	2 (1)	191 (101)
Reddit
	Women	50 (30)	67 (40)	21 (13)	12 (7)	12 (7)	4 (2)	166 (99)
	Men	221 (17)	610 (46)	192 (15)	198 (15)	66 (5)	37 (3)	1324 (101)

			Men			Women
DPS (MTurk)
	Duels	3.09	1.21	91	2.72	1.07	29	1.45	0.149	0.31
	Solo Runs	3.26	1.08	91	2.76	0.83	29	2.30	0.023	0.49
	Expensive Items	3.77	0.92	91	3.38	0.90	29	2.00	0.048	0.43
	Awards	3.62	1.17	91	3.97	0.82	29	1.49	0.138	−0.32
	Microtransactions	2.08	1.24	91	2.21	0.94	29	0.52	0.605	−0.11
DPS (Reddit)
	Duels	2.77	1.36	610	1.85	0.94	67	5.37	< .001	0.69
	Solo Runs	3.16	1.12	610	2.81	1.13	67	2.48	0.013	0.32
	Expensive Items	3.65	1.00	610	3.34	1.07	67	2.39	0.017	0.31
	Awards	3.24	1.17	610	3.73	1.10	67	3.32	< .001	−0.43
	Microtransactions	1.84	0.90	610	2.10	0.97	67	2.29	0.022	−0.30
Healer (MTurk)
	Duels	3.19	1.13	26	2.94	1.39	17	-	-	-
	Solo Runs	3.42	1.03	26	3.35	1.00	17	-	-	-
	Expensive Items	3.58	0.86	26	3.59	1.00	17	-	-	-
	Awards	3.81	0.94	26	4.41	0.62	17	-	-	-
	Microtransactions	2.69	1.52	26	2.24	1.09	17	-	-	-
Healer (Reddit)
	Duels	2.67	1.28	221	2.10	1.18	50	2.90	0.004	0.45
	Solo Runs	3.02	1.16	220	2.72	1.13	50	1.67	0.095	0.26
	Expensive Items	3.59	1.05	221	3.55	0.98	49	0.23	0.821	0.04
	Awards	3.01	1.19	220	3.47	1.06	49	2.47	0.014	−0.39
	Microtransactions	1.75	0.86	221	1.94	1.07	49	1.32	0.189	−0.21
Tank (MTurk)
	Duels	2.79	0.84	38	3.00	1.41	2	-	-	-
	Solo Runs	3.24	0.91	38	4.00	1.41	2	-	-	-
	Expensive Items	3.63	1.03	38	4.00	0.00	2	-	-	-
	Awards	3.57	1.12	37	4.00	0.00	2	-	-	-
	Microtransactions	2.00	1.14	38	1.50	0.71	2	-	-	-
Tank (Reddit)
	Duels	2.62	1.20	191	2.24	1.14	21	1.40	0.162	0.32
	Solo Runs	3.20	1.10	192	2.71	1.19	21	1.93	0.055	0.44
	Expensive Items	3.68	1.05	192	3.57	1.16	21	0.46	0.649	0.11
	Awards	3.07	1.16	192	3.29	1.35	21	0.81	0.421	−0.19
	Microtransactions	1.81	0.85	192	2.43	1.16	21	3.04	0.003	−0.70

Footnotes

Author Note

We thank Ethan Reischling for invaluable assistance in obtaining the MTurk sample. We thank the GVSU Department of Psychology for funding the study.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Grand Valley State University, Psych. Dept., (grant number None).

ORCID iD

Robert O. Deaner

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	Sex	Avatar Role
		Healer	DPS	Tank	Hybrid	Supportive	Other	Total
MTurk
	Women	17 (27)	29 (46)	2 (3)	11 (17)	3 (5)	1 (2)	63 (100)
	Men	26 (14)	91 (48)	38 (20)	24 (13)	10 (5)	2 (1)	191 (101)
Reddit
	Women	50 (30)	67 (40)	21 (13)	12 (7)	12 (7)	4 (2)	166 (99)
	Men	221 (17)	610 (46)	192 (15)	198 (15)	66 (5)	37 (3)	1324 (101)

Sex Differences in Competitiveness in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs)

Abstract

Keywords

MMORPGs

The Current Study

Method

Research Approval

Pilot Study: Identifying Behaviors for the Main Study

Main Study: MTurk Sample

Main Study: Reddit Sample

Analysis

Results

Discussion

Objections

The Significance of Male and Female Avatars

Why Gender Swap?

Patterns of Sex Differences in Competitive Behaviors

Limitations

Concluding Remarks

Footnotes

Author Note

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iD

References