EverQuest exposes cost of sexism

[Akasha]

Article Source : BBC News

The online game EverQuest may be set in a fantasy world but it seems to share one feature of real life: sexism.

A study of the price people pay for high-level games characters shows that males command a slight premium.

The result is strange given that most EverQuest players are male and sex confers no advantage, or disadvantage, on in-game characters.

The author of the study puts the results down to the sexist attitudes that players unwittingly bring with them when they play.

Sex change

EverQuest gives game players, both male and female, the chance to throw off their Earthly restrictions and become a hugely powerful warrior, sorceror, priest or monk in the online world of Norrath.

Some people also use it as an opportunity to find out what life is like as a member of the opposite sex.

More than 90% of the players of EverQuest are male but only 80% of the characters in the game are male, suggesting some people are trying a bit of gender-swapping.

Prof Edward Castronova, an economics professor at the California State University, who carried out the study, said players tend to play females of the prettier races such as elves and humans.

"There are very few female ogres and trolls," he wrote in his study.

Many choose to play a woman in EverQuest because gender has no effect on the physical and mental capabilities of that character or on its ability to accrue experience and become more powerful.

Prof Castronova says this fact makes EverQuest a good laboratory for exploring attitudes to gender, free of the discrimination that dogs sexual relations in the real world.

Sadly, Prof Castronova's study shows that EverQuest, for all its fantasy elements, is not free of sexism.

By studying the price that people are prepared to pay to buy high-level or experienced characters from websites such as PlayerAuctions.com, Prof Castronova has found that people spend more on male avatars.

"People tend to buy avatars to short-circuit the laborious, and often tedious, process of building up the skills of a character," writes Prof Castronova.

Cost comparison

In the study of avatar economics Prof Castronova used the prices paid for 611 auctions that took place on PlayerAuctions.com between October 2002 and January 2003.

In these auctions, players paid an average price of $333 (£200). The lowest price paid for an EverQuest character was $40 and the highest $2,250.

Curiously, female characters sold for less than a male character of equivalent level.

"All else [being] equal, a female avatar sells for about $41 less than a male avatar, which is about 12 percent of the mean price of $333," writes Prof Castronova.

He notes that this price discrimination is better than the real world in which women's pay, in the US, is 28% lower than that for men in equivalent jobs.

"There is nothing in the game mechanics to explain this discounting, since male and female avatars have exactly the same capabilities," he said.

One explanation could be because of assumptions about the player behind the female character not being as good a player as someone playing a male.

He also notes that although the sex of a character determines part of its market value, other attributes of that character are more important.

"The value of a body is primarily related to what the body does, not so much what it looks like," writes Prof Castronova.

"Appearance matters," he said, "but, in a world where appearance can be chosen at birth, effectiveness in later life matters quite a bit more."

*steps up on soap box*

Something that bugged me 30 seconds into this article is the "some people are trying a bit of gender-swapping." This really could only come from someone who has never played a MMORPG for more than a couple of hours. I speak from experience (being a female that played a couple of male characters) that it had absolutely nothing to do with the need to gender-swap; they are pixels in a computer game for crying out loud. The reason why I played a male gnome was because 'Callvin' looked stupid above a female's head and I played a male Iksar (lizard) because I hated how thin the female tales were... had nothing to do with a deep desire to feel what it would be like to play as a male....

free of the discrimination that dogs sexual relations in the real world.

I can't count how many times people would find out I was female in real life and their attitudes would change... "oh no, don't you pull princess, we'll get one of the big manly warrior's to get the big nasty mobs for you." Ok, so not quite, but you get my point. Females in game can (not always, but can) get treated like china dolls, and don't get me wrong, I appreciate when people curb certain language around me because I don't find the need to use it as much, but please don't act like I just flashed my boobs if I say a dirty joke or make a comment that would 'normally' only come from men... :?

Curiously, female characters sold for less than a male character of equivalent level.

There could be SO many reasons for that it's not funny... the only time that statement would be true and real is if both characters :[list][*] Were exactly the same level AND class[*] Had the same amount of AA (Alternate Advancement)[*] Had the same amount of cash and / or items in the bank[*] Had IDENTICAL equipment - it's amazing what one piece of 'uber' armor will do to a character....[/list:you]
They talk about how the 'average' is $333, but they didn't work that out on a weighted average... I can tell you straight away that there would be such a miniscule amount of characters that actually sold for over $2,000.

I'm gonna just shut up now lol... I am so tempted to send in my thoughts on that article because it's so wrong... I would happily donate my time to something like BBC that wants an article on a subject that I have 5 years experience and understanding behind, that some desk jockey that borrows someone else's game for a day and then writes an article on it. Sure, you and me know that most of it's bogus, but how many other people out there would read it, not knowing any better take it at face value and then we wonder why so many people don't have a clear view of on-line gaming....

[Magnus]

Bah that article is BS, I'd say most likely the biggest reason for price difference, if they were the exact same, would be there are more male players and most would rather play as a male not for any sexist reason but simply because it's a role playing game and they feel they should or maybe just like the looks better so are willing to pay more for it. I hate articles like that :evil:

[Salalorn]

so I didn't even bother finishing this aritcale after reading about a third of the way through it. It was painfully obvious that this ugy had no idea what he was talking about that it hurt my eyes to keep reading it. But ohh well, I guess the old syaing that ignorence is bliss has never applyed or been more true then it is now.

stay safe everyone,
-Sala

[farslayer77]

This guy is teh funny. He confirms the adage that people can be educated far beyond their ability to use it effectively P. $2250 ? for what or who I might add. I guess if your spending grant money in order to learn about EQ it doesn't matter how much you spend. P Professor of what ? Sounds to me like this clown got caught playin EQ while he was working. To dodge the unemployment line. He fabricated some incredible BS to not only stay employed. But to keep playing EQ while working /=.

I want a job where I can play games to and get paid for it to P