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On Interpersonal Compatibility In MMORPGs
Thanks to Terranova for their post discussing how MMORPG players are pre-selected for relationship compatibility. The post references a specific part of a larger survey on relationships in MMO titles that points out that "MMORPG is a highly specific kind of entertainment... [which] effectively attracts people with similar interests and attitudes", referencing stats such as: "MMORPG players who are employed tend to work in the IT industry (36% of employed EQ players.)" It also points out that these relationships evolve in a very different way: "People like to share personal details online and you only learn the mundane details when you meet them in real life."
Besides, finding out they don't really own a Supreme Mace of Thwacking +40(tm) really sucks...
I gave up sigs almost a year ago.
In my experience not only are most MMORPG players with male avatars male, but most MMORPG players with female avatars are male too. A guy like me just isn't comfortable hitting on that hot female elf when chances are I'll actually be turning on some dude, you know. *shudder*
Go to 'ichatters.com', for example, and see if you can find someone 'compatible' to chat with. Unless you are gay, enjoy 'frumpy' comp-sci types, and are willing to spend most of your time talking about technology, you won't be in your demographic for 'social ichatting'...
There are no chicks on the 'net, or if they are, you gotta pay for them.
This fact, plus the conclusions made from this MMORPG's, lead to the simple observation that the 'net is simply not complete. It needs more chicks.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
I can't believe that I'm sitting here waiting for a *BSD story so that I'll have something to troll.
I suppose it depends on what MMORPG you are playing.
Ragnarok Online for instance has a much larger female population becuase it's an MMORPG with a lot of cute characters and you can collect hats, glasses and whatnot. Then it's a mostly social game. The actual/fighting becomes kinda secondary and only the way to gain levels to collect the rare hats.
Ragnarok Online (from korea) seems to have a much more female-friendly gameplay.
check out www.ragnarokonline.com to see the cuteness yourself.
Back when I was playing EQ we had a married couple in our guild.. great pair to play with..
Kajira was the wives name. They where both bikers and gamers.. they eventually showed us there website with photos of themselves.. including black and white nude photos of Kajira in leather fetish gear.
Needless to say her woodelf avatar had nothing on the real person.
"I am a kernel in the linux army"
you'd really like to think they're 'real' famles wouldn't you...
with any franchise short of The Sims, you ought to be extremely hesitant to ever assume that the person behind that keyboard really is female - even if they claim they 'really' are.
maybe ragnarok has more females, due to the cultural divide re: gaming between korea and the entire rest of the world, i dont pretend to know. (gaming is *gasp* actually -accepted- there)
but all world-average online stats have shown that only a small percentage of the small percentage of female avatars are actually female -players-. of course, gender boundaries being warped by online pseudonymity certainly blurs who is and isn't 'female' for all intents and purposes.
i just wouldn't bet a relationship on any given specific of an online avatar being 'real'.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
Try it sometime and you'll see why. The treatment you get as a player vastly changes when you're playing as a female avatar, people ask you if you need help a lot more, give you money and damn good items, etc. Not that I play as a female in MMORPGs or anything, but a friend of mine has an alt in most games that is female so he can hand the good stuff he gets to his main.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
The best part is when you find out the person your so compatable with and ultimately destined to live your life with is someone of the same sex pretending to be someone they are not.
symetrix. We are building a religion, a limited edition.
I used to think that 'they're all just guys playing female toons' till my guild started using Teamspeak, a voice chat program not unlike Roger Wilco. Wow, they really are females! Of course, a couple guildies were male, playing female toons, but they played male ones too - and it's not like they did flirty emotes and chat all day long. Just played a different player model.
neither stereotype is correct - some female chars are played by guys, but not all.
Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
I'm a "chick", I'm on the net, and I don't have any "pay" services. I play MMORPGs, as a female. You still wouldn't have much luck chatting me up, since I'm happily married, but we are out there. Of course you find the "frumpy" comp-sci type ladies on things like ichatters. Those are the ladies that, just like you, are afraid to go out and have fun. You're more likely to meet a woman in the "real world" and then find out she's got a slashdot account too! This is where you *should* be looking! The real world!
(BTW, why do so many geeks refer to all females as "girls". I'm 26 and I've been called girl as recently as last week!)