Gender Swapping in MMORPGs: Studied, Debunked

A recent study printed in CyberPsychology and Behavior has recorded in a sample of 119 online users of MMORPGs that over 50% have engaged in gender swapping, which is a fancy way of saying the user pretended they were the other sex.

The study was widely reported in the British media - picked up, no doubt, because of the narrative attractions of a) sex, b) sexual harrassment, c) geeks, and d) science. Put ‘em all in a blender, and you’ve got a nice lead story for your science/technology section of the newspaper/Web site.

But Richard Bartle was quick to point out the flaws in the study. He pointed to studies done 15 years ago that said basically the same thing: that people swap genders in their online personas for a variety of reasons. Some do it out of curiosity; some feel they are treated better, online, as a woman. Others do it to escape from the identity of the real world; and others just do it for fun.

Bartle takes issue with the fact that the survey, done by researchers at Nottingham Trent University, is incomplete, half-assed, and is out of date. He write this:

“News editors are happy to misinterpret its misunderstandings and comment on what really should have been left to its own, quiet backwater. I don’t know who courted publicity on its behalf, but academically they’ve done more harm than good.”