Study: EverQuest II population may be 40% female

by Alexander Sliwinski { Dec 23rd 2008 at 10:20AM }

Shocking news: The half-naked human (elf, or cat-thing) female dancing for tips in the main city of your favorite MMORPG might actually be played by a real woman. The BBC reports on a study by researcher Scott Caplan at the University of Delaware, which examined gender differences in 2,400 EverQuest II players, and found that 40% of the gamers were female.

Although 40% does sound awfully high, it does help alter the stereotype of the genre which has a bunch of middle-aged men living in their parents' basements. Caplan says the perception of video games is in a "cultural time lag" and that people are still ascribing decade-old stereotypes to video game players.

Caplan also found an unusually high level of female bisexuality in the survey group, which was apparently "five times higher than the general population." Another thing Caplan found was that the women's self-reported exercise regimes and body mass indexes were better than the general population.

We suddenly imagine subscription numbers for EverQuest II going way up as boys clamor to hit it off with a glamazon.

[Via Evil Avatar]

Tags: bbc, everquest-2, everquest-ii, study, women

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Sidebuster @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:27AM

I've noticed a crap ton of girls in DAoC also. I always in up join a mostly girl guild or one with a girl guild leader, because I seem to enjoy there company the most. (sometimes they are stupid role players who make me try to pretend I am a pirate unloading boxes in wow in some empty area and I just leave)

J @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:32AM

wats DAoC, and how often do you get asked to pretend to be a pirate unloading boxes? Does someone have to experience WoW to understand why the hell people would role play like that instead of just playing the game?

Sidebuster @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:34AM

Dark age of camelot. I got asked just one time and when I didn't do it right she freaked out and I ran off and never talked to the guild again.

samfish @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:36AM

That's when you say, "AAAR, I gotta load fer yer box, wench!"

Shagittarius @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:08AM

I put on my robe and wizard hat.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1210/bloodninja-THIS-IS-FUNNY

Wiizer @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:11AM

@ samfish

WHY CAN I ONLY VOTE FOR THIS COMMENT ONCE?

Shagittarius @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:12AM

I know this stuff is real old but heres the complete works incase theres someone who hasn't read them:

http://people.ambrosiasw.com/~andrew/funny/bloodcyber.html

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:18AM

Yeah very nice now shut up and answer this because is very important:

Is there still a vacant as the pirate?

samfish @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:18AM

Thanks Shag. Now I can't stop laughing at work!

Wiinterfang @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:31PM

Shag that link was full of a thing we call win.

J.Goodwin @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:30AM

Not at all shocking to me. Chicks dig the EverQuest. I've heard of far more female EQ addicts than male ones.

Never played it myself.

Nap @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:31AM

Girls don't play video games. What is this madness you speak of

Ridgecity @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:39PM

I was wondering whatever happened to all those Xena Warrior Princess fans.

Now we know.

Turd Ferguson (formerly antsmarching) @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:32AM

I half believe that this study was sponsored by the publishers of everquest.

samfish @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:32AM

Dear BBC,
With regards to your recent study, I would like to point out to you that just because a person has tits, that does not mean they are a woman. Please reassess your findings in the near future, but ensure that you have taken fully into account the phenomenon known as "moobs" or "man-tits".
-samfish

Naota @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:23AM

Sam, you seem to be on fire today.

ANTCEP @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:41AM

i call them chesticles

PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:39AM

So........

Lesbians love Everquest........nice......

Obie @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:28PM

Quincy'd much?

PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:35PM

nope........I go in Home to meet new people, play some pool, bowl, etc........not to create a female avatar and change it to mess with peoples heads.......in the event I ever get TOO bored then I may do that.......but I'd much rather just play some echochrome

Ghen @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:04PM

All this proves is that 100% of guys playing girl characters lie about their real gender.

The "unusual" increase of bisexuals should have tipped him off.

tommy @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:41AM

ITS A TRAP!!!

Wiinterfang @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:43AM

Fat bald lesbians ew ew ew.

Kia @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:52AM

Ah, tolerance. A beautiful thing.

Boarderwoot @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:50AM

One of my ex girl friends was involved with EQ. I watched her play once and was like so all of you in this group get together every night and attack these monsters, but you're not actually hitting them. She told me she was within his hit radius. I told her that was stupidest thing i've ever heard of and walked out.

Boarderwoot @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:51AM

And she was far far from a fat bald lesbian.

Obie @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:54AM

I knew two girls that were really into "Evercrack" as they called it. And there were normal, attractive girls. I do think they made the move to WOW by now tho.

And seriously guys, just because girls choose to blow you off, does not make them "lesbians". ;)

samfish @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:57AM

Of course they are. What other possible reason could there be for them not wanting to have sex with me?

Obie @ Dec 23rd 2008 10:59AM

I guess they were just intimidated by your awesomeness, Sam. :p

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:20AM

Maybe is the naked peach avatar and the "I f*ck on the first date" Shirt.

Noshino @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:46AM

"I guess they were just intimidated by your awesomesauce"

Fixed :D

Toasty Toaster Man @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:26PM

I thought girls choosing to blow me off was a good thing.

Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:02AM

From what my Science classes taught me, 2400 people may not be the most accurate sample for what is, arguably, the second most popular MMORPG after WoW.

Jeffrey @ Dec 23rd 2008 9:22PM

If it was a random sample 2400 is definitely a large enough sample.

Duke @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:02AM

Study: EverQuest II population may be 40% female and you still got no chance at one of them

LuigiHann @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:04AM

While this seems plausible enough, I do wonder how they would determine that a big chunk of these people weren't blatantly lying.

Tridus @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:09AM

They don't, which is why the study is pretty lousy.

The Dark Wayne @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:04AM

Does the batcave count as mom's basement?

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:23AM

Well even when your parents are death the Wayne Mansion still counts as Mom and Daddy's house and the Batcave is below the first floor of the Wayne Mansion so Yeah.

Noshino @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:08AM

heh, its weird because the women I meet online (and end up going out with) tend to be rather good looking....and hardcore gamers as well.. (Ragnarok Online :P)

But that seems to be the exception...or so I'm told by my friends, heh

Naota @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:33AM

Hells yeah RO!

JB87 @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:18AM

As an EQ2 player who uses the ingame voice chat with groups regularly, I can say that quite a few females do play.. a lot more than I would've expected.

Kaubel @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:18AM

It also shows that females like crappy games.

Gonzo @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:22AM

That's not too surprising at all. Most of the mmorpgers I know are women, and most of them play WoW.

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:25AM

Call me when is a confirmed 60%.

I don't habeeb it.

Bucket @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:24PM

HABEEB IT!

Twinkle house!

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Dec 23rd 2008 2:08PM

*Punches bucket.

Master Bruce @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:12PM

While I don't believe the stats on exercise and bisexuality, I can buy the 40%. My Warhammer guild is about 30% female and when I played EQ2 briefly, the guild I was in was about 60%.

I've noticed a lot more women playing in the past few years. I think why they may seen scarce is that I can't imagine guilds with 14 year old's spouting 1337 $p34|< are that appealing.

Lurker28 @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:33PM

While I do assume that the general female population has been on the rise when it comes to video games in general, I do not believe it is this high. It appears that this survey was a little bias in the fact that the survey was probably not random.

Either the Everquest world itself does not represent the general gaming market or the scientific study was skewed.

Ghede @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:56PM

This was an anonymous survey with an exclusive in game item reward. This is the same survey that reported that MMO players exercise more than the general populace, had a lower average weight than the general populace, and the 40% woman player base had FIVE TIMES the expected number of self-named bisexuals.

Basically, people said they were sexy bisexual women for an in game item. There was no fact checking. It is a junk survey.

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