Had a party at the Geek House last weekend, to introduce the new roomate to our friends, and his friends to us. Given that he helps run a major Sci-Fi con and is a professional comic book artist for a living, you can imagine that our circles of friends had plenty in common.
While drinking way too much and telling delightful stories to random people, I bumped into another WoW player and naturally we got to talking about the game (she did not, of course, know that I was an internationally recognized blogger at the time. Luddite.)
By the way — I have never run into a random WoW-player IRL who actually played on my server. It may be a small world, but not small enough to ever meet anyone in game : /
She was telling me about her several characters with the Loremaster achievement and how much gold you get pursuing that. I agree that it must be fantastic gold; however, I confided, I hate questing.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” she said. “You’re a guy.”
“What?” I asked, offended on behalf of my gender. “What does that have to do with it?”
“Just most guys don’t like questing.”
There was an implication in the tone of her voice as well, a hint that, oh, yeah, you’re one of them. Those lesser beings, that pointless gender that is good for only one thing.
So this got me to thinking, what are the general gender differences in the approach to WoW? Sure, there’s going to be exceptions to any generalization, but what is the stereotype?
Now normally I figure I’d have some excellent qualifications for analyzing this issue. After all, a shockingly large percentage of our readers are women. Or at least, a shockingly large percentage of our readers who email in. I’ve tried to convince Arust this is because there is something subtlety alluring and compelling about my writing that calls to the opposite sex like some siren’s song over the internet, though I don’t think he’s quite convinced.
But despite my qualifications, I’ve never really thought of guys as a whole being non-questers, or really any gender differences between players. Sure, I hate questing, but I’m a dps whore with a void in my chest where my heart should be. So, here is my new theory about WoW Guys vs. WoW Girls in terms of interest:
Girls
- Questing
Guys
- PVP (and the younger they are, the most likely they’re interested)
Yeah… that’s really all I’ve got. I mean, we know for a fact that raiding and min-maxing and fine tuning damage to top the damage meters is gender-neutral simply from all of the emails I receive from badass death dealer WoW chicks. And there are enough guys emailing in to imply that we’re not all wusses on that front.
Achievements, while surely a pointless waste of time for sissies, seems to appeal to both genders equally (even the gender-challenged elves like Arust). Same thing with WoW holiday pointlessness, collecting vanity pets and mounts, and all the sundry other RP activities WoW has to offer.
So that’s all I got on the gender differences for now — but once I convince party girl to create a character on my server, I’ll investigate further and see if she has any additional insights.
Can you think of anything else?
PS: I think I’ve thought of a way to solo, Sartharion (10man). I’ll let you know how it works.
im a d00d, i hate levelling but im a daily doer… and i know plenty of guys who do dailies out the wazoo, so i would assume if they hate questing they wouldnt do that. unless dailies are somehow a different ball of wax.
i also despise pvp. well… i despise arenas, and bg arent my thing. i like wg and i love defending cities from raids.
(PS kite the hell out of sarth around the huge outer circle is my guess. im very curious bout this one)
I think the differences between male and female players goes deeper than just simple categories. Seems to me that most female players enjoy questing because of its close relation to the overall plot of the game, and the story occuring in the background. I’ve noticed most guys I know just “quest grind” for xp or gold, paying little attention to the overall impact these quests have to the games story. I myself am a guy, and I know other male players who enjoy Warcraft lore, but I think it all boils down to women enjoy a more emotional approach to the game, while men are more physical, prefering to interact with the game rather than understand its smaller details.
I think it comes down to the goals a player and the amount of time they can play.
Questing takes time and unless you use quest tracking mods, it takes a bit of patience to figure out the where/how of said quests. “I want to blow the barn doors off” dps whores like to raid and farm mats/gear. Its all generalizations without surveying and gathering data however.
My suggestion would be to start a survey on Facebook or Myspace. You know, one of those annoying “groups”. Spread it out to WoW players we know and make a sport of it; lets face it, if you play WoW, your online. Could work.(Whatever you do though, don’t search WoW or you’ll discover an awful lot of “I hate WoW” groups).
I’m a guy, I play because I’m goal oriented, and despise my toon looking like rainbow bright because none of my gear matches. I enjoy excellent dps output but am typically the guy who “takes the hit” on my talents for the raid. Questing is a social activity done to help others and dailies are an easy rep/gold earning technique. If I could help it, I’d just log on to raid and go out for a well earned Mochacino afterwards.
I’m a girl and I do not like questing…I don’t plan on going for the Loremaster achievement unless I get really incredibly bored.
However; I think I’m going to end up going after the Explorer achievement, there’s too much stuff in the World (Of Warcraft) that I’ve missed after blazing through questing on my way to 80. I may do a few quests on the way, find out which cool fun ones I missed out on in Outlands, funny ones I missed from Old World and do just those.
I also hate seeing those blank spots on my map…./growl
Other ‘girly’ traits that may help your research…
-My bank has to be organized….it HAS to. Meats in one bag, cooked food in another, Currency (clams anyone?), Old Quest items from quests I may or may not complete, holiday items, and fun items in my main tab. Fun = snowballs for the snowman costume, the costume itself, toys, etc. I actually have extra space on my main because of my banker character selling off most of the stuff I don’t need. I also have a bag for item enhancements, whether it be armor kits, scopes, or just at ton of leather for that cloak I might get someday (orbs go there too!).
-I always carry my meats and consumables in stacks of 20 if I can manage. The exception is potions which are in the form of injector kits. I always have at least 20 Great Feasts on me and at least 10 Mega Mammoth Meals for myself. Always have a stack of 20 Kibler’s Bits etc
-I collect Mini-pets and mounts, more in an effort to be unique, the only mount related achievement I really want is the one for 50 mounts which I don’t think will be happening anytime soon. /sigh
-I don’t like screwing up, I don’t want to be the hunter that gives us all a bad name by accidentally needing something, or by ruining a pull, or by running out of ammo. That’s why I try to group with people who’ve known me longer so they know I’m not an idiot even if I do stupid things. This is mostly why I don’t raid yet…..hehe
-I ENJOY PuGs, despite the previous ‘trait’, I like meeting new people, a lot of times I have lots of fun and I get to crack jokes to keep the mood lighter, even if we wipe.
-I’m stubborn.
Still BM. (However when 3.1 hits I’ll go MM/BM for better DPS)
-I’m anal about a lot of things, I’m leveling Fishing so I can have the best buff food. (Fish Feast) also I want the minipet and the stuff from the dailies.
-I’m cheap? If something is more than 200g I’ll farm the mats myself and get someone to craft it for me. ^^
Er. Not sure if those are girly traits or not, idk. Just some things I do that not everyone does
hehe.
wow, up through your paragraph about screwing up, it was like reading a portrait of myself.
the last few points, not so much
btw i did a grind for the 50 mounts. i had saw the albino drake and i guess i wanted to be unique in that regard (its what keeps me buying mysterious eggs week after week, tickbird after tickbird)… but after i got it, and paid attention to it… have mercy, that thing is ugly as sin twice burnt.
Hmmmm…interesting food for thought.
I’m a chick: I like questing, although can’t stomach it for more than an hour or two at a time (as opposed to raids where you look up and its 2 a.m. and you’ve been doing this for 5 hours! 0_o). Dont have LOREMASTER on any character.
I’m a vanity pet whore. Guilty. And a mount whore, even tho my luck with the RNG gods is abyssmal. (Am also a religious mysterious egg hatcher)
I kinda like the Holidays, but not enough to do those grinds over raiding.
I used to PvP for the gear, but I cant say that I enjoy any of it other than WG…its stressful, and brings out the worst in people. Which is not fun!
Funny, reading some of the about posts – the one thing that all WoW players desire, male and female, is a way to make their character a bit more unique. We all lust for it.
(also never once met a random RL person who plays on her server…)
No real insight into your your girls vs. guys debate. But I recently found a guy in my martial arts class I’ve been training with for a year happens to play WoW, on my server no less. Alas, he’s alliance and I’m horde.
I once raided with a couple guys for weeks before discovering that they lived less than a mile away from me.
I think that means my server is cooler than yours.
-Hal
@Artemes: that was one of the most honest post i’ve read in a long time and I read a lot of them. Very honest.
I’m a guy. An older one. Perhaps even a metrosexual one (do we still use that term)? I like to organize my bank vault, too. I HATE to screw up and admit it immediately to the raid group on chat (verbally, not typed) when I do. And I make sure I learn something from every screw-up. I rarely talk on voice chat, but I like to type funny stuff in response to what other people say. It seems like the women in raids talk more in voice chat. Usually to each other.
I find that women tend to be more honest in-game (but not always nice). I think women are more aware of and accepting of their weaknesses, and don’t brag on their perceived strengths as much as guys. But their willingness to tolerate repeated poor performance is more limited as well.
Here’s another interesting gender conversation: If you play an off-gender alt (or main), do you think it affects your play style or your mood? I rolled a female bank alt. I was surprised how long I was willing to spend getting her a black dress during the last seasonal event. I WANTED it for her. I like getting her nice clothes and haircuts and making her look just-so and unique and altho it wierds me out to get a whisper about how great she looks, i dig it, too. On other hand, I could care less what my lvl 80 hunter looks like as long as he is a DPS machine.
I just rolled a new female priest. I have noticed that most healers in my guild are female (the player may be male or female, but the characters are nearly all female). Maybe males feel more comfortable not being a DPS machine with a female character. One of the healers in my guild is named “naughtynurse”, and everyone calls him “naughty”. I think that’s pretty funny.
Guys vs. Girls?
http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?q=gender+differences+MMORPG+play&hl=en&lr=&btnG=Search
I know a few researchers working in this field, but they never take my offer to be a reseacrh assistant for them seriously .. I mean what can be wrong with getting someone else to pay my subs?
Hey, I pay my dues. No implications that my gendernicity is inferior will be accepted as valid. I like quests, especially the new Phantom Zoning thing in LK. It gives me the allusion that I am the only important person…
But I also like DPS, and PvP, and most importantly:
PIE
I’m a guy and I’m into PVP (love BGs, arenas not so much), Archievments, collecting tabards, exalted rep, mounts and small pets. Also, I like unique looking pets. I have Humar, Ghost Saber, Koosu (the slime who acts like a croc) and when I get back to BM some day, I’ll try to get King Krush.
While on my alt (BE Pally girl) I like to collect armor sets to make her look like Scarletmoon Paladins, Blood Knights and such.
I don’t care for PVE that much.
any word on solo sarth, frost?
The Sarth solo requires something from patch 3.1 to work, so hopefully I’ll be testing it out tonight, and taking a video of it.
“but I think it all boils down to women enjoy a more emotional approach to the game, while men are more physical, preferring to interact with the game rather than understand its smaller details.”
I think I am a freak then to my gender
I’m a girl, I like long walks around the continents, sunsets in Northrend, and making kibbler bites in the cozy inns that I come across…
Lol no really heres a boiled down version of me:
First and foremost I am a dps whore (need to have big numbers and I always compete for the first few positions on the dmg/dps meters, if I’m not up there I don’t feel like I am doing my job), but unlike some of my male counterparts (in my guild at least) I don’t feel the need to post it.
I love hunters and all the amazing things we can do, chain trapping ftw (I hope 3.1 gives us some CC challenge). I lvled BM and as soon as I hit 70 I have been a die hard Surv, before WotLK made it cool, I tried MM for about 2 weeks and Q.Q until they fix Surv, I felt like I lost my best friend.
I despise questing, it’s a necessary evil to lvl faster, on my alt I’m now finally approaching 80 (/rawr Feral Drood), I much rather instance grind, that’s how I did my rep for the most part.
I do love vanity pets and am collecting as many as I can get, and mounts sad to say is in a sorry state, that eventually I will fix. But I do have da Choppa!
I love PVP, Battlegrounds (wsg is my fav), WG and arenas are amazing and have me laughing when I pwn someone… but I do hate ret pallys and DKs in Pvp… Grrrrr!
My bank is a mess with no real order, and my bags are almost always full on my hunter. I do keep raw materials and get things crafted about 95% of the time, because I’m cheap too, but I do tip very well.
I love the AH and spend at least an hour a day making money or making gems and selling them.
I hate farming… I have a short attention span it seems.
I love talking on vent (a little too much some days), but when we are raiding I usually only talk when its necessary calling out sparks etc. unless its on trash and even then its not often. But when I am just hanging, usually prepping for raids I love joking and hanging with my guys.
I love scheduling and organizing our raid schedule and dealing with issues that arise in our guild [most of the time, sometimes I want to /smack ppl
], I am very social within our guild.
And yes this may sound critical I have a very low tolerance for ppl that are doing poor performance at first I direct them where to go if it’s a lack of knowledge (be it CLs or to sites or I will try to answer anything that is hunter related) but if its lazyness or a subornness and they are sucking hardcore then I get kinda gruppy and I hate having them dragging down the raid (a little dependant on what raid) I hate carrying ppl, but then again I am the hardest on myself and ultra critical when I fubar things up and I will admit when its my bad.
But ya I want to hear more out there from some of the other girl players, and umm that isn’t directed at the guys that play girl toons
jk
ooooo wow sorry thats long :s
Oh I didn’t mention from my post above… I did meet someone in RL thats on my server.
I’m a nut for creamy drinks, smoothies, Frappes, milkshakes etc etc. A smoothy shop opened across the street from my work and I’d go daily (expensive habit). One morning I’m looking to vent after a particularly BAD raid night and I attempt to paraphrase the events in a mundane fashion to my captive audience, the manager of the smoothy shop. I’m trying to describe a guild in the most awkward way when he simply paraphrases me and saids “You mean, like a guild?” I’m surprised and we quickly realize we both play WoW, are both from Llane, and are both NE Hunters.
I’m his smoothy drinking addict, he’s my captive audience, and I spend waaaayyyy too much time over there during the work day. I’ve since transferred off Llane with my hunter, but its kept me sane in my work life.
I met a RL person in my server, right when i moved into my new apartment n he is alliance :p
The guy who bags my grocieries plays on Hellscream. 3 people at the local Software Etc. play on Aggramar. Anyway, about the guy girl thing. Guys hate questing because it involves trying to get a group together, and, most male geeks arent socal animals. Females on the other hand are, and, can get groups more easily, it seems. This is my experience ,though not scientific fact.
They seem, to get groups and help REAL fast if someone finsd out they are really a girl, and, are single.
any word on the sarth solo yet? i think im the only one asking lol im just most curious what your idea is
I’m new at this, so look past if I screw up. I am a chick, a grandmom to boot, and I am very much like Artemes. Mirror playing personalities with her. I am determined to get the spirit cats for pets, so yeh I love my kitties. I am currently working on Loremaster and Dungeonmaster, just one area, and/or instance away for each in Northrend. I love questing, I love screaming at every idiot in the battlegrounds, that knows absolutely nothing about battle tactics. I’ve never been in arena, doesn’t look like something that would appeal to me, we’ll see one day. I hate dailies, they are monotonous. But I love the quests. Once I have done something, read a book, seen a movie, been there, done that, I am bored with the repeat process. However, I have met a lot of guys that love the quests, acheivements, and the holiday quests as much as any chick. I don’t think it is a guy/chick thing. There are five computers in my house, with five WoW accounts, always prepaid 6 months in advance, there are 6 adults that are rotating play time around work and rl, 24 hours a day. We take breaks and do things as a family every week, and we spend most of our trying to remember that this is a game, and we got lives. We do a good job at it too. But we all love WoW, and we all have multiple toons on multiple servers. We all have our own playing style and abilities, but none of us are the same or opposites, none of our likes and dislikes are set in stone, and what we like this week, we may be fed up with next week. I am a loner on the game and only group up to do instances, I have taken toons from lvl 1-80 without ever receiving or giving help. Then again I have taken them all the way through doing nothing but instances. I don’t think that gender has anything to do with anything. I think we are in the game, the same people we are in rl, for the most part and take our game ques from who we really are. Man, I am glad I don’t know most of the people that talk in genchat in the barrens, in rl.
i’m a guy and i read through the whole text i get when i accept quests
whoops