Men Who are Bad at Video Games More Likely to Show Hostility to Women

[Aroura]

I'm completely unsurprised. As a female gamer (I play a LOT of MMO's), I can tell you I've met some strict, hard-core gamers who treated me very respectfully and requested me in dungeons and raids. The ones who are jerks are the ones who don't get out of the AOE, then yell at you wen they die.

I've met bad DPS, bad tanks and bad healers, and I gotta say, a bad tank, one who loses agro tothe DPS or healer, misses his interrupts, doesn't catch adds, etc is the biggest jerk in an MMO, generally.

And they always think they are just danm awesome, too.

[Nope]

This is why both my daughters usually play male characters and don't use voice chat unless they are playing in a group of their friends.

[Dystopia]

I'm male and I like playing as female in RPG's, it makes it better as an experience - Maybe because most games are fantasy and I like to be someone who looks little like me in real life. Specially if it's an elf, it's gotta be female

[abaris]

This is why both my daughters usually play male characters and don't use voice chat unless they are playing in a group of their friends.

Not sure and I certainly don't have anything empirical, but my personal observation is, these types are insulting males too. That's but one of the reasons why I quit playing these games. They simply attract a certain breed I don't really welcome into my personal space.

[Dystopia]

#SexismInGamingTotallyDoesn'tExistRight?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I suspect this is true.  For instance, when the wrong Tetris piece shows up, I immediately beat my missus with a golf club.

Boru

[ignoramus]

I play FPS one after the other and I just think it's a simple case of get all your anger out in the game, and then be happy and relaxed.
After killing a million Nazis in the latest Wolf Wolf, the last thing I need to do is bitchslap the wife for forgetting to stir the sugar in the cup of tea she just made me!

Seriously, I can understand it. When I'm getting my arse kicked in a level, I yell obscenities in anger, slam the headphones down, and go out for a choof to calm my nerves. Rinse and repeat till I reach the next save point.

[Little lunch]

Another possibility is that all men treat women like shit when losing against them. :-)

[MTL]

I am female and not a gamer;


but a male friend of mine who is a very good gamer
describes the many asshole males he encounters, frequently;
usually young males.


So maybe the hostility isn't exclusively targeted at females,
but females are more likely than males to be the recipient,
as they may seem like an easier target to bully (if they are present)
and especially if they are the minority.

I would say it is worth investigating all-female environments to discover if there is a corresponding dynamic there,
like a girls school.

Maybe an insecure bully is just an insecure bully, wherever you go.

[KevinM1]

I'm completely unsurprised.  As a female gamer (I play a LOT of MMO's), I can tell you I've met some strict, hard-core gamers who treated me very respectfully and requested me in dungeons and raids.  The ones who are jerks are the ones who don't get out of the AOE, then yell at you wen they die.  

I've met bad DPS, bad tanks and bad healers, and I gotta say, a bad tank, one who loses agro tothe DPS or healer, misses his interrupts, doesn't catch adds, etc is the biggest jerk in an MMO, generally.

And they always think they are just danm awesome, too.

As a tank, I can say with authority that yeah, a lot of us suck.  I know I'm not the best, but I always try to learn and adapt and figure things out.

For me, the biggest jerks tend to be healers and DPS (obviously).  There's nothing worse than a healer more focused on dealing damage than cleansing and healing.  Yeah, congratulations - you landed a crit on your middling spell.  Meanwhile, I'm dead and the group is half wiped.  Good job.

Bad DPS is frustrating because all they need to do is damage and be aware of big attacks/AOEs.  There's nothing quite as annoying as the DPS who keeps dying, and is the first to die, attempting to play field general in chat.

I'm happy I play FF X|V.  Hardly any jerks in that game.  A lot of the players are WoW vets who have had enough of the assholes and just want to have fun.  I've been playing since X-mas, and I've run into a grand total of 2 idiots:  

One was a DPS who had no clue and kept dying in a relatively simple boss battle.  It looked like he merely ground levels the hard way and was carried through most story encounters.  Garuda (the name of the boss) has a couple tricky mechanics, but we kept telling him what to look out for.  Apparently, he didn't understand what line of sight meant.  D'oh.

The other was also a DPS during the Steps of Faith event.  It was my first time, and the PUG gave crap instructions.  We wiped twice because no one knew where to go or what to do.  The DPS started bitching, and I was just like "Dude, it's just a game.  Relax."  We cleared it on the next try.

But, yeah, 2 out of dozens I've grouped with.  Pretty good odds.