Gender Reversal in Online Gaming
• Amorous Web, Cyber Sex
Are you in the habit of flirting with players who have a pretty girl for an avatar?
In an About.com poll taken last summer, nearly two-thirds of the 920 respondents said they play characters of the opposite sex in online role-playing games.
Kathryn Wright, WomenGamers.com’s consulting psychologist, earlier this decade found that 60 percent of male players who don female avatars, or on-screen personas, do it to gain an advantage in game play.
An enthusiast with the online handle Jackpot649 nailed the Zeitgeist in his response to the About.com query: “I’m a guy, but if I gotta look at an avatar all day, I’d sooner look at a female avatar. Plus, people give you more free stuff.”