News Study: Male gamers have need to conquer

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/05/27/study-male-gamers-have-need-to-conquer/1

A recent study in Stanford, California has revealed that male gamers pursue the hobby primarily out of a need to conquer.

 

Wow, a study that doesn't serve as the foundation for a video game ban, or that hasn't been commissioned by entrepreneuring career vampires (politicians). Interesting. I'll have a read

 

That looks like a really interesting read. Bookmarked for later consumption!

 

Hmmm, my gf still enjoys killing people on Halo 3

 

I can see were they are coming from...

 

I agree with it, I like to conquer things in games.

 

definitely true for RTS games, theres nothing like building an all conquering army and wiping out everyone in one single wave, turtle tactics are so satisfying

 

As with all things there will be some women and men who don't fit this 'rule' but the study does tie in with similar work on male territorial nature. Sounds very interesting.

 

Interestingly the press release linked above is from the 2nd or April, must have taken a while to reach the mainstream, anyway, original paper is here, but you'll have to pay $31 to read the whole thing. (ref Journal of Psychiatric Research, Volume 42, Issue 4, March 2008, Pages 253-258 )
I'm not sure about a 'need to conquer', but apparently "males showed greater activation and functional connectivity compared to females in the mesocorticolimbic system" . It doesn't say in the abstract how many people were tested however.

 

ya wanna bet? soon they'll use this as evidence to ban all males from playing games for health and saftey reasons!

 

seems perfectly reasonable to me - i definately play games in order to crush hapless opponents. I guess the conquer vs escapism thing can be broken down by type of game played, with shooters falling into the former and rpg's into the latter (with some games offering a degree of crossover of course).

 

Shouldn't we be looking at this another way? Games are more likely to appeal to men because they are usually designed by men, and are thus pandering to male interests. Games aren't these mystical things that fall out of the sky and attract all the men to them, they are the way they are because men make them like that. If all men suddenly lost the ability to look at monitors, I guarnatee a few years down the line we'd have headlines about why it is that women are addicted to games. It's just affirmation that men are different to women, and that's hardly breaking news is it.

 

At the risk of an ePunch to the face, does she enojoy a bit of conquering?

Yeah good point, I cant count the number of female characters with boobs the size of your, head in games. Its what guys like though, sex, explosions / general violence etc

 

True words of wisdom Bauul. There will always be something to fill the void when a segment of a market disappears.

 

I have got a copy of the full article here (Courtesy of University subscription) and it really is quite an interesting read, would it be contravening rules or infringement if I was to offer it?

 

Probably, yes.

 

When I get feeling territorial, I go pee on a fire hydrant, no need for video games to fill that need

 

I play CTF in UT to gain control of the map and conquer the other team's base ... I also play games in general to win and dominate (I can't play a multiplayer game and have fun just for the sake of playing). I guess it makes sens

Now who am I, Bush, Hitler or Napoleon , mmmmm

 

Thats because we can actualy put out a fire that way, and 'woman' would burn their asses off, Unless they can do the rare 'standing pee' methode for woman.. But thats waaaaay offtopic

 

All males have a need to conquer, it's intrinsic to who we are. Watch a couple of 5 year olds play sometime, all their games tend to revolve around status and pecking order. Why anyone thinks this should be any different in gaming eludes me.