The increasing popularity of games played online in real time by thousands of computer users has brought the virtual construction of gender roles by players into sharp focus. The elements of these games, as conceived by game authors, programmers, and artists present players with conflicting values of perceived gender roles. The freedom allowed in game play, as a function of the game as well as the construction of player-characters by on-line users, finds the environment of such game play rich in examples of how gender and race are considered and constructed in social situations. Using avatars of moving three-dimensional cartoon-like characters, virtual bodies express notions of popular Western masculine and feminine behavior in group interactions through computer mediated discourse.

EverQuest is the focus of my study of gender roles and construction in this medium. The game’s parent company, Sony Corporation, claims that Everquest has a subscriber base of 220,000 individuals and there can be as many as 20,000 people on line at any given time. A recent voluntary poll of players, on one of the many websites devoted to the game, showed that of over 11,000 respondents, 25% of players are on-line 10-20 hours per week, and 25% are on 20-30 hours per week. Forums and chat boards devoted to the game find posters avidly discussing game play. Throughout my experiences as a player, I listened to conversations, and read message boards devoted to the game. The richness of culture in the game is derived solely from the players' own experiences of culture and gender, and overlaid into the game play through discourse.

EverQuest is constructed to have both male and female characters of 14 fantasy races, which include good and evil elves, humans, trolls, ogres, "Erudites" (a race of African-American appearing humans), "Halflings" (adopted from Tolkien’s fantasy fiction), dwarfs, and gnomes. Female characters are, for the most part, dressed as a basic character in clothing that clearly emphasizes their gender, and in many cases, such as dark elves and wood elves, clothing that is revealing. Male characters are shown more fully clothed in most cases, with the most pronounced differences being the dark elves and the wood elves, where the males are fully clothed and the females wear very little coverings.

Players can choose to play either a male or female character. The game designers did make the fundamental decision to include both male and female characters of every race in the game, and allow the players the freedom to choose the sex of their character. Despite obvious physical gender differences, the characters are designed to have no differences in game play—playing abilities are the same for either. Men playing a female character take on the female body in space, but lack for none of the abilities that their male counterpart would have in the game. Once players create a character as a virtual body in cyberspace and give it a personal name and identity, players give the character their own the notions of male and female behavior through their actions in on-line game play and through real-time discourse with other players within the game.

The ratio of males and females in the player base is purely an estimate on my part, because Verant will not release data about their subscribers. From player polls on various websites, it seems to be optimistically 30% women players, 70% men. In a recent study of EverQuest players by researcher Nicholas Yee at Haverford College, of 352 respondents, 83% were male, 12% female. The age range seems to be from 13 years of age (the lowest Sony will allow for a participating player, because of the new minor child privacy laws) to over 50. The majority of players, again an estimated number resulting from voluntary player polls on websites, seem to be from 16-25 years of age. The researcher can assume that the people playing EverQuest have the economic buying power to purchase a high-end computer system that includes an expensive graphics card and high quality monitor. Subscribers must have a high speed internet connection, and own a credit card or have access to one that can be charged $10.00 per month (debiting a credit card is the only way Verant will accept payment for the monthly subscription cost). The player must have enough leisure time to be able to play the game at least a few hours a week (and most play much, much more than that). This makes the subscriber base most likely to be of the middle to upper economic class.

The issues that arise from individuals who play the game through their characters, as virtual bodies in space, is what makes the study of on-line gaming so fascinating. Computer mediated communication highlights the dimensions of anonymity, distance, and the breakdown of age barriers. As the interactions between players unfold, the expectation of gender roles, both male and female, come sharply into play.  The game environment calls for players to expect public shouting, acceptance of rude talking and behavior in public spaces (to a certain degree), and a very male aggressiveness that would not be in character for someone with "feminine qualities"--which include passive, polite behaviors. The game itself is about power and acquisition, an attitude that women traditionally have been steered away from as "unfeminine." Geoffrey Zatkin, game designer for EverQuest, said recently in an interview (published on www.maximumeq.com):

Women gamers need to embrace this very male-oriented attitude from the beginning, all the while knowing that along with this world view comes the underlying notion that females are also objects of acquisition in the traditional Western notion of gender roles.

Players are anonymous and it is not possible to tell the age or gender of players during game play.  However, the treatment of women characters reflects many of the gender expectations that occur outside of this virtual world, in the worlds the players inhabit off-line. The designers of EverQuest made an attempt to create a virtual environment unencumbered with male and female differences in abilities; the players have taken that world and shaped it into a reflection of their own attitudes toward gender and the roles of men and women.

The game is clearly marketed to a young male population. I heard recently in a report from National Public Radio that women are becoming scarce in the computer science fields, with the number of women actually decreasing. The report blamed some of the decline on the fact that women are not interested in the traditional hack and slash computer gaming world, and therefore are not as involved as young people as their male counterparts. I would like to explore the reasons for this, beyond the obvious that females are not encouraged to be violent or aggressive as children. When a player enters the world of EverQuest, he or she is immediately bombarded with imagery of women characters that are drawn to emphasize their sexuality. And players are very concerned with the sexuality of the cartoon characters around them. In a September 1999 poll of players on an EverQuest fan website, over 11,000 players chose to answer the question, "The race with the sexiest women is…" Just more than half that number (5,984) answered the poll that same month on "The race with the sexiest men is…" There seemed to a much greater interest in rating the sexy women than the sexy men.

Scanty clothing and clothing that evokes images of female models in male magazines is the norm for female characters. The races that are "ugly", namely the trolls and ogres (and perhaps bearded dwarf women), are acknowledged as being unattractive in female form, and can be viewed as a contrast to the more attractive races. 

Women notice the unrealistic forms of the well-endowed female characters. In a study done in January, 2000, a woman player commented:

Verant will probably not "get real," since the game is positioned to appeal to young men. In the dark elf city of Neriak, the bar "The Maiden's Fancy" is a whorehouse, with female dancers on the bar.  This certainly is titillating and "evil" but was not put there to please the females playing the game.  Indeed, Verant, by putting this element in the game, has emphasized the role of women again as sexual objects.  In the Maiden's Fancy there are also prostitute non-player characters that stand around the area. This is the "evil" city, of course, perhaps suggesting that such activities are not condoned by the "good races", since there are no such establishments in the other cities. In fact, the dark elf mythology that precedes EverQuest has a matriarchal society where the men serve the women. In the historical sense of dark elves in fiction, such blantant disrespect for women would probably never occur. Despite this, the game designers chose to include the whorehouse in this city, depicting women as a commodity. In game play, a male or female character of any race will be the same in skills and abilities, but never the same in outward appearance. Since the majority of players are men, the aura of testosterone is very difficult to overcome for the intrepid female player. She is from the outset ostensibly valued for her suitability as a sexual object, immediately disenfranchised from the male dominated society of power and economic acquisition of material goods. She is expected to be more emotional, weaker, and nurturing. This is a two edged sword: women characters are often treated with respect in the game, as a fragile female who needs more help than their male counterparts, and should not be exposed to the harsh realities of male bonding. If someone is "role playing" a fantasy character, that usually includes being polite and chivalrous to women characters. Farah Houston wrote in a recent on-line editorial about her experiences playing EverQuest:

Female players must then "resign" themselves to being treated differently than male characters, despite the fact that there are no differences in the abilities of the characters during game play. In my own experience, my magician character is not expected to be brave, and tends to be protected by other group members who are usually male. In the same vein, it is deemed perfectly acceptable to make lewd comments in front of other group members and to me privately. This type of sexual stereotyping is purely the result of the gender differences in the appearance of the cartoon drawings and the real people who control them. Despite the optimism that might lead one to believe that making a female warrior equal to a male would then result in a world of gender equality, the game designers have perpetuated through the exaggeration of gender differences the natural inclination to treat women as unequal partners by young men and boys. Some comments by players in Yee's study:

Male players are not above making women characters to exploit the desires of other men who are besotted with the idea that a cartoon character might satisfy their desire for female attention and physical affection. It is common practice for a male player to make a female character that giggles and flirts, hoping to pick up free items that are valuable in the game. Despite the knowledge that the flirtatious wood elf maiden is probably a male college or high school student, just like the character she is flirting with, this tactic is well known for its effectiveness. Some player comments on this issue:

Boyfriends and girlfriend relationships are also extremely common, and lovers will emote kissing and gestures of affection while playing with others. It was inevitable, perhaps, that the introduction of two genders in game play would lead to romances, with the real sex of the participants not being known. Verant encourages the idea of pair bonding between players by sanctioning weddings between player characters. The GM's, who are player characters that oversee game play, can marry two players in a ceremony. Weddings are very popular between players and are announced on various websites and official game boards. Players see weddings as a logical conclusion to "role playing" being in love with another player. The ability to play out emotions with other people in a fantasy world has a great appeal for many players. The opportunities for romance mixed with fantasy in a world that can be thought of as having few real life consequences to the players are compelling to those who want to explore this dimension of their personalities. The high fantasy genre of story telling lends itself easily to the role-playing of chivalry and courtly love. For women, and sometimes men, the ability to marry and in-game partner satisfies their need to express both love as well as aggression in the game.

It is not unheard of in "role playing" to have a couple get married in game that may be of the same sex in real life. This exploration of transgendered issues is accepted, if not condoned by players. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy seems to prevail. In this sense, EverQuest seems to be a place where men, for the most part, can explore gender roles in an environment that is judgement free because of the factor of anonymity. Under the guise of "role playing," there is a safety net for those who perhaps wish to explore sexual issues without the consequence of real life censure. Women's roles are so circumscribed that role playing a woman allows a man to express emotions and feelings in ways he could not playing a male character.

Cyber sex in the game is common enough that there is now a verb for it: "to cyber." "Do you cyber?" is the query for those who want to engage in virtual sex. How prevalent it is, I could not venture a guess. Sexual activity in the game, just as in other environments, is a sensitive subject. However, it is assumed that some players can and will engage in cybersex as a recreational activity.  On a darker note, the power of sexuality and cyber-sex can be exploited to the extreme in the form of on-line prostitution in game. It is commonly known that some women characters will trade sexual favors, either on-line or over the phone, in trade for items.  It is perhaps not surprising that this sort of transaction occurs, as the game is economically based and has female characters dressed suggestively, leading to the inevitable conclusion that sex has value as a trade item to men who want to have it in some form or another.

Sexual innuendo in public spaces is rampant, bringing gender differences into game play. Sexual harassment may occur in various forms through the use of text and textual "emotes" of behavior. In Darkpact's study, players talked about how they had been harassed in game play:

It is interesting that the female player fled from her attackers, and the male player tried to fight his aggressor and then called the authorities.

The prevalence of transgendered characters, primarily male players playing female characters, is an aspect of EverQuest that is a significant sub-culture of the overall gaming experience. In a poll taken in January, 2000 on an EverQuest fan website, 8,694 people answered the following question: "My gender and my main character's gender are as follows…" The results are below:

This poll, although not statistically relevant, suggests that the majority of players reading the website and answering the poll are men (86%). Women are much less likely to be playing, and if they do play, they will probably choose to play a woman character. This issue of the transgendered nature of many of the player-characters is important in the sense that it helps shape the notion of gender construction in the game. Below are quotes on why people play male or female characters from an on-line study done last year on gender in EverQuest:

Both men and women seem to recognize an emotional freedom that comes from playing as a woman character. There is a freedom to be nurturing and caring of others. Male characters cannot spontaneously hug another player without someone thinking that is outside the social norm; women can do such things with impunity.  It is perhaps even expected that women will be publicly affectionate to friends. Women are cast as more emotional, healers, confidants, and involved with the spiritual side of life. This gender stereotyping makes women feel less comfortable expressing these types of emotions in game play as a male character, and gives men the chance to explore this side of their natures by adopting a female persona. But there is a negative side to seeing women characters as emotional nurturers. A male player who plays a female character had these observations:

As in the real world men and women inhabit, women characters are often asked to prove themselves as equal members of a team in the traditional male oriented activity of fighting. Here, this male player still cannot see other women players as having the ability to get themselves out of a difficult situation, despite the fact that he plays a woman character and the odds are that the other characters are also males playing females.

As women discover on-line gaming, I believe their numbers will rise. There is an empowering aspect to creating and achieving with a role playing game such as this one. Although women and girls are discouraged in other areas of life from being aggressive and acquisitive of power and control over their environments, gaming may be an outlet for exploring this side of being human. Women are still at a disadvantage, however, as the on-line gaming world is still dominated by men who have an interest in making art depicting women as sexual objects. They design for the majority of gamers, men and boys, who enjoy looking at scantily clad women figures. At the present moment, women gamers still will feel disenfranchised because of the attitudes of the predominantly male players who insists through their sheer numbers on dominating the environment and shaping it to embody their notions of masculinity. Those notions reflect the secondary role of women and the implied permission to comment on women's sexuality publicly, and to see value in its display, and this discounting other aspects of women that are not dependent on their appearance.  Women's styles of communication are at odds with the young male's way of expressing himself, which makes for an intimidating environment for those women who cannot adjust to this type of discourse (being opinionated, shouting out for attention, fighting over in-game items and playing spots). As with so many male dominated environments, women often have to adjust to a different way of social interaction, or else fall back on the traditional roles they have always taken in Western society. Perhaps if more women begin to infiltrate the gaming market, they can begin to influence these virtual environments with their own style of discourse and social interaction, without having to take on the role of a "pseudo-male." However, the question remains, what kinds of games would appeal to women, and how would they be different?

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Copyright 2001