Suggest OddsBehind the Numbers: Nick Yee on Virtual Reality On-line Games
Photo courtesy of Nick Yee
You might call what Nick Yee does substantive virtual research. A scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center, Yee crosses communication studies with psychology and computer science to quantitatively study immersive virtual reality, online games, and the patterns of people who play them.
What got you started studying massively multiplayer online games?
It was the topic of my senior thesis back in 1999. No one was studying it from a quantitative perspective; people were doing ethnographies. I was one of the first people to start doing surveys. It’s like studying a foreign world. You need to know the social norms to ask the right questions.
How do you get accurate data?
Early on it was just surveys. First, all the surveys were consistent. Then we got access to actual server data and we saw that the differences were minimal. We also got data from game companies, their marketing research and so forth. What respondents said about gender and age was fairly consistent: Men are three to five times more likely to gender-bend. With World of Warcraft, 80% of the players are men and 20% are women. So of every 2 female avatars, 1 is likely to be played by a man. And these trends are surprisingly consistent over time.
Do you also see race-bending or other avatar trends?
World of Warcraft offers so many different creatures—most people aren’t playing as a human. There are 10 races and only 1 of them is human. There’s a bias for new players to choose attractive and pretty characters, and as they become more mature players they switch to less-pretty characters. With Second Life, it’s different. You have to go out of your way to find a non-good-looking person.
Can you tell anything about the players’ ages from the way they play?
There is a complexity of tasks that [these games] encourage you to perform over time—managing guilds, interactions, human resources—that require a good deal of maturity. In fact, group leaders in these games tend to be younger. They are [playing the game] longer. They have less life experience, but they are not jaded by managing people in real life. [In these games] young players have a level of power and control they don’t have in real life. They have an agency they don’t have in their real lives. This is very seductive for them.
How much time do players spend, and what do they give up to make the time?
Typically 20-22 hours per week at the expense of TV. Either the TV is running while they are playing or it’s shut off altogether.
Do players have a lot in common?
With World of Warcraft, typically an IT background. They are tech-savvy. A lot of players have experience with tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons. But I interview players as old as 70 and as young as 10-11.
Why do males play as females?
(laughs) I used to have all these psychological and sociological theories about how they were experimenting with their identity in ways they couldn’t in their real lives. It turns out to be highly instrumental and practical. Men say that if they are going to stare at a butt this long they want it to be of a woman. And in the game, women have a practical advantage. They are more likely to be given free things, receive help if they ask for it. In 10 years of playing, the one time I played as a female avatar I received free help. Along with that comes sexual harassment. So these men know what it’s like.
Is there a larger lesson here?
The toughest thing to figure out is, are the things we’re seeing just accidental consequences of video game history? Are there innate gender differences? This is the central tension.
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