Guild Wars 2

Gehenna.3625:

Fantastic Timez.3641:

Hello, my name is Ferdinando and I am a supervised researcher at Flinders University, Australia. I’m doing research investigating to what extent male gamers use conventional beliefs about gender in order to portray masculinity in Guild Wars 2. I’m interested in finding out your opinions, views and experiences when playing as a male character in Guild Wars 2. I’m looking for men who are 18 years old or older and play a male main character. However anyone can contribute and comment.

I find the premise for your research a bit odd to be honest. You say you want to investigate to what extent male gamers use conventional beliefs about gender etc. But you want to exclude males who play female characters. This doesn’t make sense to me for the following reason:

Male players who play female characters may indicate that they are not hung up on traditional views about masculinity or have a different way of looking at them or expressing them. How can you come to any useful conclusions about the extent if you exclude a group of male players?

Either your research goal is formulated incorrectly or you are setting yourself up for failure by excluding part of the needed demographic.

So are you trying to find out about the extent of traditional masculinity of male players or of male players who use a male main character because that’s not the same.

To give you an example: Traditional male masculinity includes things such as heterosexuality and mach behaviour. Would you not think that this is very much present for a male gamer who plays female characters because he thinks they’re hot? Would it not be a traditional masculine behaviour to objectify women and with that, wouldn’t playing female characters fit that bill?

In the end, I think you need to either make your research topic more specific or you need to include all male players to fit the current description.

Hi Gehenna and thank you for your concerns. However, my research question and theoretical approaches benefit from not including certain male players. Of course this has its drawbacks but no research is perfect. Thanks

colesy.8490:

I can’t be the only one who finds this extremely suspicious.

Why is that? Perhaps I could offer some insight?

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Astral Projections.7320:

Fantastic Timez.3641:

Thank you all so much for your comments, responses, enquiries and support. I have enough responses to stop now. If I am able to (although I can’t promise) I’ll bring the results back so you can have a look. Again, thank you for your support. My research would not be possible without your help.

You got 9 responses and that was enough responses for your research? O.o

Yes, lets hope you were gathering data from other sources. 9 responses a sample size does not make.

Worry not, I have more data from other sources.

Thank you all so much for your comments, responses, enquiries and support. I have enough responses to stop now. If I am able to (although I can’t promise) I’ll bring the results back so you can have a look. Again, thank you for your support. My research would not be possible without your help.

Hey Crazylegsmurphy, thanks for your comments and answers and yes my username is quite funny and ridiculous. In regards to seeing the finished study, I have to say that I don’t know when and if it will be published. If my grade is high enough it will be made available at my university library (Flinders University). Currently, there are no plans to publish my thesis in academic journals but that is a possibility later on the line. But answering your question, I would have to check and see if I can make the study available for others to see. It would be great if the participants had access to the published studies or the results but I can’t promise. I’ll get back to you on that.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

I agree that the broader discussion should probably move to a separate thread.

Fantastic Timez, as a woman who plays mainly female characters, I can’t contribute to your study, but I am grateful that you’re working on this. There have been a number of (varying quality) studies on women and gaming (gender roles, conventions, expectations, etc. etc.) and in the interest of a fair and complete picture, we should of course look at both genders. It feels ever so slightly weird to me to, for the first time, not be the one that the survey is addressed to, and I absolutely welcome it!

Thank you for the kind words, Pixelpumpkin.

Justdeifyme.9387:

1. What is your age and gender?

18, Male

2. For how long have you been playing Guild Wars 2 and other MMORPGs?

6 Years in total, Guild wars 2 since release.

3. What are your character’s race, profession and personal story and what are your reasons for choosing them?

My Main Character is a Human Warrior, he grew up in a commoner family because I want my Character to reflect myself. I don’t value objects very much, but I’m also no outlaw, so I picked commoner.

4. What are the things you enjoy doing the most with your character?

Fighting and watching him in Cutscenes. I spend many hours giving him the perfect look and then I enjoy it watching im in Action for a few days, then I switch his style again.

5. What aspects of your character would you consider masculine, if any?

His muscles, his comments, his fighting style and his armor.

6. Are there things in the game you would like to do with your character but are unable to? Can you give some examples?

I’d like him to be more of a man who does whatever he wants, like me. Ingame I have to fight for the Queen and Kryta and all that, but I don’t enjoy fighting for a single person. I completly ignore what came in the Personal Story after Claw Island, because after that everything was just so bad I want to forget it.

Thank you for answering

I would greatly appreciate if this thread didn’t derail into unrelated topics. I’m trying to keep the thread on topic. I hope you all understand

Vayne.8563:

1. What is your age and gender?

51, male

2. For how long have you been playing Guild Wars 2 and other MMORPGs?

I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 since the first beta, official since August 25, 2012. I’ve been playing MMOs for about six years.

The Following questions will focus on your main male character:
3. What are your character’s race, profession and personal story and what are your reasons for choosing them?

I choose race/profession even gender based on my interested in that race’s lore. I do tend to play characters that I find interesting from a story point of view. I chose Sylvari as my main race, because I loved the lore surround them. I chose a male character for one of my mains, but I don’t see him as particularly masculine. Of course, he’s a plant anyway. lol

4. What are the things you enjoy doing the most with your character?

I tend to prefer open world content and minigames over things like dungeons and PvP. Mind you, I do pretty much everything in the game. I actually spend more time running dungeons than hanging around in the open world because someone always asks me to help out, so I do.

5. What aspects of your character would you consider masculine, if any?

I don’t really think in terms of masculine and feminine. I mean, what’s masculine? Big, strong, muscle-bound? My character is slender, agile and strategic. He’s not particularly aggressive. He’s not “macho”. Though he’s direct in action, he still thinks things through before doing stuff.

6. Are there things in the game you would like to do with your character but are unable to? Can you give some examples?

I can’t really think of anything I’d like my character to do that he can’t.

Thank you for your contribution

ilr.9675:

I’ll bite… just b/c mine defies the stereotypes (nothing like Outlier data…)
1) 30-40 demo
2)10+ years
3)Asuran Monk (protection guardian)
4) ..the whole class is OP everywhere I go. …Oh you meant Aesthetics.. well, he’s small, in scaly green armor, not really a scholar or smart, just really disciplined & altruistic.
5) None except for Hammer being his main DPS weapon. My Female alt is actually a lot bigger, faster, and more masculine than he could ever hope to be.
6) Take the horns back off that canthan Dragon Mask :p ….they’re a bit much
(yes I know that’s actually the helmet’s NAME … no I’m not being ironic)

Thanks!

Mirta.5029:

I’m confused with all of this masculine stuff. It almost sounds like a feminist research undercover that later would be used to prove that games lack femininity or some other stuff like that, so I would like to ask – what is the purpose of your thesis and why this research subject?

Hi Mirta, thanks for your interest. I assure my research has nothing to do with feminist research. I am gamer myself and I am completing an honours course in sociology. My reasons for this research and thesis topic are many. For one, there are not many studies concerning video games in sociology and the social sciences and also not many ask about masculinity and men. My other reason is simply to explore an area of research that has not really been paid much attention to in the past. I hope this clarifies some of your questions.

Hi foofad, I appreciate your privacy concerns with my study. Both my supervisor and the ethics committee at my university are fine with me conducting this study in this way. I am required to change usernames to random letters or numbers. For example, participant A or participant B. Having said that, it is as you say my responsibility and is not automated. Unfortunately, an Internet survey is not applicable to my research.

Thank you for answering, Duke Blackrose.

Hi Siphaed, your typos are incorrectly pointed out. Please have a look at the letter of introduction again. Also, while I appreciate your effort to correct or suggest modifications to my questions, I assure you that they are that way for a reason. Also, in the future please try not to let your criticism take an unjustified patronising overtone. Nevertheless, I will be more than happy to answer any further questions you may have.

Also, if you play most of the time as a male then you can also classify for this study.

Hello, my name is Ferdinando and I am a supervised researcher at Flinders University, Australia. I’m doing research investigating to what extent male gamers use conventional beliefs about gender in order to portray masculinity in Guild Wars 2. I’m interested in finding out your opinions, views and experiences when playing as a male character in Guild Wars 2. I’m looking for men who are 18 years old or older and play a male main character. However anyone can contribute and comment.

If you are interested, please read below for more information and have a look at the attached letter of introduction from my supervisor Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope to hear from you.

The questions:

1. What is your age and gender?
2. For how long have you been playing Guild Wars 2 and other MMORPGs?

The Following questions will focus on your main male character:

3. What are your character’s race, profession and personal story and what are your reasons for choosing them?
4. What are the things you enjoy doing the most with your character?
5. What aspects of your character would you consider masculine, if any?
6. Are there things in the game you would like to do with your character but are unable to? Can you give some examples?

Other Info Relating this Project
How can I participate?
Participation in this study is simple and entirely voluntary. If you would like to participate you can do so by answering the questions at the end with as much or as little detail as you like.

How do I agree to participate?
Participation is voluntary. If you choose to participate, you can do so by answering the questions at the end. If you choose to answer to this forum post, please be mindful that your answers may be used in the final study.

Will I be identifiable by being involved in this study?
Your real name and identity are not required to answer the questions in this study. Your username will be changed to something that it is not identifiable. As such, no personal information will be accessible. However, since parts or the entirety of your answer may be used in the final study, others may be able to find your forum post by using search engines such as Google.

Is there any risk if I am involved?
The researcher anticipates that there should not be any substantial risks other than inconvenience when participating in this study. This study has been approved by the Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Committee. If you have any concerns or questions you can contact us using the contact information provided.

How will I benefit from this study?
While this study will not benefit you directly, you will help advance knowledge and understanding in regards to video games and gamers in the social sciences. The answers collected here will go towards completing a thesis.

Contact Information

Supervisor
Dr Monique Mulholland
Associate Researcher
Tel: +61 8 82015453
Email: monique.mulholland@flinders.edu.au
Researcher
Ferdinando Biroccesi
Email: biro0005@flinders.edu.au