When i first started playing, I picked a female character because in general, i thought that i would enjoy looking at the female character model more than the male character model for the next few months. I quickly found that other players treated me much, much, much nicer than I expected, until I made it clear that I was actually a guy- then, they treated me like crap. for example, when they thought I was a female player, they would give me free equipment, always let me roll on things, help me kill stuff even if I wasn't grouped with them, etc. After they realized that i wasn't, in fact, a blue skinned night elf female in real life, they would not reply to tells, train mobs onto me, and take loot.

I experienced this behavior most in the 30-50 level range; i think before that, no one ever thought to ask what my real gender was, because I was rarely grouped then as much as i was in the mid levels.

Maybe, by the time most male players reach 60, they have a built in prejudice against female characters- they may percieve that many of the female characters they encountered earlier in the game "lied" by choosing a character gender different than their own, and are therefore less trustworthy.

I would add that you'd probably have to look at the gender breakdown of the players themselves. For instance, what percentage of male players play as a female character vs. how many female players play as a female character. If the gap between males and females playing as female characters is large, then perhaps there is some external factor based on how females and males interact and socialize within a "virual world."

One possibility is that a lot of female players are male player's spouses or girlfriends. As a result, they tend to spend a great deal of their time playing as a duo with their significant other. They wouldn't necessarliy become any better connected over time.

Female priests might be the exception because their role is so prized in a group. This would lead to invites, tells, etc. that might break them out of their duo into larger groups.

I would look at this data in conjunction with Nick Yee's, which equates 1 in 2 female characters being played by a female (vs. 1 in 99 male chars being run by a female).

The numbers also show that most women who play WoW play with significant others. This I think would limit the number of people they interact with. It does in real life.

As for female priests, priests overall are more connected than any other class. And priests are the class most commonly played by females.

Another possibility:

* Many female priests are actually females in real life.
* Many of the other female characters are alternate characters of men, created to play solo or "power up to 60".

This is certainly the case with my characters - my priest is male (but 4 of the 6 priests in my MC raid are female night elves played by women), two of my three high level alts are female characters who I rarely group with (because I group with my priest when I feel like grouping).

Either way, I suspect the difference is in the conscious choices made by the various players themselves, as opposed to a significant sociological explanation. But that is just suspicion.

I agree with Steve C. Anecdotally, the most popular priests I've known were played by women. Persoanlly, I'm a male, 47. According to the Daedalus site that puts me in the group most likely to play female characters. And I do. I started my first EQ character as a female because I'm not aggressive and wanted to avoid conflict. On the RP server that seemed like a good choice. In WoW I played female chars because I prefer looking at them. After all, its like a movie and I'd rather watch Michelle Yeoh than Jackie Chan (but I make a point of watching both). Furthermore, I solo a lot. In EQ2 my current goal is to reach level 60 without ever joining a group. My character is, of course, female.

BTW, I have seen a number of different "theories" on why males play female chars. I haven't seen "avoiding conflict" explicitly spelled out, but that's definately one motivation for me, and I believe it applies to some of my friends who also bend the gender rules.

Since it's clear that priests in general are the most connected, it seems ot follow that they are in the highest demand. This demand likely becomes a social stress.

My best guess is that male priests become overwhelmed by this stress and become insular, while females deal with it better.

I also think that you'd need to see the real-world gender data to really find out what's going on here.

The most important variable might turn out to be whether two "connected" players know each other's true gender.

Because of the rather large percentage of female characters played by male players, and the likely majority of male players overall, male players may feel more comfortable interacting with male characters when they don't know the player's true gender because they can safely assume that the player is male.

Players in a guild that uses voice communication or other methods of exposing the true gender of players will probably show different results than players in more anonymous groups or those not in guilds who interact primarily with randomly selected players.

Age will likely be another factor with younger players possibly prefering to interact with members of their own sex and again males feeling more comforatable communicating with a character they know or can safely assume is male.

Many male players may limit interactions with female characters whose players are of unknown gender since they are uncomfortable as a result of not knowing how to behave with respect to them.

Z.

Here are some assumptions that I will throw into the mix to try and justify the data that has been shown here. These are observations that I have made while levelling up a 60 rogue, 60 warlock and 50 priest on Horde.

Female priests are usually females in real life. The only male priests I know are powergamers who like a Shadow Priest's power in PvP (and are thus not specced for grouping).

Female characters of other classes are often played by males. Usually these gender-bending males are trying an MMORPG for the first time, and switch to male characters after a while. They are slower to form networks in the game (not used to interaction purely by internet chat) and don't join the large powergaming guilds.

Some might say that males that play as female characters are less sociable or less outgoing, others might say they are shunned (at least once the truth is known).

Most females play the game with a spouse, and typically stick to that duo until level 60. [url]http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001468.php[/url] The priest class makes the perfect support for their partner's fighting ability, which is why I see so many female priests who are actually female.

I suspect that females are more likely to play holy priests, and males are more likely to play shadow priests.

Mostly up in my ingame experience -- I'm female and play a holy priest; the other female priests I know are holy priests; the shadow priests I know are all male, but I also know holy priests who are male. So it's not a perfect rule, but I suspect it explains the difference.

A quick opinion of mine:

I have a human female warrior along with a night elf male one, both lvl 60. In groups/ raids when the leader is deciding who will be the primary warrior and who will be the subsidiary, my female character is never chosen to be primary, even in situations where my gaming skills are unknown.

I personally believe it is because the male characters are larger than the female and that this is subconciously felt by other people in the game to be representative of aptitude.

In short, male characters may have more connections because their appearance gives an aura of competence that the female build does not, lending other players to trust the actions and decisions of the male character.

Pardon me if this is too cynical. But perhaps, people who appear feminine are more likely to be invited in to groups when the population is heavily male.

Generally, I would expect all people to tire of unsolicited requests. How many women do you know that really like the cat calls of cnstruction workers? How do you think a gal (or guy) would take that, playing a character in a non-sexual game?

Priests are played by people who want to group... especially at higher levels. So their connections should be higher. The female toons could still have higher connectedness than the males, because of the factor of unsolicited requests.