# Why are males better at competitive gaming? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 1, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944 "2010-05-01T04:39:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/81 "2010-05-03T19:29:01Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I’m a douchebag when I’m in compete mode online. I know the feeling you’re talking about, **Riggy**. It’s Heaven on Earth. I completely agree. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/82 "2010-05-03T20:01:35Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Theory confirmed! Yes, but I’m only terrible at it because I’ve never given it any attention. I’m generally good at video games, and I have very good reaction time. So I don’t think it’s fair to use me to confirm your view the women are bad at PvP until you’ve given me a chance to actually see if I still suck at it when I care to be good. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/83 "2010-05-03T20:28:02Z")
I don’t play WoW or any MMOs, because I only play videogames for the competition, which is how I derive enjoyment from games-I almost NEVER play 1 player videogames. I enter fighting game tournaments weekly, and play a wide variety of fighting games. It takes either an obscene natural talent, or obscene amounts of practice/research/hardwork or both to reach the top levels of the fighting game community. Even among the huge amount of males (I know maybe…2-3 females that enter fighting game tournaments), there are definitely attitude differences that seperate the winners from the losers. Winners tend to want to win harder than the losers, IMO. It’s very rare in my opinion to find girls that have the competitive mindset, of wanting to be better than others at something, instead of just deriving enjoyment from the activity itself. You can find fighting games fun as hell, but unless you are trying to be better than the pack, you probably won’t be. Whether it is nature or nurture that girls tend to not compete as seriously as men I don’t know. But men in general tend to be more obsessive anyways, and obsession is part of being good. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/84 "2010-05-03T20:41:41Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I’m a douchebag when I’m in compete mode online. I know the feeling you’re talking about, **Riggy**. It’s Heaven on Earth. Basically, it’s people like you (and Riggy) who are the reason many people -don’t- like the experience. The absence of anything that really resembles sportsmanship in PvP gaming is, frankly, disgusting to me. How do you differentiate someone who is “just” a “douchebag in compete mode” from “some trash-talking redneck kid”? By the way they sound over the headset? You’re the very type of person you feel deserves to get your ass kicked by you. I dunno. If professional sports teams and players who get paid huge amounts of money can do this without insulting their opponents’ mothers, why the heck can’t you guys manage it? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/85 "2010-05-03T20:49:16Z")
The vast majority of competitive gamers are extremely polite, friendly, and sportsmanlike. Douchebags are douchebags, and terrible. To add a bit more, in order to be at the top, you need to interact with and learn from others in the community. If you’re a raging anti-social douche, that isn’t going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/86 "2010-05-03T20:55:26Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Basically, it’s people like you (and Riggy) who are the reason many people -don’t- like the experience. The absence of anything that really resembles sportsmanship in PvP gaming is, frankly, disgusting to me. > > How do you differentiate someone who is “just” a “douchebag in compete mode” from “some trash-talking redneck kid”? By the way they sound over the headset? You’re the very type of person you feel deserves to get your ass kicked by you. > > I dunno. If professional sports teams and players who get paid huge amounts of money can do this without insulting their opponents’ mothers, why the heck can’t you guys manage it? I teabag and insult the trash-talkers I kill. **Riggy** described the glorious feeling of killing obnoxious snots online. I said that I know the feeling and it is Heaven on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/87 "2010-05-03T20:57:34Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > From your feminine physique obviously! 😉 > > I just assumed it was because there weren’t as many girls playing video games. You might be on to something about the competitiveness though. All the females I’ve ever played with always seem to have fun playing, no matter how well or poorly they do. Some guys, on the other hand, can get pretty pissed off when they’re doing bad. This would have been my guess too. For sake of this conversation let’s say that males & female ratio is 50/50. What would you guess the ratio of male/female game players are? 80/20 at best? I’d speculate it’s really more like 95/5 or even more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/88 "2010-05-03T21:06:30Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Basically, it’s people like you (and Riggy) who are the reason many people -don’t- like the experience. The absence of anything that really resembles sportsmanship in PvP gaming is, frankly, disgusting to me. > > How do you differentiate someone who is “just” a “douchebag in compete mode” from “some trash-talking redneck kid”? By the way they sound over the headset? You’re the very type of person you feel deserves to get your ass kicked by you. > > I dunno. If professional sports teams and players who get paid huge amounts of money can do this without insulting their opponents’ mothers, why the heck can’t you guys manage it? Wow, you really read a lot into that comment. I say I take pleasure from killing trash-talkers and from that you attribute to me “the abscence of anything that really resembles sportsmanship in PvP gaming”, the responsibility for many people not enjoying it, and decide that I must insult my opponents’ mothers, all from that? Really? Bravo. You have a gift for spinning a tale, I’ll give you that. But frankly that’s slanderous and insulting. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/89 "2010-05-03T21:12:42Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Wow, you really read a lot into that comment. I say I take pleasure from killing trash-talkers and from that you attribute to me “the abscence of anything that really resembles sportsmanship in PvP gaming”, the responsibility for many people not enjoying it, and decide that I must insult my opponents’ mothers, all from that? Really? Bravo. > > You have a gift for spinning a tale, I’ll give you that. But frankly that’s slanderous and insulting. Now teabag him! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/90 "2010-05-03T21:19:05Z")
Not sure if the original topic is still being discussed, but males have significantly faster reaction times than females. [Cite](http://biology.clemson.edu/bpc/bp/Lab/110/reaction.htm): in almost every age group, males have faster reaction times than females, and female disadvantage is not reduced by practice (Noble et al., 1964; Welford, 1980; Adam et al., 1999; Dane and Erzurumlugoglu, 2003; Der and Deary, 2006). The last study is remarkable because it included over 7400 subjects. Bellis (1933) reported that mean time to press a key in response to a light was 220 msec for males and 260 msec for females; for sound the difference was 190 msec (males) to 200 msec (females). In comparison, Engel (1972) reported a reaction time to sound of 227 msec (male) to 242 msec (female). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/91 "2010-05-03T21:22:56Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Not sure if the original topic is still being discussed, but males have significantly faster reaction times than females. [Cite](http://biology.clemson.edu/bpc/bp/Lab/110/reaction.htm): > > in almost every age group, males have faster reaction times than females, and female disadvantage is not reduced by practice (Noble et al., 1964; Welford, 1980; Adam et al., 1999; Dane and Erzurumlugoglu, 2003; Der and Deary, 2006). The last study is remarkable because it included over 7400 subjects. Bellis (1933) reported that mean time to press a key in response to a light was 220 msec for males and 260 msec for females; for sound the difference was 190 msec (males) to 200 msec (females). In comparison, Engel (1972) reported a reaction time to sound of 227 msec (male) to 242 msec (female). Thanks for this. Evidence of male superiority. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/92 "2010-05-03T21:28:28Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > This would have been my guess too. For sake of this conversation let’s say that males & female ratio is 50/50. What would you guess the ratio of male/female game players are? 80/20 at best? I’d speculate it’s really more like 95/5 or even more than that. “Game players” is a huge spectrum, though. I’d say it’s more like 60/40 if you include all video games, because of things like casual gaming or The Sims. In WoW, female players are becoming a lot more common - I was stunned, _stunned_, to find out that my sister’s friends play (with their boyfriends). But in the PvP world, or even the FPS world, I’d say 95/5 (or higher) is about right. Of course it’s hard to say, but I just don’t know a lot of women who play these sorts of games (or aspects of games). Maybe that’ll change as more and more women take up video games as an interest. Even I, the relentless gaming addict, pretty much only play a very small number; pretty much the only examples that I enjoyed were TF2, Counter-Strike, and monster play in LOTRO. I have absolutely zero interest in playing Halo with frat boys, using a mic or not. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/93 "2010-05-03T21:31:58Z")
I’ve never seen a group as shunned as the Halo players at the last WCG event I was at. Everyone hates those guys and with good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/94 "2010-05-03T21:36:09Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > I’ve never seen a group as shunned as the Halo players at the last WCG event I was at. Everyone hates those guys and with good reason. Yeah, we’re pretty sweet. I don’t know if the WCG folks were the top peeps. That’s the MLG crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/95 "2010-05-03T21:42:47Z")
Yeah, at least some of the problem is that WCG is a PC event with these console games creeping in and there is probably a bit of resentment that Halo is getting so much thrown behind it in the face of better competition games. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/96 "2010-05-03T21:57:26Z")
I find this thread fascinating, because it addresses a major hangup I have in gaming. I have yet to join WoW or any other MMO despite my absolute love of RPGs due to the fact that too many of those players are jerks. I’m not a trash-talking kind of person, I don’t like rude people in general. And I certainly don’t want to deal with rudeness when I’m first learning how to play a game. If I’m good at something, I can get into the spirit of competitiveness, but I need someone to cut me a break long enough to learn how to get good. And that alludes to a major factor in why I believe women may not be as good as men at this kind of thing… pure experience. Growing up, I had the original NES in my life for all of two years (lost it in Mom’s divorce) and then we had a Sega Genesis, and that is the sum total of my gaming experience prior to college. It wasn’t until I had regular, sustained contact with male gaming peers that I began to really get into gaming, and it wasn’t until I bought my husband a PS2 that I discovered _Champions of Norrath_ and the world of RPGs. I finally got my first gaming computer last year (at age 26!) and my own game system (Nintendo Wii.) And what am I doing with all my new toys? Catching the fuck up with the boys. I am currently playing the face-rocking _Super Mario Bros. RPG_ for SNES Virtual Console. That’s going to be followed by all the other good Virtual games, Final Fantasy I and II and the Zelda Series, at least. But I’m not doing it for a trip down memory lane. I’m going to be playing this classic shit _for the first time._ Why? Because I’m a girl. And no matter how many hours I pour into gaming, I’m never going to make up for not being a serious gamer during the first 22 years of my life. My husband can pick up any controller and any game and figure out how to play it within about 30 seconds. It takes me a long time to get the hang of it, and then, woe be unto me if I don’t pick it up for two weeks or two months, because I’m going to have to learn the controls all over again. To use a metaphor, gaming is my husband’s native language, whereas I am just a student. I might be fluent in RPG, but I’m never going to think in gaming. PvP is just an example of this phenemonon, but I do believe it permeates the gaming world. A bored housewife might become a bad-ass Guild Leader, but she lacks the cultural background necessary for her skills to apply broadly to all areas of gaming. Obviously I am speaking very generally here. But my overall inexperience is a major handicap when entering the competitive gaming world, enough to put me off of it. Once I get my computer fixed I am going to pull out the ol’ Orange Box and try my very first FPS. If I like that, and if I’m good at it, I might join the club. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/97 "2010-05-03T22:00:13Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > Yeah, at least some of the problem is that WCG is a PC event with these console games creeping in and there is probably a bit of resentment that Halo is getting so much thrown behind it in the face of better competition games. Ride the wave of the future, brah. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/98 "2010-05-03T22:04:38Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Once I get my computer fixed I am going to pull out the ol’ Orange Box and try my very first FPS. If I like that, and if I’m good at it, I might join the club. It’s getting a little aged (originally released late 2001), but Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a fun FPS if you’re just getting into them. I don’t know how many people still play on its multiplayer servers (or if they’re even still up), but I used to play that one all the time. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/99 "2010-05-03T22:25:58Z")
i think that males are typically better at this kind of stuff because the females are out earning, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids and generally making sure that their male companion can sit around on his ass and do derelict stuff all day. just my two cents. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944/100 "2010-05-03T22:39:07Z")
> [@peekercpa](#): > > i think that males are typically better at this kind of stuff because the females are out earning, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids and generally making sure that their male companion can sit around on his ass and do derelict stuff all day. > > just my two cents. Yeah, all those females sitting around on their asses and sinking hours into WoW are too busy earning, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids and generally making sure that their male companions can sit around on _their_ asses to be good at PvP! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-males-better-at-competitive-gaming/537944.md?page=6)