| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 電訊傳播研究所 === 96 === This research tries to realize the behavior of MMORPG players’ gender switching by the means of qualitative and quantitative. Therefore, through Web-based Survey, the first part of this research is to know the relation between the act of switching and players’ demography variable, sex role, and the motive of switching. The second part is to employ in-depth interviews to understand how players portray the other sex and how they recognize the other sex, which could be related to the sex role stereotype.
According to the result of quantitative report, there are eight hundred questionnaires available. Most MMORPG gender-switching players are male, mostly students aging from sixteen to thirty. Players, who are more experienced, whether male or female, are more likely to switch gender. Whether the appearance of the role in the game is good-looking is the biggest motivation of switching. Female players with more masculinity are apt to gender-switching because of social interaction, while male players with less masculinity are more liable to gender-switching.
On the other hand, the result of qualitative report shows all nine interviewees, no matter male or female, have obvious stereotype about the other sex in description of the characters’ appearances, careers, and personalities. Even if these players have experienced gender switching, they still cannot change the traditional aspects of gender stereotype. For example, male players consider female roles to be slim, sexy, and fair, and female players think male roles fit attacking careers like warriors the best. However, compared to male players, female players allow the roles to have more flexibility. As a result, there is still a lot of space for both male and female players to improve in terms of gender equality.
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