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Men Do Not Rule the World of Tanks: Negating the Gender-Performance Gap in a Spatial-Action Game by Controlling for Time Played

2020; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 64; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0002764220919147

1552-3381

Rabindra Ratan, Cuihua Shen, Dmitri Williams,

Digital Games and Media

The present research addresses the stereotype that women and girls lack the ability to succeed compared to men and boys in video games. Previous lab-based research has found that playing spatial-action video games potentially reduces the gender gap in spatial-thinking skills, while previous field studies of less spatially oriented online games have found that the perceived gender-performance gap actually results from the amount of previous gameplay time, which is confounded with gender. Extending both lines of research, the present field study examines player performance in a spatial-action game, the vehicle-based shooter World of Tanks. Results from 3,280 players suggest that women appear to accrue fewer experience points per match than men, signaling lower performance ability, but that when the amount of previous gameplay time is statistically controlled, this gender difference is negated. These results lend support to the claim that playing video games—even spatial-action games—diminishes the gender-performance gap, which is potentially useful for promoting gender equity in STEM fields.