The Daedalus Project: Gaming with Romantic Partners and Family Members: Print This

On average, about 60% of female players (N = 312) and 16% of male players (N = 1592) play the game with a real-life romantic partner. The gender difference is expected and is a function of the ratio of men and women playing the game (about 5:1), although a small proportion may be attributed to same-sex romantic partners. Even so, knowing that up to 2/3’s of female players are not playing the game alone is important, because this probably influences their game-play patterns, and this has to be kept in mind when trying to explain gender differences in in-game data. The following graph plots the percentage of players who play with a RL romantic partner across gender and age groups.

And the following graph shows how frequently the respondents grouped with their romantic partner.

Respondents who played with a romantic partner were not more likely to spend more time playing the game, but they were more likely to indicate a greater willingness to stay with the game when compared with players who do not play the game with a romantic partner. When asked how long they projected themselves to continue playing the game, about 50% of players who play with romantic partners (N = 447) indicated they would continue playing the game indefinitely, while only 32% of players who do not play with a romantic partner (N = 1464) chose that option.

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The same questions were asked with regards to playing the game with a family member. In this case, an average of about 40% of female players and 35% of male players indicated that they play the game with a family member. The following graph plots the percentage against the gender and age groups.

And the following graph shows how frequently the respondents grouped with their family members.

Respondents who play the game with a family member were not more likely to spend more time playing the game, and they were also not more likely to indicate a greater willingness to stay with the game when compared with respondents who do not play the game with a family member.