Research On Player's Gender Switching And Gender Identity In MMORPG

Marshall McLuhan believes that “the medium is an extension of human being.”As one of mediums,the game is also an extension of individuals or groups.The anonymity and denormalization of the Internet have created a virtual space for its users.The MMORPG has even created a parallel world in which players can achieve the goals that they cannot accomplish in real life.In the game world,players can play roles that they cannot act in real world,such as playing as the opposite sex.The experience of being as the opposite sex in the game world can let them get firsthand experience of the opposite sex in every possible situation in the game.Therefore,the stereotype of opposite gender in these player's heart can be gradually changed.Portable devices will undoubtedly become the major gaming equipment while mobile games will be the trend of the game industry in the future.and As a mature game type,MMORPG can provide a reference for mobile games and lay a good foundation for its development.By analyzing data of questionnaire,this dissertation studies the purpose of gender switching behavior,the relationship between gender switching behavior and gender identity as well as the role of media in these actions and behavior.The study is based on media scene theory,gender theory and other communication and social psychology theories.The relationship between players' act,behavior and gender identity in the MMORPG also be explored to discover the players' gender concepts in the study.The study found that:(1)the majority of gender switching players are of 20-30 years old with bachelor degree.They have a longer and rich experience of playing MMORPG and switching gender.Among this group of people,undifferentiated types takes majority of them.(2)There are huge differences between male players and female players in three motives: curiosity about gender switching,awareness and purposes of avoiding sexual harassment,and purposes of avoiding gender discrimination.There are also huge differences in following two ways of judging players' gender: by checking the game role's appearance and frequency of player's usages of emoji.(3)Feminine male players are more enthusiastic about switching gender.They create more gender switching roles than other player and are switchinggender more frequently.Their use proportion of healer and hybrid is quite different from other groups of players.(4)Female player's gender role identity did not show significant difference in following three ways: how many of gender switching game roles they have,the frequency of switching gender and appearance of gender switching game roles.Androgyny female players have shown significant differences in two motives: to try new things and to seek social contacts.(5)MMORPG allows transgender players to shackle the traditional gender concepts,but it does not change the gender stereotypes in both the virtual and real world.