🔞 ADULT: Id/celery - Uncensored 2025

There's a new study out that tests whether poor performance in video games leads to a higher rate of sexist comments directed at women.

Here's the long and short of it: The study used Halo 3 to test whether skill and performance impacted frequency of negative comments toward both men and women.

It found that men who performed worse were more likely to make negative comments than men who performed well.

Specifically, these men were more likely to make negative comments toward women than men. It does not say whether these comments were gendered, only that negative comments were made more frequently when playing in the "female-manipulation" group.

"The goal of this study was to examine the moderating effect of performance and skill on the frequency of positive and negative statements towards a female- or male-voiced teammate in an online first-person shooter video game—a metric providing insight into sexism," the study reads. "We found that skill determined the frequency of positive and negative statements spoken towards both male- and female-voiced teammates. In addition, poorer performance (fewer kills and more deaths) resulted in more negative statements specifically in the female-voiced manipulation. We thus argue that our results best support an evolutionary explanation of female-directed aggression. Low-status males that have the most to lose due to a hierarchical reconfiguration are responding to the threat female competitors pose. High-status males with the least to fear were more positive, suggesting they were switching to a supportive, and potentially, mate attraction role."

In other words, as men slip down the ranks of the male hierarchy, they view women as threatening and lash out. I think that's an entirely reasonable conclusion to make, and certainly it's been born elsewhere. A TV show like Mad Men is a glimpse into a traditionally male-dominated world. It shows us how some businessmen reacted to the entrance of professional women into the workforce. In many ways, it's simply a reaction to change---something many people, both men and women, have a hard time grappling with.

On the other hand, I would argue that this one study---with a relatively small sample size of just 189 speaking players and a total of 163 matches---is only a very tiny first step toward any sort of cohesive argument, and far from conclusive. In a second study, we might just as easily find that there's no discrepancy based on gender. (Though I imagine people who perform poorly in video games are generally more likely to make negative comments. I certainly am.)