SocioCraft
It looks like there's some research going into WoW. It turns out there are some indications that the online avatars can influence the way you play. Alternatively, there is research that says avatar selection follows natural beauty patterns...(humans and elves get more selections.) I hope they dig deeper with this...personally, I always found it easier to play a female avatar for the following reasons:
1. Most gamers are teenage or 20's males. What better way to elicit help than to play the damsel in distress? "I just can't seem to beat this boss. :( Can you help?"
2. If I'm going to look at the backside of an avatar for many hours, I prefer a voluptuous vectored vixen over a rough rasterized ranger anyday.
3. These games usually never involve sex, so the chances that have to watch my girly puppet get gangbanged by horny barbarians is pretty slim.
4. Also...girls rule. It said so on a t-shirt, so you know it's true.
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