Video games more rewarding for men than women
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 12:39pm by David
Researchers at Stanford University School Of Medicine have shown that the part of the brain that generates rewarding feelings is more activated in men than women during video-game play.
Just something to think about on Valentine’s Day!
February 14th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I can definitely vouch for this one.
Me, excited: “Steph, I finally collected all 242 stars in Galaxy!”
Steph, unimpressed: “Cool.”
Even in terms of the games she really likes and plays a lot, such as Elebits and Z-Dub, she doesn’t get as excited about traditional gaming objectives (beat the boss, unlock something, progress to another level) as I do. Very interesting stuff, David.
February 14th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
My fiancee seemed more agitated than elated that she had solved every puzzle in Picross. Sort of a “now what?” attitude about the whole thing.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
My girlfriend likes to play the first world in NSMB over and over again with no intent to finish the game at all
February 14th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
My wife enjoys finishing games but if I wasn’t there to push her to do it half the time she wouldn’t. I can see where they could come up with these results.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Hmm… I GUESS you could make a generalization like this… All I know is that my girlfriend loves video games, and I love it.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I definitely agree with this. I have a pretty big problem with sticking to games - I tend to abandon them before the end, although I’ve been trying to fix this recently (finished LOZ:Phantom Hourglass, Assassin’s Creed DS, working on Final Fantasy III and Advance Wars: DOR). My sister, however, is even worse. I can’t even name one game that she’s beaten - even game she’s claimed she loved, like New Super Mario Bros. I think she made it to world six, then stopped playing new levels and went back to play old ones.
February 14th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I would like to correct the title to say “Video games more rewarding tom men than TO women”. As written, it makes it sound like video games are more rewarding to men than women are, and while a case could be made for such an argument, it’s a bit misleading.
February 14th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
… of course, if it said “two women”…
also, I made a typo: tom -> to
February 14th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Did they figure out why women like tetris so much? My wife is an addict!
February 14th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Okay, that is definitely the medical school that I should have gone to.