This woke survey will surely wake him up alright. 
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But will he be forced to miss breakfast again? I hope not!
A very noticable high percentage of women who play eve are “nasty” pirates. That or I’ve just been very (un)lucky.
Oh, they like the mmorpg type all right. I just have to meet one in RL who’s interested in virtual spaceships.
As with others before me, I have chosen not to complete this questionnaire. My observation is some of the previous criticisms, regarding how you have constructed this survey, also appear to be correct.
By way of demonstration, the following are some problems I had, during the first few questions on “page 3”. These are given in chronological order but paraphrasing some questions for length.
Q. is sexist and/or antisocial behavior prevalent?
A. as in everywhere in Eve? Y. As in common? Not so much. = “absolutely”
Q. how often do you experience it towards yourself?
A. “never”
Q. does that bother you?
A. what, that I never experience it towards myself? = “not at all”
Q. how often do you experience sexist behavior towards female players?
A. how would I know? female players during 2018-2021 have reportedly been 4-10% of the player base vs what % of total avatars are female?? = “never”
Q. do you find this particularly unfair?
A. completely moot question, based on previous answer; how would I know if it is occurring? = “unanswerable”
Q. do you experience sexist and/or antisocial behavior as an integral part of the sandbox experience ?
A. Y
Q. …due to the competitive nature of the game?
A. N = “not at all”
At that point I just left this survey. Too many qualifications in the questions (such as that last one). And too many follow-on questions that became absurd if the previous answer(s) were “wrong” such as due to the disconnect between observed vs personally experienced.
As to that disconnect , this all comes down to the comment on “comms”. After blocking many individuals on various in-game chat groups, I now tend to just avoid these channels altogether. Problem solved; for me at least.
I have no idea if your subsequent questions, or my potential answers, would have been relevant to your general enquiry or not. But, I am now prejudiced against any interpretations that you might make, based on the questions I did attempt.
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I have read at least 50 different scientific papers on this topic, as well as multiple magazines, news articles, books and other grey literature. Sexism and antisocial behavior has been a very serious and prevalent topic and it is something most gamers have grown accustomed to. Gaming as a whole has shifted to a very male dominated field, ever since the video game crash of 1983. Companies had to come up with new marketing strategies and noticed that many of the remaining players were in fact men and young boys. So much of the marketing was aimed at exactly this target group. It is the reason why many of the most lucrative triple A video games today only appeal to the male “fantasy”. Sports and racing games, Scifi and western, shooter and war games, “Damsel in Distress”-esque games, etc. all fill exactly that role. Not to mention objectification, oversexualization of female characters, sexual harassment of female employees at gaming companies, etc.
It is an environment many players (not just women) don’t want to expose themselves to and it has shown in a multitude of ways. It is the reason most “hardcore” games are dominated by men creating an environment where everyone else who is less experienced/different is treated differently (Toxicity in Overwatch, League of Legends, etc.). That is why more casual and less competitive games (where you aren’t exposed to voice or chat comms, etc.) such as Sims or similar single player games are far more appealing to audiences that don’t want to deal with this type of behavior. Obviously there are always exceptions but I hope you get my point.
Much of my research is based on Social Dominance Theory and Social Identity Theory. The measures I used for this survey are validated but slightly tweaked to fit within this research. Social Dominance Orientation Scale, Ambivalent Sexism Inventory Scale, Deindividiuation Scale, Sexual Harassment Scale, Group Identification Scale and a multitude more.
Obviously there is a lot of backlash in this forum post and it is to be expected. It is very difficult to ask questions for this very sensitive topic. I appreciate the criticism and I hope I cleared up some misunderstandings.
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Ate the new cereal, I’m still the same.
So?
It’s not men’s fault if women don’t play EVE.
Is it women’s fault if men don’t play My Favorite Pony and don’t watch The View?
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I have completed your questionnaire. As a researcher myself, please note that the way how questions are organised assume (already) that Eve is a sexist and toxic environment. Although you have read papers on this ‘assumed’ inequality about women it is important that you make it clear that your research serves a narrative already. Questionnaires, as always, lack the depth of experience of women themselves playing this game. To find an equilibrium between qualitative and quantitative research I hope you are also conducting a set of an online interview with women who play this game. But anyway, good luck with your research.
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If it was “to be expected”, might there have been more you could have done, upfront, to reduce it?
As to this “backlash” itself, you are reading a different thread from me. Up until the time of your post, there were about 25 posts from around 12 individuals. With 10 of those posts coming from one person.
My loose scoring of “the 12” (including myself) was that 3 were supportive, in terms of their interest in the research and/or suggesting enabling mechanisms such as comms; 5 were critical of the questionnaire, in terms of its structure, not its existence per se; 4 were negative (and that is subjective).
I don’t get that there was a “backlash” at all. Other than mechanistically, due to how the questions were framed.
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Sure, but you’re trying to “sell” it as if they are linked and the same which is not the case which is our issue.
The '83 game crash happened because they churned out nonsense games with no actual playability or quality so the solution wasn’t “target male audience”, the solution was “stop making ■■■■ games”. However, around the 80s this whole thing called advertisement became serious business. Companies started to realise that focussed marketing exists and they did that for everything including gaming. Especially as gaming back then was just seen as “for kids” but was slowly shifting to “adults play too”.
It had nothing to do with the game crash.
Yes it’s called competition, that’s bred into men through evolution. Competition is good, it’s how a species improves. But competition is not the same as
Toxicity may stem, partly, from competition but they are not the same. Stating that it’s a logical connection (as you’re doing) is disingenuous. There are many reasons why people are toxic, I’d say that “having a shitty life” is probably a far bigger factor than anything else.
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I gave you a lol, but you can’t have a like … that would tarnish my street cred in some circles. If my anonymity was ever stripped.
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Thank you for the time and effort you took for writing your reply.
Building unbiased surveys is always a very difficult matter, and especially so if one has to use terminology that may have different meanings to different respondents. Hence my question on definitions and measurements.
Regarding the subject of your thesis it would be quite interesting if it were possible to make some measurements how situations of “sexism, social dominance/identity, and even antisocial behavior” in EvE have evolved over its 18 years existence (as those aspects have been present in most human societies since the dawn of humankind) and how they relate to the (probably evolving) “gender-based marketing” of its publisher.
Another point of interest would be the game actions (fitting ships - which is technical -, shooting, killing, trading, exploring) offset against the marketing focus. If those types of game actions typically appeal to males, as you wrote, it would be strange if the marketing efforts evolve towards females or, indeed, simply attract more females without extra marketing efforts. As real life examples: advanced studies in natural sciences (physics, chemistry, geology, etc) and engineering seem(ed) more attractive to males (considering equal opportunities in pursuing such studies, so let’s take it from the '60s onwards). The job environments related to those studies will inevitably look like male bastions.
As to antisocial/sexist behavior, a comparison between EvE and other online games (with the possibility of written/verbal interaction), including both male and female-dominated gaming environments (if the latter even exist) should be another point of reference. I hope your survey reaches other games too.
If only more people would have that same reflex when dealing with the internet in general. Perhaps those that do have the resilience to deal with it will stay in the arena ? Perhaps “veteran players” in EvE Online are better at dealing with it ? It cuts both ways until you prove it does not. There is a reason why on many of our channels there is aversion towards discussions about politics, religion, race, identification etc, the good common sense that those will lead to incidents. EvE Online is not an oasis of good behavior, but until proven otherwise also not predominantly a cesspool of sexism and toxicity. While this may sound protective of this community, the true underlying question is one about reference points. Even the average schoolyard can be a reference point.
Also given the technical side of one of the core game actions (ship fitting) and the well known love for dealing with large amounts of data, the average player base for this specific game may be different from that of other games, at least where the veteran players are concerned. The level of nerdiness in EvE may be considerably higher, and perhaps any sociologically focused study of the matter should take that into consideration as well.
The point I am trying to make is that anyone studying the subject must avoid being railroaded, but to be critical towards endpoints and, especially, methods.
Good luck with your research.
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Exactly. Correlation is not the same as causation, which pretty much sums up my, and probably most poster’s, issues with this all.
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I was actually wondering if holding the door open for a woman which many would define as sexist would also then be deemed anti-social. Though I suppose that depends on the definition of social.
PS I should add that I hold doors open for men too.
PPS whatever…
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I really do wonder how “many” and if there weren’t other factors.
It also depends on definition of anti-social, such as … a behavior that might cause “harassment”. It could all come down to whether you are holding the door open in order to get a good look at her butt. But then, I’m not touching that.
EDIT: … or his either, for that matter.
lol yeah, it used to be a matter of good upbringing, a token of respect. Or how current attitudes can twist honest intention these days into “dominance”. HInt: if you pretend you never saw the other person and let the door go behind you, it’s also not good 
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In my experience most people who hold the door open do so that they can take the door so it does not fall back on them. So I would think not.
Spot on. PS added your whole quote because that was my point on social.
In terms of Eve I just treat every player in the game as people who want to stomp me into a red and brown mess staining the floor, there you go. EDIT… in game of course…
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No non-binary gender option…? There are dozens of us! DOZENS.
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