Video games: Men just want to dominate

Mike Bantick
Monday, 29 December 2008 04:37

Your IT - Entertainment

With no gladiatorial contests and a general softening of sport in the modern world, where else can men live out their need to stomp on their fellow human beings but in virtual video games?

Not much of a surprise to a lot of us, but a new study has linked the male need to dominate as a major reason behind obsessive video gaming.

Now take it from me, I am no video game obsessive, but if don’t believe me, I will stomp your ass.

According to Professor Allan Reiss at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford University, California, there is a major difference between the male and female approach to video games.

Something that video game designers and marketers have understood for a long time, women understood computer games just as well as men but did not have the same neurological drive for domination.

“These gender differences may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become ‘hooked’ on video games than females.” said Reiss.

Reiss goes on to say, “I think it’s fair to say that males tend to be more intrinsically territorial. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who historically are the conquerors and tyrants of our species – they’re the males. Most of the computer games that are really popular with males are territory and aggression-type games.”

Recently published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research various subjects were wired to an MRI scanner to view brain activity whilst interacting with video games.

According to a report at Telegraph.co.uk :  After analysing the MRI data, the researchers found participants showed activation in the brain's mesocorticolimbic centre, the region typically associated with reward and addiction.

Male brains, however, showed much greater activation, and the amount increased as they gained more territory. This was not the case with women.

So there!