aron.

well lotc isn't an mmorpg (or at least not yet)

I'm only like half-way through, but a lot of this seems to not really apply to LotC, just because it's a different medium than MMO's, closer aligned to Second Life (which does get mentioned in the article, just doesn't seem to be the focus). For example, I don't think many people would play a female character on LotC to get an advantage in mechanics. People who play LotC for the mechanics side mainly generally are the same people who stigmatize playing female characters as a male irl. Not that there are many of those people.

'In contrast to Second Life, which is a typical virtual venue where one represents their offline self as an avatar, we assumed that avatars might be used as tools for game play under gender-swapped context.'

'Finally, there may be sociocultural differences in the antecedents and consequences of gender swapping. This study used a South Korean sample, but the sociocultural factors might yield different results in different cultures.'

But it did bring up some interesting thoughts that applied to something like LotC, like the benefits thing. Do female characters get more attention or people trying to roleplay with them, in a sense a benefit? I think so.

It'd be cool to see a study focused more on Second Life, or even just any 'hardcore roleplaying' game.