A Gender-Swapped Sociological Experiment
by Burbie52, Gideon, Keara22hi & Orion_NGC1976, HSM Team Writers
EXPERIMENT INTRODUCTION: It is no secret that there is stratification between the sexes in Home. There have been articles written, forums flooded, roundtable discussions held, arguments raged and friendships stressed over this subject. A large group of men parade as women while in Home and a smaller number of women pose as men. The gender swapping is such that women must follow a set of rules to provide proof that they are female. See a female avatar walking around central in default clothes or with too much rouge? It’s pretty safe to assume that’s a guy. See a female avatar dressed mismatched and provocatively or with a name such as “MisterBigBoi”? Yea, that’s likely a guy too. See a male avatar that… well… no one really seems to care if a girl goes around as a guy, so that’s kind of a moot point.
Nevertheless, the question remains, what about this gender gap leads so many to masquerade as something they are not? There are presumptions each gender holds regarding the other. It has been claimed that it is extremely difficult to meet people in Home as a male avatar. That women and men alike ignore male avatars with fierceness. Women have complained at length that they are plagued with a neverending stream of suitors looking for some hot digital tail. That they can barely function in Home without being harassed and digitally ogled. Both situations can be frustrating and both can lead to a person seeking solace in the opposite genders shoes.
It is these perspectives that lead a cadre of HSM writers to organize a social experiment to put these stereotypes to the test. Burbie52, Gideon, Keara22hi and Orion_NGC1976 discussed this issue and decided on a set of activities to perform in Home. It was decided that each writer would perform each activity three times with each gender to gauge the reaction from multiple sets of individuals. We were to:
- Sit at the Godfather Bar silently
- Sit on bench for 20 minutes with “Sad” status
- Dance at Listen@Home for 20 minutes
- Approach a female couple
- Approach a single female
- Approach a male couple
- Approach a single male
- Approach a male and female couple
- Try to get invited to a club
- Try to get a tour of a personal space
- Get someone to follow you to another public space
Each writer went into the experiment with their own set of expectations and understanding of the gender differences in Home. So sit back, relax, and let us tell you our gender bending tales of experimentation and discovery.
***
Burbie52 AKA: MattCB1986 — Male or Female? That Is The Question 
I have to say this has been an interesting experiment, and the results were a bit different than I expected, too.
I created a male avatar with a new account, and proceeded to find every free piece of clothing I could to make him presentable. I also changed him from the preset a bit and then I set out.
I did the sad status in plaza first as a male; no surprise that the first time no one cared to talk to me, but I tried this late at night. The second and third time I did this it was totally different though; the second time another male walked up and asked if I was all right, then took the time to talk to me and be sure I was; this guy was a newer person looking for friends. And the third, a male, came up and tried to make me laugh with his weird appearance and banter, and he succeeded, too.
One thing I noticed about this was that the time of day mattered; when I was in plaza earlier in the day or the afternoon, I got more responses. The female avatar had luck on every try. The first time it was another female who stopped to talk to me, who was genuinely concerned; then males the last two times. Some of the males seemed concerned about me, whilst others not so much; and it seemed the ones who were concerned were newbies, not people who had been in Home a while. Of course, I got a few who were only looking to “hook up” with a girl. In the dance portion of this I had success with both the male and female avatars. Met people of both sexes and had them friend me. My conclusion from these two is that it really doesn’t matter what sex you are, what matters is whether you can hold an intelligent conversation and look reasonably decent, even in free clothes.
Be friendly and friendly they'll be to you.
I found the same to be true when I interjected myself into conversations with a couple. They were all very polite and accepting of both male and female as long as you had something interesting to say. It was all in how you approached them — not rudely, but rather listening for a while and then saying something in response that was relevant to the conversation. Even just saying hello and then listening for a while worked for both my male and female in every situation.
Surprisingly, the club thing was easier for the female than the male. I got invited to two “fams” as a female, but had a harder time having that happen as a male. In fact I didn’t get asked to join one even while sitting in Godfather 2, which surprised me.
The Godfather part was a complete bust for the male, too; I didn’t have a single person speak to me. I got people to show me their personal spaces as both, but it was a lot harder to accomplish as a male. I had to actually ask someone, whereas the female got it without asking. Getting someone to follow me to another space was easy for both of my avatars; I had them come to my personal space once they befriended me. I also had one follow me to the bowling alley to play pool. There are many people in Home who are looking for friends and will respond if approached the correct way.
The talking to another person of the same sex or opposite…that alone turned out to be the most interesting part of this. I talked to a few different people to see what reactions I got. As a female I had no problem at all; this was something that I expected.
Buy a guy a drink... anyone... hello?
As a male, though, there were a few times that proved to be difficult. I had one guy that was sitting alone with a sad status. He kept asking for people nearby to cheer him up, but every attempt I made to do so was essentially ignored, so I assume he was using this as a ploy to get a girl to talk to him. All in all, the thing I took away from all of this was that it isn’t how you look or what gender you are, if you take some time and effort to make yourself presentable and also show yourself to be interesting to talk to and able to hold your own in a conversation, you will have no problem making and keeping friends in Home.
***
Gideon AKA: AlwaysJenny The Gender Bending Pretending 
Just as many others, I had a preconceived notion of what the opposite gender experienced in Home. I thought the fairer sex had a much easier time meeting new people and making friends. This would explain the large number of male users who have chosen to gender-bend and walk around the hallowed halls of Home as women. I was never one to dress as a woman and had only done it from time to time for machinima purposes and as a goof with friends, so I never truly experienced the first person perspective of Home through the eyes of a female avatar.
Through observation of the interaction of others I came to believe that girls had a greater chance, and more frequent opportunities while in Home to meet new individuals and make friends. I thought the chance of forming friendships was easily tenfold over that of a guy. Not only did girls seem leery of guy avatars, which I assumed was from a Home-time’s worth of abuse by the slimier creatures who writhe around central looking for fresh meat to salivate over, but most guys in Home seemed uninterested in striking up a conversation with any avatar sporting less than a C cup and a midriff. So I became content with my friends list and made new friends through mutual acquaintances and fell down the slippery slope into Home isolationism. I no longer sought out random friends because I just didn’t want to deal with the fact that, as a male avatar, no one was interested.
This is the perspective which I brought to this social experiment. I fully expected to attempt to meet new individuals as a male avatar and be shot down time and time again and be overwhelmed as a female avatar with friend requests and interested parties. While my findings did support the overall concept that female avatars generate more interest than male avatars, the level of difficulty I had meeting new individuals as a male avatar was negligible, and the irritation I experienced as a female avatar was nothing that couldn’t be easily shaken. The majority of my time was spent, as both genders, in the Central Plaza; which is, after all, the most notorious space for troll attacks and n00b infestations. I sat on benches quietly, approached a variety of paring and single individuals and danced for what seemed like an eternity in observation. Not only did my time in central reveal much about being each gender in Home, I was also able to strictly observe others as they interacted with those around me, which was almost as telling as my own experiences.
Being a male avatar: Not as hard as some think
- I decided to begin my experiment fulfilling my duties as a male avatar. I experience Home most days as a male avatar so I didn’t expect my results to be far removed from what I gathered on my own in a social settings. During my solitary time on the bench I had few people approach me. One male-avatared individual seemed interested in my “sad” status but simply advised me to “steel up and fly” which was less of a consolation and more of a be-a-man pep talk. Others simply walked by and paid me no mind. I found a similar result while dancing at Listen@Home. I was danced near but was never danced with or spoken to, by either gender. I did, however, enjoy watching other male avatars approach the female avatars around me and try to connect by dancing too closely and spamming auto-text. It is sufficient to say that the beginning of my experiment was going just about the way I expected it to.
- As a female avatar, sitting alone and dancing at Listen@Home brought less than I expected. I did receive the random friend requests, the close dancers, the flirtation veiled thinly with false concern and what seemed to be fumbling attempts at a social connection by male avatars who thought it would be a good idea to put their face in my posterior, as any dog might do in passing. Girls would seemed concerned about a fellow female avatar which was having problems in Home and one particular girl joined in the small group gathered around my female avatar in an attempt to either steal some attention or relieve me of some of the pressure I was receiving from the male avatars around me. Interestingly enough, male avatars had no problem shifting their focus from one female avatar to another as long as they were being paid attention to. I chuckled to myself at the idea that the other female avatar, who was eagerly chatting up the boys, might themselves be another male parading as a female.
- When I broke through my self-imposed restrictions and began approaching others for conversation I received a vastly different experience. I made the decision to never use auto-text or ask any of the standard generic openers that are used far too often as openers in Home. As both genders I would listen briefly to a conversation to interject with some insight on a subject, ask about or compliment an outfit someone was wearing or comment on the current theme of central plaza. I was almost always greeted with open digital arms, regardless of my gender. People were more than willing to include me in their conversations and seemed to appreciate the added input on whatever it was they were discussing.
- As a female, I did receive more attention from both sexes but it was neither overwhelming nor irritating. There were simply more individuals who found me innately interesting as a female avatar. This was nothing that couldn’t be remedied, however, with a small amount of gumption and the willingness to take initiative as a male. As a female there were a lot of random male avatars running up to me, standing next to me for a moment and then running away after an auto-text or quick comment. At times it seemed akin to a woman being honked at by a passing car.
Friends were in no short supply as a female avatar.
- Honk. Honk. Hello.
- It was slightly easier to get ‘favors’ as a female avatar then a male. Getting someone to follow a female avatar was easy enough but I did have one instance, as a male avatar, that I ended up being a sort of guide to a relatively new user. By being helpful, I was able to have them follow me around Home and was even invited to visit their personal space without asking. As a male avatar I wasn’t able to get as many invites as my female counterpart but the difference wasn’t vast enough for me to feel as if my male avatar was being disregarded because of his outward appearance. The Fams I approached were eager to accept me, no matter which gender I wore and I did receive random friend requests during the entirety of the experiment, as both sexes. Sure, I received more as a female, but only a few more.
- All in all, I found that while gender plays a role in the acceptance of Home avatars, it is not by any stretch of the imagination the largest contributing factor to social interaction within Home. When one avatar approaches another, regardless of gender, and shows interest and forethought in their advancement they will more than likely be greeted kindly. While it is true that there are exceptions to this rule, such as one girl I was talking to, as a female avatar, going off on a random observing male for no other reason than, “He was irritating me”, the majority of the time those within Home were receptive to a genuine inquiry and a friendly tone.
- So the next time you feel ignored as a male avatar, try striking up or joining up an honest conversation about a topic which you find interesting. And the next time you feel bombarded as a female avatar, just take a breath and try to remain calm. Without an over-reaction the offenders are likely to move on quickly and quietly.
***
Keara22hi AKA: JollyJohnnyJr – The Adventures of JollyJohnnyJr 
I will never again feel sorry for a guy in Home who says he is lonely and bored.
My first thought about creating a male avatar for this research was to come up with a non-threatening name. JollyJohnnyJr. How could anyone not like him? I chose the least threatening male pre-set I could find, rearranged the default clothes a bit to make him look older than thirteen, and set forth for the bench in Central Plaza.
Sad look, twenty of the longest minutes in history. No one even approached for a closer look. Ran to the Mall, bought a new dress shirt with vest for 99 cents. Went back to the bench. This time several males walked closer but did not stop.
Switched to female avatar – and those same males came back and sat down asking if I needed help! OK, Gideon, you made your point so far.
Then came the revelation: I re-read the message from Gideon that it was ok to ‘tweak’ that male avatar to make him look better. Back to the Mall. New dress slacks and shoes, sunglasses, and a watch. Changed the pre-set face to something like a young Robert Redford. Went back to CP. OMG – a girl comes running over to talk to me with her jealous boyfriend trailing behind. Then another girl wants to join the conversation and the first one gets jealous.
Remember: Home blurs the lines between fantasy and reality
Now the boyfriend decides they need a chick magnet like me in his ‘fam’. He asks if I will join and when I say “yes”, he scurries off to get the fam don. While he is gone, the fight between the girls resumes Now it is, whose apartment will I visit first. The fam don arrives (16 year old kid). asks my age (22) and decides “….naw……not this one”. I tell everyone, they have to add me before I can follow them on Navigator to go anywhere. Bingo! Now I have both girls, the fam recruiter, and two bystanders on the Friend list. To keep this situation from getting worse, I tell them all that I would rather have them all come to my apartment tomorrow and give me advice on decorating. Yes, an excuse to disappear! Later that night when all of them are offline, I come back on, run around Home collecting free furniture, buy one plant package, and start transforming the Harbour Studio into something that a new guy with some decorating taste might occupy.
People are attracted to personality, not just female Avis!
Bottom line, if you want to be treated very well in Home as a guy:
(1) Dress like an adult
(2) Be polite
(3) Offer interesting topics for discussion
(4) Be non-judgmental, and
(5) Be willing to listen to them talk.
And if you want to be treated well in Home as a girl:
(1) Dress like a lady
(2) Be polite. Let them speak their piece before you decide to brush them off. They might turn out to be interesting
(3) Counter personal questions with topic suggestions: “If you could design your own your personal space in Home, what would you want?”
(4) Be non-judgmental, and
(5) Be willing to listen to them talk.
***
Orion_NGC1976 AKA: BrownEyedGirl_8D — Going Drag for Science Is Not a Real Drag 
When Gideon first asked me to participate in his experiment, I thought that it would be interesting to find out what it would be like to be a woman on Home. Then I saw the list of scenarios that he was planning, many of which would require me to go to places where I am not comfortable and perform actions that would cause me to approach people I did not know.
This made me a little nervous. I am not an outgoing person and I have social anxiety, even on Home. For the sake of science I pushed myself – besides, this was the reason I was here on Home, to make myself stretch socially.
Since the list of scenarios involved me going to places that I have only visited briefly once, such as Godfather II and Listen@Home, it was an eye-opening experience both as a male and female. I approached this from a very scientific point of view and had each gender avatar wear as many free clothes as possible. I also had the avatars wear the same clothes throughout all the tests in order to keep the test criteria the same for each test. The only purchased item worn was the hair for the female avatar in order to keep her from looking like a guy posing as a woman. The male avatar was dressed in the Scion outfit, with sunglasses and a ponytail. The female wore blue jeans, with the free Angels and Demons T-shirt and an over-the-side ponytail.
The first three scenarios were passive tests to see who would approach them without verbal solicitation. As was expected, the male was almost entirely ignored, while the female had no difficulty in having people, mostly male, approach her to talk. During the three times at each Central Plaza and Listen@Home, I was only approach twice when a male. Both times, I was while sitting on a bench at Central Plaza with a “sad” status. The first occurrence: a female sat next me, claimed to be a doctor, and wanted to start a therapy session. She even wanted to know if my fake girlfriend was around so she could talk to her and bring her into the discussion for couples counseling. She gave me lots of advice and asked to be a friend in order to talk in more detail about my relationship problems that were making me sad. This was the only unsolicited friend request that I received as a male. The other time I was approached as a male, another male came over only to ridicule me and made jokes about me being sad.
Are people more interested in "sad" girls than guys? Yes.
The attention that I received as a “sad” female was thinly veiled sympathy and it was pretty obvious that they wanted me to get past being sad and onto them as prospective boyfriends. One guy was so obvious about it that he tried to convince me that my fake boyfriend had told him that he broke up with me and had told him that he should take care of me. When I called him on how he was thinking only about himself, he made a few half-hearted attempts at sympathy and then returned to his ruse of my fake boyfriend breaking up with me.
Incidentally, while doing the tests as a female, I encountered quite a large number of males with “feeling sad” status. I soon realized that men use this as a ruse to get women to feel sorry for them. The “Being Sad” test, as a male, may have suffered because of this. The other six scenarios were proactive to see what reaction one could get from people, depending on the situation. In these scenarios, although more difficult for the male, it was more equally successful for both genders. As long as the male had something interesting or witty to say, then he had no problem in joining a conversation or getting an invite. My conclusions from these experiences are the following: if one is outgoing and has an extrovert personality, they will have no trouble making friends on home, regardless of whether they have a male or female avatar. However, if they are shy or have an introvert personality, male avatars will have a very difficult time making friends, whereas shy females, for the most part, will still have no problem making friends. The following are some of my thoughts and my feelings while participating in this experiment.
Conduct Unbecoming: The crotch sniffing was expected behavior, as this was common behavior to be seen on Home. This occurred three times as a female. With each occurrence, I was either able to get them to apologize or leave by embarrassing them. The other incident of suggestive behavior in a public space caught me off guard, because I had never seen it before and it came from a female. This was while I was at Godfather’s as a male avatar. A new female came in behind the bar to serve drinks in a bikini top. She stopped by me and asked for my order, I replied and she returned with the imaginary drink. After I said thank you, she asked if I wanted a lap dance. I was floored and politely declined. This was not an isolated occurrence. After filling every order, she offered a lap dance. To which, every person accepted. This left me thinking about Sony’s PG-13 rating for Home. Would I allow my 13 year-old children go to Godfather, even with my supervision? Is exposure to a bar atmosphere, with drinking, smoking, poker, and lap dances a PG-13 rating?
(NorseNote: How the heck do you even perform a lap dance in Home? Wow. The people who come into Home specifically looking for that sort of activity make running a Google Video search look like a spiritual quest.)
Stalking: I have no other way to describe receiving a PM from some unseen person that was really in another area. This occurred twice during my test period as a female avatar, once at Irem Square and once at Godfather II. In both cases, the person wanted me to go to where they were. In one case, it was to a personal space and in the other case it was to Central Plaza. It left me with a very creepy feeling.
"Hello creeper!"
Invites / Requests: Random invite requests also resulted in a surprise. As expected, the female avatar received requests from almost everyone that she encountered, seen or unseen. The male avatar only received one unsolicited friend request and that was from a woman who said that she was a doctor and wanted to further discuss why I was sad.
I received one interesting friend request as a female that I would like to note. I had interjected into a conversation between a male and a female, striking up a conversation with the female. We later parted our ways. The female never sent me a friend request, but some time after I had left the area, the male sent me a friend request.
Once, as a female, I was dancing with three other males and a random female came up to me and asked only me if I wanted to be in a “fam.” I wondered if males did this to get females to join their clubs. The surprising club request came while I was a male at Godfather II. The request came at Godfather’s from another male avatar that had, at one point, stood next to me, but we never had spoken to each other and the request came long after he was no longer in my sight.
Attention: No surprise here, women get a lot more attention than men on Home. All they have to do is enter an area and there are plenty of men waiting to fight each other for her attention. If a woman just wants to be left alone, I can see how it could be annoying. But I could also see how it could be exhilarating to women who love to be the center of attention. On my first encounter as a woman, sitting on a bench in Central Plaza, I had five men all around me vying for my attention. I felt like Scarlet O’Hara at the ball with all her beaus around her.
***
EXPERIMENT CONCLUSION: Wow. It’s sort of surprising to see how similar some of the results were. It is to be expected that some of the experiences run parallel but these tests seem to have proven some things are, indeed, universal. The expected result of this social experiment was that the male avatars would have an increased difficulty in making friends in Home and being part of the social-sphere and the female avatars would be smothered with attention, to the point that normal social interaction was almost impossible.
If these expected two results represent opposite ends on a “socially-viability” scale then the actual results fall somewhere within the middle. While it is true that female avatars do get more attention than male avatars, it’s not true that the situation goes so far as to make it impossible to engage in normal, rational and beneficial conversation and social interaction for either gender. If you’re a guy within Home and are met with social difficulties, simply move on and find someone else who is willing speak with you. Consider your approach and consider your intentions. If you’re there to make friends and find like-minded users, then you’ll likely have no issues filling your friend-list. If you’re there to pick-up or harass other players, then expect that your intentions will be met with some resistance.
Keep in mind that the those piloting the other avatar are people too and they are more than likely within Home looking for another like-minded Home user who might just be you. If you’re a girl within Home and are met with social irritants, simply ignore those who approach you or greet them warmly. Many users will congregate to a belligerent female avatar for no other reason than to see if they can make her angrier. Again, considering your intentions within Home will be helpful. If you approach the social atmosphere of Home openly and warmly you will likely meet some interesting individuals along the way. If you come into Home closed off and haughty, then you will likely meet a belligerent and increasingly irritating climate.
In the end, if a user in Home puts forth an open mind to those they encounter, they will more than likely meet people whom they can have pleasant conversations and friendships with. The ability to make friends is vastly more dependent on attitude and approachability than it is gender, as was previously believed and argued. Who would have known that Home is indeed a friendly place, no matter the gender of your avatar? That is, if your mindset is in the right place.
August 20th, 2011 by Gideon | 9 comments
Gideon is a team writer for HomeStation Magazine and likes cheese in all its forms. Whether it be block, slice, cream, wheel, log, string or aerosol, Gideon cant resist the pungent bitter taste of good cheese. Heck, he'll even take mediocre cheese, as long as its slapped between two pieces of whole wheat bread with a little bit of mustard.
Bravo!!! Well done and well thought out! I do find that sometimes it is not just your mindset or gender that influences how people might treat you, sometimes its the mood of the room. I have seen moods, both good and bad, move through a room like a red tide, paying no mind to gender. The experiment was awesome and interesting and may could be taken a step further by altering how you inter acted. By that I mean aggressive or shy, maybe funny or dry. Age representation could also play into it. Sexual orientation, religion, political views and social status. There are probably more… heck what football team you like (Go Cowboys). Home its self is a never ending social experiment and offers an unusual opportunity to observe in plain sight. So I think y’all should quit your day jobs and just explore the idiosyncrasies that are then boiling water of this random soup called Home.
oh, and as the caption under the picture so truly stated… Home blurs the lines between fantasy and reality and also between ideals and identity, interaction and reaction, human and humanity, wisdom and wise ass, passion and compassion, grace and gross, noob and troll and horror and honor. This world called Home is still pliable as a newborns skull. We should enjoy it and be happy for it but treat it with respect… Or it could become misshapen like Gummie’s head and then it would look odd when wearing a hat. I should really sleep on it before I click on the post comment button huh?
There’s an informal agreement/rule between many “fams” that prevents them from recruiting in Godfather 2.This might account for why some were not asked to join a “fam” at all and some were asked in private messages while at Godfather 2.It’s assumed by these “fams” that nearly everyone at Godfather 2 is already in a “fam” and “poaching” other “fams” members is generally frowned on.As for how does one go about performing a lap-dance,well I could tell you but this probably isn’t the best place for that.Btw no I didn’t go looking for it,just happened to have talented friends,lol.Great observations by all 4 writers and I like that you decided to go out and put these ideas to the test.Theories and speculating are fun but having actual field research is most compelling.
Had a lot of fun doing this and met some very interesting people who are still my friends because of it. I have to say it was a success in letting us see the other side of the coin. I have a male avatar on my other account but rarely use him. So it was fun coming out as a male for awhile and it also nicely coincided with my other article about finding free things in Home so I killed two birds with one stone. Thanks Gideon for inviting me to this wild ride!
Very entertaining of a read. Easily enlightening, and a nice experiment that seemed honest and controlled. Always have something crazy to try out it seems. Good work.
Aloha Gideon..once again all of you produced a great piece..I don’t understand why someone felt the necessity to comment about “fams” since it has no relativity this article. This was an experiment about gender biasism, and the experiment conducted at Godfathers2 led noone to believe that some “fams” had a part in its conclusion. That is like saying people who create spy “fams” are trolls…..
I believe you’re referring to CTHULU93’s comment. The word “fam” appears 7 times in this article, and his comment directly addresses following quote: “I got invited to two “fams” as a female, but had a harder time having that happen as a male. In fact I didn’t get asked to join one even while sitting in Godfather 2, which surprised me.”
A part of this experiment had something to do with “fams” and I was addressing a problem Burbie brought up.I see no similiarity to saying ppl who create spy “fams” are trolls to anything I said.
Wow! I really enjoyed reading all your stories. Great job.