We saw this slide presented at the GDC over at Wonderland and simply had to comment on it. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Um... what? What the hell does "eye contact" even mean in reference to MMORPGs? How can you even determine if you're looking another character in the eye? And, even if you were, what the hell would the point be? You maintain eye contact with a human being because their facial expressions give us valuable clues as to what they think or feel. The action is intimate: it creates a bond between two speakers. Looking someone in the eye is meaningless in games without facial expressions, where every thing another person has to say pops up in a cartoon bubble over their head.

We call bullshit. And if our experience having gnomish warlocks wander up behind our World of Warcraft avatars and obsessively dancing and slapping our asses is anything to go by, we're pretty skeptical of the "Male avatars stand further away from each other than female avatars" claim too.

Come to think of it: how can you make any sort of gender distinction in an MMORPG? The most likely gender to play a female character in an MMORPG are guys.

GDC: The Social Dimensions of Digital Gaming [Wonderland]

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