Online games: Females more hardcore

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher, in what he calls a surprising finding, says females were more intense about online games.

Dmitri Williams of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism in Los Angeles says 80 percent of the 7,000 anonymous players of the study participants who played "EverQuest II" were male, but females spent more time in the virtual world -- playing an average of 29 hours a week vs. 25 hours for males. The top 10 percent of female players averaged almost 57 hours per week, eight more than male players, the study says.

In addition, women were more likely than males to underreport their playing time.

"Women underestimated their playing time more than men," Williams says in a statement. "The women really under report they play more than they admit.

"A subset of the women are very hardcore players," Williams says. "The women play more intensely than the guys do and they're less likely to quit, and they're happier playing."

The average age of the 7,000 study participants was 31. More players were in their 30s than in their 20s, and playing time tended to increase with age, Williams says.

The findings are published in the Journal of Communication.