Gendered design bias: gender differences of in-game character choice and playing style in league of legends

Gege Gao, Aehong Min, Patrick C. Shih

Abstract: Though video games have become increasingly popular among female players, competitive game genres are still dominated by male players. Research has explored the factors influencing male and female participation in competitive games, but little has focused on analysing gendered character choice and playing style preferences based on large in-game dataset. This research utilizes a mix-methods approach to examine gender differences in one of the most popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, League of Legends (LoL). The results show that gender stereotypes affect the in-game character design, players' perception of abilities, and social convention in LoL, which makes the gender differences of in-game character choice and playing style more obvious. We discuss design implications to make LoL more inclusive to female players.