Why are men more likely to get addicted to Video Games to the point of hurting their academic career?

Question

Why are men more likely to get addicted to Video Games to the point of hurting their academic career?

Answer 1

There were some very interesting answers but I think it is more simple than that. Men play them more. It is not something that is considered feminine nor are the majority of the games based on things that interest women.

A person would play to the point of hurting their academics probably doesn't have the discipline to attend school in the first place. If it weren't video games then it could possibly be some other vice.

Answer 2

Guys have departmentalized (waffle) brains.  

They tend to be more task oriented, and can really get into a game for long (loooong) spans of time.

I'm not saying that girls can't - just most girls have "noodle" brains, meaning that they focus on several things at once, and usually lose interest.  

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

It's a number of factors. Permissive parents, lack of self-discipline, and lack of motivation. There's nothing wrong with playing with video games. I often enjoy them myself but when someone plays them to the point of falling behind in school or missing days at work, then there is a serious problem.

Answer 4

Because more men play games.  Those of us women who are gamers have addiction problems as well (says the woman who was up until 4:00AM playing Metal Gear Solid 4).

Answer 5

because we women have better sense...we still get addicted but we still find time to study...oh yeah video games rule!!

Answer 6

maybe because they played a lot of video games as a kid and when it came to working hard in school he forgot about all the fun he ad playing them ad now he wants to relive it again

Answer 7

Men are more competitive?  

Answer 8

I was afraid of having the same problem, and I'm a girl, which is why I made sure to delete The Sims2 from my computer before starting college.

Answer 9

Because it takes a lot of self-discipline to get out of this comfort zone.

He is having fun.

He enjoys the competition.

A sense of realism is lost, replaced by fantasy.

Perhaps there is a general lack of direction in his life, and he procrastinates in making serious decisions and meeting his goals in the 'real' world. ~

Answer 10

A thesis by doctoral student S. Chess (who is female and also writes a gaming-related column for the online magazine Alterati.com) suggested that it was because women are more likely to enjoy the socio-interactive aspects of gaming over actual gameplay.

Her research showed that women had a 59% higher rate of game addiction when gameplay elements involved interaction with actual people (for example, in guild affiliations within MMPORGS such as World of Warcraft) than in traditional single-player games.

Her conclusion was that this was the result of a woman's natural predilection for non-conflict based problem resolution as well as extension of their preference for a communal (family) style of organization.

In short: Girls don't like to play games where they just kill things and don't get to interact with other people.   Give them a game where they can use their problems solving skills AND interact with other actual people in a psuedo-family style setting (like a guild), and their rate of addiction approaches that of males.