[SolaceQuantum]

Honestly, I don't really see such behavior directed towards male names though. Stuff like LucasJones or MikeAtLarge or LordOfKilling doesn't get the same attention that SuzieHealsU or CuteLamb or PrincessHurtful might. If it was equal, I'd expect 'MrKickass' to be questioned and assumed to be grabbing attntion that 'MsKilljoy' gets... but in my experience this distinctly isn't the case.

[kfwhp]

I agree with you on this. What I meant to say is that people who use gendered names are going out of their way to show what their gender is; an overwhelming amount of people use completely neutral names. This is, regardless of the treatment you receive because of your gender.

[SolaceQuantum]

I also am saying that I don't believe male gendered names get nearly the same attention as female gendered names. 'PrinceJake' doesn't get the same derision as 'PrincessEla' which is what the study is trying to explore.

[ggggtez]

This isn't true, because if you receive harassment for having a "feminine" name, but no harassment for a "masculine" name, then when you go create a new account for a new game, you might be discouraged from using the feminine name.

You really need to consider how to account for experimental variables that affect each other.

[kfwhp]

This isn't true in my experience, because in that case there would be many more players with masculine names than with feminine names, which is not the case; I'd say the amounts are similar, with an overwhelming majority of neutral names.

Important: this coming from my background, which is WoW, and not any of these modern games and communities. Maybe things have changed? The average WoW player is definitely older than the average Fortnite/OW/whatever player.

[ggggtez]

I have no idea what you consider a "neutral" name, but I'd caution you that if you only work based on your own personal perception instead of talking to others, then you are not going to see your own biased perceptions.

Certainly women play video games, and one only needs to talk to them and ask them why they choose one name over another to quickly accumulate first hand stories. If you do this with people you know in real life, you may find some clues as to what you aren't seeing first hand.

Edit: and, for what it's worth, you may forget that WoW has some unique rules on names compared to other games. No idea how that may affect things.

[shrimp_emoji]

I don't know anyone in real life. I only know people online, from video gaming[0] or computery[1] circles; and, to me, male friends are like four-leaf clovers, but female friends are like unicorns.

No idea how that may affect things.

0: https://imgur.com/a/ICk20

1: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=61048

[shrimp_emoji]

You're essentially making the case for GOTIS (Girl on the Internet Syndrome).

While the GOTIS principle is something that many female players actively apply (they try not to signal that they're female to avoid attention), it's a tragic thing to operate on or defend.

The only reason it's salient is because most users of a community are male, which is self-reinforcing. Female outliers get naturally highlighted in a highly male context, and, whether or not they use this to their advantage, they'll suffer its downsides. It's tragic that they should have to and that we're still so sexually partitioned, culturally.