Breakfast Topic: Does gender influence class choice?
by Henry Phillips 
Aug 27th 2010 at 8:00AM
A while back I ran a survey for a course I was taking and I enlisted the help of the WoW community. One of the more interesting results that came out of the survey was what classes the different genders played. From most played to least played, the classes were:
- Men paladin, druid, shaman, warrior, death knight, priest, mage, hunter, rogue, and then warlock
- Women druid, priest, paladin, shaman, hunter, mage, warlock, death knight, warrior, and then rogue
What you might notice is that men prefer the three-role hybrids, then the two-role hybrids, then the pure DPS classes. For women, the order of popularity is classes that can heal, classes that do ranged DPS, then the pure melee classes. The results of the survey would seem to imply that women and men have entirely different ways of approaching class choice. Men seem to judge a class based upon how much utility it provides or how flexible it is, whereas women seem to be more focused on what they'll be doing and where they'll be doing it.
All of this is very interesting, but I would like to know how things were different during different times in WoW. What was the distribution before dual spec existed? What about late BC? Early BC? Late vanilla? What will the distribution be like in Cataclysm? In Cataclysm, many classes will be opening up to races that couldn't play them before, and the worgen and goblins will each have their class preferences. How will that affect what people play? Furthermore, many classes will become easier or more interesting to level because of the changes to how our talent trees work and how the leveling experiences are designed.
I'll leave you with some simple questions. What is it about your classes that appeals to you? Have you always played these characters? Or did you play other classes in the past? And are you male or female?
(Oh, I received an A on the project -- so thanks to everyone who helped!)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 16)
collinsm81 Aug 27th 2010 8:06AM
When I first joined Warcraft, wayy back in December 2008, I chose Shaman, Druid and finally settled on Warlock (now I play a Death Knight). All my choices were based on Lore, not role. I'm male. But I'm also gay.
*insert skewed results here*
Nex Aug 27th 2010 8:48AM
I started with Warlock (D2 Necro says 'hi'), then Mage. Now I have all the ranged classes at 80. Never really settled for any melee, even the melee witch (dk) didn't make it for me. I guess it's all personal preference. I just feel more comfortable with casters.
P.S. Ye, i'm also male and gay. They should have put a 3rd category in that survey ^_^
Nadia Aug 27th 2010 9:04AM
And a 4th category, for the women who are gay.
Slaight Aug 27th 2010 9:30AM
What does sexual preference have to do with the survey? Your not less of a man because you are gay...
Natrii Aug 27th 2010 9:32AM
See, I like classes that heal. My first real main was a warlock, then midway to BC quickly shifted to priest. I value survivblity and mobility above all when it comes to a class. That is why in the end my 3 "mains are a Holy/ret pally, a Shadow/disc priest, and a Frost mage.
Gay male, for more skewed results :)
Nex Aug 27th 2010 9:40AM
@Slaight:
maybe u r not less of man, but want it or not, u r different.
Firestyle Aug 27th 2010 9:40AM
Male - not gay (married). I took rogue, then shaman. I heal. I have no patiece for queues, I don't like to get sat in raids. So I heal. I haven't been sat once since I rolled resto shaman in any guild I've been in.
Sexual orientation is irrelevant - although I'd like to see the results no the poll nonetheless.
Kimyas Aug 27th 2010 9:40AM
Warlock (still my main), Druid, Priest
also gay :)
Adolyn Aug 27th 2010 9:43AM
I've tried many roles / class combinations. My favorite class (and raider, of course) is my holy priest. I prefer the healer role, which is a little off from what most guys would pick, I'd think. Traditionally, the healer is a nurturer, which is something most stereotypical guys would say a woman's role is. But then I am also a phlebotomist IRL, so I like to help people!
I am gay, but I like to think I bring the best of both worlds to the play field. I have the drive to heal and keep everyone alive even at the expense of my toon's life if needed. However I also have the stereotypical drive to be competitive with my fellow healers. We do more than follow meters though. We check out HPS, have group assignments, and see who can keep their mana longest. All depends on the fight. Its fun!
Nex Aug 27th 2010 9:44AM
based on our little 'poll' here, seems like the warlock class is the leading choice among gay men. (forgot to mention, lock is my main too)
maybe that's why they are on the 'least played' side of male and female choices ^_^
Azizrael Aug 27th 2010 9:48AM
Male, warlock (also got a Paladin and a Death Knight, and a Rogue at 75), and formerly straight but now I'm starting to question that. Thanks guys!
Agerath Aug 27th 2010 9:58AM
I'm male.
I went from Warrior (DPS), to Druid (Tank), to Paladin (Holy), and also have an equally-good Death Knight (DPS) alt.
pancakes Aug 27th 2010 9:59AM
I'm bi, & have a male orc Warlock and female Belf Priest at 80, with a 76 female undead warrior leveling atm. Make of that what you will.
pancakes Aug 27th 2010 10:02AM
*also, I'm a dude =P.
chrisaw Aug 27th 2010 10:34AM
You're not less of a man because you're gay but you are less of a man because you make a big deal about being gay and use it like a fashion icon instead of a personal choice. Personally I'm straight but you don't see me say "But I'm a guy... AND I'M STRAIGHT!! :O :O :O" because guess what? Nobody cares. Nobody cares what colour hair I have, what the race of my dog is or what my mothers name is because these are all details that are completely non-important to the current topic.
Can't be doing with "OMG I'M GAY GUYS!" people, it's nothing to be proud nor ashamed of - it's just a personal preference.
Rakah Aug 27th 2010 10:29AM
there was a survey a while back looking at any differances in choice between straight and gay males. They found certain spikes in race choice (orcs are less popular) as well as class choice (druids seems to be more popular)
loop_not_defined Aug 27th 2010 10:39AM
Male, hetero.
My choices have mostly been...character based? I develop ideas for them based on race, class, talent spec, and professions. I also make decisions based on, uh, equality. It's complicated. I have a spreadsheet that lays out all current and future characters.
Right now, I have three 80s that I play fairly equally: female troll warrior (Fury main), male undead priest (Holy main), and female dwarf hunter (Survival main). They kinda run the gammut.
My wife used to play a healing Priest on Alliance side way way back, but mostly because her ex was/is a douchebag that wouldn't let her play non-"good" classes, non-healing classes, and not a Paladin because that was his class. Now she plays a Warlock almost exclusively. She really digs it, but has told me that she doesn't like playing other classes for the following reasons:
-Healing classes. She feels people expect you to heal if you can heal (her priest is from back in the Vanilla days, when that was largely true), and she hates the high expectations random strangers put on you. To much stress for her, would rather DPS.
-Melee classes. She feels they're too hectic and require way more work or whatever than she really wants to dedicate. She prefers more casual play.
loop_not_defined Aug 27th 2010 10:43AM
@Chrisaw,
Homosexuality isn't merely a "preference" much less a *choice* to many people. Also, this topic is regarding a study of character choices based on gender...it isn't too much of a stretch to bring sexuality into it.
Nex Aug 27th 2010 10:50AM
@chrisaw
Being gay is not a personal preference. Speaking about it and being proud of it is really important due to societal discrimination.
It's like saying that Martin Luther King Jr was a fool because he spoke for racial justice and was proud of his race.
Besides, all those 'gay' replies & statistics are there for fun. No need to feel so uncomfortable about it.
Drew Aug 27th 2010 11:06AM
I'm pretty sure anyone who's played WoW for the last 5 years could have told you druids were the most played class by women. :p Or, in a more general sense, that they tend to play healers. And that out of non-healers, hunters would top the list. Heh.
What I find a little more insightful are the results you have concerning men. Mage, Hunter, Rogue, and Warlock filling out the bottom of that list seems strange. It's not where I would have expected them to fall (on the other end of the spectrum, I'm a bit surprised at how high Shaman is on the men's list as well).
I'm a male. Began playing from day one. In classic WoW:
Warrior (PvP/Dps focused; never tanked with it)
Rogue
Mage
Paladin (I hated my paladin at that point. Can you believe there was a time when Seal of the Crusader's auto attack swing increase could sometimes be a better dps boost than going 2+ minutes without a Command proc? I have no idea why I made this character at that stage of the game.)
Hunter
Compared with my progression in Lich King:
Rogue
Death Knight
Mage
Paladin (Today's...hell even Burning Crusade's...Paladin is essentially a different class than Vanilla's Paladin.)
Hunter
While I've been spending more time on my Hunter lately, if I had to pick one class to define my time in WoW, it would have to be the Rogue.
I've played ever class to at least 60 EXCEPT priest. I have to say, priest is the most mind numbingly boring class I have ever played in any MMO. This includes the days when paladins literally did nothing but auto attack and when druids didn't do anything. I almost believe sitting around "memorizing" spells in Everquest was more fun than playing a priest in this game. I'm sure things must get better at some point, but I have enough "mains" by now where I doubt I'll ever be bored enough to get to said point.