We surveyed 500 American adult male and female video game players to try to better understand what people were playing, and why. So we asked them to tell us which five games they were currently playing and how violent they felt the games were.

We did indeed find that men preferred to play violent games more than women. But the difference between the sexes was not nearly as large as you might expect. So it turns out that both women and men both enjoy violent games, at least among self-declared gamers.

Next we asked them to tell us their views about sex and their interest in having sex using the Sexual Openness Inventory. This asks how important sex is to people, how likely they are to engage in it and preferences for casual sex.

We also asked them how they perceive themselves as a potential romantic partner, a quality called “mate value”. Individuals who say they have a higher mate value basically perceive themselves as a “better catch” to romantic partners.