Lero Research Aims to Determine If Female Gamers Have an Advantage Over Male Counterparts
Lero, Ireland’s renowned research centre for software at the University of Limerick, has embarked on a groundbreaking study to explore whether women possess cognitive advantages that could offer them an edge in the competitive world of esports. This initiative, spearheaded by Lero’s Esports Science Research Lab, is in collaboration with Logitech, a leader in software-enabled hardware design, with an aim to pave the path for women in male-dominated esports scenarios.
The esports industry is a powerhouse, with an estimated €500 million in prize money dispensed each year. Lero’s project, valued at approximately €120,000, builds upon an established eight-year partnership between the University of Limerick and Logitech, and seeks to delve into an area of esports that is relatively unexplored.
Prof Mark Campbell, the director of the Esport Science Research Lab, highlights the immense growth and impact of gaming. “Gaming has evolved into a multi-billion-euro industry with professional gamers, along with their coaches and competitions that draw audiences rivaling those of major sporting events like the Super Bowl, the golf majors, Wimbledon, and the Six Nations,” he explains.
Despite the less physically demanding nature of esports compared to traditional sports, there remains a noticeable gender imbalance at competitive levels. “Even though esports don’t require as much physical effort as traditional sports, there is a dichotomy whereby men feature much more prominently than women at the highest levels of play,” Campbell noted.
Currently, the majority of research in the video gaming and esports domain focuses predominantly on male participants. This narrow focus means there is scant understanding of the cognitive and gaming performance of elite women gamers.
Dr. Adam Toth, the principal investigator of the project, elaborated on the mission, saying: “This project will continue to grow the capabilities and expertise within the Lero Esports Science Research Lab. We’ll utilize specialized experimental techniques, expert investigators, and cutting-edge processing and analysis tools to identify the attributes of elite women gamers. Our goal is to enhance women’s performance and experience in gaming.”
The collaboration leverages Logitech’s hardware design expertise alongside Lero’s research acumen to scrutinize the cognitive and gaming prowess of top women gamers. Dr. Toth further elucidates: “We will accomplish this by implementing custom hardware and software to capture behavioural, physiological, and performance data during the training and play sessions of both professional and amateur gamers. This will help us identify any noteworthy cognitive differences between male and female gamers.”
Such data will primarily emanate from differential instrumentation of games and gaming devices. Through sophisticated processing and analysis techniques, the research team aims to assess cognitive and in-game similarities and contrasts of elite women gamers relative to their male counterparts.
This pioneering research holds the potential to unveil significant insights into gender-specific cognitive attributes that may elevate women’s status in esports and could encourage a more balanced representation in the industry.
Ultimately, the initiative signifies a monumental step in not just understanding inherent differences but fostering inclusivity and equal opportunities in esports, challenging the traditional norms and expectations surrounding gender in competitive gaming environments.
