A new paper published in PLOS One last week revealed that men who perform poorly in gaming have a higher likelihood of being rude and discriminatory towards their female counterparts. The paper, titled 'Insights into Sexism: Male Status and Performance Moderates Female-Directed Hostile and Amicable Behavior', showed that hostile behavior towards a female-voiced teammate came from lower-skilled male players.

On the other hand, higher-skilled male players exhibited the exactly opposite approach towards a female player. For the study, the researchers observed 163 games of Halo 3 and found that the poorly performing men expressed their anger at female players. However, these same male players were noticed to be submissive when played with more skilled male players. It's possibly the sign that they don't feel threatened when losing to another man.

The researchers chose Halo 3 game for the study because it is a multiplayer game and a team objective is required in it. Also, it makes no reference to facial features or body types as the avatars are covered in armor. Moreover, their storyline is not related to any of the genders.

The researchers, Michael Kasumovic of University of New South Wales and Jeffrey Kuznekoff of Miami University, conducted the study to see the cause behind the sexist behavior.

They said losing male players brought a female player down to raise themselves up and feel more dominant and attractive. The anonymity of the game could have also triggered the behavior.

Kasumovic and Kuznekoff's results "suggest that a way to counter it may be through teaching young males that losing to the opposite sex is not socially debilitating".