Earlier findings had shown that men and women socialize about the same amount in MMOs - in terms of chatting and catching up with friends. What is very different among men and women is what they want out of those relationships. Women are more likely to want to form relationships where they can discuss their RL personal issues and can count on those friends for support. Men, on the other hand, are less likely to use the MMO space to form a support network (or probably in general). The following data help contextualize these earlier findings.

For example, in terms of what players chat about, men and women are equally likely to chat about current events or game-related issues.

But when we turn to personal RL issues, we see a much bigger difference. Women are more likely to chat about their RL personal issues with their online friends than men are.