I'm a Masters student in the Digital Media program at Georgia Tech and am researching MMOs and Virtual Worlds. I have a few questions about CoH and would be most grateful for any responses.
1. Is there much social interaction outside of combat? I've heard there are some social Supergroups. Do these groups still predominantly socialize while involved in combat or will they spend a fair amount of time engaged solely in casual conversation?
2. Does anyone have an idea of the gender ratio of players? I know there's no official numbers, but perhaps someone has a general sense of the gender balance. (Are players predominantly male? If so, are the female players very rare?)
3. Does anyone have a reliable source for the number of active players? I've found some estimates around 140,000 active players. Does this seem about right? Does anyone have some source they can point me to for some reliable numbers?
4. My research will ultimately involve players from the Washington DC area. Does anyone know of any CoH groups that advertise as from the DC area?
Thanks again!
