Male characters in role-playing video games have 50% more dialogue than females, highlighting a “stark gender imbalance” in the gaming genre, scientists have said. In role-playing games (RPGs), the gamer controls one or more characters undertaking quests or missions in an imaginary world. Researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Cardiff analysed the dialogue of 50 RPGs from 1986 to 2020, including Final Fantasy, Skyrim and Mass Effect. This encompassed 6.2 million spoken words from 13,000 characters. The results, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, suggest 94% of the games studied had more male dialogue than female dialogue, including ones with multiple female protagonists such as Final Fantasy X-2 or King’s Quest VII. They also found that the proportion of female dialogue is slowly increasing in RPGs at a rate of 6.3 percentage points per decade – from a mean of about 18% in the 1980s to about 40% by 2020. While we expected to find a larger proportion of male dialogue overall, we were surprised to discover how few games - just three of 50 - had more than 50% female dialogue Dr Stephanie Rennick, University of Glasgow However, the researchers said that if this rate were to continue, gender balance would not be reached until 2036. Dr Stephanie Rennick, research associate in philosophy, school of humanities at the University of Glasgow, said: “While we expected to find a larger proportion of male dialogue overall, we were surprised to discover how few games – just three of 50 – had more than 50% female dialogue. “I was also surprised that the lack of female characters compared to their male counterparts persisted at every level, from main player characters through to background NPCs (non-player characters).” For the study, the researchers obtained the transcripts of dialogue used in the games and identified which character said what. Dr Sean Roberts, lecturer at the school of English, communication and philosophy at Cardiff University, said: “We categorised the gender of each character, not assuming binary gender. “This allowed us to count how many words were available for each gender in each game. “For example, we can compare the number of words spoken by female characters to the number of words spoken by male characters.” The researchers found only 35% of words were spoken by female characters and they were more likely to apologise, hesitate or be polite, compared with their male counterparts. They said the proportion of female dialogue ranged from 6% (King’s Quest VI) to 80% (King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella). They discovered one game, Monkey Island, did not pass the Bechdel test, which requires two named female characters to talk to each other about something besides a man. Around half of gamers are female, but they experience a lot of abuse and exclusion. More diverse representation is being called for by players and developers Dr Sean Roberts, Cardiff University The team also found examples of stereotyped gendered behaviour. The researchers said that in Stardew Valley, characters respond differently depending on the player character’s gender. For example, they said, female players are offered a salad, wine, repeatedly described as beautiful and assumed to have little experience of video games, while male players are offered pasta, ale, described as “full of energy” and are assumed to be good video game players. Analysis also showed only 30 out of 13,000 characters belong to the non-binary gender categories, which is about half as much as in real life, the researchers said. Dr Roberts said: “Around half of gamers are female, but they experience a lot of abuse and exclusion. “More diverse representation is being called for by players and developers. “So we hope that developers will consider addressing the imbalances we found in order to create more inclusive games.”

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It’s footage that’s fascinated conspiracy theorists for decades, but artificial intelligence is making people look at the most famous alleged sighting of ‘Bigfoot’ in a new light. Back in 1967, a clip known as the Patterson–Gimlin film claimed to show the mysterious creature, also known as ‘sasquatch’, walking through the Six Rivers National Forest in California. Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin shot a figure moving in the woods in low resolution footage and claimed that they had discovered proof of the urban legend known as Bigfoot. The pair claimed at the time they tracked the figure before setting up filming equipment and capturing grainy video which looks briefly at the camera. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter While it was dismissed by the scientific community at the time and seen as a hoax by most people, it’s been poured over by conspiracy theorists ever since. It’s been analysed many times since, but new artificial intelligence has been used to present a clearer image than ever before. The clip has been stabilised and de-grained, and the results are clearer than ever. Social media user Rowan Cheung often shares the “latest developments in the world of artificial intelligence” and he posted the footage. Just as many conspiracists will have feared, the newly treated footage proves that it was clearly just a guy in a gorilla costume all along. Yes, we all knew that already, but this newly developed footage offers the clearest look at an infamous piece of footage yet – and people were quick to react on social media. “Nooppe! thats just a dude on his way to a costume party!” one wrote. Another said: “This is the ai work we needed.” One more said: “Just some bro out for a stroll.” “So it’s a dude in a gorilla suit?” a comment read. Artificial intelligence, it seems, has the power to surprise us when we least expect it. It’s not the first time ‘Bigfoot’ has made headlines this year, after people claimed to have discovered a sighting via Google Maps. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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How do you follow the biggest game of the last decade? That’s the dilemma Rockstar games have to deal with as they prepare to release Grand Theft Auto 6. The fifth instalment of the hugely popular video game series was released in 2013 and went on to sell 185 million copies, bringing us one of the most immersive open worlds ever created. It’s been a mainstay for gamers over the last decade and now developers have put fans on high alert after announcing the release of a new trailer due later this year. Here’s everything we know so far about Grand Theft Auto VI. Trailer Rockstar Games delighted GTA fans recently by announcing that a forthcoming trailer for GTA 6 will be unveiled in December. Many have shared the theory that the trailer release has been designed to coincide with the company’s 25th anniversary. Rockstar Games President Sam Houser wrote via the developer’s official social media account: “We are very excited to let you know that in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto. We look forward to many more years of sharing these experiences with all of you.” In fact, it’s made such a big impact in the gaming world that the post announcing the trailer has become the most-viewed gaming tweet in the social media site’s history with more than 143m views. It gives a small indication of the excitement out there for the upcoming instalment of the game. A date for the trailer drop has yet to be announced, but it’s thought that the new clip could arrive during the Game Awards on 7 December. Posting a message to fans, Rockstar Games wrote: “Next month marks the 25th anniversary of Rockstar Games. Thanks to the incredible support of our players worldwide, we have had the opportunity to create games we are truly passionate about. “Without you, none of this would be possible, and we are so grateful to all of you for sharing this journey with us. In 1998, Rockstar Games was founded on the idea that video games could come to be as essential to culture as any other form of entertainment, and we hope that we have created games you love in our efforts to be part of that evolution.” Release date We don’t know the release date yet, of course, but we do know that people have been speculating about a release by March 2025. Why? Well, Rockstar is hinting that major things are planned for the fiscal year of 2025. Strauss Zelnick is the CEO and chairman of Rockstar owners Take-Two. He previously said in a statement: “We remain confident that we are positioning our business for a significant inflection point in fiscal 2025, which we believe will include new record levels of operating performance. “We would like to thank all of our stakeholders for their continued support, and we look forward to delivering on this exciting next chapter.” If the theory is true, it means that the game would be released by March 2025 at the latest, but things are far from certain. The previous game could also give us some indication of when to expect the release. People are also looking back to the GTA 5 trailer, which was released in November 2011 - nearly two years before the game came out on 17 September 2013. A bizarre 'moon theory' is also being used by hopeful fans to predict a release date. Leaks A huge leak at Rockstar showcased a number of details about the game.Hints about the gameplay, setting and characters are focused on in the next section of this article, but some of the other leaks relate to the GTA 6 map. It'll likely be bigger than GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, way bigger.Fans also noticed 12 leaked details relating to GTA 6 that could be game changers involving NPC interactions and the weather details. Gameplay, features and setting According to a report in Bloomberg, the series will return to Vice City, the setting for iconic 00s game GTA Vice City based on Miami, for the new instalment. The report also claims that the new game will feature more interior locations than ever before. The report also claimed that the game is said to feature two bank robbers as playable main characters, a man and a woman, who have a Bonnie and Clyde-like relationship. It will mark the first time a woman would be a playable character in the game franchise since the release of Grand Theft Auto III. We're still in the dark about many of the features, but fans hope that more dynamic robberies and better NPC interactions are a part of the new game. They're also expecting better graphics. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

A British hacker behind the 2020 takeover of the Twitter accounts of Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and several other personalities as part of a Bitcoin scam has been sentenced to five years in prison. The hacker, 24-year-old Joseph O’Connor from Liverpool, took over nearly 130 accounts in July 2020, and pleaded guilty to charges of hacking these profiles last month. He was extradited from Spain on 26 April to face charges and now the US Attorney’s Office in the southern district of New York has sentenced him to five years for cyber crimes. In May, the hacker pled to four counts of computer hacking, wire fraud, and cyberstalking, according to Tech Crunch. The US justice department accused Mr O’Connor of participating in the exploitation of social media accounts, as well as online extortion and cyberstalking. The hacker, known as PlugwalkJoe online, has also been ordered to pay nearly $800,000 to the victims of his crimes. He had participated in the exploitation of social media accounts, as well as online extortion, using social engineering tricks to get access to Twitter accounts. New York’s Department of Financial Services investigated and found that the hackers had called Twitter employees, claiming to be the IT department. Another hacker Graham Ivan Clark – known as Kirk – reportedly used this access to hijack and reassign Twitter accounts. Using stolen accounts, hackers sent out tweets asking followers to send bitcoin to an account, promising to double their money. Mr O’Connor also pled guilty of using a cyber intrusion technique called a “SIM swap attack” to steal cryptocurrency from a Manhattan-based company and then to launder the proceeds of the scheme. In this mode of cyber attack, hackers gain control of a victim’s mobile phone number by linking that number to a SIM card controlled by the threat actors. This leads to the victim’s calls and messages being routed to a malicious unauthorised device controlled by the hackers, who then use control of the victim’s mobile phone number to obtain unauthorised access to accounts held by the victim registered to their mobile phone numbers. Twitter said it improved the social media platform’s cybersecurity controls following the cyberattack. In addition to the prison term, Mr O’Connor has been sentenced to three years of supervised release and further ordered to pay about $794,000 in forfeiture. Read More How bad is bitcoin for the environment really? Crypto experts discuss bitcoin price predictions What is Solana? The crypto rising 200-times faster than bitcoin Hacker reveals secret ‘Elon Mode’ in Tesla cars for full self-driving Hackers strike Iranian government, releasing presidential documents China calls hacking report 'far-fetched' and accuses the US of targeting the cybersecurity industry