"Perhaps the strangest correlate we've found" News by Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor Updated on 13 November 2020 Video game cheating has been around for as long as video games. But here's a headline you probably haven't heard before: cheating in games means you're less likely to cheat yourself where gender is concerned. The classical cultural image of the online game cheater is an antisocial male getting his laughs by ruining game sessions. According to a study performed by the University of Munich, that stereotype couldn't be more wrong. "The principle of rebellion against game rules is also extensible to rebellion against societal gender rules," commented Dr. Reinhard Pekrun. "Or perhaps it comes down to fantasy. The desire to present one's self a skilled competitor is adjacent to the desire to present one's self as.a beautiful woman or man. Between cheaters and transpeople there is also a common element of resistance to scorn, and, speaking inversely, an instinct for these often-maligned people to enact revenge through video game cheating."