The first door: gender, authority and choice in The Stanley Parable

While many videogames deploy a narrator as a companion or a foil for the player, the effect of narrator gender on players and player experience is understudied. The current study created a female-narrated version of the male-narrated casual game The Stanley Parable (TSP) , and investigated player perceptions and behavioural responses to male versus female narrators. Participants (N=66) played TSP to reach a single ending and completed survey responses reflecting on their game experience. There were significant interactions between narrator and player gender, such that players tended to obey same-gendered narrators and to disobey opposite-gendered narrators at the first decision point in the game, controlling for prior familiarity with the game. There was a disparity between players' survey responses and their in-game decisions. Implications for the study of player experience are outlined.