Both men and women who played a violent game had significantly lower self-perceived performance, and as a result, reported a lower self-perceived mate value

Kasumovic, M. M., Hatcher, E., Blake, K. R., & Denson, T. F. (2020). Performance in video games affects self-perceived mate value and mate preferences. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, Oct 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000231

Abstract: Mate value is tied to appearance and age in women, and social status and wealth in men. Theory surrounding self-perceived mate value suggests that mate value shows relatively little situational plasticity. Here we challenge this concept by asking participants to compete in video games to test (a) whether self-perceived and actual performance affects subjective mate value, and (b) whether subjective mate value affects mate preferences. By randomly allocating participants to play either a violent or nonviolent game in three separate experiments, we show that both men and women who played a violent game had significantly lower self-perceived performance, and as a result, reported a lower self-perceived mate value. We also demonstrate that this effect led to different preferences for short-term mating partners, mainly among women. Our results strongly suggest that mate value in humans is situationally dynamic and responds to recent contest experiences, as it does in nonhumans. We discuss our results with reference to online multiplayer digital gaming experiences and how variation in self-perceived mate value affects mating market dynamics.