Ars Technica - How to break games out of the “act like a man” box.
Boys are conditioned to play certain types of video games like Halo or Call of Duty, Wiseman said, because those games enforce the behaviors that draw from the "act like a man box." These same characteristics tend to lead to popularity in school. Those games perpetuate the behaviors to be expected from boys who want to be perceived as being strong. The boys Wiseman polled were not blind to the way these games perpetuate expected behaviors for boys who want to be perceived as strong—and some of them didn't like it.