Education Consalvo was born in 1969 in
Biddeford, Maine. She received her BA in Communications from
Lyndon State College in
Vermont. She subsequently received her MA in Communications from the
University of Washington, and her PhD in Mass Communications from the
University of Iowa. Consalvo's research has included a study on online gender swapping and demonstrated clear differences between online gaming behaviour among male and female players. According to Consalvo, males playing games using female avatars still display male patterns of movement. Additionally, these players act differently from actual female players in chat conversations. Consalvo has also researched bullying of females, LGBT and minority players in games, pointing to the frequency of in-game bullying as an indicator of the state of online gaming culture. On the topic of video games and violence, Consalvo found that sport-themed video games actually produced positive feelings among users. == Books ==