Thanks to everyone who participated! There were 54 valid responses to this study.
You can find more information on the scale used in this study and how it works here:https://fetzer.org/sites/default/files/images/stories/pdf/selfmeasures/EMPATHY-InterpersonalReactivityIndex.pdf
These are the statistically significant findings of this study:
Gender:
The t-test (0.01) indicated that there was statistical significance in the difference between male and female results in empathetic concern. Female participants had higher average levels of empathetic concern by 1.6 points. This finding is in keeping with other studies that have used the IRI to explore empathy as it relates to gender.
Casual v. League-Competitive Gameplay:
The findings of this study suggest that those who strictly play the game in a casual setting have a higher level of personal distress than those who strictly play the game in a competitive setting. Statistical significance was found with a t-test result of 0.02. Casual players had a greater level of personal distress than competitive players with a difference of 3.2 points across the average results. This indicates that those who play the game professionally, on average, have a lower tendency to feel personal anxiety in difficult interpersonal situations.
Cooperative versus Competitive game modes:
On conducting a t-test there was marginal statistical significance (t-test=0.055) found in the fantasy scale results between participants who strictly play the co-operative game mode (MVM) and those who strictly play the competitive game mode (MGE). Participants who strictly play the competitive game mode had a higher average fantasy scale result than those who strictly played the co-operative game mode with a difference of 3.6. These findings indicate that those who strictly play competitively have, on average, a higher tendency to transpose themselves into the actions and feelings of fictional characters.