Back from a couple weeks of limbo with a brand new, thought-provoking link!
In this article, scientists in Columbus, Ohio study the differences between men and women, specifically about who they are likely to trust. Unsurprisingly, men and women are different: men trust people they share a group with, such as people from their workplace or their rotary club, and women trust people that they share a common bond with, such as family, or a fondness for strawberry ice cream.

In story-centered games, where the plot is supposed to somehow affect the player, this fact becomes important when introducing NPCs that the developer wants the player to trust. Male players, from what I can infer from the study, would be more likely to trust people from their guild, or share the same job they do. Women need to see evidence that the NPC is "like" them, somehow, that the NPC shares some sort of common ground.

When making these types of games, developers should keep in mind that they need to either supply a sufficient number of low-depth NPCs that the player can choose from to be followers or team-mates, or provide a few NPCs with enough depth to satisfy all requirements. They'll also have to put some thought in to how to introduce these NPCs so that the player can discern these qualities.
Being a designer is hard work, some days.