The thread has arised from time to time among mmorpg.com of guys posting how strange it is to play as a woman and some would post as to why they do play as women.
Thought I would give my 2 cents here. Keep in mind this is just my outlook on it and it is, in no way, meant to be a persuasive argument for or against this practice.
First, Ill get to the nitty gritty. Yes. I've played a female avatar. No. I am not gay. No. I did not do it for monetary gain or sexual perversion. I never hid the fact that I roled a female avatar and everyone in my guild knew who I was. I only rolled one female avatar and that was Everquest 2. My guild was Desolation (our feerless leader, Kunou's, Guild). Everyone in that guild knew who I was.
When do I think its right to play a female? Its right when you do not take advantage of other players by making them think you are a female. We all know that females get more attention in a Guild or in a party. It is very obvious. When a female logs into a MMO, that guild will light up with chatter. When I male avatar logs in, it's "Hey, man, what's up."
I believe playing as a woman to deceive your guild is wrong. Very wrong. Tell them you are a guy. Don't hide the fact. I have a male toon in Everquest 2 now but I lot of the females are guys in real life and no....they aren't gay!
I know this is really hard to comprehend for some folks who are completely against playing a female avatar but there are normal male folks who play female avatars and female folks who play male avatars.
With that said, I think Warhammer will be a very interesting game since some classes are gender specific only (which is wrong, IMO). You will see a great many Witches running around that are truly men. Why? Because they love the melee DPS that class has to offer but lo and behold, no male counterpart.
Playing a female avatar is fine in my book. However, some no-nos in my book:
- if you do it and start to "roleplay" (you know what I mean) with a male player making him think you are a female...then that's pretty messed up by not letting him know.....or if you intice an AOC Gamemaster (but that's a whole other story!)
- If you play a female avatar to get free stuff. Don't be a leech or a moron. Going around as a female avatar just to get free stuff or free dungeon runs will do nothing but make you look like a great big A-hole if it comes out that you are a guy.
- Don't buy that software that makes your voice sound like a female in Ventrillo or Teamspeak. Let them know you are guy up front. Don't masquerade it to the point that your guild believe you are female in real life because that will result in number 2. Getting free stuff.
My opinion is this. Anyone should play whatever he or she feels like playing without fear of someone thinking they are weird. However, if you cross the line by making others think you are truly that opposite class and by pretending to get free stuff or roleplaying with them in lonely darkened rooms, then you need to look deeper within yourself and analyze what you are doing and deciding if it goes deeper than mearly choosing your avatar.
By the way, I am playing a Chosen in WAR when it comes out so I will def be a male! Also, I play a male in WoW and City of Heroes. In Everquest 2 I have one female and 4 males. So just roll what you want to play!
User Comments
i've only ever rolled a female character once. and it was due to them being better at magic (i wanted to play a magic user) than guys and it fitted in with the lore (only chicks were encouraged to become mages in that society). i look down upon most people who play female characters when they are infact male because 80% of those that i have met were dudes wanting to stare at an ass all day or were in it for the extra attention. the other 20% were either roleplaying or it was for their backstory (like mine was).
in the end it comes down to personal opinion. i will always jump to conclusions if i find out a man is playing a female avatar and you cant change that.
My opinion is this: Why does anyone need to know the gender of the person behind the character and why should it matter in the least? MMO's are supposed to be about gaming and having fun. If people are that concerned about what sex the person is their playing with, their focus is on the wrong thing.
My husband played female toons in WoW because he didn't like the male animations and movements. It had nothing to do with wanting free stuff or staring at ass. He never danced naked on a mailbox in Ironforge, or anywhere else for that matter. Plain and simple, he just liked the look and animations for the females better. Sure, I'd tease him about it now and then just for laughs, but I could really care less as long as he was having fun.
Anyone who gives someone else shit for playing a different gender just needs to grow up and get over their homophobia...oh, and also stop whacking off to dirty talk on a screen since that's likely what they're trying to do if they get riled up over finding out female pixels are played by a guy.
i usually roll male characters and make them as scary as hell cause i love being evil or scary, even irl HA! but sometimes i get bored and want to make a female toon and make them look like the woman of my dreams... which sometimes doesnt work to well cause most games look like ass, cept AoC. the girl avatars in that game are delicious.
Well if I have to stare at an ass for several hours a week it mine as well be a chicks ass
yeah since mosyt people play for several hours a week for several months if not years I wonder why it dosnt bother more guys playing male avatars that they are looking at a dudes ass probably more than they should during a normal week.
i have no problems playing females toons , reason is what looks better, i will choose from there and no i dont take advantage of this to get coin or anything .
Men who play women characters are working through inner issues or problems. This is sometimes related to sexual identity crisis, sometimes related to nothing in particular, at least to the human conscious. It is psychological, period. The common excuse that a player would rather look at a woman's behind than a man's is a testosterone defense. These are the same men who grew up going through their mother's panty drawers or their sisters for that matter. MMORPG's gives these personality crisis types a forum to role play their forbidden desires.
Your avatars sex is purely cosmetic. You chose it based on what you think looks good. To take it any deeper than that is to simply project your own insecurities and phobias on other people.
FatGamer, I highly doubt you are a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist so lay off the armchair analysis'. Saying that anyone, male or female, has psychological issues based on the gender of the fictional character they choose to play in a game is utterly ridiculous.
Should I tell people my ethnicity, political affiliation, and religious beliefs too?
I completely agree with crzybrtndr, and hanshotfirst makes an amusingly sarcastic but well made point.
The actual gender of the person behind the screen is completely irrelevant. If you choose to get into personal discussions with your online friends, feel free.
As for FatGamer's so called psychiatric advice, I think that's a little ridiculous. While it may very well be true in a few cases (very few), the majority likely have no unusual psychological issues.
Now that you've read what I've written, did you make an assumption on my gender? Do you think I'm male or female? More importantly, how would that affect the way you view what I've written?
I am in fact male, but why does that matter to you? You'll never see me in person to verify this anyway.
FatGamer.....did you end up cybering a female avatar that was actually a guy?....you know fulfilling your forbidden desires kind of thing?
I play any MMOs as a guy, so I won't be harrased by guys. It's superbly annoying to keep getting ingame PMs. Well..unless that guy is gay.
magdalene thats funny cause when im playing my female toons i never get sexually harrassed by guy toons. i always see women saying they play men avatars for that reason. you just play men toons for reasons why we play females. dirty girl
when I created the female character in EQ2 I got PMed buy guys ALL THE TIME. I usually respond immediately, Im a guy in rl just so you know.
They usually never /tell me back. I played her for only 32 lvls and went to a male toon. Not that it was weird...but because I got so many damn PMs.
really? lol i guess im lucky then. or maybe i have the power of invisibility.... awesome
As a follow-up to my previous comment, I once made a female character in a game.
I made the character as a joke to try and lure perverted men into my trap, they would ask to cyber, they would get started and get into it and BOOM, I would say "LMAO, I'm a guy!"
or I would cyber with him but I would say stuff that involved my male parts, thus revealing me as a guy and totally disgusting him.
Ah, the hilarious escapades of my youth, they still put a smile on my face :)
First off, I completely agree with crzybrtndr.
It REALLY shouldn't matter what's behind the avatar, but we'll never be able to get past that because we all have that natural little nag called "curiousity".
Now, I don't mind guys rolling female characters, that's their choice, but guys who roll a female character, then PRETEND to be 1 and don't say different when asked, deserve to be banned, which is exactly what I do in the games I run. How do I figure out? Vent..or TS..or it doesn't really matter, but if they can't prove different, I ban them.
I've seen it happen irl, my uncle rolled a female on a game I can't remember (was prolly WoW). And never gave away that he was male, and went so far as to actually recieve presents from someone. At that point I told him he was a sick bastard and his mother agreed, so, he stopped. In a case like that, that's extreme. Thats sick...you may as well be gay if you're going to do that.
But anyway, if you're going to roll a femme, at least prepare a macro that say, I R MALE, STOP GROEPING ME AND NO I WONT SECKS YOU. Kthnxbai
I play what ever is the most aesthetically pleasing gender. I have played females and even roleplayed them, but I don't like it when people give me stuff for free. Also I don't like how people treat me as a female. I prefer being one of the guys. I would like to make a character look like myself but so far no character creation really has given me that option.
I don't really roleplay anymore because of ventrillo and teamspeak, which is really useful and convenient but just kills RP for me.
I'm not gay, bi, or want to be a woman. I've been with quite a few women back in the day and I enjoyed every one of them at the time. Now I'm married though, so just one lady for me. I think it's funny so many people are so uncomfortable about their sexuality. I think maybe ALOT of people are bisexual or atleast quite a few of them have occasional gay thoughts, otherwise it wouldn't be such an issue.
One thing that I believe that no one has mentioned, when playing a MMO it is fantasy. I do not believe it makes a difference what gender you play ( I do play both genders in games, and I am a male ) I always keep the games and RL as far apart as possible, however I do believe that if you play the opposite gender from what you really are do not lead people to believe you are that gender. That is just sick.
well. latle i mostly play as female. i dont do any RP, juts play for my own fun and entertainment. i dont get ppl who says playing with female char is gay, personaly i think is more gay to stare in male chars ass all time u play.
ofcourse its depends on that char rase, i would never play with female troll(etc) char or something like that.
i think its normal to guy more like to look at girls that buys ...
p.s. compleatly agree with crzybrtndr
Prinny Squad wants to know why everyone ignores the large amount of females who play men.
Is it the incorrect mid-90's myth that some close-minded people actually think women don't play? Are we still in grade school? Time to grow up!
Maybe some of the males just automatically assume that male characters have male players? It makes you wonder how many girls they grouped with that they tought were guys.
I do have a couple gamer friends that are both female and perfer playing guys for various reasons. The number one reason being, quote, "They'd rather stare at a guy's ass while playing." None of them are gay, so they have hilarious (at least to me) stories to tell of female characters with female players hitting on them.
It works both ways. Keep that in mind when playing! Play whatever gender you want - though be prepared to face the consequences of being totally uncomfortable!
is it any different to playing a orc or gnome (unless you really are one in real life?) i'm excluding high elves as playing one of those could be classed as being more gay ;) I am male, I have male/female toons, some are bald, some have mohawks, some beards, I don't look like that in real life either -If pushed, i'd have to say I generally prefer staring at female toons (some races excluded here!) for a few hours, rather than males, if I REALLY had to choose between them. Maybe those that prefer to stare at male ones should be questioned? :D At the end of the day, its a game, they all are. As the original poster said, as long as there is no deception going on... is it really that important what shape your sprite is?
Yea, I like to stare and a girl ass. So if i'm gonna play a game for many hours a week, I rather stare at a girls ass than a guys ass.
Yea, I had my wow elves toon do the dirty dance. I mean come on, ANY male telling me he had a female toon and didn't is just plaing lying.
Yea, I pretended to be a REAL girl... oh my, what a sick bastard I must be. I mean hey, you can pretend to be a rapping orc or a murderous thief but god allmighty, why would you want to be a woman!
Yea, I did it all, i'm still doing-it and I don't intend to stop.
Guess what, i'm here to have fun and that's what i'm gonna do.
Nobody has addressed the issue of woman playing as men. Why? It's not OK for men to play as woman but it's OK for woman to play as men?
Oh, I see... it's different... they don't want to be sexualy harassed...
Maybe men WANT to be harassed... Oh... that's NOT ok....
Riiiighhhttt....
Only litle boys are worried about what other people play. Eventually they will grow up and stop seeing things behind a purely aesthetic choice.
well as a female gamer my self i tend to play more female toons than anything else but i still roll quite a few male toons depending on the game
some games have really sexist communities and frankly id rather not get people folowing me around asking to be a friend (and some times worse) just because i play a female toon and they so believe im a female irl (which i am but thats not the point)
and free stuff why do female toons have a better chance of getting given gear or help than a male toon really there is no reason for it if you really wernt sexist you wouldnt worry and treat them as equals
"I played a girl and I liked it. Sure hope my girlfriend don' mind it.."
I play gender based on the character concept that I have. Its not due to wanting to erotic RP, its not due to some latent unfulfilled desire, its all about the concept. I’m a role-player and I player characters based on that. Some ideas work better as male some female. No matter what gender I play I refuse to talk dirty or engage in cyber. If others want to, fine I have nothing against it, but it is not for me. I player MMO’s to escape and really don’t want to deal with the stress of relationships (in game) and the drama that they can bring. Also I don’t care if the person I am talking to is male or female behind the curtain, what matters is, do they play well, do they do their job, are they fun to chat with. Most of the people I ran into who are upset about males playing females are looking for a girlfriend. If you are looking for a girlfriend in a game, I suggest you turn off the game and get out more, I didn’t meet my wife in a video game.
I'm not a pure RPer, but I do like to get an idea of what and who my character is, and I like to mix it up a bit. In Wow atm I'm playing three chars, with one male and two female.
My main is my priest, female human, as I love that class, and I prefer that style of play to be suited to a female avatar. (also males look too rubbish in a lot of cloth armour)
My alts are a gnome female rogue with pink pigtails, as I want the most annoying PvP class to be the most annoying visually. (lets face it, nothing more annoying than female gnomes with pigtails)
My other alt is a dwarf Pally. Male, and that fits how I view the character as being more gruff and gritty. I can't get the idea of a female paladin to play.
when i played LOTRO I had a male hobbit minstrel. Theres no hard and fast rules, but the more combat/melee a character is, the more likely to be male. (for me, personally)
I always play as the male character whenever it's possible. It allows for immersion as I pretend to be in that world as that character. The only times I've had to play female characters were because the game forced me to play as a female character or because that class did not have male counterparts (Male Archers exist you stupid mmo devs).
Anyways, I don't play MMOs anymore because the gameplay stinks. I'll try WWII Online's free trial, though.
Guys who pretend to be female when playing a female character either want laughs or have sexuality issues. You can never tell because it's absolutely hilarious to trick people.
@crzybrtndr: Your husband likes to look at virtual ass. That's the only explanation.
Fat Gamer
This may be some deep problem but people shouldn't jump so fast to conclusions. Many people do not assosiate themselves with their chars, those shouldn't be even called avatars, for that matter.
Mostly female chars look better, even if we put aside the sexual part, they're just designed better. Ofcouse there're exeptions like female dwarfs in LA2. IMHO they look gay. And yet I didn't start that "how can u people roll female dwarfs" stuff.
People roll orks, trolls, lizardmen, catpeople, undead, werewolfs, and worst of all MIDGETS! :P , but that seems normal to everyone, while rolling female and being male isn't. Why?
There's traditional orientation, there's disgust caused by various twisted orientations, there's homophobia and there's homoparanoia. While many people have 1st and 2nd those jumping to previously mentioned conclusion obviously have 4th (due to their haslty asumptions) and mistake it for 1st or 2nd.
And about females rolling males - they aren't being harrASSed because u can't insult them by calling'em gay :) , and tomboys've been around for a loooong time, and females have generaly different PoV on that kind of things.
Personaly I find all that stuff with untraditional orientation and "crossdressing" (from m to f) disgusting, and since that stuff is being widely promoted I think measures should be taken, but u're targeting GUYS not GAYS here.
Ofcause there're those gift gathering bastards (but hey, if they got you, that's YOUR fault aswell), RPers and even voice moders (now, that DOES mean something), but no one cares if u're NOT one of them :( ...
I have a Master's of Divinity and am a licensed Counselor and Psychologist for several States and have counseled people from ages 7 to 98 (yes 98). I have to utterly disagree with your findings.
my last comment was directed towards FatGamer
MMORPG = Most Men Online Role Playing Girls
kinda sad actually...
@FatGamer didn't study your blog and posts much but you don't look like u've studyied or are studying Psychology, and don't sound like that either, also your blog states u're 33. Well u may sound a bit like u're a spoiled kid who's learning psychology for "personal advantage", but u definitely don't sound like a mature practicioner.
Well if I'm mistaken, go ahead - prove it! to me, and the others who doupt u
"Don't buy that software that makes your voice sound like a female in Ventrillo or Teamspeak."
This is awesome, in so many mindfarking kind of ways.
I play female characters all the time, but I don't keep my real gender a secret. Female characters always look better; their models look better, their cloths are better, and I enjoy their character customizations more... in general. There have been very few exceptions to this.
A MMO is for your enjoyment, and you should get as much enjoyment out of it as you can.
If you RP as a female to the point of cybering then you are either very honest with yourself about your sexuality (though not so honest to others), or you NEED to be.
Well, that or you see it as a tool to get the loots, but I still question the emotional state of someone who does that. How are loots -that- gosh darn important?
^ My two bits.
I think if you have cybersex in an MMO there's something wrong with you whether you are pretending to be your real life gender or not. While I am a roleplayer I just don't see that as necessary. Yeah your character has needs but do you roleplay them going to the bathroom or shaving?