Males playing as females??

[gunslingeraz]

I have waded through this entire post (yeah I am at work and have the free time.) I play a female character. They are better to look at no one can really argue about that. I do not impersonate a female. I think everyone can agree that impersonating a woman online is just .... just no. At least not for me. I can't even recall asking a toon if they are female or male. I really am just not interested.

[Eddy14]

" Hey sweet t.i.t.s I herd your name is Nicole and your a real chick playing this huh??" "We should talk on msn sometime maybe we will end up meeting so I can eat that petty little den of yours!"

I think Nicky shoulda reported that guy...:O

This thread took 45 whole minutes to read...need to do my hwk...jesus.

[Arcadic]

On occasion I'll play as a female character. Now, I'm a guy, just to let you know. And most of my characters are guys. But sometimes I'll use female characters because they either look better or because they fit the job better than males. But I don't try to impersonate a girl. Oh no. I come right out and tell people I'm a dude, including guild leaders and people I'm just chatting with. You'd be surprised how many people will talk to you, up until you tell them you're a guy, then they just ignore you. lol

[Deryck]

It's inevitable that males will play as female characters, hell if the female characters looked decent what would you rather look at the entire time you play a dudes ***? or a females ***? most of the time in MMO's they make female characters pretty ****ty looking, so the armors are skimpy, and provocative. I'm undecided if I'll play a male or female character, it'll be a last minute choice though I'm sure..

[AznKenshin]

Originally Posted by Deryck

It's inevitable that males will play as female characters, hell if the female characters looked decent what would you rather look at the entire time you play a dudes ***? or a females ***? most of the time in MMO's they make female characters pretty ****ty looking, so the armors are skimpy, and provocative. I'm undecided if I'll play a male or female character, it'll be a last minute choice though I'm sure..

Very interesting insight you have. I can add something to this. My girlfriend plays GW as a male. Why? She hated the skimpy clothing and didn't want to be as "cheap" as the characters were. She wanted modest clothing and she found her best fit by being a male character.

"It's ironic," she said. "Males who are stronger are always wearing the heavy armor while the vulnerable women barely wear any."

[Xhieron]

I'm a male. I play males. If you want to change genders in game, more power to you. However, I'll be quite honest about myself, and I imagine if everyone else were as well, we could go a long way to insuring that people who make the gender-bending decision anticipate the consequences of that decision: Namely, I'm a sexist.

What I'm saying here applies most specifically to those who chose to gender bend anonymously--that is, without telling anyone. If you're open and honest with what you do with your character, chances are, none of what I say applies to you, since you already know the drill.

Now I don't mean to say that I'm a chauvinistic prick who thinks women should get lesser treatment than men. --but I DO discriminate, and I think anyone who's honest with him/herself can admit to that, at least in part. Now I don't discriminate by determining who I'll party or guild with, or who should get loot--and I'm sure as hell not giving gifts to anyone, no matter the gender (unless my wife decides to play). But the language I use with each sex is markedly different--and that's the way it is. I'm not ignorant as to what kinds of things will make people uncomfortable, but frankly, I think we've reached a point where feminism is a matter of fact, at least so far as it could extend into Aion, so much so that no one is entitled, regardless of gender, to carry a chip on his/her shoulder into the game because of real-world, meaningful discrimination elsewhere.

I believe women should have equal treatment as men--but the language will ALWAYS remain different. If I become friends with a female character, and the player doesn't inform me that he is a male, he can expect to be referred to as "hon," from time to time. Likewise, if I become friends with a male character, and the player doesn't inform me that she is a female, she can expect to be referred to as "dude," or "man." Male enemies that I fight (and slaughter) in PVP will be pricks, and female enemies that I fight (and slaughter) in PVP will be ****s or at least *****es.

Now I've no interest in referring to anyone--especially someone I consider my friend--as "sweet thang with the hot ta-tas," or "low-hanging Shank-o-man,"--unless of course I find out that he/she has a chip on his/her shoulder about being referred to in male/female terms, in which case all bets are off--but English, like it or not, is couched in gender. My father was born in 1939, and he calls every woman he has an even remotely friendly relationship with "hon." --I grew up emulating him, and so so do I, and I don't believe I owe it to anyone not to do that because gender sameness would alleviate the hyper-sensitivity of some stranger.

Now language is one thing--it tends to be more pronounced, at least among those of us who can be straight about our tics. But moreover, there is the additional reality of treatment in general, and some of the posts I've read have touched on this. There are stereotypes about gender, and most of them exist for a reason. It may not be a hard and fast rule that all heterosexual women are more emotionally sensitive than all heterosexual men, but I think it applies enough of the time that if I think one of my female friends has a social problem (read: drama), I'm going to try and sit down and talk to her about it, whereas with one of my male friends, I'm more likely to ask him what's up, and then let it slide if he wants to blow it off.

Gender-bending confounds all of this, and you should be aware. The most important part of this problem is honesty. If you tell your friends what your actual sex is, then you can actually make appropriate relationships. I say appropriate because the sexes don't bond with each other the same way. If you're a heterosexual male (I leave homosexuals out here since I think they make up a unique group which has its own set of attributes and difficulties) and you want your "character" to be perceived as a girl, then you absolutely will not be privy to male bonding among your male peers, and I think you should evaluate if that is something you're willing to give up for the sake of RP (or whatever other rationale you have). If you like the look of the female behind--then I can understand your point of view, but you should do what so many others do, and just tell everyone up front. A female character with a male player gets in on the dirty jokes. That's just a fact of life.

If you actually want to be the opposite sex, then you better work on your acting. I have a feeling the male mannerisms are easier to emulate by females, since I've had a harder time picking out the female players with male avatars from the male-male players. But a man playing a female character, trying to pass her off as a female, gets caught--by the real females--every single time. I've never seen one of them "outed" without the actual women having caught them first. Say and do what you will... but I'd venture, from my own experience, that more often than not, the few and proud actual gamer women can see right through you.

[Demmie]

Originally Posted by KENDO

I think you forgot that MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.
So your not supposed to represent anything other than what you want to be.. thats the beauty of rpg's

no MMORPG stands for Most Men Online Role Play Girls

[Sequel]

As a female who plays as either a male or female character depending on their looks and the type of community there is in the game, I think I can fairly say that I can understand general reasoning.

See, I play as a male sometimes, especially when female characters' appearance is not to my taste (I hate it when all clothing choices are ridiculously skimpy, etc), and when the community is made up of a large amount of immature boys crowding over pixel ****s. Or when it leads to harassment. Or when it leads to random requests for "being my gf".

On the flip side, however, I can understand males playing as females. I can also understand why this would be awkward for those fooled.
Guys might play female characters for many of the reasons mentioned above in the thread: they want to look at a female character rather than male, they want to have fun with a different persona, certain in-game advantages/disadvantages...and on the more malicious note, fooling people into giving them items or help.

But even I can be uncomfortable when I realize that someone I was talking to was actually the opposite gender-- I don't even try to deny that amongst buddies, I tend to be more "girly" around female friends, and a touch more formal and considerate of topic around male friends (so as not to make them uncomfortable). So when I find out that the "girl" I was chatting about _____ about was actually a guy...it makes me feel a little awkward. But otherwise, it's fine. It's just important not to make assumptions for those who you plan on keeping close. :]

[Shinjo]

I personally play both, I normally play more than one charater, so my set up will be sometihng along the lines of;

Warrior/DPS Mage - Male
Rogue/Priest - Female

I do not pretend to be a female, however I will play a female charater, When I meet a new person I normally tell them I'm a guy or they can tell right off. I play to enjoy a game, one of the points I like is looking nice, and I normally fine female players look better than male ones in the roles I have suggested above

In this day and age I find it is more likely to find a guy playing a female than a woman, I'm not saying females don't play games, I have many friends that do, but I shall never chat up or be flirty with a female charater online, because lets face it, you never know

[Snowdrop]

Most on this forum are from US yes? If so then I'm amazed at some of the responses here - you guys (generalising is fun ) stereotype us Brits as prigs!

In FFXI I played male, in EQ2 I played male, then in wow I played female. Why? Well when it came to looking at the classes on offer I was initially most taken with warlock - and I thought it would be quite fun to have a dainty unassuming girly girl commanding demons and wreaking havoc. Then, when I made a NE druid alt it just felt right that a druid would be female - no rational reason.

I pretended to be female on a couple of occasions just to have a bit of fun winding a couple of people up when I knew they'd have a sense of humour about it later. Some others in my guild also had fun winding people up about various things, one of which was teasing new members that I was female, and I'd play along with enigmatic replies that kept them guessing. Aside from that I was honest about it when asked but I never went out of my way to assert that I was male - in most cases I've found that gauging RL sex is pretty self evident pretty quickly anyway, from language attitude and behaviour.

I did accept small gifts (never money) a couple of times, but only because the kind people giving them would have done so whatever sex my toon was. And to round that point off I also would give people things and help out not for any reason other than that's the sort of guy I am, and sex of toon had nothing to do with it.

I never once found that having a female toon would preclude me from male bonding - in some cases that was even enhanced with the added avenue of mock sexist jokes at my expense; and also presented no barrier to developing relationships with female players - I became quite close with a few. One one occasion one female friend player asked me why I'd chosen a 'clearly lesbian haircut' - ('is this how lesbians do their hair lol??)' which took me a bit by surprise at the time and made for some fun freudian conversation as well as teasing her about her generalism of women!! (feels good when you can beat them at their own game!)

On a few occasions when I was with people who didn't know me and assumed I was female I found it interesting to observe behaviour towards me - I won't pretend that this gave me some big revelation of 'the issues that women face', but I found it did make me a little more aware of a few small annoyances, and that can't be a bad thing (in fact you'd be surprised how a couple of really small things can enhace your ability to relate to and influence female players).

/get on soapbox
Made more interesting in fact when one then considers the efforts that some big corporations make with their 'women in the workplace' type initiatives - seemingly pointless (from what I observed) forums that aim to change the behaviour and attitude of men but consist, for the vast majority, of women who clearly aren't best to understand how to change men because, well, they aren't men, so forums just become *****ing and moaning sessions that focus on and nurture individual insecurities... Men role playing women might even seem to be a be a better way of achieving their objectives... Food for thought.
/soapbox off

In short, I found that most people really didn't care or pay much attention to the sex of my toon, at the end of the day it's how you behave and play that counts (sorry, cheap point). But then I played on a Euro server with a load of Dutch, they tend to be fairly open minded hehe.

I'm perfectly comfortable with my (hetero) sexuality and I'm equally not ashamed of my appreciation of the female form (and by saying this I'm of course not insinuating that the people here who object to males with female toons, are)

In Aion I'll be playing a female. She'll be cute because I like to look at nice things - I will not hide my RL sex (unless it's funny to do so), and I will not try to 'take advantage' of a female toon. If male players wish to treat me as though I was in some way less competent because they think I'm female then
(a) shame on them; and
(b) after they've grouped with me and see the game I play they'll want to group with me again anyway.

She'll also be a priest because I like saving the day and throwing random heals and buffs (which also gives me some insight into the disposition of other players when they either thank me or ignore the gesture); and heals are in my opinion the best way to help out lower levels without gimping their exp.

[mattitje]

I do play on the opposite gender. Waths wrong with it anyway? I think its to the player to dicide wath gender he wants, example: U are a female player but u got a cool name for a male char, is it wrong to make a male char then? another example: Ur a male Templar and u've seen a female Spiritmaster that look so cool. Is it stupid for making a femlae char? I'm a male player and in nearly every MMO my main is a female cause I'm used to the name above my head. But I have male alts aswell so...

[Eddy14]

Xhieron: But the language I use with each sex is markedly different

True dat. Everyone uses different language with different people, for example, I wouldn't talk to my mother the way I talk to my friends, its the same with genders, I tend to be more polite with women I've just met, but once I get to know them I act more like myself. Sames true with men but to a lesse extent.

Xhieron: But a man playing a female character, trying to pass her off as a female, gets caught--by the real females--every single time.

Lol, womens intuition, .

Snowdrop: Most on this forum are from US yes? If so then I'm amazed at some of the responses here - you guys (generalising is fun ) stereotype us Brits as prigs!


How so?

[Infinity]

In FFXI I was a Taru... and in WoW and Tauren... I'm pretty sure I'll be a female in Aion... If I'm gonna b playing 10 hours a day... at least give me something easy on the eyes >,>

Days of looking at a Tauren's anus is killer >,<

Infinity

(My Opinion: Playing opposite gender is normal and fine... pretending you ARE opposite gender is freakin weird)

[4go101]

Yeah alls well but the "better to look at a female's butt" thing is kinda retarded, dunno bout most of yall but usually when i play a game, regardless of my role in solo or in a party, i generally am not checking out my outfit seeing if its tight in the right places... that reason is just getting old to me i guess >.> usually im either beating on a monster and watching agro or watching other ppl making sure they don't die so my appearance, or my butt's appearance, has little to do with that

I'm a dude and i play male chars, unless back in GW when we would have all female HOH runs, just personal preference just as everyone is entitled to....and the gender of a player isn't a very important thing specially for pugs where you might not ever talk to the person again