This week, MMORPG.com's Jon Wood takes a shot at a recent decision by a Chinese MMO company to ban all male players who choose to play female avatars.

Every now and then, something hits the news that is just so bone-jarringly stupid that it makes me want to regress back to the days before instant communication around the world was at our fingertips so that I wouldn't have to be bothered by the complete inanity that's happening halfway around the world. I'd only have to worry about the inanity going on next door, and frankly I could live with that. I could have always drawn comfort in the idea that surely in other parts of the world, people are not this colossally stupid.

Alas, the Pandora's Box of idiocy known as the internet simply can not be closed and I have to suffer in the knowledge that people everywhere are equally as stupid as here.

What brought on this fit of global rage? A seemingly harmless news item published at Gamepolitics.com informing the world that a company in China is requiring players of one of its games to prove their real life sex before making their characters. No, I'm wrong actually, this insane policy only applies to people choosing to create a female character. Women, it appears, are free to pose as men as much as their little hearts desire.

Read Your Sex: Prove It or Lose It!

Originally posted by Stradden

This week, MMORPG.com's Jon Wood takes a shot at a recent decision by a Chinese MMO company to ban all male players who choose to play female avatars.

  Women, it appears, are free to pose as men as much as their little hearts desire.

Read Your Sex: Prove It or Lose It!

So let's rag on the female gender as if this is our fault.    Also, what does playing a female toon, if you're a guy, have to do with gender specific issues.    Guys have been playing female toons like forever.   Any guys here ever play Tomb Raider?  Thought so.   Nobody thought anything of that did they.    So why make a big deal out of this.   If some frakked up company in China wishes to be stupid...let them.    All this article is is sensationalism.   Come on...this is not worthy of an article.     This is kind of writing is to just get people riled up.    ::sigh::

I'd think about going back to WoW if Blizzard implemented this.

Great article / rant. that company totaly deserves every bump on the road they might travel on. Its ridiculous.

i like the idea. people could finally cybersex with each other without a risk tat there is a guy on the other side 

Originally posted by Teala

Originally posted by Stradden

This week, MMORPG.com's Jon Wood takes a shot at a recent decision by a Chinese MMO company to ban all male players who choose to play female avatars.

  Women, it appears, are free to pose as men as much as their little hearts desire.

Read Your Sex: Prove It or Lose It!

 

So let's rag on the female gender as if this is our fault.  

Did you even read the article. He was clearly just saying there not making you submit a proof of gender if you make a male charecter, he was in no way "raging" on the female gamers.
 

I can see the company's side of things....Hey guys, look.  We have real girls in our game.  It's a great advertising move, if they can entice the girls to actually play.  On the hand, doesn't it take the RPG out of MMORPG.  Playing in a world as someone different from yourself.  I play online games to get away from reality, and create characters in an online word. (I love using the biography that some games offer)  It's a lot like creating a character in a book, except the world has already been made for you.  Just my take on things...Again, I can see the company's point of view, even if I disagree with it.

I forget where I read it, either here or massively.  But in Asian countries MMOs exist also as a means of social networking/dating (at least thats the idea), like facebook or myspace here.  Because of that I believe companies are afraid of their clients becoming disillusioned that the hot elf chick they are hitting on is actually another guy.  They want the female characters to be played by actual females so the male clients, the vast majority of their clients I assume, have someone to hit on in game, diluting themselvs to think they will actually get dates. 

 Im not justifying it, never, I dont play a female character, but my gf plays male characters sometimes because she is actually a role player. 

Originally posted by Teala

So let's rag on the female gender as if this is our fault.    Also, what does playing a female toon, if you're a guy, have to do with gender specific issues.    Guys have been playing female toons like forever.   Any guys here ever play Tomb Raider?  Thought so.   Nobody thought anything of that did they.    So why make a big deal out of this.   If some frakked up company in China wishes to be stupid...let them.    All this article is is sensationalism.   Come on...this is not worthy of an article.     This is kind of writing is to just get people riled up.    ::sigh::

*ahem*

What?

Can I ask, honestly, whether or not you actually read the article?

No kidding guys have been playing female toons forever. I know I have. This article was written to point out how stupid this particular policy actually is. I'm making a "big deal" out of it because it's completely outrageous. Many news sites picked up on this story and I wanted to use my column this week to rant about how stupid it was.

I could see your complaint if the article had been written from the perspective of : hey, what a great idea... but it wasn't.

Agreed... unless they want to turn their game in some kind of virtual dating-safe game, then yeah there should be some ways to make sure the gender is correct.

But then it would no longer be simply a MMORPG, this decision is simply insane for the current (Western) reality, maybe all these movements like being gay, homo or whatever aren't tolerated in China.

Originally posted by galliard1981

i like the idea. people could finally cybersex with each other without a risk tat there is a guy on the other side 

I think from all the post so far the above comment probably came closest to the reason behind this strange move of the company.

It is less about gender politics and more about "Internet safety", in a very weird way of course. Remember the gender ratio in China is very unbalanced. There are millions of men who will never find a woman because of the one kid policy and the resulting illegal abortions of female embryos.

Now, posing as a woman on the Internet may open up some profitable illegal avenues for ppl who focus on young single Chinese men who are eager to meet a girl to date or marry.

With this in mind, it makes sense that a company demands proof of gender in order to prevent illegal activities like the one above.

It is interesting and sad what this tells us about society in China, and even more depressing what this tells us about the gullibility and desperation of some ppl. I think this is a rather China specific issue. Once it starts spreading to the West, I will agree with Jon that we are moving into dangerous directions.

Originally posted by galliard1981

i like the idea. people could finally cybersex with each other without a risk tat there is a guy on the other side 

This article is about MMOs and MMO gaming only! If you really want to meet someone and have intimate conversations over the internet, then how about using a social networking site such as Facebook or Match.com? The point of playing the games aren't to arouse your sexual nature and get a hard on over fonts and animated pixels. Try enjoying the game for what it is meant to be.

As for the article, it is propostrous to enforce such an idea. Hopefully, the western studios won't start this nonsense. Shouldn't matter what gender you are playing. It's only a cosmetic appeal. I for one usually make Female characters on all MMOs I play. I am a straight guy (although I can be a little flamboyant at times), but I like seeing how people react. It's interesting to see negative comments such as those listed, but I can usually hit them with a quick, witty comeback. Although, I rarely get that a lot because many people are perfectly content with the idea.

I honestly don't see what the big ruckus is all about.  It's a retarded policy, and people can simply choose not to use that companies product.  Most people just don't care enough about what sex players are IRL to agree to the hassle of verifying theirs with a webcam.

Boggles the mind, file the gender identity concept along with the “criminal behavior due to playing games” theory. The thought of being able to enforce such a policy alone brings visions of money and legal problems galore. Nevertheless, I am forced to ask who has a right to tell this company how to operate its business. If the company wants to conduct such practices, then by all means…do so. It will only provide entertainment to me. Sort of like the “We Just say “NO’ to drugs” policy implemented in America at one time, My only concern here is that a group of people become “qualified” to tell this company how to operate. Why? Because if the elected, designated and allocated said group becomes that powerful they may change their minds and decide that it is a good policy. That is say, who am I to tell any company how to set their path, to take this point one step further, I hope there never becomes such a “game police” that is able to tell any gaming company how to operate. The silly policies of the Western countries certainly would back-up such a concept.

Originally posted by seabeast

That is say, who am I to tell any company how to set their path, to take this point one step further, I hope there never becomes such a “game police” that is able to tell any gaming company how to operate. The silly policies of the Western countries certainly would back-up such a concept.

 

I'd like to see a 'game police' which forces companies to deliver what they promise.

Jon, thank you this made my day. This is the most hilarious thing I've seen a mmo company do in ages.  Being a female gamer, I have endured  lots of "vent or you're not really a girl"  but ..yeah..oh my. I just have to wonder what led to this..somehow I envision a very angry developer after a first meeting with an online love..

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by seabeast

That is say, who am I to tell any company how to set their path, to take this point one step further, I hope there never becomes such a “game police” that is able to tell any gaming company how to operate. The silly policies of the Western countries certainly would back-up such a concept.

 

I'd like to see a 'game police' which forces companies to deliver what they promise.

I agree with you on that one, except that they can not even do that let alone proof of sexual identity. Funny how culture sets in with gaming huh? Oh NO, a United Nations Gaming Police possibility, don’t give em any ideas. lol

Next up, players cant play muscle-bound warriors unless they prove they're not fat.

Also, unless you can actually cast magic spells, don't even think of rolling a mage.

Unless they are going to have to do a visual confirmation everytime someone logs on, then it wont make the slightest bit of difference.

Either they will persuad someone they know to pretend to be them for a few minutes while some guy in china jacks off while looking at them on the webcame (I mean damn, how many of you have mothers, or sisters?)

or, you will have some guy in china jacking off to a man in a wig wearing a lot of makeup pretending to be a girl....

either way its a bit pathetic and unless they do it everytime you log in, it wont solve the problem. How about they make the female characters so butt ugly that the male characters are more femanine?

You never get a bloke pretending to be a girl when they are playing a female dwarf in wow do ya?

See the bad part is I kinda like them doing that but I think they did it wrong, I think they should have required proof they were of age to play when they made their characters. I don't mind so much the gender bending in games these days, I do mind the 9 year olds and their annoying habbits that make you want to kill them, and then when you pk their toon they run to mommy and daddy and cry getting the game company in trouble.

That is so wrong. I think it just highlights how sick and damaged Chinese society really is.

Originally posted by seabeast

Boggles the mind, file the gender identity concept along with the “criminal behavior due to playing games” theory. The thought of being able to enforce such a policy alone brings visions of money and legal problems galore. Nevertheless, I am forced to ask who has a right to tell this company how to operate its business. If the company wants to conduct such practices, then by all means…do so. It will only provide entertainment to me. Sort of like the “We Just say “NO’ to drugs” policy implemented in America at one time, My only concern here is that a group of people become “qualified” to tell this company how to operate. Why? Because if the elected, designated and allocated said group becomes that powerful they may change their minds and decide that it is a good policy. That is say, who am I to tell any company how to set their path, to take this point one step further, I hope there never becomes such a “game police” that is able to tell any gaming company how to operate. The silly policies of the Western countries certainly would back-up such a concept.

 

Yes, anti-discrimination laws are sooooo silly.

I'm sorry where is my "white-only toilet" again? I need someplace to file your post.

Originally posted by dterry

Originally posted by seabeast

Boggles the mind, file the gender identity concept along with the “criminal behavior due to playing games” theory. The thought of being able to enforce such a policy alone brings visions of money and legal problems galore. Nevertheless, I am forced to ask who has a right to tell this company how to operate its business. If the company wants to conduct such practices, then by all means…do so. It will only provide entertainment to me. Sort of like the “We Just say “NO’ to drugs” policy implemented in America at one time, My only concern here is that a group of people become “qualified” to tell this company how to operate. Why? Because if the elected, designated and allocated said group becomes that powerful they may change their minds and decide that it is a good policy. That is say, who am I to tell any company how to set their path, to take this point one step further, I hope there never becomes such a “game police” that is able to tell any gaming company how to operate. The silly policies of the Western countries certainly would back-up such a concept.

 

Yes, anti-discrimination laws are sooooo silly.

 

I'm sorry where is my "white-only toilet" again? I need someplace to file your post.

File it along with the "We just say no to drugs" box. This is a company that is Not in America and who are you to depict how they operate?
 

Originally posted by seabeast

Originally posted by dterry

Originally posted by seabeast

Boggles the mind, file the gender identity concept along with the “criminal behavior due to playing games” theory. The thought of being able to enforce such a policy alone brings visions of money and legal problems galore. Nevertheless, I am forced to ask who has a right to tell this company how to operate its business. If the company wants to conduct such practices, then by all means…do so. It will only provide entertainment to me. Sort of like the “We Just say “NO’ to drugs” policy implemented in America at one time, My only concern here is that a group of people become “qualified” to tell this company how to operate. Why? Because if the elected, designated and allocated said group becomes that powerful they may change their minds and decide that it is a good policy. That is say, who am I to tell any company how to set their path, to take this point one step further, I hope there never becomes such a “game police” that is able to tell any gaming company how to operate. The silly policies of the Western countries certainly would back-up such a concept.

 

Yes, anti-discrimination laws are sooooo silly.

 

I'm sorry where is my "white-only toilet" again? I need someplace to file your post.

File it along with the "We just say no to drugs" box. This is a company that is Not in America and who are you to depict how they operate?
 

"Just Say No" was a public service campaign aimed at getting kids to not take illegal drugs... it has absolutely nothing in common with discriminatory business practices. 

I am not depicting how they operate - I am poking fun at the arrogance and ignorance inherent in your post.

As for the topic at hand... this is China, a socialist country that curtails personal freedoms already. Unless someone can convince the Politiburo that this is an issue, then we are all just "Whistling Dixie".

"What's next? Am I going to have to prove that I'm short and fat in order to play a Halfling?"

At least I could do that ;)

Why on earth would a company do this, not as if there would be loads of free publicity about their crappy game.

... Oh wait. Nevermind