Originally posted by TwoThreeFour

Originally posted by cdestey

Originally posted by TwoThreeFour

He was implying that he pays special attention to please his sexual attraction to females, not just looking. I would assume most of us focus our attention on the game rather than how characters look from behind. 

Yeah, and you're implying that we should be the ones to tell others what they can and can't do while playing a game in the privacy of their own homes.

I'm not saying I agree with the guy, but that's his choice, not ours.

MMORPGs are not exactly strictly within the privacy of their homes, they are in a shared space with other people. Even if they are within their homes, there are still "unwritten rules" of what is acceptable behaviour and what isn't: such as not chewing with their mouth open.

I'd agree with you if his avatar is doing or saying anything that would give away what he's thinking, I guess. But otherwise, it has zero effect on the game and others' ability to enjoy it.

Anyway, we've kinda gotten off topic here. I usually play female characters when I come up with a name I like that only makes sense as a female.

Depends from game and how characters look like. In EQ2 and LOTRO I played only female characters (I am a female in RL). In SWTOR which I currently play I am obsessed with male characters /grin. Mostly because :

1. Body type 2 is awesome (P90X style)

2. Male voice over is superior and dialogues have more flirt options for males  (the best VO imo Sith warrior - I have chills just listening to it)

So here I am having only 4 female character and 21 male characters on 2 servers LOL

Edit: Males feel more powerful as force users (especially warrior), females just seem too weak LOL When I force leap on my male juggernaut I feel like a tornado enterred fight, with female it's just not the same...

Originally posted by cdestey

Originally posted by TwoThreeFour

Originally posted by cdestey

Originally posted by TwoThreeFour

He was implying that he pays special attention to please his sexual attraction to females, not just looking. I would assume most of us focus our attention on the game rather than how characters look from behind. 

Yeah, and you're implying that we should be the ones to tell others what they can and can't do while playing a game in the privacy of their own homes.

I'm not saying I agree with the guy, but that's his choice, not ours.

MMORPGs are not exactly strictly within the privacy of their homes, they are in a shared space with other people. Even if they are within their homes, there are still "unwritten rules" of what is acceptable behaviour and what isn't: such as not chewing with their mouth open.

I'd agree with you if his avatar is doing or saying anything that would give away what he's thinking, I guess. But otherwise, it has zero effect on the game and others' ability to enjoy it.

Anyway, we've kinda gotten off topic here. I usually play female characters when I come up with a name I like that only makes sense as a female.

Yeah I agree with you: I can't deduce what their real reason for their choices is, so I don't bother either inside the game: for all I know they can be roleplayers, which I find to be a perfectly acceptable reason. Even if the clothes are skimpy, I cant be sure. 

I'm always happy to look at a womans bottom as long as its shapely . Why wouldn't  I want to do the same in a video game lol .

Yeah sometimes I've played female characters but I've also played aliens, elves,wargs etc .

I do normally play male on my first character though and maybe have female alts .

I've never played Pandas or those bunny girls or racoons in tera .

I cant play a female character.

And i treat everybody playing female character as males until i can hear a voice on ventrilo, mumble etc ;)

Originally posted by Grimmx

I cant play a female character.

And i treat everybody playing female character as males until i can hear a voice on ventrilo, mumble etc ;)

You treat males and females differently? Interesting. I mean, I can understan this to some extent in person since visual cues and even pherormones come into play to some extent. But a digital male or female toon? Boggles the mind.

Maybe I'm just getting too old and my breeding imperative isn't what it used to be--was there...did that--but I find some of the replies in this thread hilarious.

Lots of material here for a psychology course on aberrant behaviour

I'm no more an Orc, Undead, Charr or Asuran than I am female or male in a game. I pick semirandomly as it makes absolutely zero difference.

When a male joins vent and I have got to know him as a girl I can not get the idea out of my mind that he's a somewhat feminine or gay male. Imagine if a girl played a male character and dressed like a male, wouldn't you think the same thing?

A female who dresses like a male is called a tomboy or lesbian, a male who dresses like a girl tends to be gay or a drag queen. That's just how I see it.

Maybe it's different in games, but when that girly character joins vent and has this deep manly voice, it's just weird sorry, I can't help but think of that person as a drag queen. I mean a person who has a male voice and a female appearance is called a drag queen in RL, and that's why you look like if you do that in MMO too.

Originally posted by CalmOceans

When a male joins vent and I have got to know him as a girl I can not get the idea out of my mind that he's a somewhat feminine or gay male. Imagine if a girl played a male character and dressed like a male, wouldn't you think the same thing?

A female who dresses like a male is called a tomboy or lesbian, a male who dresses like a girl tends to be gay or a drag queen. That's just how I see it.

its more gay when a man playing a male toon watching a male ass all the time, looks to twisted :)

(just another point of view)

I'm straight.  While I play maIe characters, I've played female characters on occasion as well.  I play them realistically.  They aren't hypersexualized.  They aren't out to "get free stuff."  They aren't some sexual fantasy.  I play them like the women I see every day.  If there is something wrong with that, I think it's a real shame that it's wrong.

Because I have to tell you, I've learned so much about women when I play one.

For example, I can say with absolute certainty that the whole "women get free stuff" pattern is true.  What I learned, really quickly as a female, is that the "free stuff" is almost never free.  It's paid for in tell hells, guilt trips, misunderstandings, divisiveness and nastiness.  As a result, I learned to never, never, never accept "free stuff" without giving something in exchange on an equal footing...or even better than an equal footing...so they could never hold that against you later.

I learned how troublesome other people could be for a woman...especially when it came to male characters.  Yes, you get more attention as a woman, but most of that extra attention is unwanted attention.  There would be some who would send you tells as soon as you logged in, and they'd get nasty and bitter if you didn't respond right away.  Some would keep on pushing to see you, or try different tactics over the tell to get what they wanted.  If you said, "I'm busy now," they'd take it as an insult...even if it was someone who was a good friend, and even if you really were busy.

Frankly, I don't know how girls can even play these games sometimes.  There's so many more interpersonal sources of stress when I play as a female.

But I will say this.  I learned that the real thing a girl really wants from a guy isn't "loot," or "status," or "someone who treats me well."  When I played as a female, the male characters that I liked being around were simply fun to be around.  They did fun things.  They were lighthearted and optimistic, not heavy and romantic.  In short, all of the things I thought women wanted in a man were things that, playing as a woman, repulsed me.

Which is why I think every guy (and perhaps every girl) should play opposite of what they are.  You'll learn so much and make the world a better place from what you'll learn.

Originally posted by Beatnik59

I'm straight.  While I play maIe characters, I've played female characters on occasion as well.  I play them realistically.  They aren't hypersexualized.  They aren't out to "get free stuff."  They aren't some sexual fantasy.  I play them like the women I see every day.  If there is something wrong with that, I think it's a real shame that it's wrong.

Because I have to tell you, I've learned so much about women when I play one.

For example, I can say with absolute certainty that the whole "women get free stuff" pattern is true.  What I learned, really quickly as a female, is that the "free stuff" is almost never free.  It's paid for in tell hells, guilt trips, misunderstandings, divisiveness and nastiness.  As a result, I learned to never, never, never accept "free stuff" without giving something in exchange on an equal footing...or even better than an equal footing...so they could never hold that against you later.

I learned how troublesome other people could be for a woman...especially when it came to male characters.  Yes, you get more attention as a woman, but most of that extra attention is unwanted attention.  There would be some who would send you tells as soon as you logged in, and they'd get nasty and bitter if you didn't respond right away.  Some would keep on pushing to see you, or try different tactics over the tell to get what they wanted.  If you said, "I'm busy now," they'd take it as an insult...even if it was someone who was a good friend, and even if you really were busy.

Frankly, I don't know how girls can even play these games sometimes.  There's so many more interpersonal sources of stress when I play as a female.

But I will say this.  I learned that the real thing a girl really wants from a guy isn't "loot," or "status," or "someone who treats me well."  When I played as a female, the male characters that I liked being around were simply fun to be around.  They did fun things.  They were lighthearted and optimistic, not heavy and romantic.  In short, all of the things I thought women wanted in a man were things that, playing as a woman, repulsed me.

Which is why I think every guy (and perhaps every girl) should play opposite of what they are.  You'll learn so much and make the world a better place from what you'll learn.

 

 

 

I am glad to see this, so glad.  There is a reason I remain extremely non-flirtacious ingames unless it is people I know well.  Always polite, always helpful to people, but loathe to accept anything handed for free for all those reasons listed above.

Some of the responses here are just flatout sad, frightening even, I can't imagine living with the insecurity exibited here.  Also it seems like so many have like ZERO understanding of what straight, gay, trans, drag queen or any of these terms mean.  A gay male wants to be a *gasp* male, they don't typically want to be women, even drag queens take off the girl clothes when it comes time for them to be themselves in a "relationship" manner.  Now trans is a whole new ball of wax, they surely will play the gender they identify with and in many/most cases I would say they identify with said gender from a "straight" point of view. 

Really almost every damn problem when it comes to this issue would be simply solved by insecure "straight" men just treating everyone else politely and try to use some empathy and stop thinking every gay guy or tranny or drag queen or whatever in existence is about to hit on them, lol.  Hell in reality most gay, trans, drag queens, dogs, cats, aliens, fish or whatever else probably don't want to hit on you anyways so get off your high horses and just treat people as people, ffs, what is so hard about that?

I'm female and I only play a male char in Prince of Persia (that's why my favorite one is PoP 2008 where I can semi-control Elika). c; I've never had a male char in an MMO and never will. I love being a woman in real life and in games, lol.

I'm a female and I play as male characters usually, because armor looks ridiculously oversexed in most mmos. The guys armor tends to look way cooler, and its always funny being in a guild with people for the first time and hearing dead silence when I come on and start speaking. Usually followed by "Wtf you're a chick?"

People tend to automatically stereotype females in games, and even though they know 90% of female toons are guys playing them, they still toss the majority of them into that. I'de rather people judge me based on my ability, not the size of my tits or the pitch of my voice.

I'm male.  I play a mix of genders, but usually my main character is female.

That niggling logical part of me always maintains a certain level of disconnect from whatever game I'm playing, so I never view my characters as being any kind of extension of myself.

So instead I choose to play characters that I find aesthetically pleasing, which 9 times out of 10 means I'm going to play a female.

I value aesthetics a bit more than what I would call "normal," so looking good in-game is actually a significant criteria in whether or not I enjoy playing a game.  At the same time, though, I really hate oversexualization (in most cases anyway) and pretty much flat out refuse to play a character like that - in cases where it appears I won't be able to escape it, I'll always opt for a male character instead.

But really that's just a preliminary choice.  My real concern isn't male vs female, but more about whether or not I can get some really awesome looking armor for said character.

I think the real issue isn't why men choose to play female characters in video games... But why men want to spend hours customizing hair, make-up, and clothing in video games... 

I don't see anything wrong with a man who wants to look at sexy female boobs/ass all day long.  But I do see something wrong with a "man" who wants to spend hours doing hair and make-up...

I play both genders, but often play females if the camera is in the common from behind the back view. The reason is simple, if I have to stare at a backside for hours, it should be one I find pleasing. (Obviously in EQ if playing a troll, none of them are pleasing, or even less disgusting.)

When in game, I don't discuss my real world gender, because it doesn't matter. I'm not going to have sex with you, I'm not going to date you, and I'm there to game, not mess with cyber/chat sex. If you want that stuff, go to a chat room or something and stop wasting a game servers bandwidth.

Since I don't act like a hormone addled teenager, people often assume I'm really female. I don't correct them, it would be pointless. A nice side effect of that is I've been befriended by many female players that are pretending to be male so they won't be harrassed or stalked by the scum and jerks.

The bad side of this is that I have been harrassed by lowlifes that want to pretend to have sex with me. They are stupid fools that don't understand that the games don't support that kind of B.S. and outlaw such harassment. And yes, I do turn them in after giving them one warning if they don't take the hint and direct statements for them to leave me alone. The game reps don't tell you what happens from that, but I know of a lot of the characters that permanently disappear. So yes, you can and will get banned for sexual harassment if keep annoying other players after they tell you 'no'.

If you feel you must participate in chat sex, there are special chat programs for that which include adult themed skins and adult style animation emotes.  I expect you'd get your jollies much better in an environment made for that, and you won't be risking a perma-ban and possible cyberstalking lawsuit.

I guess a quick summation would be: Your realworld and online gender don't matter because you won't be having sex anyway. And if you want to pretend at having sex, don't waste time in an MMO, go to an adult chatroom.

Originally posted by Painlezz

I think the real issue isn't why men choose to play female characters in video games... But why men want to spend hours customizing hair, make-up, and clothing in video games... 

 

I don't see anything wrong with a man who wants to look at sexy female boobs/ass all day long.  But I do see something wrong with a "man" who wants to spend hours doing hair and make-up...

And why is that?

I'm 100%-Grade A- No doubt about it -heterosexual.

But I have been known to have better "fashion sense" than many of the women i know. In fact, being able to show a woman you can make her look "hot" is one of the quickest ways to score. lol

Besides that, playing a girl ingame is the only time I can play Barbie Dress-Up without having to punch someone in the nose when they say something stupid about it.

Edit: And we won't even mention all the 100% straight guys making hundreds an hour doing female stars wardrobe, make-up, and hair.

Originally posted by OG_Zorvan

Originally posted by Painlezz

I think the real issue isn't why men choose to play female characters in video games... But why men want to spend hours customizing hair, make-up, and clothing in video games... 

 

I don't see anything wrong with a man who wants to look at sexy female boobs/ass all day long.  But I do see something wrong with a "man" who wants to spend hours doing hair and make-up...

And why is that?

I'm 100%-Grade A- No doubt about it -heterosexual.

But I have been known to have better "fashion sense" than many of the women i know. In fact, being able to show a woman you can make her look "hot" is one of the quickest ways to score. lol

Besides that, playing a girl ingame is the only time I can play Barbie Dress-Up without having to punch someone in the nose when they say something stupid about it.

Edit: And we won't even mention all the 100% straight guys making hundreds an hour doing female stars wardrobe, make-up, and hair.

Exactly, screw gender stereotypes and peer pressure.  People need to do what they want to do and not fit into closed minded people's views on what they "should" be doing.

Originally posted by Iselin

Originally posted by Grimmx

I cant play a female character.

And i treat everybody playing female character as males until i can hear a voice on ventrilo, mumble etc ;)

You treat males and females differently? Interesting. I mean, I can understan this to some extent in person since visual cues and even pherormones come into play to some extent. But a digital male or female toon? Boggles the mind.

 

Maybe I'm just getting too old and my breeding imperative isn't what it used to be--was there...did that--but I find some of the replies in this thread hilarious.

 

Lots of material here for a psychology course on aberrant behaviour

 

I'm no more an Orc, Undead, Charr or Asuran than I am female or male in a game. I pick semirandomly as it makes absolutely zero difference.

This is simple, i dont like playing a female toon IG because of all the akward moments you can get IG by doing this. I really dont care if your "Iselin" or a guy named Harry that likes to use a female avatar on forums. 

My point is that its akward and uncomfortable for me to play a female character IG. Its so many freaks that like to play female characters and act like a girl as well that i do tend to not respond to it. And yes, i do treat wimen differently in real life, even if you are trying your best to make it sound like a bad sexist thing to do.

I would also like to add that i play FFA PvP mostly, and females that "are" female are long inbetween :)