A few weeks ago, I was on WoW with my wife, showing her the way to the zepplin for Northrend (big moment for her). As Winter Veil was still running, I saw the transmorgifier thing, jumped in it, and popped out a little gnome.
My wife flipped.
“Why are you a girl gnome?!?”
“Uh… because Echoes is a female Tauren. You’ve never noticed?”
“I’ve never looked close enough! It’s a cow! You play a girl?”
“Babe, I *always* play girl characters. It was in our wedding vows, remember?”
“I thought you were kidding! I’m living with a pervert!”
“That was in our vows too. Besides, it’s nothing compared to your crippling pen collection fetish.”
“…Yeah, true.”
So we’ve talked here on Bio Break about me playing girl toons, right? And all blogs everywhere have discussed the whole playing-the-opposite-gender-in-game thing to death, yeah? So I guess it’s unnecessary to dive back into this well again, except that listening to a recent episode of The Multiverse (best podcast EVER! If you don’t listen to it, Ferrel will shoot a kitten out of a cannon!) where they did a bit of he said, she said (Ferrel being the “she”) about this topic.
Honestly, I don’t even think about it any more when I roll new characters — always girls. But when my attention is forced to the choice, I would refute the tired “I want a cute butt to stare at” argument, because I don’t think that ever really applies. I mean, maybe for some people for a couple minutes, but if you’re playing a character that you’re constantly admiring and sexualizing, then you have some severe personal issues that should be addressed.
For the rest of us, I’d say that the gender choice isn’t related to gender specifically, but that we want to have a character that simply looks *good*. Depending on who you are and what you find visually appealing, that definition could apply to male, female, Tauren, Gnome, cat-person or Newt Gengrich. We want characters that have a certain “coolness” factor to their look, who model the armor in the best possible way, and who — in some way — reflects our personality.
I don’t identify with most male forms in game — they’re always way too bulky and Mark Maguire-y, and I find girls who kick butt to be kind of cool. Plus, there’s the added bonus that the real estate of your typical female form is less than a male counterpart, giving you a better view of what’s going on. I can’t stand male Tauren because they block whatever you’re fighting.
And gender aside, I think we’d all be at a better place if we simply admitted that looks matter to us in game. We care if we’re wearing dorky armor, it disturbs if our character’s face freaks us out if we look at it too long, and we want to strut that virtual runway with the best model at our fingertips.
There’s nothing wrong with playing a female character, but when you play a female animal-type character, that’s when you start crossing the line from ‘Normal Behavior’ to someone with ‘Beastiality Furry Tendencies’.
You sicko.
I can’t do a gender-bender toon because I like to see myself in whatever situation the character is in. My main is almost always my avatar in the game world, doing what I would do.
I see no problem with those that prefer female characters, or those who just go with the flow and get whatever gender they fell like at the time.
I just never do it except when I’m creating a char exactly to see how it looks like. When I make my main char, it is always a male. For me it’s because I don’t see it as a character, but as an avatar. I’m not manipulating Kemwer, the Tauren Hunter (actually these days is Kemwer, the Arisen Heretic on Allods), I like to think I’m just watching myself running around and killing those creatures.
While I’m nowhere buff as the characters I create, I have this tendency of trying to make it as close as I can to myself, so at the very least I try to give it that Van Dyke beard, white skin and dark brown hair.
OMG a fellow pen collection fetishist?!?!
Do not knock the pen, no matter how many we have. Just don’t go there.
Mmmm, stationery! (Even though my more eco-friendly self doesn’t allow me to indulge that particular addiction so much anymore.
)
Mom told me never play with my food. I like my Taurens on a bun!
I always appreciate when someone articulates this so well. The last time I played a male character in a game was KOTOR because of the romance subquests. Ever since then I’ve rolled exclusively female characters both in my MMOs and single player games. My reasoning is very similar to why Joss Whedon creates the shows he does. Kick-ass women are just cool and I like seeing women kick ass.
I definitely agree with the look good part, or perhaps rather looks that fits the character.
In games with a lot of flexibility in character appearance (City of Villains/Heroes, Champions Online) I have a mix of male and female characters.
In some other games it can sometimes be difficult to find many looks that does not look like crap.
Just because you make a good cogent argument here doesn’t mean that this isn’t a desperate cry for help.
I can help with some counseling if need be.
Please.
Just get help.
Do it now.
A female Blood Elf looks stylish with good gear. A male Blood Elf just looks fruity
I like you always make female characters. My finance thinks its odd but she accepted that i think females are more aesthetically pleasing to me eye and that i like chicks who look like they can kick butt.
@ Ysh – When we first started dating, she took out a huge container from her closet and told me it was her pen collection.
Then she took down a second equally big container and told me it was her other pen collection.
IT DOES NOT END. NOT EVER.
I like a mix, to make my characters more distinct from each other. So my level 80′s include three male (dwarf, draenei, gnome) and two female (human, draenei). They all look nice & different to each other.
i play male characters sometimes, but almost exclusively girls.
why?
because, believe me or not, i really really like to see some well drawn ass in front of me for those thousands of hours i spend looking on my screen.
also girl models are usually smaller and more slim then male, and thats frees a lot of space (my first warrior character in wow was tauren male. i love him. he took 1/3 of my screen, and scratched his ass, i still love him). in some games models are so well made – like in Mass Effect – that sometimes i really get winded up looking on her. call me pervert, but yeah i can get horny looking at some drawn girls ass.
but sometimes its males, when i want to play my Avatar. but playing a game i almost never playing myself – i find it rather silly and dull. i have my own life to be myself, to be honest
I bet you’re a Joss Whedon fan.
My sister also has an insane pen collection. It doesn’t even matter if the pen still works or not – she just hoards them all and shoves them in a cabinet on her work desk. She also has a fascination with office supplies, so she’ll check the Staples ad every now and then.
I ended up giving her a cool pencil box for Christmas. I figured she’d appreciate that more than a Snuggie, which my parents got
I’ve played female alts, but never mains. For me, it’s a roleplaying thing (not that I walk around roleplaying all the time, but I like to have a sense of a character, when I’m playing it). Some of my female alts, though, have almost been super-alts… in that I played them a lot and at least in some capacity — whether it was making money or pvp, etc. they were my mains in that one category of play.
We live in a society that tends to be overly gender obsessed. Our path to equality may require us getting over that. Perhaps MMO’s are strating to lead that way.
Eh, I have both male and female toons. I use pronouns in game according to the toons I see, since I have no other facts to go on.
I do make the assumption that female dwarfs, orcs and tauren are more likely to be really women in real life, since those “beautiful in their own way” races are less likely to be constantly propositioned.
While I’m generally rolling about 50:50 with MMO (and computer game in general) characters (where I don’t RP – ever) in my 10 years of Pen & Paper roleplaying I think I’ve had a single female character. Just because a male adept on a skateboard in 2060 Seattle would’ve been weird at best and nerdy most probably.
For the record I shoot both kittens AND gnomes out of canons if you don’t listen.
Actually I shoot gnomes out of canons in general… but if people were to listen more maybe I’d shoot less.
What was that ad where the guy shot mice out of a canon trying to get it through an O? It is like that, only the gnomes don’t survive! /tangent
Great thoughts on the subject!
http://www.penaddict.com just saying.
I fall in the avatar category…from time to time I wish I was a giant humanoid cow though.
There is something really jarring about seeing a female character being called “he” in chat.
I can’t play female tauren, they just hit my “too weird” button. Every other race I play female, because obviously I identify more.
Glad you’re busting the “I look at the butt the whole time I play” stereotype. I think people say that because they’re scared their manliness is being called into question when someone notices they’re playing a female char.