Female characters?

[csloan1218]

Is it weird for guys to play female characters in games (like games where you have a choice)?

[Sifo]

Most guys I know do lol... I always try to make my character similar to myself (or how I wish I was)

[tjcaustin]

Why would it be weird to want to look at the back end of a female in a video game when you like looking at the back end of females any other time?

[BlueBär]

Why would it be weird? I doubt that the majority of people who played Mirrors Edge for example were female. Sounds somewhat like you care too much what other people think about you

[nubbinator]

Is it weird for guys to play female characters in games (like games where you have a choice)?

Nah, it's a way for you to explore your transsexuality...unless you're doing it because you think the character is hot, then it's weird.

Also, in some games, the female characters are so kick-a that it's hard not to play them.

[Sifo]

Guys he's talking about games where you have a choice in what gender to play

GunZ: The Duel was the only game where I picked a female character because they had faster animations or something.

[tjcaustin]

Guys he's talking about games where you have a choice in what gender to play

GunZ: The Duel was the only game where I picked a female character because they had faster animations or something.

So am I?

[missalaire]

Is it weird for guys to play female characters in games (like games where you have a choice)?

No, more often than not guys play female toons in MMOs.

[baldgye]

This is something I'm really curious about, personally it's not something I do... I might have done in Borderlands... but only becasue of the character class... would love to know the mentality behind the reasoning (why some guys do and others don't, and why there are so many that seem to in MMO's etc etc)

[noisyturtle]

It's easier for me to like an attractive woman than an attractive man. That simple.

[nubbinator]

This is something I'm really curious about, personally it's not something I do... I might have done in Borderlands... but only becasue of the character class... would love to know the mentality behind the reasoning (why some guys do and others don't, and why there are so many that seem to in MMO's etc etc)

A ton do it in MMOs because they know they can get free stuff out of it.  Guys in MMOs can be really pathetic when it comes to women online.

As for other guys in games where gender makes no real difference on how the character plays, I think it really depends.  I think some guys sexualize the character and like having something "hot" on screen all the time, some do it to see if it affects the story at all if you play male or female, and I wouldn't be surprised if some did it because it enables them to explore other elements of themselves in a safe environment.

I can say that if I had a daughter and she liked watching me play games, I'd probably play a non-sexualized female character more often since it shows her from an early age that women can be strong and assertive without forfeiting their femininity or having to rely on their sexuality.

[baldgye]

This is something I'm really curious about, personally it's not something I do... I might have done in Borderlands... but only becasue of the character class... would love to know the mentality behind the reasoning (why some guys do and others don't, and why there are so many that seem to in MMO's etc etc)

A ton do it in MMOs because they know they can get free stuff out of it.  Guys in MMOs can be really pathetic when it comes to women online.

As for other guys in games where gender makes no real difference on how the character plays, I think it really depends.  I think some guys sexualize the character and like having something "hot" on screen all the time, some do it to see if it affects the story at all if you play male or female, and I wouldn't be surprised if some did it because it enables them to explore other elements of themselves in a safe environment.

I can say that if I had a daughter and she liked watching me play games, I'd probably play a non-sexualized female character more often since it shows her from an early age that women can be strong and assertive without forfeiting their femininity or having to rely on their sexuality.

Yeah, but with the number of men who do it on an MMO it seems more likely you'll find an actual woman playing it with a male avatar, least that's how it seems... I guess a good example would be Playstation Home where there are whole groups of guys pretending to be women just to **** with people lol...

though you're probably right now I think about it some more... though I don't play MMOs

[Leslieann]

From what i have seen, some do just like to explore that side of themselves, but I honestly think those are few and far between.

In many games the males are brute force type of play, while females tend to be more finesse and therefore more technical at times. Some people prefer that style of gameplay. Other people have the opinion that "if I have to look at a butt, it may as well be attractive". In some game this is a copout because you can go first person and not look at your character.

More than a few guys use it to take advantage of foolish guys. Noob girls in games get a lot of... help, when they first start out. Others do it just to mess with other guys. Most doing it for these reasons almost always turn out out to be teens.


Women tend to play a lot of males in games almost exclusively because of the crap that comes with long term playing of female characters.

[PointyFox]

I almost always play females and am male IRL for these reasons:

1. I can never make a character that looks like me, so why bother?
2. I'd rather look at the back end of a female and play "dress-up" with a female than a male. <-  Males whom play males in video games tend to be gay for these reasons.
3. Females always have more clothing options than males.
4. Why would I want to be myself in a video game?  I spend enough time being myself as it is.  I don't want to pretend to be a virtual me.
5. Female characters get given free stuff and help more often than male characters.

[baldgye]

I spend enough time being myself as it is.  I don't want to pretend to be a virtual me.

What if, your super awesome though, then you could be cyber awesome!!!!!

[PointyFox]

I spend enough time being myself as it is.  I don't want to pretend to be a virtual me.

What if, your super awesome though, then you could be cyber awesome!!!!!

It's easy to be cyber awesome.  I'm actually bored of it and now try to make as boring characters as possible, like in Skyrim, I won't even touch the main quests.  I just stick to chopping wood, making potions to sell, or playing music for tips.  I don't want to be Dovahkiin. 

Actually, maybe I'm bored with video games in general.  Not many video games put you in positions where you will never attain cyber awesomeness. 

[vun]

I have no problem playing women in games, I usually decide after I've had a look at how the characters look in-game and then compare that with how armour looks on that gender.

I don't have a whole lot to contribute to the whole MMO debate; while I do have female MMO characters, the amount of incidents where character gender has played a role that I can think of I can count on half a hand or so.

[noisyturtle]

Then again if I have the chance to play as a monster, dragon, robot, or some kind of creature that's what I'll be picking.

[missalaire]

This is something I'm really curious about, personally it's not something I do... I might have done in Borderlands... but only becasue of the character class... would love to know the mentality behind the reasoning (why some guys do and others don't, and why there are so many that seem to in MMO's etc etc)

A ton do it in MMOs because they know they can get free stuff out of it.  Guys in MMOs can be really pathetic when it comes to women online.

As for other guys in games where gender makes no real difference on how the character plays, I think it really depends.  I think some guys sexualize the character and like having something "hot" on screen all the time, some do it to see if it affects the story at all if you play male or female, and I wouldn't be surprised if some did it because it enables them to explore other elements of themselves in a safe environment.

I can say that if I had a daughter and she liked watching me play games, I'd probably play a non-sexualized female character more often since it shows her from an early age that women can be strong and assertive without forfeiting their femininity or having to rely on their sexuality.

Yeah, but with the number of men who do it on an MMO it seems more likely you'll find an actual woman playing it with a male avatar, least that's how it seems... I guess a good example would be Playstation Home where there are whole groups of guys pretending to be women just to **** with people lol...

though you're probably right now I think about it some more... though I don't play MMOs

I actually play male characters pretty much exclusively in all my MMOs.

[Joxx]

Honestly, some male character in MMOs look really bad. Take an example of the Blood Elves male and the Dranaei male, do you really want to play those? I don't think so, especially when the females for those races look way better.

[csloan1218]

I appreciate all the feedback.

The reason I ask is as long as I can remember I have made female toons on all my mmo's that I play. I think it started when I played diablo and the ranger was a girl toon, then d2 was my zon. But I have never really thought about it before I played tera. When I made my slayer on tera, I felt the look of the female characters was so sexualized that I was uncomfortable playing around my kids. I couldn't even consider playing an elin, those toons are downright creepy.

Here's a pic of my slayer just so you know what I mean.



When I think about why I like playing lady toons, almost all my reasons have been mentioned in these posts.

I notice that other players will be kinder to other players (group settings) to players they consider to be females. I have had people out of the blue give my character gear and money in game. Once on star trek online a guy gave my character a tier 5 ship and 2 million credits, not a thing asked in return. Now I don't know if this is because my toon was "hot" (I like good looking toons), or the guy was genuinely nice. I mean he was nice either way, but I never had people be overly kind to a dude toon of mine.

I don't cop to simply looking at a girls butt rather than a guys while I'm playing, but I will admit almost every game it seems like the developers spend more time making the female avatars then they do the male ones. Since I think that female characters look much better than their male counterparts, and quite often the armor seems to suit them better too.

Some of my other reasons could not be more accurately worded then some of the post I've read:

In many games the males are brute force type of play, while females tend to be more finesse and therefore more technical at times. Some people prefer that style of gameplay.

3. Females always have more clothing options than males.
4. Why would I want to be myself in a video game?  I spend enough time being myself as it is.  I don't want to pretend to be a virtual me.
5. Female characters get given free stuff and help more often than male characters.

Honestly, some male character in MMOs look really bad. Take an example of the Blood Elves male and the Dranaei male, do you really want to play those? I don't think so, especially when the females for those races look way better.

But nothing really sums it up better for me than this comment:

It's easier for me to like an attractive woman than an attractive man. That simple.

So all in all, I just wanted to see if I was alone in my inclinations and it seems it not overly unusual.

[Joxx]

You are definitely not alone. I am sure a lot lot lot of those female characters on wow aren't actual female gamers.

[Michael]

I think it's pretty normal for guys to play female toons. I mean, most of the games are designed around the male audience by building such ridiculously glamorous looking female characters. I think men feel inclined to play as their fantasy women. I don't think that makes them anything not normal.

[SmallFry]

Agreed. I typically play female characters on my main accounts, and males on my throw aways, just for grins.

[Halverson]

I just made a male toon on Neverwinter...and then I thought.."Why did I not make a female". Oh wells. All my main WoW toons have always been male though. My monster hunter toon has to be female though, h'yeahh!

[Hak Foo]

I tried playing as a female character in a mailing-list RP once.  However, she ended up fairly butch.  Strange how that happens when you specify them to be a) a 300-year-old vampiress and b) a military officer.

[csloan1218]

I just made a male toon on Neverwinter...and then I thought.."Why did I not make a female". Oh wells. All my main WoW toons have always been male though. My monster hunter toon has to be female though, h'yeahh!

My latest is a female elven cleric on neverwinter, I think she looks classy compared to my tera toon.

[Joxx]

A lot of the korean's MMO like to dress their female character slutty-ish. I have played 2 KR MMOs so far (Lineage 2 and Tera) and both of them had slutty female outfit. But to be honest, MMOs tend to just make female character wear those kind of clothes, look at GW2, stuff like this

[missalaire]

A lot of the korean's MMO like to dress their female character slutty-ish. I have played 2 KR MMOs so far (Lineage 2 and Tera) and both of them had slutty female outfit. But to be honest, MMOs tend to just make female character wear those kind of clothes, look at GW2, stuff like this

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What server did you play on in Lineage 2 and Tera?

[Joxx]

ahem.. on Tera I barely got it to level like 20 or so, and it was on the biggest server at the time with like over an hour queue during those events. Lineage 2, that was a long time ago but I think it was Sieghart then I got on Bartz when I decided to play again. I played a lot of L2 on private servers though, KR mmo leveling were brutal back then.
Oh, one more KR MMO with slutty outfit, Aion which was also a huge waste of time.

[Michael]

I think Tera wins the overall sluttiest outfits that I have seen. Not that it bothers me, but just saying...

[missalaire]

ahem.. on Tera I barely got it to level like 20 or so, and it was on the biggest server at the time with like over an hour queue during those events. Lineage 2, that was a long time ago but I think it was Sieghart then I got on Bartz when I decided to play again. I played a lot of L2 on private servers though, KR mmo leveling were brutal back then.
Oh, one more KR MMO with slutty outfit, Aion which was also a huge waste of time.

Ah, that probably would have been Valley of Titans at the time if it was around when the game first launched. And yeah, Korean MMO leveling was indeed brutal back then lol. What level was your highest on L2 retail? If you were on Sieghart and then Bartz, you probably would have heard of clans like Catalyst and Uprising? Aion just wasn't properly westernized imo. It wasn't really a horrible game, I liked how it made you work with people in your guilds and had objectives in the world to pvp over (world bosses, forts).

I think Tera wins the overall sluttiest outfits that I have seen. Not that it bothers me, but just saying...

Tera outfits were pretty good for the most part. I wish they had more template varieties though, like Aion did. Aion might have had a lot of faults, but one thing they did exceptionally well was the amount of customizability for characters themselves and armor templates/skins.

If I had stayed serious about playing Tera and got tired of my male Castanic sorcerer being male, I probably would have gender swapped him to female and used this skin on her armor: http://tera-online.cc/gallery/castanic-fr/4431-castanic_f_r21.html

[daerid]

My main and most of my alts in WoW are female.

If you're going to be staring at this character for potentially hundreds of hours, why not make it a bit more pleasant? *shrug*

[Michael]

My main and most of my alts in WoW are female.

If you're going to be staring at this character for potentially hundreds of hours, why not make it a bit more pleasant? *shrug*

You still play? We need to hook up some game time yo.

[Joxx]

ahem.. on Tera I barely got it to level like 20 or so, and it was on the biggest server at the time with like over an hour queue during those events. Lineage 2, that was a long time ago but I think it was Sieghart then I got on Bartz when I decided to play again. I played a lot of L2 on private servers though, KR mmo leveling were brutal back then.
Oh, one more KR MMO with slutty outfit, Aion which was also a huge waste of time.

Ah, that probably would have been Valley of Titans at the time if it was around when the game first launched. And yeah, Korean MMO leveling was indeed brutal back then lol. What level was your highest on L2 retail? If you were on Sieghart and then Bartz, you probably would have heard of clans like Catalyst and Uprising? Aion just wasn't properly westernized imo. It wasn't really a horrible game, I liked how it made you work with people in your guilds and had objectives in the world to pvp over (world bosses, forts).

I think Tera wins the overall sluttiest outfits that I have seen. Not that it bothers me, but just saying...

Tera outfits were pretty good for the most part. I wish they had more template varieties though, like Aion did. Aion might have had a lot of faults, but one thing they did exceptionally well was the amount of customizability for characters themselves and armor templates/skins.

Lineage 2
Aion customization



I got 65ish back in the day, and when they made it F2P I got several chars to 86 then gave up cause 86 to 87 was brutal

[Lanx]

i've played mmo's for 10 years so quite simply a guy that plays a female is one or more.

1. horny (i.e. likes to look at boobs/but when running)
2. e**** (they pretend to be girls to get free stuff)
3. e-attention-**** (they just like attention
4. just decide "eh why not" (and once you level up a long time and like that character, you kinda stuck with it)

and that's it i've met literally hundreds of these "mangina's" and it's one of those traits or a combination.

now, i realize there are actually women that play men, these are very, very, very dumb women or don't exist and are guys lying that they're women but playing a man. I've met a few hundred women while playing mmo's and not a single one has ever had a male character.

i always play a guy, except in mass effect, the voice actor for the female lead is jennifer hale and shes the best female voice actress around, puts the male lead voice actor to shame (whoever he is).

[Patchwrks]

I played wow and leveled up a human female. not because it's more"sexual" but because, in relation to the males overly burly and muscular to the point that they look like action figures, the female was more "natural" looking. final fantasy xiv currently is wonderful for character customization. you'll be incredibly pleased with it if you enjoy deep customization.

[daerid]

You still play? We need to hook up some game time yo.

Sure thang. My main's on Illidan, but I've got a few alts on Korgath. Been meaning to start up a toon or two with my buddy on Sargeras.

[Michael]

You still play? We need to hook up some game time yo.

Sure thang. My main's on Illidan, but I've got a few alts on Korgath. Been meaning to start up a toon or two with my buddy on Sargeras.

I have 18 toons on Hyjal. Horde and Alliance lol

[missalaire]

i've played mmo's for 10 years so quite simply a guy that plays a female is one or more.

1. horny (i.e. likes to look at boobs/but when running)
2. e**** (they pretend to be girls to get free stuff)
3. e-attention-**** (they just like attention
4. just decide "eh why not" (and once you level up a long time and like that character, you kinda stuck with it)

and that's it i've met literally hundreds of these "mangina's" and it's one of those traits or a combination.

now, i realize there are actually women that play men, these are very, very, very dumb women or don't exist and are guys lying that they're women but playing a man. I've met a few hundred women while playing mmo's and not a single one has ever had a male character.

i always play a guy, except in mass effect, the voice actor for the female lead is jennifer hale and shes the best female voice actress around, puts the male lead voice actor to shame (whoever he is).

Lolwat. Contrary to what you might think, some of us actually don't care to act like those girl gamers (not to be confused with actual gamer girls). I roll a male toon in every MMO because to me, they are more pleasing to look at and I would rather people who don't know me assume that I'm a guy and respect me for my skills and playing ability in a game rather than like me simply because I have boobs. I've been in a number of top/highly regarded guilds in several MMOs and can hold my own when it comes to end game pve content and pvp.

[Gupgup]

You still play? We need to hook up some game time yo.

Sure thang. My main's on Illidan, but I've got a few alts on Korgath. Been meaning to start up a toon or two with my buddy on Sargeras.

I have 18 toons on Hyjal. Horde and Alliance lol

Ah dang! I'm on Darkspear! Wish we could play together sometime, game is getting kind of boring to me :/


Gupgup

[Michael]

i've played mmo's for 10 years so quite simply a guy that plays a female is one or more.

1. horny (i.e. likes to look at boobs/but when running)
2. e**** (they pretend to be girls to get free stuff)
3. e-attention-**** (they just like attention
4. just decide "eh why not" (and once you level up a long time and like that character, you kinda stuck with it)

and that's it i've met literally hundreds of these "mangina's" and it's one of those traits or a combination.

now, i realize there are actually women that play men, these are very, very, very dumb women or don't exist and are guys lying that they're women but playing a man. I've met a few hundred women while playing mmo's and not a single one has ever had a male character.

i always play a guy, except in mass effect, the voice actor for the female lead is jennifer hale and shes the best female voice actress around, puts the male lead voice actor to shame (whoever he is).

Lolwat. Contrary to what you might think, some of us actually don't care to act like those girl gamers (not to be confused with actual gamer girls). I roll a male toon in every MMO because to me, they are more pleasing to look at and I would rather people who don't know me assume that I'm a guy and respect me for my skills and playing ability in a game rather than like me simply because I have boobs. I've been in a number of top/highly regarded guilds in several MMOs and can hold my own when it comes to end game pve content and pvp.

I know several REAL girl gamers that play amazingly well. Lanx is flat out wrong, and has a very skewed perspective of reality.

[Michael]

You still play? We need to hook up some game time yo.

Sure thang. My main's on Illidan, but I've got a few alts on Korgath. Been meaning to start up a toon or two with my buddy on Sargeras.

I have 18 toons on Hyjal. Horde and Alliance lol

Ah dang! I'm on Darkspear! Wish we could play together sometime, game is getting kind of boring to me :/


Gupgup

Roll something on Hyjal, bro! Or xfer a toon. I have too much invested on Hyjal to move

[Kayliss]

I play either male or female characters. I've never really thought about it much more than which looks best.  Male tauren/orc female undead and dwarf in WoW for example.  )

now, i realize there are actually women that play men, these are very, very, very dumb women or don't exist and are guys lying that they're women but playing a man. I've met a few hundred women while playing mmo's and not a single one has ever had a male character.

This is just silly, I know a few women who play male characters in WoW, including a real life friend, I wouldn't consider any of them dumb.

I have 18 toons on Hyjal. Horde and Alliance lol

/Miss Hyjal I played there towards the end BC/start of Wrath with Advent fury.

[Michael]

/Miss Hyjal I played there towards the end BC/start of Wrath with Advent fury.

I was in AF, and The Fabled for a while before going casual with Hubris and now with Sadistic Sanity being mostly casual.

[daerid]

Ah dang! I'm on Darkspear! Wish we could play together sometime, game is getting kind of boring to me :/

Yeah, tell me about it. I've just been leveling alts because of the stupid-ass daily cluster**** that they pulled with MoP. Requiring rep for VP gear and requiring dailies for rep is the worst decision ever made.

[Joxx]

I am very glad I quit wow when I did, from what I have heard, they went full on stupid and made doing dailies a requirement.

[Leslieann]

When I made my slayer on tera, I felt the look of the female characters was so sexualized that I was uncomfortable playing around my kids. I couldn't even consider playing an elin, those toons are downright creepy.

Some women don't like playing female characters for this reason as well. They are designed by men to be sexually stimulating, which often brings forth pubescent boys worst thoughts. Which they often fail to muzzle.

In Second Life, slut wear is standard, however, you can still spot the guys most of the time because while women wear what would pass for a a slut out on the prowl, the men would be at the very least thought to be a prostitute, and at worst, be arrested for indecency.

I notice that other players will be kinder to other players (group settings) to players they consider to be females. I have had people out of the blue give my character gear and money in game. Once on star trek online a guy gave my character a tier 5 ship and 2 million credits, not a thing asked in return. Now I don't know if this is because my toon was "hot" (I like good looking toons), or the guy was genuinely nice. I mean he was nice either way, but I never had people be overly kind to a dude toon of mine.

To some degree, yes.
However, at some point they can start talking smack and all hell can break loose. Not to mention it's a bit condescending when you think about it. You guys aren't used to it and so it's a bit of a novelty.  They do it because either they think they can get in your pants, or they feel you need the help.

now, i realize there are actually women that play men, these are very, very, very dumb women or don't exist and are guys lying that they're women but playing a man. I've met a few hundred women while playing mmo's and not a single one has ever had a male character.

Yeah, and they will also probably tell you they don't wear makeup every day either.

I would rather people who don't know me assume that I'm a guy and respect me for my skills and playing ability in a game rather than like me simply because I have boobs.

This.
Either assume you are a guy, or at the least ignore sex/gender entirely.

The hell that can break loose when "a girl" utterly dominates a guy, can be a real pain in the butt and ruin the game dynamics or the game entirely. It's easier just to lay low, and kick butt.

[Joxx]

From my MMOs experience, most girls that are playing just to enjoy the game and actually get better / are in good guilds, people actually don't even realize they are girls until they talk on vent.
I have seen attention-***** in action, and most of the time, they suck at the game.
I also have played with girls that plays male simply because they like how the character is animated. It has nothing to do with whether they are a girl or not. So calling someone dumb for choosing a male character because of preference is just stupid.

[missalaire]

now, i realize there are actually women that play men, these are very, very, very dumb women or don't exist and are guys lying that they're women but playing a man. I've met a few hundred women while playing mmo's and not a single one has ever had a male character.

Yeah, and they will also probably tell you they don't wear makeup every day either.

I would rather people who don't know me assume that I'm a guy and respect me for my skills and playing ability in a game rather than like me simply because I have boobs.

This.
Either assume you are a guy, or at the least ignore sex/gender entirely.

The hell that can break loose when "a girl" utterly dominates a guy, can be a real pain in the butt and ruin the game dynamics or the game entirely. It's easier just to lay low, and kick butt.

I don't wear make up on a daily basis. I actually don't ever wear makeup at all unless its an occasion like a wedding or something.

And its not even so much not wanting to clash with egos. I just don't want preferential treatment or anything like that, that girl gamers try to get when they openly flaunt themselves as a female. I've earned my way up to some of the better and well-known and established MMO guilds because of my skill and dedication in games and I want to keep it that way. There will always be haters of course, but I know that I earned my place no matter what anyone says and that's what matters.