Is it weird for female players to play male characters?

[Oglaf.1074]

> @"Leo G.4501" said:

> > @"Oglaf.1074" said:

> > > @"Leo G.4501" said:

> > > > @"Oglaf.1074" said:

> > > > > @"STIHL.2489" said:

> > > > > > @"Cobrakon.3108" said:

> > > > > >

> > > > > > > @"Leo G.4501" said:

> > > > > > > > @"zengara.8301" said:

> > > > > > > > kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > Not riled up by "x gender playing y characters". My issue is the OP, and most people, feel it's perfectly acceptable to not only unjustly generalize guys but also label them negatively for little reason than they are playing a video game but it'd be considered hostile or attacking if I considered a woman who needs social validation starving for attention (such as needing a reason to play a character in a video game).

> > > > > >

> > > > > > > @"Oglaf.1074" said:

> > > > > > > > @"Cobrakon.3108" said:

> > > > > > > > 3. Is gay

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > I highly doubt that one mate.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > There is neither the sex appeal, nor the self-insert/identifying angle for a gay man when playing as a woman.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > ... unless you conflate being a gay man with being a drag queen.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > That being said of course, I'm not saying a gay man couldn't play a female character - quite the contrary. But I highly doubt he does so _solely_ because he is gay. It is quite a silly idea.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > I'm not focusing on the identity thing, but the attention to fashion that gay men can have. Things like that become stereotypes and I don't think its out of the question for people to wonder if someone is gay if they have an affinity for female fashion. Another thing that might cause people to draw conclusions would be how girly all the female characters are. I think someone that tends to dress their girl characters with frilly things paired with bifrost and can talk about the struggles of sparkle fashion... While its not a guarantee, I could see someone drawing conclusions.

> > > > >

> > > > > The real question is, **Why should we need to draw conclusions at all**,

> > > > >

> > > > > There does seem to be a inordinate amount of time spent by players to psychoanalyze other players, truth is, people are very bad at this guessing game to start with, through the veil of a video game it gets worse, and only shows their limited world view and scope when they toss out these kinds of assumptions/ I mean really, someone might do miniature painting as a hobby, and this very into color schemes and patterns and this carries over to their video games, or they might work at a clothing store, or do Ren Fairs, or even be professional costume makers, they could be photographer, etc, etc, etc.

> > > > >

> > > > > Why not simply enjoy the discussion if you can all have fun fretting about frilly female fashion without the extra need to complicate anything by drawing in some cases totally unfounded (and often wrong) conclusions. Just enjoy the game.

> > > > >

> > > > > If someone wants to play a male character, then play a male, why does anyone need to make it more then it is.

> > > >

> > > > Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. ;)

> > >

> > > But what do you accomplish by calling said cigar a cigar?

> >

> > Dispel any rumours that you want to bed your own mother.

>

> Ah, I guess I misunderstood the context of your post. I thought you meant it's not drawing conclusions if its true or something. Haven't had any coffee yet...and it looks like I won't since I'm out, all the nearby stores are closed and I'm not driving in that snow...

 

We were talking about how silly it is to try and psychoanalyze peoples' choices in character sex/race and all that, which inevitably leads one down the road to Freud and his theories. One such was seeing phallic imagery in almost everything, which lead people to supposedly question him on his love for cigars, at which point he (although he never really did say it, I think) replied that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

 

Same thing with characters in GW2. Sometimes a character is just a character with no deeper meaning or symbolism behind the choices in creating him or her.

[Ameepa.6793]

Play what you want, no one cares. Or at least should not care.

 

I play both.

[Esterie.7409]

It's just pixels, it doesn't have any bearing on the gender of the player. I have 11 female characters and seven male characters, while I myself am female. I think the armor designs for female humans/norn/sylvari looks so much better than their male counterparts, and over half of my characters are female from these races just based on aesthetics. However, sometimes I like the male faces/build more than female, particularly on charr. It doesn't get much deeper than that. I haven't been treated differently in-game while playing a frilly female Ele or a buff male Charr. I think most people don't assume who the player is based on what they're playing. It's just pixels, it doesn't matter.

[Aenesthesia.1697]

> @"Chorne.8195" said: surprisingly paranoid rant

 

My two cents, this is just a game, take it easy, do whatever the kitten you want to do.

 

I started playing mmos with Wow. I made a paladin, it sucked, i saw a cool warlock on the woods, i decided to make one.

But the human male warlocks looked hideous with those bulky bodies and the ridiculous tunics, so i went with a female.

It was weird at first, specially because i was role playing all the time, and i didn't want people to know i was a guy. I thought it would get in the way of the role play.

After a while my interests shifted and i started raiding and of course everybody knew i was a guy because of the teamspeak.

 

In GW2 i am past it: I have 3 females, 3 males, 1 plant (that looks like a male). Some of the genders i chose because they looked particularly good with one skin. They dress in a way that best fits their role and tone, but all of them are incredibly cool and only the elementalist could pass for a stripper. The magic-resistant fabrics she wears are incredibly expensive and she can only afford enough to cover her parts. Good thing she controls fire so she doesn't get cold when in the shiverpeaks.

[kaat.8237]

51 year old woman, here. I have male and female characters, and did have both in GW1 also. The characters I main in both are female rangers, but I have male and female alts in all the races, except for male Norn. I just don't care for how muscle bound they are. My female light characters tend to run around in skimpy outfits. My first warrior was a female Asura, at the shortest height setting. There are several men in my guild who only play female characters. I have no opinion on their reasoning. It's just what they do. I have never been harassed as a character or as a female player. I'ts a game. Do what you want.

[Zaxares.5419]

It's no weirder than guys playing female characters (which is to say, not at all). Play whomever you like. Personally, I'm a male player and I have a roughly equal ratio of male and female characters. It all depended on the personal image I had in mind when I created said characters.

[Ardid.7203]

I'm a 39 years old guy. My main is a little female Asura (I love her voice), which DON'T look feminine at all, mostly because she always choose big shoulder pieces and covering headgear (So we can say she's a really tiny tomboy?), and because there are always flames everywhere. Most people in the game doesn't even can say which sex is my toon, but the overwhelming majority assumes I'm a male, even if they don't hear me talk. So... is it weird? I kind of hope is not... but being pragmatic, It has never been important to me, or to anyone.

[serialkicker.5274]

It's a video game, play what you like. Why bother yourself over what random people you never met think of it? It would be also almost a shame not to try different stuff. It's like not wanting to try other races, because you're human. Just give it a try and see if you like and don't let anyone stop you.

[dace.8019]

Plays a fictional race of sentient, magical, dragonspawn plant people without concern, but wonders if playing a human of another gender is odd.

[smsarasin.3468]

I'm a 49yo male and play an equal mix of both male and female characters. Having played RPGs for a long time (both pen and paper, and on the computer) I just enjoy the variety. I never know which gender the character will be until I start in on the character creation. I have an idea of what class I want, and just go with whatever gender and race that feels like it suits the character at the time. The whole thing behind playing an RPG is that it is a 'Role Playing Game'. You're supposed to try out different roles. :)

 

I've played many MMOs that use voice chat as well. And when I hear a female voice with a male character in the party, I don't give it a second thought. I'm just happy to have a companion that will help out the group. It doesn't matter to me what gender the player IRL or the in-game character happens to be. I'm just going to enjoy the game, and help make it an enjoyable experience for the other players as well.

 

Play what you want, try out new classes/races/genders, and most of all, just have fun.

[FANY.6524]

**The issue is mostly with my perception.**

Yep, you're right. The issue is with your perception, 100%.

 

**When you see a female human elementalist in-game wearing a bra, you immediately know it's a guy.**

 

**If you see a guy in in-game, you know it's a guy.**

 

These are both absurd observations.

 

**I'm afraid that if I join a guild or something and appear as a male, all my other characters will become redundant and I'll be mistaken as a creepy dude who solely plays girls.**

 

I think you would benefit more from taking time to evaluate why you think this way, what brought you to think this way, and what you can do to rectify this way of thinking.

[BrokenGlass.9356]

Not for nothing... But your post is pretty sexist.

 

"If you see a female character wearing a bra you can be sure it's a creepy dude"

 

No, you cant. You can be prejudiced against men and guess that. But you'd be short changing every woman who takes pride in her body and shows it off.

 

Play what you want. Why in the world did you need the masses to tell you its OK to make this choice?

 

I have every race and gender of character, in a wide variety of skin tones. I'm not sweating it. Why? Because my race and gender don't define me. They happen to define my characters... But only because The Pact Commander has virtually no personality, and thus is only defined by the graphics and voice actors.

[jciardha.1936]

Sure, go ahead and call me weird. I’ve been called much worse. Running around as a muscled human male helps me deal with my gender dysphoria. For me, and maybe other people in a similar situation, it’s therapeutic.

[MadFable.1978]

This post cracks me up. Like girls play games! Don't you all know what mmorpg's are about? Many Men Online Roleplaying as Girls!

 

No but seriously play whatever you want. I prefer to play mg own sex for roleplay reasons. But I know many who exclusively play the opposite sex. It's a game, go crazy!

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

I believe there is no rules and it is a matter of feeling only.

I have tried to do male chars, it fails every times. I was not feeling at ease with them, mainly due to their way to move, but also because I did not achieve to get the same fun at working out their appearance. So I have female chars only.

On the other hand, one of my friend (woman) has only males, mainly because she does not feel "strong" enough when the char is a woman, and another one has both males and females in equal amount and does not care at all to use one or the other.

Like many things in the game, I believe it is a purely a stomach feeling thing, nothing rational.

[malisivo.5264]

No, it isn't weird. Think about how many games have male protagonists. Did that stop you from playing those games? I have a male thief because... I just wanted one of my toons to be a thief and thought, "Hey, what if I made a male thief?" I'm terrible at thief, but dang, if he isn't dashing at his multiple fails! XD Kidding aside, play what you want, how you want, and don't listen to those who tell you otherwise.

 

I do want to add that I agree with making female characters who are as far from "sexy" as possible. Modesty is rare to find in MMOs nowadays and if the option is available, I'd choose it any day. There's no harm in wearing something sexy if you want, but if you want to be modest yourself, by all means rock it.

[DietPepsi.4371]

No...

It genuinely bemuses me why threads asking questions like this keep popping up.

[Crossaber.8934]

you really don't need to bother what other players look at you.

There are male players that plays exclusively female characters, there are female players that plays exclusively female characters, so i think it is normal to have female players go for male character as well. It is not common, yes, but the fact is who cares.

[LadyRhonwyn.2501]

> @"Chorne.8195" said:

> When you see a female human elementalist in-game wearing a bra, you immediately know it's a guy. If you see a guy in in-game, you know it's a guy.

 

According to this, I'm a guy. I have a female human elementalist with a very sexy outfit and I have multiple male characters.

I doubt my husband would agree with you, though. Yes, it is completely in your mind

 

You play video games, so people will automatically assume you're male. As everybody knows, there are no female gamers! (naturally, we female gamers know better :p) Whenever somebody assumes I'm male again, I just correct them (sometimes) and continue with what I was doing. I couldn't give a cat (too many kittens around here, they need to grow up!) what they think.

 

> @"Bladezephyr.5714" said:

> My initial reaction to this post was, "Why would anyone care what gender character you play?" The overwhelming majority of players won't care in the slightest. But then I remembered that I've come across a number of cases where female gamers were harassed for a pile of no good reason... A small percentage of gamers (mostly male, but not always) will harass female players for any reason they can think of, which is pretty sad. Still, there's nothing weird about it--that's what Role Playing Games are all about: pretending to be something you're not! If you should encounter one of those unpleasant people, try not to let it get you down. They are the ones with the problem, not you.

 

And that's where the blocklist comes in handy. I personally wouldn't stand for it, I'd block and report. (thankfully, I've not come across anybody like that)

 

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

> @"DietPepsi.4371" said:

> No...

> It genuinely bemuses me why threads asking questions like this keep popping up.

 

The machinations of the mind are complicated, but the feelings are simple. These threads pop up because the makers think it is, indeed, weird to digitally cross-dress. They just don't have the words to reason out why.

[Llethander.3972]

Play what you want to play. Why does it matter what other people think?

[Beldak.2107]

Nope, not weird. It's a game you can play whatever you want.

[Anchoku.8142]

The problem is that all humans are animals bred to perform near-instant pattern recognition and make snap decisions based on those perceived patterns.

 

Preferring to play one toon and not another based on gender, size, species, or skin/fur/foliage coloration and markings is a result of the pattern recognition built into our DNA. There is far more "judging" being done by our subconscious than people realize.

 

Overcoming animal instincts with reason is a difficult lesson that I continue to struggle with.

 

Think hard on what assumptions may be part of your thoughts and always question them.

[STIHL.2489]

> @"Anchoku.8142" said:

> The problem is that all humans are animals bred to perform near-instant pattern recognition and make snap decisions based on those perceived patterns.

>

> Preferring to play one toon and not another based on gender, size, species, or skin/fur/foliage coloration and markings is a result of the pattern recognition built into our DNA. There is far more "judging" being done by our subconscious than people realize.

>

> Overcoming animal instincts with reason is a difficult lesson that I continue to struggle with.

>

> Think hard on what assumptions may be part of your thoughts and always question them.

 

I play a lot of Sylvari.. so.. I'm either secretly a vegetarian that eats meat.. or maybe.. just maybe.. I liked the way they looked and thought "hey cool, a new fantasy race, I think I'll try that"

[Burnfall.9573]

> @"Chorne.8195" said:

> I've been playing GW2 for two years, and I have six characters. All female, and I've enjoyed every single one of them. ( Except the Norn. I hate that voice actor. )

> However, I'm starting to get bored. Replaying the story on different characters, I find myself getting bored of the voice acting that I've already heard before. Making outfits for my characters is a chore because I always try to make it so they look as far away from sexy as possible, which is extremely limited with my mains, which are all light armored. It's getting stale.

> I've wanted to try a solution, but I'm anxious about it. I'm thinking about playing a male character. Just to mix things up for once. But I just can't bring myself to do it. It just seems _weird_. Men, of course, play girls in games constantly. When you see a female human elementalist in-game wearing a bra, you immediately know it's a guy. If you see a guy in in-game, you know it's a guy. I'm afraid that if I join a guild or something and appear as a male, all my other characters will become redundant and I'll be mistaken as a creepy dude who solely plays girls. Which is why I dress all my light armors in the Seer's coat and give all my heavy-armors giant helmets with face covers. I play mostly Sylvari so the skin showing will become less obvious.

> It's frustrating. The issue is mostly with my perception, I understand that, and I want to try something different, but I'm just too paranoid about how I'll be perceived...

 

 

' Never explain yourself to anyone. You don't need anyone's approval. You have nothing to prove to anyone'