A View From the Road: Confessions of a Virtual Transvestite
- Thread starter John Funk
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I do the same exact thing. Even the part about the Pokemon player character. I always seem to chose a female character if that is an option. And it isn't anything sexual or anything else like that, for some reason I roleplay a better female than a male in a video game.
This is very interesting to me. I never play a male character if I have the option to play as a female. Perhaps that's because the option to play as a female is far more infrequent than being forced to play as a male.
In fact, maybe that's where this gender-swapping comes from -- in so many games, you have no choice but to be male. Maybe you're just playing as a girl because you can.
In fact, maybe that's where this gender-swapping comes from -- in so many games, you have no choice but to be male. Maybe you're just playing as a girl because you can.
That... was actually an intersting question.
I too play as male characters on single player games but when it comes to MMOs, the ones I played (whitch isn't many but still), I played as a female. Or some male that his look really puts yourself in doubt if he's actually a he.
And like you, it isn't becouse I feel any kind of attraction for my character. So I guess the main reason would be "I'm allowed to be whatever I want to be in a fantasy game". So once you have the chance to be something different to what you are and can show that to other people, then why not?
Also, I wouldn't look good with skirts but hell, I sure do in game!
I too play as male characters on single player games but when it comes to MMOs, the ones I played (whitch isn't many but still), I played as a female. Or some male that his look really puts yourself in doubt if he's actually a he.
And like you, it isn't becouse I feel any kind of attraction for my character. So I guess the main reason would be "I'm allowed to be whatever I want to be in a fantasy game". So once you have the chance to be something different to what you are and can show that to other people, then why not?
Also, I wouldn't look good with skirts but hell, I sure do in game!
The "If I'm going to be staring at an ass for 60 levels, it better be a nice ass" Logic hits home with me, However, I Role Play frequently (on the game), and who'se more likely to kick your ass? The ten foot tall guy who wants to eat your head, or the chick wearing a miniskirt? If you picked the ten foot tall guy, please stand infront of a mirror and look at yourself for a while thinking: What the fuck?
BAHAAHAHAH! I've been waiting to read this article and that made it all the more worthwhile. Five guys all playing girls, eh? I wonder why that sounds familiar...CantFaketheFunk said:
Like you, I typically play females unless I can play a male character that's not human. Or even humanoid, really. If it's monstrous, I'm alright with being a male character, or if I really dislike the female models I'll play a male one, but it's rare. So very, very rare.
I dunno.Susan Arendt said:
I just know I never get into it if I play a female character. Maybe it is because as a DnD nerd I spent so many years pawning over women that it seems almost surreal that I could be inside one.
I tend to point out that male characters are just as impossible in body image as female ones whenever women complain about large breasts female characters.MaxTheReaper said:
But then I get shouted down for being a sexist blind pig and not knowing what I'm talking about.
What can you do
.In reality, I am "that fit guy" that every group of friends tends to have, but in WoW I play(ed) a male gnome, a female blood elf, a male undead, pretty much everything was unrepresentative of who I am in real life.CantFaketheFunk said:
A few of my friends in WoW made claims that they'd rather look at a female model than a male model if they were going to be playing all day, but at the opposite end of the spectrum I had friends who called them out for doing so. In the end, the people that called the others out had no valid arguments of why they SHOULDN'T make female avatars. That was when I started rolling characters based on whatever the hell I was feeling would look most badass at the time, rather than how others would think about the way those avatars looked vs. who I am.
My reasons for choosing to make a male Gnome Warrior was because I thought a tiny gnome running around all badass with a huge axe was hilarious. Nothing more (turns out, this aesthetic was also wicked for dominating tauren warriors, cause they never noticed the little gnome cleaving at their heals until he doms them). Similarly, my reasons for choosing a female blood elf paladin was because no other horde race could be a paladin, and male blood elves just look dumb (seriously, worst model ever). And continuing on that note, I made a male Undead Warlock because, lets face it, Undead just look badass.
By the end of my WoW Career, all of my friends picked their avatars based on aesthetics, not on who they were in real life. We would constantly re-roll on new servers to attempt to keep the game interesting for ourselves. I know one avid MMOer who picked races/sexes based on their casting animations alone. And yet another real life friend who would make level 1 female elf (NE/BE) characters to (you guessed it) beg players for money efficiently. I guess what I'm trying to say here is the age old saying "You can't judge a book by it's cover"
Yeah. Man, why could that ever sound familiar? I wonder...RollForInitiative said:
This is actually a really intriguing point that never even occurred to me while I was writing the article. Maybe it really is just a sense of being able to do something that we CAN'T do in most games. Master Chief, Gordon Freeman, Nathan Drake, Cloud Strife - their genders are set in stone.Susan Arendt said:
That's an angle I hadn't considered, and a very interesting one at that.
I always play as women in any game. To some extent I just find it more interesting to name female characters. Yet, I also try to make my characters as close to looking like me as possible. As far as I'm concerned if there are no stat diffrences, why not?
EVERYONE thinks male night elves look stupid.
Plus my night elf druid is female partially because people don't care as much on RP servers and mostly because I'm in a shapeshifted form and it doesn't matter.
Plus my night elf druid is female partially because people don't care as much on RP servers and mostly because I'm in a shapeshifted form and it doesn't matter.
Being male, I played as a female character on RuneScape for a while, and quite a few people that I encountered presumed me to be female in real life.
I have to say that I agree with Max on this one. Although in some universes a mage CAN use a sword efficiently (Warhammer Fantasy) but that is nitpicking from my side.MaxTheReaper said:
I tabletop rpg's I play male or female depending on what I find suits the character concept the best and has so far had slightly more males than females whereas in computer rpgs etc. it is the other way around (I think).
On the computer it depends on the concept and on what looks the best/most interesting which i find to usually be the female models.
I always find it odd how the majority of players assume that female avatars on online games are female.
I always go by the rule "Everyone online is a dude, until solid evidence proves me wrong"
Mainly that evidence is through talking to them through a headset. As pictures you can just pluck from the internet and text, well, you should never believe someone through text.
Being a male, I play as both, but I always play as a male first. After that, I'll make a female if it gives me the option.
And also given an additional option, I give my males giant pink mohawks and go around in no pants.
And not one of those wimpy "fohawks" or whatever the hell they're called, I'm talking about the giant spikey awsome mohawks.
And as females, well... I'm not sure really. But I have noticed that most female characters I created tend to look like the first girl I had a crush on in high school.
...Wonder what that says about me.
I always go by the rule "Everyone online is a dude, until solid evidence proves me wrong"
Mainly that evidence is through talking to them through a headset. As pictures you can just pluck from the internet and text, well, you should never believe someone through text.
Being a male, I play as both, but I always play as a male first. After that, I'll make a female if it gives me the option.
And also given an additional option, I give my males giant pink mohawks and go around in no pants.
And not one of those wimpy "fohawks" or whatever the hell they're called, I'm talking about the giant spikey awsome mohawks.
And as females, well... I'm not sure really. But I have noticed that most female characters I created tend to look like the first girl I had a crush on in high school.
...Wonder what that says about me.
I know what you mean CantFakeTheFunk, I play female characters in a lot of my RPG games. I have 2 female characters in Guild Wars. Jade Empire, Mass Effect, KotOR. I just find its more fun to play a female just to shake it up a bit.
I don't play MMO's but when there is a create your own character option I mostly choose female. And its honestly because I'd like to be a girl, something that I've oddly always dreamed of, but surgery is messy and risky so that's out but its fine as a dream. I have no problem admitting this...on the internet.
I don't see the problem in it, I figure the reason most people do it is because what would you rather be looking at while you run about? A guys rippling biceps or a girls rear swaying about?
I don't see the problem in it, I figure the reason most people do it is because what would you rather be looking at while you run about? A guys rippling biceps or a girls rear swaying about?