Poll: Females: have you ever pretended to be male while online

[The Man With the Soap]

Sure. Just to get away from the annoying harassment. And the messages. Get away from me, you creeps.

So I just pick a guy avatar sometimes.

That's the short story.

God, I can't imagine how bad some of the messages must get. I mean, who plays games looking for that kind of stuff? Isn't it supposed to be about blowing off some steam in a relaxed setting?

And on a completely unrelated note, your avatar made me laugh when I saw it.

It can get this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRkao-gyZC0] bad.

:/

Wait, is that you in that video?

 

[Kapri]

Hell I'm doing it right now with my Escapist profile. Not because I'm ashamed or don't want anyone to know I'm female; it started as a joke with my friends so now I just use this name!

 

[Lliae]

I don?t advertise the fact that I?m a girl, but I don?t hide it either. More than a decade online has taught me a few harsh lessons, the main one being; If you don?t want to be approached, then don?t be accessible.

It?s actually a tough thing to master, giving off that vibe. Especially in a social setting like WoW, where almost all raiding guilds require ventrilo.

You can be friendly and nice and still have that line drawn in the sand, though there are idiots who will flat out ignore all of the ?I?m not interested? messages right up to the point of you actually reporting them for harassment.

Mostly I just continue on doing my thing, make it clear that I?m not available when guys ask (doing a fair chunk of my gaming with my partner by my side is a pretty good deterrent) and if some new boy asks ?OMG are you a GIRL!?? over vent I just tell them I?m a guy with a very girly voice. *shrug*

 

[Slash Dementia]

Sure. Just to get away from the annoying harassment. And the messages. Get away from me, you creeps.

So I just pick a guy avatar sometimes.

That's the short story.

God, I can't imagine how bad some of the messages must get. I mean, who plays games looking for that kind of stuff? Isn't it supposed to be about blowing off some steam in a relaxed setting?

And on a completely unrelated note, your avatar made me laugh when I saw it.

It can get this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRkao-gyZC0] bad.

:/

It sucks that girls can't sometimes play online games without something like this or similar happening. That video was just kind of pathetic and sad--poor girl.

Before I changed my Xbox gamertag, I had a pretty neutral name (I forgot it), and I played on Halo 2's free-for-all, but with pink armor and a heart emblem. After that, I got two messages from two games that I played. They were both asking where I was from and how old I was--I told them that I was an 18-year-old male (which I am at the time).

Sometimes I just want to punch these people in the face.