Dude looks like a lady

[Athena Bast]

In games where you can choose to be either gender because the look is purely cosmetic like World of Warcraft I've noticed a lot of guys playing females.

I don't think I've seen too many females knowingly choose male characters. I made a male Tauren warrior and Troll mage on the Thrall server. Male Tauren because they are freaking HUGE and a male Troll because they do capoeira. My other 22 toons are female.

I know one guy who has a female toon because his favourite game is Legend of Zelda and he made a toon called Zelda. One guy I know made a female NE toon because..... well I don't want even think about it really.

So.. why do guys make female toons often and how come girls don't make male toons as often?

What are the reasoning behind why you made a toon of the opposite sex?

/discuss

[Albert]

For myself, I will usually play a male in most situations-- unless the male toon is visiually unappealing. For instance, I play both the PS2 Champions games. In those, I will play a male, except when it comes to the elvin archer, who is saddled with these awful-looking birdlegs. The female counterpart is much better proportioned and doesn't look like she's suffering from rickets, so that's a no-brainer.

[Michael P]

Well, some guys pretend to be girls on MMORPGs to entice stupid, lonely male gamers into buying them stuff, helping them with quests, etc. Basically, the insinuation that you have a vagina is the ultimate cheat code.

[SAMAS]

Honestly, I do both. A male and a female, if I can.

[BlairH]

Usually male only for me. It increases the feeling of immersion, and I can feel more empathy for the character.

Unless of course it's a game like Resident Evil, where there are seperate male and female quests. I'll play through both.

[Alex]

I have never played a female character, mainly because...well, im a guy, and it feels like lying.
Lauren has no male characters on wow, but she also won't play a tauren or orc, because she thinks they are too ugly.
...
I should point out, her main is an undead, a very human looking undead, but an undead.

[Conn Seanery]

I don't think there's anything wrong with a male playing a female character. I have several on WoW, it's just a different visual tool used in the aspect of the game. And to be quite frank, if i'm gonna blow an hour or so playing a video game, I might as well be staring at a woman's ass as she runs.

Now, if you're talking about a male roleplaying a female character, I think that's a whole other can of worms. Roleplaying as an actual female, while totally possible, is where I draw the line. In fact, one of the joys I get when using a female toon and receiving an occasional whispered "u r so hot" message from some loser is replying back telling them i'm really male.

[Jared H.]

I played a female in KOTOR II once, because I wanted to see the changes in story. I'll probably do the same in KOTOR I someday.

I think I've also played a female in PSO, but that was because of stat differences.

I've never to my knowledge played a female on an MMORPG(I never played PSO actually online). I don't like people much anyway, and being female would likely bring too much unwanted attention my way.

[(A)//(E)]

i play amajjang on d2 bcuz they're IMBA for pk. (i play 1.09d private realm >_>)

[DoubleShot]

I'm gay and I only play male characters. Straight guys playing women just freaks me out.

[Athena Bast]

I noticed that when I'm on my male characters I'm more likely to get talked to or asked to duel. This is World of Warcraft of course.

On my female characters I get completely random invites to groups. Not asking to be in a group just the join group box appearing on my screen.

:?

[MKTerra]

I used to do that, though nowadays I don't game much at all.

Put simply, it's like creating a dream girl and "writing" her story. Sometimes following the adventures of a female protagonist is more engaging.

[Mike Pothier]

Yeah, if given the choice, I always play the male character. When I play RPGs like NWN or Elder Scrolls, I tend to get into the role, so pretending to be a female is just... weird. This especially goes for playing Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. I tried playing a female vampire. Some the the choices made me feel real dirty.

[Rachel Grey]

I go about 3/4 girls 1/4 guys. Occasionally it's fun to put on a scottish accent and slap people with 'my' beard.

[Athena Bast]

I went and created a male dwarf rogue. Haven't played him tho yet.

I've only been hit on once in the past 11 months playing a female toon which I found odd but I'm on an old server.

I wonder how many guys make female toons just to have guys believe they are female and get hit on.

[BlairH]

I go about 3/4 girls 1/4 guys. Occasionally it's fun to put on a scottish accent and slap people with 'my' beard.

HA! HA! HA!

[Phrozen]

My main on CoV is male but I made a female alt. In fact almost every male in our VG has a female toon, even the gay ones. We do have some female members (about 3 regulars and one off and on) who also have female and male toons. We aren't heavy roleplayers so it isn't a problem.

[G. Wayne]

I don't think there's anything wrong with a male playing a female character. I have several on WoW, it's just a different visual tool used in the aspect of the game. And to be quite frank, if i'm gonna blow an hour or so playing a video game, I might as well be staring at a woman's ass as she runs.

That's my reasoning as well, pretty much. In CoH/V in particular, the female running animation seems to be a lot, ahdunno, fluid-er.

Now, if you're talking about a male roleplaying a female character, I think that's a whole other can of worms. Roleplaying as an actual female, while totally possible, is where I draw the line. In fact, one of the joys I get when using a female toon and receiving an occasional whispered "u r so hot" message from some loser is replying back telling them i'm really male.

Heh.

Back when I was playing Staw Wars: Galaxies, I wanted to try something different using a double-bladed lightsabre, so I made a female toon that was a gothy looking version of Asajj Ventress. RP-ing the character never really crossed my mind, but I quit playing the character altogether anyway after the 3rd pick-up line I got in 2 weeks. Yikes. :eek:

CoH/CoV are another story altogether. My toons are about half male, half female, depending on whatever concept I come up with. In CoH I got bored one night and after goofing around made a female character in a skimpier variation on Top Cow's Magdalena costume. For the hell of it I joined a major costume contest roughly 1 minute after logging in with the character, (before I even made first level) and got 2nd place in the contest, which took around ONE HOUR to judge. After that, the ratio of comments along the lines of 'Nice ass." was directly proportional to how quickly I quit playing the character.

Then there's my favorite character to RP in CoV, which is female in the vein of the Sentry. My version is a hero who went on a mission that turned disasterous, and as a result, she was driven insane. Specifically, she has split personality. The dominant personality is psychotically insane, and believes the heroic, lesser personality is a seperate person, who died. When she get's knocked out in game, she switches to the heroic personality, who has a mental block that the villain personality even exists.

There's also a mechanic in-game where you can switch costumes in a flash. The hero personality has a bright and shiny, full costume. The villain personality has a ripped and battle damaged version of the hero's costume.

It was awesome to play her, especially going through the personality change. It was even better with people who caught on to the split personality thing and played along. Disturbingly though, I lost track of people who tried take, um, "advantage" of the insane personality. It was also a lot harder than I anticipated, trying to hit the level of insanity I was going for, and to not come off as "dumb blonde," but still, it was fun. Whenever I finally get my @&$^%*#^% computer problems fixed, that character will be one of the main reasons I go back to CoV.

[Headhunter]

Although my buddies who do this swear that:

if i'm gonna blow an hour or so playing a video game, I might as well be staring at a woman's ass as she runs.
I suspect they're doing it because:

the insinuation that you have a vagina is the ultimate cheat code.
Personally, it creeps me the hell out.

[Conn Seanery]

Personally, it creeps me the hell out.
"I thought I knew you" creepy, or "Dateline NBC is gonna show up anytime now" creepy?

Either way, this is why I draw the line at roleplaying female. Given that this a male dominated hobby, I don't see any possible motivation that is completely innocent (aside from the exploration of one's feminine side, maybe).

[Headhunter]

"I thought I knew you" creepy, or "Dateline NBC is gonna show up anytime now" creepy?
The former, there are definitely worse things... :rolleyes:

[Alex]

As a fun note, lauren started a character on an RP server, too see what happened.
People were so incredibly nice to her, one guy of level 54 grouped with her at level 12ish, finished all her quests for her, and gave her 20 gold.
Then he asked her for her aim name and email addy.

[Daemon]

Me, Im playing WoW also, and the reason why I play female toons is the same reason why I havn't made a dorf yet.

The male toons are oogly as feck.

[Urusai Wrangler]

I have one male Tauren, one Undead, and two Dwarves. I have one female, an Orc. You don't have to be worried about being harassed as an Orc female; nobody tries to pick 'em in-game because their muscularity threatens the typical male ego. :p

[SAMAS]

I have one male Tauren, one Undead, and two Dwarves. I have one female, an Orc. You don't have to be worried about being harassed as an Orc female; nobody tries to pick 'em in-game because their muscularity threatens the typical male ego. :p
Besides, an Orc female is more likely to pick you up! :p

[Perry Holley]

And to be quite frank, if i'm gonna blow an hour or so playing a video game, I might as well be staring at a woman's ass as she runs.http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=20040601

[Conn Seanery]

http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=20040601
Damn them for A) stealing my idea, and B) keeping their time machine that allowed them to go into the future to steal my idea a secret from humanity.

[Urusai Wrangler]

That phrase was likely first coined by Core Design, after being asked in an interview why the original Tomb Raider featured a female lead instead of a male.

[Conn Seanery]

Damn them too, then.