I am a man in my late 20's and have been playing games for close to 20 years now. In all that time, I can't remember playing a female character (except for Metroid of course). In fact, I do not even read books when they are told from a female characters perspective. When creating a MMO character, I will always create a male character. If the class only offers female characters I will not play it.
Often times I will see guys posting things like "If I am going to look at this character all day, I want it to be a chick." That thought had never occurred to me as I do not think of my characters in a sexual way. So I have never really thought I was looking at a dude all the time and I still don't. If that sorta thing gets you going, more power to you :)
So why am I like this? Could I be sexist? Maybe... but I don't think that is the issue. When playing a game or reading a book I will try to put myself in the place of the character. If the character is a female I can't seem to do that. To support this idea, I used to have the same trouble creating non-human characters. I still will usually go with the Human option. In WAR I will likely be a Dwarf, which is really just a small human.
There is nothing right or wrong with the characters we chose. To each his (or her) own. Am I the only one like this?
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10 comments:
Your last paragraph is correct. There's nothing wrong with your choices, or with the choice of a man to play a female character.
Personally, I have a tough time playing "evil" races. I have and will play female characters at times, though.
I also have an 8 year-old daughter who likes to make characters. Ask me how I found out that World of Warcraft has a 50 character limit :) Naturally, she likes to make girls. And she likes me to play them, so yeah, I've gotten used to it. I don't really care any more.
I tend to make my main character male, but that's the only one I really associate with "me". Anything else is just an alt.
I've had some uncomfortable moments playing as a female character, but it's easy to dissuade virtual suitors. I just tell 'em I'm a 300 pound guy in real life, and I'm really sweaty, because it's hot in my house. They stop being gross pretty quick.
I don't see any problem with people having preferences. I usually prefer female characters myself, but it can depend what they look like (some types of races/classes just look better as males).
The first male alt I had in a MMO was an experiment to see if I got less hassled, and it worked. But that was a few years ago and I don't think people are quite so lame about female players now.
I'm like this also. My character is always some representation of me, even if in some small way. There is nothing feminine about me, therefore female toons don't do it. Granted, a giant green orc represents me little also...but in that case, at least we are both male :)
I also think the arguments about playing female toons because they are better to stare at while playing is weak...I look in the mirror at myself every day, and I never wish that I was a woman for the sake of being better to look at.
Heh heh.
I tend to create a mix of gender types when I play. It just depends on if I like the character model or not. For ex, in WoW I prefer Orc and Dwarf males, and Troll and BElf females.
Though I have had a couple of aghast reactions from friends when I've demoed what I'm playing. It's a little disconcerting since it doesn't mean anything to me.
Of course playing female has its advantages. I've never been randomly gifted gold or platinum while playing a male character.
Though it did get a little creepy once or twice when another player tried to get all jiggy with me. Eeek!
Brent, you summed it up nicely.
Updated post with graphic :)
I can't play a male char. Or, I've only managed it successfully a couple of times over a long time of gaming.
Most of the male characters in MMORPGs looks so silly I can't connect with them, so usually it doesn't matter if I play a male or female. I'm not the kind of guy who undress their avatars and start to dance with them, but I tend to edge more on female avatars than male.
Probably it's because I pick the gender that look the best. In WoW for example we have humans where the males look stiff and ugly, night elves look like monsters, blood elves look gay, orcs undead and trolls look too hunched. But all their female parts look normal.
There is nothing right or wrong with the characters we choose. There is nothing to say a guy who exclusively plays one or the other.
I've a few female characters, they're more because they fit what role I had in mind. I have a level 50 tank who is a girl, because the power set is Dual Blades and really, I decided that the moves were a bit too graceful for the normal huge hulking men in CoX so I made a girl.
If it makes sense to you, do it. If not, worry not.
Holy run on fragmented sentence Batman!
To start with, when I create a character, class/career always comes before the gender, I usually choose the gender that feels the coolest.
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