Males playing females & vice versa. Are you treated differently?

[scratcha]

This would be a reasonable stance if women didn't do it too, in-game and in real life. However, since some of them do, this essentially boils down to a "you don't have ovaries, you're not allowed to use social norms to your advantage.". If you don't like it, you have no choice but to criticize both men and women who use such tactics, in and out of game. I think you will find you'll receive quite a cold reception when you suggest to women that they're not allowed to flirt to influence men favorably.

 

FWIW, my main (Vanguard Tank) is female, and I don't play her that way because I don't think of Havoc Squad members as manipulative. If I were playing a female smuggler? I would consider it - it's part of the image.

 

I think we shall have to agree to disagree for the most part; though, as a long-time guild leader in another game I certainly do recognize that some women/girls are not above leveraging whatever feminine wiles they possess. I'm not fond of this practice and have never engaged in it, but that's just me. Yet, as a member of the so-called weaker sex in the real world I certainly have used my femininity when I thought it necessary -- call it a sort of real life class balancing.

 

Look, I recognize the divide in perspective; and it's not only limited to our respective genders. People posting on this issue represent myriad cultures and generations. For myself, I grew up in a very rural part of the northwestern US during the 60s and 70s. As an example of my provincialism, I was well into my late teens before I came to realize it was not somehow taboo for men to get their hair styled and have manicures. Happily, I spent a few years in the military before college, which broadened my perspective considerably. Still, you'll forgive me please when I read about so many men wanting to play females in games wherein they are not also suffering some underlying gender identity crisis. Worse for me, I suspect, my upbringing also imbued me with a powerful sense of morality; meaning, I have never been able to play an evil (or dark-sided) character in any game, and I shall always remain saddled with a negative opinion of players who willfully cheat and scam others. But that is entirely my burden to bear and I will now shut up, lest I be further perceived as proselytizing my obviously narrow point of view. Moreover, I apologize if I've offended anyone.

 

Edited June 6, 2014 by scratcha
grammar

[MSchuyler]

Thanks very much for all your answers. I can see that the issue is more complex than I had imagined, including manipulations I'd never thought of. My female is just a regular looking gal, not intended to be overtly sexy or anything. And I've never initiated any sort of flirt.

 

My grandson just threw me a new curve, though. He made his character look like a bee. Really. It's a yellow jacket! I simply have to give him points for artistic creativity here, and yes, he can easily beat my butt, and, no, I'm not going to PvP him so he can make any more painfully obvious than it already is.

 

Anyway, your replies are much appreciated.

 

The Old Guy

[SW_display_name]

My grandson just threw me a new curve, though. He made his character look like a bee.

So, so many allusions to FFVII's Honeybee Manor are now flashing through my head.

[Alphasgimaone]

I've always been one who played 50/50, or even 70/30 in favor of men, but ultimately switched to exclusively ladies in the game just because, as others have already said, the women VAs seem to do a much better job. And it does make a difference. Most of the men chars I haven't played in months, and I've even deleted a few.

 

AFA, any special treatment, I've never really noticed any. Though I admit, I often find people assume I'm a girl a lot, despite I've never tried to "hide" my gender, and if someone asks, I'll tell him I'm a guy. I've been told this is because of the way I type. But doing one's best to use proper syntax, grammar, and spelling shouldn't be any indictor of one's sex--and it's rather sad if it is.

 

As far as, receiving stuff, though, I've never really experienced this. I mean there are times where I'll be tanking a PuG and realize I'm out of Medpacs. I always get one if I ask, but I really doubt this would be any different if it was a male character. Othertimes, I've been given a random piece of gear that's for my class by someone who can't use it. But I've had this happen on male toons too and figure it's more a matter the other guy figures it's not worth the trouble to GTN it if I can use it. This happens a lot on something I join in progress, probably because it dropped earlier in the FP/Op.

 

As far as creepers, I've only come across one. But he was easily dealt with.

 

Lately, though, I've actually experienced a bigger problem about being human--and this goes along with what someone said up thread about her Hispanic human Sorc.

 

I've always preferred humans in whatever game I've played. And this is no different. Aliens just don't do much for me. The problem now is human characters have kind of become stigmatized. Not that long ago I was leveling a char and I GFed for RR as a tank. I was inside for less than a minute when I was vote kicked. One of them whispered "Sorry, no F2P newbs." Now, I'd never claim to be some supper elite tank, but I'm probably in the 80-85 percentile, anyway. And this is on a sever that's tank starved. So I don't know if it's because they assumed I was just a newb or assumed I was a newb and a girl (and therefore bad ) or what. But I found it extremely annoying. So now I've relegated myself to using Founder/LL titles even though I've always found them to be a bit ostentatious.

 

I'm a male, and of course I roll female characters!

 

The game is so much more fun and cheaper playing girl toons. Just find the "right" men and you pay for nothing.

 

I get free cartel packs, power level runs. Millions in free credits. I even got my first Revan's mask from a smitten fellow gamer.

 

Say the right words. Flirt. Call them Honey. Give lots of /hugs and kisses. Amazing how simple it is.

 

Yes, I've ended up with a stalker or two, but that's when it's really fun to share that I'm a dude.

Pics or no.

[Alphasgimaone]

I've always been one who played 50/50, or even 70/30 in favor of men, but ultimately switched to exclusively ladies in the game just because, as others have already said, the women VAs seem to do a much better job. And it does make a difference. Most of the men chars I haven't played in months, and I've even deleted a few.

 

AFA, any special treatment, I've never really noticed any. Though I admit, I often find people assume I'm a girl a lot, despite I've never tried to "hide" my gender, and if someone asks, I'll tell him I'm a guy. I've been told this is because of the way I type. But doing one's best to use proper syntax, grammar, and spelling shouldn't be any indictor of one's sex--and it's rather sad if it is.

 

As far as, receiving stuff, though, I've never really experienced this. I mean there are times where I'll be tanking a PuG and realize I'm out of Medpacs. I always get one if I ask, but I really doubt this would be any different if it was a male character. Othertimes, I've been given a random piece of gear that's for my class by someone who can't use it. But I've had this happen on male toons too and figure it's more a matter the other guy figures it's not worth the trouble to GTN it if I can use it. This happens a lot on something I join in progress, probably because it dropped earlier in the FP/Op.

 

As far as creepers, I've only come across one. But he was easily dealt with.

 

Lately, though, I've actually experienced a bigger problem about being human--and this goes along with what someone said up thread about her Hispanic human Sorc.

 

I've always preferred humans in whatever game I've played. And this is no different. Aliens just don't do much for me. The problem now is human characters have kind of become stigmatized. Not that long ago I was leveling a char and I GFed for RR as a tank. I was inside for less than a minute when I was vote kicked. One of them whispered "Sorry, no F2P newbs." Now, I'd never claim to be some supper elite tank, but I'm probably in the 80-85 percentile, anyway. And this is on a sever that's tank starved. So I don't know if it's because they assumed I was just a newb or assumed I was a newb and a girl (and therefore bad ) or what. But I found it extremely annoying. So now I've relegated myself to using Founder/LL titles even though I've always found them to be a bit ostentatious.

 

 

Pics or no.

So, so many allusions to FFVII's Honeybee Manor are now flashing through my head.

Now this is going to be stuck in my head for the day. Thank you so much.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Alphasgimaone

[Reno_Tarshil]

So, so many allusions to FFVII's Honeybee Manor are now flashing through my head.

 

I have that theme in my head now thanks...

[SonzeK]

I guess i'm the only guy here that always plays Male characters and still gets creepy massages such as:"can i suck your dick while you're sitting on that throne?"

[Daekarus]

I guess i'm the only guy here that always plays Male characters and still gets creepy massages such as:"can i suck your dick while you're sitting on that throne?"

 

What the heck!!!??

 

That is... uh... I'm actually speechless. Why on earth would someone say that?

[Daekarus]

I think we shall have to agree to disagree for the most part; though, as a long-time guild leader in another game I certainly do recognize that some women/girls are not above leveraging whatever feminine wiles they possess. I'm not fond of this practice and have never engaged in it, but that's just me. Yet, as a member of the so-called weaker sex in the real world I certainly have used my femininity when I thought it necessary -- call it a sort of real life class balancing.

 

Look, I recognize the divide in perspective; and it's not only limited to our respective genders. People posting on this issue represent myriad cultures and generations. For myself, I grew up in a very rural part of the northwestern US during the 60s and 70s. As an example of my provincialism, I was well into my late teens before I came to realize it was not somehow taboo for men to get their hair styled and have manicures. Happily, I spent a few years in the military before college, which broadened my perspective considerably. Still, you'll forgive me please when I read about so many men wanting to play females in games wherein they are not also suffering some underlying gender identity crisis. Worse for me, I suspect, my upbringing also imbued me with a powerful sense of morality; meaning, I have never been able to play an evil (or dark-sided) character in any game, and I shall always remain saddled with a negative opinion of players who willfully cheat and scam others. But that is entirely my burden to bear and I will now shut up, lest I be further perceived as proselytizing my obviously narrow point of view. Moreover, I apologize if I've offended anyone.

 

 

There is nothing wrong with your beliefs - somebody says otherwise, they're an intolerant idiot.

 

I look at playing a female toon as an intellectual exercise - it's actually more interesting, especially in SWTOR, because it requires a bit of extra brainpower to try to see things from a female perspective. I will say, however, that the romance arcs are less interesting for me when playing a female character. Take that for what it's worth, I have no idea what it means.

 

As far as exploiting social norms for gain.... I don't care for it, male or female. I don't care for it in real life either. However, that doesn't mean I'm foolish enough to believe it will ever stop. It is, has been, and always will be an integral part of human culture and interactions.

 

Scammers and the like are the lowest form of scum and should be beaten within an inch of their lives with the nearest convenient farming implement. I'm partial to old-style wheat threshers, but a strong argument could be made for a tractor-drawn tetter.

 

EDIT: If a man is getting manicures, it means he doesn't have nearly enough to do of any significance. Working a garden, fixing a car, building something, destroying something, painting, caulking, mowing, cleaning something.... unless you live in a glass bubble, there is way too much that messes up your hands to bother.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Daekarus

[Drudenfusz]

Most of my characters are female, so I cannot say if those character get treated much different from male characters, since I play so rarely a male character (I have not one male character in SWTOR). But I can say, I don't care if a player is male or female, and do not treat people differently on the gender of their character, since I am aware that is doesn't say anything about the player... also I don't view my MMO gaming as an online dating service, so I never inquire what gender the player might have. So, at least from me people get not treated differently because of the gender their characters have... or even when I know the gender of the player I make no difference, since it doesn't make one to me.

[Haggardbr]

I have 5 characters, 3 females and 2 males and I'm male.

 

I noticed as well that when playing with my females, invites for groups and other interactions are more frequent than when playing with my male characters and often people told me that my female chars are hot and that they'd bang them.

 

A couple of days ago, even a guild mate told me that haha.

 

I made my females the way I would like to be if I were a woman or someone I would date for sure. They all look around their 30's with dark brown ponytail hair, baby face, average-to-thick eyebrows and light green / blue eyes.

[BuriDogshin]

Just putting my two cents in here . . .

I've been gaming online since 1997 and I've always thought that it was very creepy for a guy to play a female character.

I've been playing RPGs since 1977 and seen people of both genders (including myself and my wife) play characters of both genders. No one ever thought it was anything but good fun. And both my wife and I have male and female toons on SWTOR, again because it is fun. If you think that's creepy, that's really about a problem you have I, not a problem I or my wife have.

 

SWTOR is interactive fiction. I enjoy movies with strong female lead characters, and I enjoy SWTOR stories with strong female lead characters. Nothing creepy about.

[BuriDogshin]

... often people told me that my female chars are hot and that they'd bang them.

If it bothers you, try playing at a time when the 14 year olds are in school or have been put to bed.

[RaptureRocker]

Haven't been flirted with on any of my female toons in a while, fortunately.

 

My main GTA Online character, however...

 

She gets asked on dates, and people show her all their super cars.

[Rhalius]

I never understood why people would see themselves as their own character. Thats the creepy thing to me to be honest.

 

Personly I see it more like the players are the writers, and their characters are the protagionists of their stories.

 

George R R Martin does not look like Daenerys Targaryen either, but you arent picturing him when you see her on screen.

 

Never understood why people care so much about the people behind the characters. As an RPer I dont care who or what you are, as long as you respect your fellow players.

[JattaGin]

I play since beta weekend and have 8 male and 8 female chars. All body types. All races. All colours. Light side. Dark side. All the variety possible.

 

Not once did anyone approach my female chars differently than my male chars. Not once did someone think I am a woman in real life. Maybe my legacy name is too known on my server, so they all know that I am a guy. I just play normal all the time and everyone treats me normally, too.

 

Only once did my female dark side jedi knight get a remark in a FP. It was: "Ooohh, a female dark side jedi." It had a drooling-undertone somehow. And my main commendo medic female was once filmed for a livestream on the fleet because of her "baddass-looks". That's all.

[SW_display_name]

What the heck!!!??

 

That is... uh... I'm actually speechless. Why on earth would someone say that?

Because they want to give someone a virtual BJ?

 

What is there to not understand?

 

EDIT: If a man is getting manicures, it means he doesn't have nearly enough to do of any significance. Working a garden, fixing a car, building something, destroying something, painting, caulking, mowing, cleaning something.... unless you live in a glass bubble, there is way too much that messes up your hands to bother.

Here are some useful things to familiarize yourself with:

• Google "What is Topcoat nails"
  
• Google "How to reapply nail coat"
  
• Google "products to fix chipped nails"
  
• And perhaps most importantly, Google "What are gloves"
  

 

Modern technology: making fashion not just for supermodels any more!

Edited June 7, 2014 by SW_display_name

[Drayvis]

Because they want to give someone a virtual BJ?

 

What is there to not understand?

 

I would guess his confusion was more at the crass bluntness toward a total stranger...

[thewitchdoctor]

My toons are often female too. For many of the same (non-scamming) reasons mentioned already: character, VA, etc.

 

I have only been really 'hit' on once and that was in WoW. The guy just wouldn't drop it. We were in a LBRS run if I recall correctly. I finally said, 'look, buddy, I am pretty sure I have a bigger d**k than you,' and that, thankfully, was the end of it.

 

Fun times. Anyways, I've seen it in TOR, but I guess my female toons have been lucky. Now that I've typed that ... next time I log in I'm sure to find mysef a stalker. Karma, she does have a sense of humour!

[Daekarus]

Because they want to give someone a virtual BJ?

 

What is there to not understand?

 

Here are some useful things to familiarize yourself with:

• Google "What is Topcoat nails"
  
• Google "How to reapply nail coat"
  
• Google "products to fix chipped nails"
  
• And perhaps most importantly, Google "What are gloves"
  

 

Modern technology: making fashion not just for supermodels any more!

And that response proves you've never actually done any of those things in any quantity or intensity... but it's cute you think those are adequate solutions. The gloves especially.... they're great sometimes, sure, but often they simply get in the way or require design compromises to maintain tactile sensation and dexterity which render them less effective at protecting against certain kinds of dirt, liquids, etc.

 

I have had my (now ex) girlfriend apply a clear topcoat to my nails before just because she wanted to do them... it supposedly made them stronger. I didn't really notice because my nails never break anyway... I trim them when they need it and knock off burrs with whatever mild abrasive happens to be handy. I'm partial to the "bearskin" they use in the machine shop - 600+ grit sandpaper designed for use on metal. Makes sure they don't catch on things or scratch people.

 

All that plus gloves where practical doesn't stop the number one nail-maintenance task from being "use a pocket knife to scrape the dark colored debris from under the nails."

[AelixVII]

Thing I don't get is, surely those guys that flirt with girl avatars must know, they surely must know that they're talking to a dude 95% of the time, yet they still do it...

 

 

I've tried playing both female and male characters and I do get treated pretty differently, nothing major, but it's there.

 

Too bad players can't just treat other players like they would want to be treated themselves.

[Daekarus]

Thing I don't get is, surely those guys that flirt with girl avatars must know, they surely must know that they're talking to a dude 95% of the time, yet they still do it...

 

I think this is the crux of it. I don't really understand the more sexualized things described on this thread, but the flirty RP makes sense to me regardless of who is behind the avatar. Playing the character rather than yourself is fine and interesting, but it throws some people off and still doesn't account for the more colorful and less logical whispers people have received.

 

People will be people, I guess. I guess I've run into it so seldom that it's a non-issue for me, and since I either don't consider the player gender or paint everyone with a gender-neutral brush in my head it doesn't occur to me.

[EranofArcadia]

I am secure enough in what passes for my masculinity to admit that I am so inept at manual labor that I never use my hands. I have a desk job, and I get other people to do stuff around the house that needs fixing.

[eldefail]

As a female who plays (and roleplays) both female AND male characters, I don't notice any different treatment. Most people usually assume I'm a guy unless I tell them otherwise, regardless of the gender of my character. I know a lot of guys get a lot of flack for playing (and especially ROLEPLAYING) female characters, but I can't say as I've noticed the same for females playing male chars. It certainly hasn't been my experience, to say the least. People generally seem to think it's a-okay for me to play male characters without some deep seated psychological disorder but are quick to question the motives of a male doing the exact same thing.

 

It doesn't matter if he just likes the aesthetics of the female body (which is deliberately overly sexualized and artistically designed to EVOKE sexual attraction instincts), prefers the female animations for X class abilities, is roleplaying and wants to experience the game's story through the eyes of a female protagonist, has sexual identity issues, wants free stuff from gullible saps (which DOES happen, I've seen it first hand on many times, it really really works), or is some creepy sexual deviant. It doesn't matter what his motives are, it seems most people become armchair psychologists and diagnose him with sexual identity problems or write him off as gay.

 

But when I play male toons, nobody says anything, nobody treats me any different, nobody cares, and everyone is quick to understand if I prefer the animations or aesthetics of a male character over female. Nobody goes into crazy amateur psychology 101 mode and tries to diagnose me with gender problems or anything silly like that.

[Zoom_VI]

All that plus gloves where practical doesn't stop the number one nail-maintenance task from being "use a pocket knife to scrape the dark colored debris from under the nails."

 

Sewing needles are better