Playing Female Characters

Stc95 said:
Dredd rez'd it.

and to be on topic: I deleted my female PvP toon for a male PvP toon.. that kinda makes something relevent to this thread.. i might make a female toon sometime.. but then again, Kel always accuses me of cross-dressing so idk... ;)
Click to expand...

I like you as a boy better.;)

Kel Queen of all Europe
 
I love Dillon's family pic from Christmas!

And on the subject of women who game...my friend Ishy came across this article today...

And it's so true. We keep getting told women don't game. The fact that more than a few of us do is beside the point.

I was incensed by the Eurogamer article the author links to; the one about the voice changer software.

Eurogamer.net said:
According to research conducted by the company, "The number of female online game players is not small", would you believe. In fact, "Many of them have reached the highest level of some very difficult games such as World of Warcraft (60th level), which is considered the game for men only." Bless their lacy little cotton socks.
Click to expand...

Talk about condescending! Maybe they meant to be tongue-in-cheek; if that's the case, they failed miserably. Of course, the entire premise of the voice changer article is so insulting that one more conscending, chauvinistic remark makes little difference.

And let's examine Audio4Fun's logic, shall we?

Here's the scenario...I, as a woman, install their voice changer software. I use it to alter my voice to a manly tone and log on TS or Vent. I then proceed to prove my mad skillz. From the guys' perspectives, they've just seen another guy play.

And this proves "playing online games is not a pastime for men only" and that female gamers' "talent can make male partners goggle?"

The real question: would they have the guts to explain their theory in person?
 
Last edited:
The Generation coming up is going to have a ton of women gamers. I know this because I have a younger sister. I am looking forward to gamers being more mixed. There is sterotype of male gamers right now too. Basically we are told that we are supposed to like violent games with no plot. I miss the games like Simcity 2000 and the Oregon Trail! The computer games I grew up with were non-violent and made you use your brain. Does anyone remember the Dr. Brain series? I loved those games, and believe those games helped me be a better student in school.

I like Guild Wars because of the strategy involved in picking your skills, not because I kill stuff. I do wish though that some of the female characters would look more realistic. Why does Jora have hardly any clothes on? It is cold up there! Wouldn't she freeze to death wearing what she wears? They should of designed her more like Devona, who actually has armor fitting for a warrior.
 
Jawsofwar said:
The Generation coming up is going to have a ton of women gamers.
Click to expand...

There are far more women gamers now than most people believe. I have quite a few female friends who are gamers, and most are far more hardcore than I am. By the standards of my friends, I'm a casual gamer.
 
I play male characters sometimes. Sometimes it's for a reason, although most of the reasons have been based on that particular game, and sometimes it's just on a whim.

MM is a casual gamer....

I tried to read this thread, but only got to the third page become coming to just read the last page.
 
It's more of an ongoing conversation. :)

This is from the first article I linked to above...

strangehorizons.com said:
...women as a group are less likely to be interesting in hitting things than men. At this point, everyone holds up the example of The Sims, which I remember originally being touted as a 50/50 male/female game, but over 60% of its current sales of which, according to a recent New York Times article, are to girls and women.

And this is what's really interesting to me. Because if the game originally was sold about 50% to women, why did that proportion go up? The Sims got a lot of attention from the beginning for its appeal to women. Women were being told from the beginning that other women were playing it. And now, more women play it than men. The initial success with women may well have been due to the nature of the game—less violent, less specific achievement-oriented, emphasis on social relationships between Sim people—but I think there's more at play when you think about why the proportion of female players kept going up.

While it may certainly be true that more women could be drawn into games by offering a greater variety of content—such a strategy would probably draw in more people period—I think the perception of some kinds of games as exclusively masculine territory is doing just as much, if not more, to keep women from playing them. Girls and women are discouraged from even trying some games because it's just not something that "girls do," and this proscription is writ particularly large in MMOGs.
Click to expand...

I have been told that women shouldn't game, and that I'll "get over it" when I'm all grown up and have kids. Because mature Christian women don't play video games... (Most of you don't realize it, but much of the Christian community doesn't consider a woman a "real" grown-up until she's had kids. It doesn't matter if you've been supporting yourself for over a decade...) Some people have told me straight out that I shouldn't be gaming. And many women I know simply don't tell many people that they play games. But if they're told that "woman are playing this," it gives them permission to play. It happened with The Sims and The Sims 2; now we're seeing it happen with Guitar Hero.
 
Last edited:
My wife has played and enjoyed both GH3 and Rock Band! :D I don't think she counts as one of the females starting to play games though, played Counter Strike before I knew her. In all the games where you can create a character (Sims, GW, etc...) her character has resembled her. When I first started creating characters I did the same. Face has facial hair... short stature... :cool: In games where you can personalize your toon you have the ability to put yourself into a new world. I see it almost as an iteration of the old choose your own adventure books. Except you get to chose the main character as well as the paths they take. Up until reading this I haven't even considered creating a female toon. The only reason I might would be to not duplicate an existing class, i.e. I'm thinking of starting an LDoA monk and I already have a M Mo from Tyria. I'm not sure where I'm really going with this, just wanted to comment on all that I read... (all 7** posts):o

btw... do I get a cookie for every post I read?!? ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top