Guild Wars 2

Beorn Saxon.4762:

I’m a guy and I’ve converted most of my characters to guys bc I hate getting sexual PMs from other guys that think I’m a chick IRL. -.-

seriously?
I’ve played only female chars and I’ve yet to get a “sexual pm”. Considering it’s a game that kids can play. I’d assume pms like that are grounds for a ban.

Equilibriator.8741:

My issue with males is that the way they hold their two handed swords. As a fan of FF7 i want my character holding the sword aimed down, all male characters essentially hold them pointed up which i think looks stupid.

I really wish they allowed us to choose from stances (gem store maybe?) that affected how we held our weapons and ran with them.

Actually, Greatswords and axes should’ve been held in two hands, straight, pointed up. Look at Witcher games.

My first MMO was Lineage 2 .. the main reason i played it was that i saw a female Warrior dual wielding 2 swords and thought : wow .. must have

Since that the only male character i played for a while in any MMO was a Ratonga Brigand in EQ2, but even that one was replaced with a female High Elf at around level 40

Ah .. i also created once a Will Smith Clone in AION .. but after i saw the running Animation for 30 seconds i directly deleted him

As a female player, I play both male & female & find males have the best sets because most are less skimpy – I’d much rather have the male arah armor set on female characters… But no, females get the skimpy sets

Weindrasi.3805:

I prefer male characters.
As a female player, I feel empowered by being able to play a strong, capable fighter. Running around with my breasts flouncing around and my skin exposed does the exact opposite—makes me feel like I’m just a tool for some 14-year-old nerd’s pleasure fantasy.
It’s easier to make a male character look strong and capable— it’s not a constant struggle to find something that doesn’t flash my breasts or show the shape of my bum. So, for human-like characters at least, I tend to make males. It’s just a lot of frustration off my shoulders.

That said, I did manage to make a female human guardian who looks quite tough. I used the biggest female body, and found armor that adds a lot of bulk to her frame without drawing attention to her breasts or her bum.

you know, armor that shows the shape of the character’s kitten is quite scarce, I’ve been looking for ever a piece of armor to show off my mesmer’s kitten , so far only Heavy (1 option) and medium (this has “more” options)

also, making tough looking females is quite easy, the only ones that actually look frail are the human females, but you can always use a full body armor, bikini armor are just 3 or 4.

I say, people just likes to complain and honestly, its getting old pretty quick

Rym.1469:

Equilibriator.8741:

My issue with males is that the way they hold their two handed swords. As a fan of FF7 i want my character holding the sword aimed down, all male characters essentially hold them pointed up which i think looks stupid.

I really wish they allowed us to choose from stances (gem store maybe?) that affected how we held our weapons and ran with them.

Actually, Greatswords and axes should’ve been held in two hands, straight, pointed up. Look at Witcher games.

that’s the benefit of computer games, historical accuracy based on logic need not apply. i want to hold my two handed swords blade down cos it looks much cooler to me than pointed up (goes with armour n stuff better) just like a lot of people want to hold it in various ways as well. would also make characters more unique but meh, im going off topic. i think females have better weapon stances. Een take staff for example, there’s a proper pose as opposed to just standing there

I am always shocked how many just play humans. It’s so boring, Fantasy games are here to create something differnt. Not just another human. I only have two humans, rest is Charr, Asura, Norn and Sylvari. And they are either female or male.

Eye of the beholder.
Everything is subjective and although I would have to agree that female armor is far too revealing in most cases I also feel that it’s a video game. And it may not promote a realistic image but neither do hulking muscular males. The fact of the matter is that it’s a fantasy video game and the vast majority of us understand this. Only someone who is mentally disconnected projects their opinions of beauty from video games in to the real world.
Play what you enjoy and if someone has a problem with it they are as much entitled to their opinion as you.

My daughter thinks my human males look hot. I cannot think of them in that way. To me they just look nice. My females look nice too, perhaps a bit too pretty, but cannot be helped, I suppose. When it comes to human armor I almost consistantly think the male version (or Asura and Charr) is nicer.

I play all races and both genders though right now I have a couple more females than males. Being a woman I do identify more with the females. They get to be rather ‘conservatively’ dressed compared to most others. Revealing is ok to a point, armor that would have to be glued on to stay where it is (CoE light) makes me gringe though.

zenleto.6179:

The Pointless.3869:

zenleto.6179:

serapheles.5409:

I’m not quite certain what seems off about human males.

Because they all look like they belong in a boy band!

I’m not sure One Direction would have this guy.

He looks Norn. Maybe he’s part of a boast band.

I see what you did, there.

ProtoGunner.4953:

I am always shocked how many just play humans. It’s so boring, Fantasy games are here to create something differnt. Not just another human. I only have two humans, rest is Charr, Asura, Norn and Sylvari. And they are either female or male.

Well it did add something different at pre launch the Sylvari looked so amazing to me but after they were actually released….. They looked horrid I liked the old concept more but that’s just me I guess Charr are overrated from gw1 meh don’t like them. Asura are arrogant butts sorry but personality affects me even in a game and norn are…..just too freaking big so it’s human for me until we get Tengu then well I guess I’ll need another 11 character slots but I am content with my mostly female collection because YES their armor etc is far more designed and elaborate. Yes I like to watch a womans behind(pixels included) wiggle far more than a male but I also get into my characters my warriors and guardian are covered t3 human doesnt show off curves or obscene aspects of her and my warrior has a mix and match with CoE chest+gloves and Kodan leggings with either cof or phalanx boots and I think I put hellfire shoulders because of the color scheme. You can find many armors that cover you and not look like a barbie doll My heavy’s dont and I have 5 of them now as for my opinion on light armor….they are casters in dnd and other things they don’t get into the fight they sit back and destroy and try to avoid letting anything hostile close to them so uhhh why would they have plate and stuff yea there is few elegant tasteful armors in that category but I like to think of mine as an eye catcher/distraction and usually as a mesmer if I come into a fight 2 clones and me hitting them they stop going for the war and try to find me and end up dead so to me my choice of clothing caught their attention like “ooo la la” and we wacked them because I am also deadly like my class and armor rating would suggest if you can hit that hard with your mind you don’t need a lot of protection same goes for medium and there are no where near as many sexual armors in those fields as you think just almost everyone has the ones that are. now grammar hounds have at my post cuz I know I messed it up

Garambola.2461:

My daughter thinks my human males look hot. …Revealing is ok to a point, armor that would have to be glued on to stay where it is (CoE light) makes me cringe though.

My daughter thinks the same about my male human necromancer, always going on about how cute he is but she thinks my male Norn is ugly. I did notice many human male options have delicate features that look somewhat feminine with the default settings and can even be made to look rather androgynous (if one disregards the torso modeling on females which leaves no doubts).

I actually enjoy the Asuara and Charr quality of the males and females are not so different and I like that Charr and Asura females use male armor appearances. It can be challenging at times to come up with an outfit for female human, Norn, Slyvari that doesn’t show copious amounts of skin/bark and looks like it would stay in place without spray adhesive but is also elegant and feminine.

Not all female gamers are playing friendface games or phone apps and I look forward to the day that there is more variety in the options for how female characters (and male) might clothe themselves. In a fantasy game I do want my female characters to look attractive and I don’t expect true to life realism at all times but I also try to follow the rule of exposed flesh that “less is more” and the right six inches of exposed skin can be a whole lot more sexy than letting 90% hang out there with nothing left to the imagination or is so tight is might as well be the pixellated version of certain infamous yoga pants.

Vespertilionidae.5018:

Garambola.2461:

My daughter thinks my human males look hot. …Revealing is ok to a point, armor that would have to be glued on to stay where it is (CoE light) makes me cringe though.

My daughter thinks the same about my male human necromancer, always going on about how cute he is but she thinks my male Norn is ugly. I did notice many human male options have delicate features that look somewhat feminine with the default settings and can even be made to look rather androgynous (if one disregards the torso modeling on females which leaves no doubts).

I actually enjoy the Asuara and Charr quality of the males and females are not so different and I like that Charr and Asura females use male armor appearances. It can be challenging at times to come up with an outfit for female human, Norn, Slyvari that doesn’t show copious amounts of skin/bark and looks like it would stay in place without spray adhesive but still looks elegant and feminine.

Not all female gamers are playing friendface games or phone apps and I look forward to the day that there is more variety in the options for how female characters might clothe themselves. In a fantasy game I do want my female characters to look attractive and I don’t expect true to life realism at all times but I also try to follow the rule of exposed flesh that “less is more” and the right six inches of exposed skin can be a whole lot more sexy than letting 95% hang out there with nothing left to the imagination.

I love you! There is just something about a classy and elegant dress/outfit that can drive me wild irl and it’s hard to find things like that in these games yet I try to get close to it with some of my armor sets that shows just enough to get your attention and it’s like hmmmmm : D I think that’s why I like the Heavy classes more than the others because you can get outfits put together that are sexy buttt still leave regards to a commanding figure : D which is why I have commander tag on all of my Heavy human females : D Guard and 2 warriors they have the look that at first it’s like she’s someone you’d want to talk to then look again and it’s like yea she would beat me down without a second thought.

It took the OP 20 months to come to this conclusion? It’s the reason I play mostly female characters.

It took the OP 20 months to come to this conclusion? It’s the reason I play mostly female characters.

LadyHorus.8214:

Yujin.1785:

@OP

Because the guys look like guys (for the most part), while the women look like runaway super models. The biggest culprit are the female norns.

Ehh not all norn faces look prissy though. only a few… and they pale in comparison to what we get with the human females. That is the biggest disappointment far as I’m concerned. And the bodies that don’t look like barbies, they seem to think small breasts = tummy or being thicker which couldn’t be further from the truth. They did well with the bodies for sylvari in this area mostly (though they are way too thin but at least it looks “consistent”) but humans… I dunno hah. I could never make a character to look like me, because the bodies are so strange. Not to mention the faces look like children for the most part.

The males might look like boy band members but I think the females got it worse.

I dunno.. Norn females look very…. endowed… I strongly agree with you about human females looking really prissy and human males as being somehow related to the Jonas brothers.

serapheles.5409:

Solandri.9640:

It shouldn’t. It’s perfectly natural. Males are genetically programmed to be attracted to healthy female characteristics (unhealthy females tended to die during childbirth in past ages, so genes to ignore how a female looks got selected out). Just like females are genetically programmed to be attracted to males who are capable of protecting (strength) and providing for (wealth) a family. Nothing sexist about it. Those are just the traits which yielded a greater chance of survival of the offspring.

OTOH, if they treat you as if you’re nothing more than your physical or financial characteristics, that’s sexist.

I don’t see it as sexist so much as shallow. It’s one thing to think of it as “and that’s nice”, compared to being the defining factor in the choice of a character’s gender.

You’re confusing defining with magnitude – that because he chose to make a female toon, the predominant reason must be because he wants to stare at a female toon. Depending on the situation, a defining factor can have a very small magnitude.

From the perspective of the game mechanics, a female and male character are identical. They have the same skills and attributes, and play the same. So the tiniest preference for a female toon settles the decision in favor of making it female. If the pleasantness of staring at a female toon makes a 0.01% difference to a person, that breaks down the decision to 50.01% in favor of a female, 49.99% in favor of a male, and a guy will make a female toon.

The main factors in favor of a guy playing a male toon would be:

• Self-identity – you want your toon to be a fantasy representation of yourself.
• Confusion – you don’t want online friends thinking you’re female IRL.
• Homophobia – you fear being labeled as gay if you play a female toon.

The first one doesn’t concern me because I’ve been playing roleplaying games for over 30 years now (including male, female, changeling, androgynous alien, a sapient computer, and even animals). The second one is partially mitigated by having a screen name separate from the character name. If I become close with any new online friends, I do make clear I am male IRL. The last doesn’t bother me despite being heterosexual. If someone wants to judge a person because of a completely aesthetic choice in a game, that’s their problem not mine.

The other reasons I like female toons in action/adventure-type RPGs are:

• I think women who take charge of their own fate and go out and kick butt are really hot. Not all guys like dainty wall flowers or pin-up girls. Judging from common character types in action movies and anime, I’m not alone.
• As an amateur photographer who minored in cognitive psychology, I’m also fascinated by what makes my brain perceive certain faces as attractive. Unfortunately my brain doesn’t perceive male faces as attractive, so the only way I can explore this is by playing with female faces in character creators.
• I like the voices better. In general I think the female character voices are done a better than the male, except for the Charr.

FWIW, my norn guardian started off as male (modeled after my male GW1 warrior) but I couldn’t stand the voice acting. I re-rolled it as female… and learned the voice was just as annoying. At that point I was about 20 levels in, and I wanted a norn guardian, so it was easier just to stick with what I had.

So there you go. Being pretty to look at is a factor. But are you convinced that it’s not as big a factor as you think it is?

LadyHorus.8214:

Way I see it is (and this may come across as me stereotyping and I apologize) that men don’t tend to care so much about looks as females do. We spend so much time trying to look good wether that’s with makeup, hair, nails, clothing, hell handbags even and so on lol. It’s just because there is a bigger “market” for it with females than there is with males. Not all guys are the same nor are girls of course, I just think generally speaking that is the way it is.

You’re being too self-critical. Why do women preen themselves? It’s because men like prettier women. As I explained before, healthier and younger women had a higher chance of successfully bearing offspring, so were genetically selected for (men who preferred to mate with these women had their genes passed on). Most of the makeup women put on and clothing they wear are just ways to accentuate a young and healthy appearance.

So it’s not that men don’t care about looks – they do. In their women. And women just play along. Note that in most animal species it’s the other way around. It’s the male which is colorful and flamboyant (e.g. most birds). Because the females care about those looks, so they get genetically selected for in the males, becoming more and more ostentatious with each generation.

In the end, men and women are both responsible for each others’ appearances and behaviors.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Eye of the beholder.
Everything is subjective and although I would have to agree that female armor is far too revealing in most cases I also feel that it’s a video game. And it may not promote a realistic image but neither do hulking muscular males. The fact of the matter is that it’s a fantasy video game and the vast majority of us understand this.

Boris Vallejo is almost single-handedly responsible for the beefcake male warrior and skimpy female armor stereotype. He did the cover art for a lot of fantasy books from the 1960s and on. (You probably don’t want to browse that site while at work.)

I think my Human looks pretty darn good…

what you talking about Willis?..I think they tend to be much or a muchness

Solandri.9640:

LadyHorus.8214:

Way I see it is (and this may come across as me stereotyping and I apologize) that men don’t tend to care so much about looks as females do. We spend so much time trying to look good wether that’s with makeup, hair, nails, clothing, hell handbags even and so on lol. It’s just because there is a bigger “market” for it with females than there is with males. Not all guys are the same nor are girls of course, I just think generally speaking that is the way it is.

You’re being too self-critical. Why do women preen themselves? It’s because men like prettier women. As I explained before, healthier and younger women had a higher chance of successfully bearing offspring, so were genetically selected for (men who preferred to mate with these women had their genes passed on). Most of the makeup women put on and clothing they wear are just ways to accentuate a young and healthy appearance.

Uhm, I never said otherwise. Of course I know women care about their looks so as to impress a man, and believe it or not women do care about a man’s hygiene as well. It’s just they do not go to the lengths that women generally do, and I think part of the reason women do is because it also makes them feel good about themselves. You can get into the psychology of it all you want but I’m fairly certain this is a well known thing. Being a woman myself I know that when I’m going out with my boyfriend I want to look nice for him (even if he doesn’t really mind if I’m dolled up or not). I do it for him but also for me. I do it when I go to work just to look presentable lol. etc etc.

As for the other things you have addressed, I just assume most female characters in games are really guys in real life, because that’s usually the case in my experience. Ask any number of them and the main reason they play a female is because they like looking at them more than they would a male character. That’s the answer I’ve usually gotten 99% of the time when it’s come up. Role players may just be an exception to this since they don’t solely care about the appearance of the character but also their story and where they come from, and why they’re doing what they do.

Whenever I’ve made a male character I usually get surprised responses from guys wondering why a girl would want to play a guy character hah. My reasons may not be entirely just because I wanted an attractive guy character (actually it’s a bit lower on the list) but just because I like something different now and then. When I make males however, I find it hard to really get into I guess. I view all my characters as an extension of myself in some way (or are based on my own personal characters in my own stories outside of games) and it’s easier for me to step into the shoes of a woman than a man. So I don’t tend to keep the male characters I make but that never stops me from playing games with male characters in the lead (player) role. It isn’t hard to understand a story from a male character’s perspective especially if the story is told well, and of course the gameplay has to be good or what’s the point in a game? Despite this I have heard a few times that it’s hard for some guys to play games with leading female roles because they can’t relate to the character as well as they would a guy (wether that’s because they want to project themselves into the character or what have you). And God forbid that leading female has a romantic interest in a guy at some point.

You can probably speculate on all of that as well but I think it varies for each person. I just think in a game like an RPG where you can choose who and what you are it can be different than playing a game with set characters and story. I sort of went off-topic but I hope what I’m saying makes a little sense.

Taygus.4571:

Beorn Saxon.4762:

I’m a guy and I’ve converted most of my characters to guys bc I hate getting sexual PMs from other guys that think I’m a chick IRL. -.-

seriously?
I’ve played only female chars and I’ve yet to get a “sexual pm”. Considering it’s a game that kids can play. I’d assume pms like that are grounds for a ban.

Good ‘ole pixel daters are always good for a laugh. The sole reason why I don’t mind the erper crowd is because of how funny things can get with them around.

In GW2 I haven’t received any propositions yet. But in older games, I used to get that stuff all the time. I think most of the MMO crowd has finally grown up and realized that most of the female avatars are G.I.R.L.s, or Guys In Real Life. Anyway, whenever I get those kinds of messages, I’d always respond with the same thing:

“If I was interested in pixel dating, I would’ve made a character that was my own gender”.

That said, in these games I tend to gravitate more toward female characters than male ones, mostly because I like looking at them more. I always have one or two guys, but as far as characters go, I make women more often.

Though my human male thief is rather dashing in a robinhood sort of way.

I got a total makeover kit for getting 5k Achievement Points today, but I just can’t bring myself to make my main into a female. Something feels so wrong about making him undergo such a… procedure… and then make him wear revealing armor. I put a lot of gold into crafting his appearance, and I don’t like the way it would look on her… him… it? I dunno, but my point still stands.