Guild Wars 2

What do people think MMORPG means? Everybody knows that MMORPG = Mostly Men Online Role Playing Girls. =P

But seriously, I have 8 characters, using all the races and have a mixture of male and female characters. I get immersed into these games, but I do not require that my character represents me in any way. If I am going to RP, then I would choose male cause it is easier to RP when it you are RPing something somewhat close to yourself. But I do not RP in this game, therefore my characters do not need to represent myself in anyway.

Well this thread has been informative.

From reading it, so far I’ve found that if I play female chars then it’s because of feminine aspects of my personality and if I play male chars is because of masculine aspects of my personality.

What this all means that a female playing female chars I’m expressing female personality traits. But I’m spending my time staring at female butts, so… I’m expressing male sexuality? I’m exhibiting latent lesbian traits? But if I play male chars, while I’m now being sexual normative by staring at male butts I’m expressing masculine personality traits.

Hmmmm.

Nowhere in all this contradictory mess am I allowed to play which gender I want based on nothing more than aesthetics.

To all the deep psycho analysis some have made I say, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar (that is, you’re looking too deep into a shallow choice).

G.I.R.L.
Guy In Real Life

I have both genders on my account even though I am female. I actually prefer the male char over the female to me they just look better. I cant though play male norn it isnt because I am uncomfortable playing as a male. It is their god awful clown feet and distorted figure. If they made their bodies more proportional like the female norn I would be more inclined to play them.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Well this thread has been informative.

From reading it, so far I’ve found that if I play female chars then it’s because of feminine aspects of my personality and if I play male chars is because of masculine aspects of my personality.

What this all means that a female playing female chars I’m expressing female personality traits. But I’m spending my time staring at female butts, so… I’m expressing male sexuality? I’m exhibiting latent lesbian traits? But if I play male chars, while I’m now being sexual normative by staring at male butts I’m expressing masculine personality traits.

Hmmmm.

Nowhere in all this contradictory mess am I allowed to play which gender I want based on nothing more than aesthetics.

To all the deep psycho analysis some have made I say, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar (that is, you’re looking too deep into a shallow choice).

I like to set things on fire indoors and swing my weapon at ambient creatures. . Isn’t that what people do in real life too?

Toons in an MMO mean different things to different people. I’m the type that prefers playing same-sex characters, because I think of my toons as being extensions that represent me in the game world. But to other people it’s different. It may be like reading about a character in a book, or there may be no thought whatsoever besides whatever they find most aesthetically pleasing. For others it may be an anima/animus thing, whether conscious or not. Then there are probably some who are consciously or subconsciously acting out bizarre “puppeteer” fetishes in playing opposite-sex toons, which is incredibly creepy to think about.

It sometimes surprises me how many people play opposite sex toons (in particular guys playing girls) in MMOs, but that’s just because of my own bias. It’s not something you can make sweeping generalizations about.

Odokuro.5049:

Playing a toon of the opposite sex?

Fixed the title for you

I dunno about personality traits necessarily being reflected in character choice, that seems a little far fetched. Although I’ve never bought into the “if ur gunna stare at an kitten all day” argument, there are all sorts of reasons people make male vs female characters. Personally, it’s simple aesthetics; male characters in GW2 have gigantic floatinh shoulder pads and it just puts me right off. Even thin male character proportions seem subtly wrong. In Warcraft, I used to play a Rogue and a Paladin who were both male.

I have been playing online since the old BBS days. Started with playing female chars since I am one but got hit on and harassed enough that I now just play male chars. That being said it just goes with me the hack-n-slash type in any game, including DnD. Thou from experience I know real life girls can sword fight with the best of them (I am certified in stage combat and help my wife teach it). My wife on the other hand plays almost all female chars.

I usually play male characters in RPGs, including pen and paper games. I GM pen and paper games as well, which calls for me to RP both male and female characters. There really isnt a difference. You RP the character. Their gender is only a part of what makes them who they are.

I suppose, for those who do have an issue with playing characters of the opposite gender, I am curious, do you have problems enjoying books and movies with female protagonists?

ArchonWing.9480:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Well this thread has been informative.

From reading it, so far I’ve found that if I play female chars then it’s because of feminine aspects of my personality and if I play male chars is because of masculine aspects of my personality.

What this all means that a female playing female chars I’m expressing female personality traits. But I’m spending my time staring at female butts, so… I’m expressing male sexuality? I’m exhibiting latent lesbian traits? But if I play male chars, while I’m now being sexual normative by staring at male butts I’m expressing masculine personality traits.

Hmmmm.

Nowhere in all this contradictory mess am I allowed to play which gender I want based on nothing more than aesthetics.

To all the deep psycho analysis some have made I say, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar (that is, you’re looking too deep into a shallow choice).

I like to set things on fire indoors and swing my weapon at ambient creatures. . Isn’t that what people do in real life too?

Pfft… I do that all the time. I’m also partial to teleporting straight to the kitchen when I don’t feel like walking there. :P

Folks are going to make their characters how they like them to be. Some people view it as a highly personal process, making their own digital avatar in the game. Others will make a charr with a hot pink mane and the frilliest dress they can find. It’s a game, and people play it differently. Ultimately it doesn’t matter except to the person playing their particular character.

Welcome to the internet. People do things you don’t do sometimes. If that makes you panic, you have a blacklist AND a quit button. Use them.

First of all, I’m a role player with a ton of characters. Second, I play both male and female. Whatever fits the concept I’ve come up with for that character.

Every character you make is a character in a story. If you’re a RPer, then they’re going to be a main character. If you’re not, then they’re still at least a background character in someone else’s story, right?

You, the player, are the author writing these characters. The game may place some limits on you, but you’re still writing them. They may represent you, the may carry just some aspect of yourself, or they may not have anything in common with you at all, but they’re still characters in a story. And in most stories, it’s one person writing the dialog and actions for all the characters, male and female. Stephen King, J K Rowling, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne McCaffrey… All of them write for both genders of characters.

At least, this is how I view it. And if someone makes a pass at one of my characters, how they respond will depend on what character it is. But if I get the feeling that they’re confusing the character with the player, I make sure to set them straight.

As a girl who enjoys GW2, I don’t mind playing either gender. I suppose it’s partially because I have personal characters for each one (I don’t RP, I just like making up stories) but it also doesn’t bother me if others don’t know I’m a girl most of the time. People ask, they are shocked (not surprising to me, I’m always mistaken for a guy) and promptly apologize for calling me a guy but it’s not a big deal. It happens, it’s hard to tell someone’s gender online. xP

I’m a guy and I play a mix of both, though I do generally prefer my female characters (and they greatly outnumber my male toons). I don’t try to over-analyze why, I just play what makes me happy. My fiancee’ does the same with her characters (she has both male and female characters too).

If playing a character of the opposite sex makes you feel “uneasy”, then don’t do it. It’s a game and playing it should be fun for you.

I’m a guy too and the character is the one that you always see on the screen, especially its back. So I prefer my toon to shake a female kitten instead of a male one

I’m a guy and tend to prefer female toons for much the same reasons as already mentioned, though when I play, I’m rarely looking at my own character’s backside and more at the action in front of her. I tend to pay more attention to her during the Fashion Wars aspect of the game, though I generally prefer the tasteful, more conservative styles over the provocative.

Ironically, my main is a male charr with whom I tend to identify more strongly, though the suspension of disbelief is broken when I have to make character choices I personally disagree with for the sake of the game’s structure or what I feel is truest to his “life.” I tend to play all my toons through the perspective of genuine role playing or at least like an interactive novel where the characters have backstory and motivations. I think I’ve mentally constructed a pre-game backstory for 6 of my 9 toons.

This question always leads to an interesting read. But not because of the topic itself, rather the wide spread of responses you get.
You could bring up psychology and philosophy, stereotypes and aesthetics. You could bring up justifications to play a female characters or those against playing one. You could talk about sexuality and gender identification. You could bring up homosexuality or the lack thereof as a reason to only play female characters or to never play one.

What does all of that mean? Very little in the end. Pretty much nothing more than that everyone is different, has a different personality, different reasons, different tastes and enjoys different things.
Judging someone by the characters they play makes about as much sense as judging someone by their favorite colors or choice of morning cereal.

Bandit.8279:

When I was a young lad I felt the same OP but as the years went by I began to shift from seeing the char on screen as myself to just seeing it as a protagonist on screen. Meaning playing female char’s became a thing for me (I still also play male char’s as well) where I also got the added bonus of looking at some nice eye candy.

I had the same thing.. Used to think it was weird for people to play opposite genders in games, but eventually I started opening up to playing female characters because as a straight guy, I figured why not play a character I like to look at? (I love anything that resembles a sexy woman). Also, as someone who LOVES to customize stuff and make everything look nice, female characters in gw2 (and in some other games) generally have more unique clothing and hair styles, making them more fun to customize… so yeah, I play a few female characters now, but only asuras atm because they are freaking adorable (especially when they make that cute little “rahhhhhh”).

Male characters onry. Playing a female or a character I can’t relate to or represent as myself isn’t as fun or immersive. I also dislike hearing high pitched grunts and screams all the time. It’s excruciatingly bad in Asian games especially since they’re into intentionally making females as loud and absurd as possible.

I play mostly male characters, for the simple reason that I rp all of my chars. And I really suck at impersonating female chars. I have one female norn necro. And to make it easier for me to impersonate her, I made her mute… And that wasn’t any easier
So I just stick with my male chars.
It hasn’t anything to do with feeling unease.

I play mixed, I have male as like female characters and my main is a female character.
Ive never ever experienced in those 5 years a single day, where I have been haraassed by any other player for playing a female character while myself being a male player.

So I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been that as it seems.
Only thing to say there is – ignore such fools, block them and good is, sadly you find such idiots everywhere in online games.

If we’re talking about preferences, mine tend to stem from the first MMO I had played, FFXI. In that game, I played a human male and in that era and the way accounts were handled, most people expected you to play your personal sex and guys who played females tended to be seen as using cheesecake to get gil and items from people. So I played a representation of myself.

As I played that game for years, I got an appreciation for game worlds and their inhabitants and began feeling regret for not picking one of the other 3 non-humanoid races.

While I don’t bar myself from any type of character, I’ve grown to choosing character races that don’t resemble humans (the less, the more intriguing). I had characters of every race (re-rolled my Norn into a Human) but most of my characters are Charr and Asura.

The kitten filter makes some of the replies here hilarious. :p

I chose all my chars in CRPGs based on class and their personality. If it’s a brute/warrior, shiny protector or just plain evil it’s going to be male. If it’s a caster, sneaky thief or subtly evil, it’s mostly female. Maybe cliché, but that’s what almost all RPGs are about! The only time I don’t chose females with the above pattern is when they are overly sexualized. Which Charr thankfully are not.

Sadly I find GW2’s story in general is breaking the immersion too often to really RP a character through it. There are no choices so my toon is more something to watch in a story than to experience it. With pen&paper I only chose males.

But I honestly don’t find it even worth discussing what sort of character someone plays. I have only once in another game had someone kinda “stalk” me when playing a female character. Maybe because I will always play a non-human race and they don’t look very “girly”. Ignore and move on, also never tell them if you’re female or male! ;)

My very first MMO is Maple Story and that was quite a few years ago. Then, I remembered being asked in-game ‘boy or girl?’ I was liked, well, isn’t it obvious? I am playing a girl character right?

It was later that I learnt from my guildmates and friends that many guys play female characters in MMO

Makes me wonder, do some girls play the opposite gender too? Definitely not from my small group of friends who play games.

Mil.3562:

Makes me wonder, do some girls play the opposite gender too? Definitely not from my small group of friends who play games.

Of course they do, there are girls in this very thread that say they do. Girls who play both in fact.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Well this thread has been informative.

From reading it, so far I’ve found that if I play female chars then it’s because of feminine aspects of my personality and if I play male chars is because of masculine aspects of my personality.

What this all means that a female playing female chars I’m expressing female personality traits. But I’m spending my time staring at female butts, so… I’m expressing male sexuality? I’m exhibiting latent lesbian traits? But if I play male chars, while I’m now being sexual normative by staring at male butts I’m expressing masculine personality traits.

Hmmmm.

Nowhere in all this contradictory mess am I allowed to play which gender I want based on nothing more than aesthetics.

To all the deep psycho analysis some have made I say, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar (that is, you’re looking too deep into a shallow choice).

Yeah, spare a thought for people like poor old me who plays both male and female characters! I mean, we must be incredibly confused because choosing and playing a character is apparently a very deep and meaningful thing.

Perhaps that may be the case if you’re a role-player that’s not comfortable role-playing outside your gender but if a character is basically just a clothes-hanger you drive around a world? Then not so much. I mean, I love my characters but I’m not my characters.

In all games up to and including the start of Guild Wars 1, I always created male characters. Of course, I am male. I didn’t think about it; in my characters I saw myself playing that game.
One day, I ranted about my ugly male elementalist in GW1 (in GW1 character models were fixed and not customizable), and in Teamspeak one fellow asked: “why did you not create a female character, if the male model doesn’t please you?”

That question took me by surprise, and I thought and I pondered, and I did not find any answer apart from “That guy is right. Why on earth did I go along with that ugly male model, when I can have the most sexiest character model of GW1?” (the female elementalist model in GW1 was indeed the most sexiest character model)

I was not able to bring myself to remake my established old main character, but from then on I chose the gender of new characters from the visual appearance. I stopped creating my virtual self for the game, I started to create characters I intended to play in that game. In GW2, I think I have about 50% male and 50% female characters, and also a mix of all races. Creating every character as male human would be too flat and too boring in the end.

I’m also a straight male, yet all my characters in this game are female. Because:
1) I prefer to look at pretty girls rather than guys.
2) I don’t put myself in my character shoes. I am one thing, they are another.
3) Let’s face it, most armor/outfits in the game look A LOT better on females than on males.

Through all my years of playing RPG’s, this is something I’ve never felt uneasy about.

I mean, I’m just playing a video game, and I generally like to have an even split of male and female to mix up my playing experience.

jokke.6239:

I don’t know what it is, but females just look more badas@ when they fight :P

Leo G.4501:

Odokuro.5049:

Playing a toon of the opposite sex?

Fixed the title for you

But I’m a guy commenting on playing characters of the opposite gender (girl).

Odokuro.5049:

It’s not that I am uncomfortable with my own gender/sexuality. It’s just since I first started playing online games where, character creation was a thing. I would always try to identify with some part of the toon itself, or model it after some facet of myself, as a way of immersing myself into the game, even if it’s only, “Pixels”.

Now I could see myself making a female toon, only, maybe see it was my feminine side coming to life. I know I am going too much into it, and this is just a game, but, it’s sometimes hard for me to get behind something such as progressing in a game like this, if I don’t feel like I can relate to my toon.

I’m an odd one, sorry, but thanks for all of the responses.

There are many reasons why this could be the case. Deeply buried identity issues is really only one of them. Cultural taboos is an issue even if it’s just the culture you were taught by your family. You could use a female character to explore the root of your discomfort; as a sort of therapy. The thing about toons is that in the end you can delete them and you don’t have to worry about the game culture being too judgmental given that many play toons of both genders.

So go ahead and create a female Norn. After all the female Norn are as battle hardened as any male Norn. The Norn are all about making their story a good one.

The title just want to show this like a problem…. Stop thinking of psychological and philosophical aspects of this, always seeking a reason for anything, that bore me, sometimes they have no mind issues behind it!

-I play 3 Males, an asura, a human and a charr. Also 2 Females, human and asura.
They aren’t part of my personality, my mind or what I always wanted to be. I always have a good reason to choose this gender and this races: Nice face, the fact to play as a hyena kind creature (charr), play the scientific race of the game, and invent a special lore/backstory for my characters.

-Playing the opposite gender is just like RP, a new way to play, discover from another perspective… And so what? I’m not staring every-time looking at butts, breasts etc….
I just explore tyria with them like I explore it with the male characters. I join the priory with my female asura, my mentor and her seem really like sisters, joking and have fun through exploring, not at all the same I felt with my Male joining whisper order… :/

-For harassment, I never saw any of them… I participated to a lot of world events, almost as much females as males, and nobody harass anybody, I just see players, no genders.

-To end this, if after all this you still want explanations about everything…
Why playing an asura? YOU feel more intelligent than other and egocentric?
Why human? Because it look familiar to you? …..That just make no sense

I primarily play a male character in MMO’s mostly because I see my character avatar as a representation of myself in an online world, and seeing as how I am a guy, I like to be represented as such. It has nothing to do with what feels comfortable or whatnot, it’s just a personal preference. There are plenty of guys who play as girls and there’s no issue with that.

That being said, I will often make female characters if there’s a specific idea I have for one, or to follow a certain theme. I do like to theme my characters and some themes are obviously more oriented to a specific gender.

As for players hitting on you, while it might be less common, you’d be surprised how many people do hit on male characters. I’ve had some very bizarre situations. XD

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

In my first post I mentioned that all of my characters are fundamentally not me, regardless of their gender and appearance. You know why? They kill people. They’ve all killed a lot of people, without hesitation or remorse or any attempt to consider whether there may be an alternative solution. But somehow that doesn’t matter.

I can play a tiny grey rodent whose only solution to a rival group of scientists showing insufficient consideration for ethics in their research is to slaughter them all on sight, and as long as their genitalia matches mine I can “relate to them on a deep level” and pretend they are me. But if he’s a boy and I’m a girl then we’re totally different and can never relate?

That makes absolutely no sense to me.

Honestly I wouldn’t want my characters to be me. Within the game it just wouldn’t work – if they were me they’d be the merchants staying in town and letting other idiots go out and get themselves killed. (Or judging by my old posts in the lore forum asking why we’ve never tried talking to the Elder Dragons and trying to reach a compromise instead of trying to wipe out a race older than humanity just because they’re a threat to us.)

And the other way around, if I acted in real life like my characters do in games…I don’t even want to think about it. (Especially since in my other MMO one of my alts is a psychotic vampire assassin who kills people for food, for money, for fun…he once killed a man for bumping into him in the street and another for being annoyingly repetitive.)

Considered in that perspective their gender seems absolutely trivial and if the characters I play in video games reflects who I am then showing masculine traits (or lesbian traits, depending on whose view you go with) is the least of my worries.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

As for players hitting on you, while it might be less common, you’d be surprised how many people do hit on male characters. I’ve had some very bizarre situations. XD

I once made a temp character who was a dark skinned human thief. Out of habit/generic thief theme I dyed his trousers Midnight Fire and then got some very amusing whispers from someone who thought he was 1/2 naked.

I think she may have taken screenshots too.

myself have not got one problem at all playing both gender rolls in games . or otherwise as it is very easy for me . and I never will have a problem with it . its just me as a person and who I am

having said that after reading some the post on this topic will say some of the reply’s are interesting and some not so much .

but honestly it tells me some for get this is a video game and not real life. and have got some things they need to seek help and deal with . and come to terms with some things in their personal life’s .

while others like me that have not got a problem with this topic at all . we go on and enjoy the game for what it is and think noting more of it or about it at all . and have a lot of fun with the game its self for that is just what it is a game and noting more.

sadly to say some do not see it like that . and feel the need to act out on it .and becoming a bully to others which is not right . which does lead to show in real life they might be as well a bully in real life . and that is not right at all in a video game or real life !!

holding on to foolish and mythical so called Cultural taboos and social taboos . while it is sad to see people in that much deep rooted pain . and will not seek help for them self’s . it is just sad to see people in that much pain .

at the end of the day we are all humans no matter the race, gender or color of our skin . and this is still just a video game and not real life but something for enjoyment and to take us out of the current real world problems and cares of the day that bother us all

this is something I wish we all would really remember and keep the real world stuff out of the game . the real world stuff does not belong in a video game at all

keep the game the way it was meant to be a video game and enjoy it for just that and all it is .

now having said all that I will say this one last thing when you can wear 6 inch stripper heels and jeans or a dress better than a girl well be thankful and go with it and do not care who thinks what just enjoy it and be your self

girls that can lift weights play sports and do every thing a guy can do . be thankful and enjoy that too and go with it and do not care what others think . just enjoy it and be your self and go with it .

after all like I said end of the day we are all humans first and the rest of the good stuff that makes us and who we are that makes who we are we need to enjoy it and embrace it .

sorry for the wall of text all but need to get this topic off my chest . have a good day

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

Actually I would argue that isn’t true for most people who use this reasoning. I try to make my character like me in as many ways as possible more often than not, even when I’m not playing a human (which isn’t as often – my mains are almost always human), I try to imagine myself as whatever race it is and approximate it as much as possible – this includes build type, facial structure, hair and eye color, and so forth.

It’s a game. like a guy playing Lara in Tomb Raider or a girl playing Link in The Legend of Zelda.

. If anyone actually gives any kind of kitten what gender your toon is, that’s their mental problem, not yours.

I happen to agree as a guy, the female characters are more aesthetically pleasing to look at, why wouldn’t I make one. Like, your brain is hardwired through millions years of evolution to like looking at females more than males (if you’re a straight male). It’s absolutely normal lol.

I know gay guys, they roll male toons for the same reason. I’m not saying you’re gay if you make a male character, you can sometimes manipulate them to look brute, toughguy or whataver you find cool. Point is, it’s a game, play it how you want to have fun.

Einlanzer.1627:

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

Actually I would argue that isn’t true for most people who use this reasoning. I try to make my character like me in as many ways as possible more often than not, even when I’m not playing a human (which isn’t as often – my mains are almost always human), I try to imagine myself as whatever race it is and approximate it as much as possible – this includes build type, facial structure, hair and eye color, and so forth.

So how do you reconcile yourself with the fact your character is a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac?

costepj.5120:

Einlanzer.1627:

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

Actually I would argue that isn’t true for most people who use this reasoning. I try to make my character like me in as many ways as possible more often than not, even when I’m not playing a human (which isn’t as often – my mains are almost always human), I try to imagine myself as whatever race it is and approximate it as much as possible – this includes build type, facial structure, hair and eye color, and so forth.

So how do you reconcile yourself with the fact your character is a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac?

Oh, please. That’s taking some liberties.

Esquilax.3491:

It’s a game. like a guy playing Lara in Tomb Raider or a girl playing Link in The Legend of Zelda.

. If anyone actually gives any kind of kitten what gender your toon is, that’s their mental problem, not yours.

I happen to agree as a guy, the female characters are more aesthetically pleasing to look at, why wouldn’t I make one. Like, your brain is hardwired through millions years of evolution to like looking at females more than males (if you’re a straight male). It’s absolutely normal lol.

I know gay guys, they roll male toons for the same reason. I’m not saying you’re gay if you make a male character, you can sometimes manipulate them to look brute, toughguy or whataver you find cool. Point is, it’s a game, play it how you want to have fun.

Slightly off-topic, but this is actually more cultural than you think it is, because aesthetics and sexuality have very little to do with each other. It was the norm in many ancient societies to revel in admiration at the image of the adonis nude male figure at least as much as if not more than the female figure, and it isn’t because everyone back then was gay.

I’m a girl, I only play female characters in MMOs or females that look “genderless” (Asura in GW2). Playing as a guy doesn’t feel comfortable to me. -shrugs- However, I don’t care if males play as females or if someone calls me dude in-game. :P

Einlanzer.1627:

costepj.5120:

Einlanzer.1627:

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

Actually I would argue that isn’t true for most people who use this reasoning. I try to make my character like me in as many ways as possible more often than not, even when I’m not playing a human (which isn’t as often – my mains are almost always human), I try to imagine myself as whatever race it is and approximate it as much as possible – this includes build type, facial structure, hair and eye color, and so forth.

So how do you reconcile yourself with the fact your character is a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac?

Oh, please. That’s taking some liberties.

Is it? I mean our characters are mass killers, I must have killed tens of thousands of sentient creatures in this game by now.

Of course, there isn’t any real choice here, that’s how you deal with foes but it doesn’t change the fact that you do it. If I identified strongly with my character that would be a thing I had to reconcile. Thankfully it’s just a game.

Odokuro.5049:

Does anyone else feel uneasy playing a toon of the opposite gender, I do.

No, as an old school pen&paper role-player, I have no issue with this. Why do you? What do you care what others say? And why would you look upon a woman differently than you would look upon a man? Aren’t we all human beings?

That said, you don’t know if the person behind the male toon hitting on you might not be female. I have to admit, though: ever since GW2 became f2p, the amount of immature and/or offensive kids in this game has increased immensely. I never had to report as much unpleasant behavior before.

P.S. Also, no, in GW2 male characters are more “pleasing on the eye” than their female counterparts, because they don’t run around looking like action barbies (although most other newer MMOs are much, much worse in that regard). Which is why, as a female player, the majority of my characters is male. I don’t care about the gender, I care about the coolness factor — it’s called “role-playing game” for a reason.

Pifil.5193:

Einlanzer.1627:

costepj.5120:

Einlanzer.1627:

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

Actually I would argue that isn’t true for most people who use this reasoning. I try to make my character like me in as many ways as possible more often than not, even when I’m not playing a human (which isn’t as often – my mains are almost always human), I try to imagine myself as whatever race it is and approximate it as much as possible – this includes build type, facial structure, hair and eye color, and so forth.

So how do you reconcile yourself with the fact your character is a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac?

Oh, please. That’s taking some liberties.

Is it? I mean our characters are mass killers, I must have killed tens of thousands of sentient creatures in this game by now.

Of course, there isn’t any real choice here, that’s how you deal with foes but it doesn’t change the fact that you do it. If I identified strongly with my character that would be a thing I had to reconcile. Thankfully it’s just a game.

Not really. It’s very easy to accept as an abstraction of the game world. Besides, I wouldn’t necessarily not do the same thing if that was the world I was living in.

Einlanzer.1627:

Pifil.5193:

Einlanzer.1627:

costepj.5120:

Einlanzer.1627:

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

Actually I would argue that isn’t true for most people who use this reasoning. I try to make my character like me in as many ways as possible more often than not, even when I’m not playing a human (which isn’t as often – my mains are almost always human), I try to imagine myself as whatever race it is and approximate it as much as possible – this includes build type, facial structure, hair and eye color, and so forth.

So how do you reconcile yourself with the fact your character is a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac?

Oh, please. That’s taking some liberties.

Is it? I mean our characters are mass killers, I must have killed tens of thousands of sentient creatures in this game by now.

Of course, there isn’t any real choice here, that’s how you deal with foes but it doesn’t change the fact that you do it. If I identified strongly with my character that would be a thing I had to reconcile. Thankfully it’s just a game.

Not really. It’s very easy to accept as an abstraction of the game world. Besides, I wouldn’t necessarily not do the same thing if that was the world I was living in.

Yeah, fair enough, I think I misinterpreted your post, you were talking about putting aspects of yourself into the characters you make rather than making the character an extension of yourself.

Little known fact:
Playing a toon of the opposite sex means that you are…

a gamer.

One more thing I’ll add: I really (I mean REALLY) want to hear all the voice actors do their stuff. And, that means at least 10 characters (two for each race, just like Noah’s Ark).

I’m still working my way through playing through all of the storyline missions, and I find that both the story itself and the voice acting are very interesting.

(Apparently the forum restricts quote trees to the last couple of posts, so I’ve had to quote the discussion in two separate pieces, because I thought the full conversation was important for context here.)

Einlanzer.1627:

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

Actually I would argue that isn’t true for most people who use this reasoning. I try to make my character like me in as many ways as possible more often than not, even when I’m not playing a human (which isn’t as often – my mains are almost always human), I try to imagine myself as whatever race it is and approximate it as much as possible – this includes build type, facial structure, hair and eye color, and so forth.

Einlanzer.1627:

costepj.5120:

Einlanzer.1627:

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

Actually I would argue that isn’t true for most people who use this reasoning. I try to make my character like me in as many ways as possible more often than not, even when I’m not playing a human (which isn’t as often – my mains are almost always human), I try to imagine myself as whatever race it is and approximate it as much as possible – this includes build type, facial structure, hair and eye color, and so forth.

So how do you reconcile yourself with the fact your character is a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac?

Oh, please. That’s taking some liberties.

Maybe so, but that is exactly the point that was being made in the post you responded to:

Danikat.8537:

You know what I find odd about these discussions: so many people talk about the importance of being able to identify with the character, but that only ever seems to apply to their gender matching yours. Nothing else.

In my first post I mentioned that all of my characters are fundamentally not me, regardless of their gender and appearance. You know why? They kill people. They’ve all killed a lot of people, without hesitation or remorse or any attempt to consider whether there may be an alternative solution. But somehow that doesn’t matter.

Now I’m sure someone’s going to respond to this with something like “anyone with any sense understands it’s just a game. Just because you do it in a game doesn’t mean you’d do it in real life”.

And I’d agree that’s absolutely right. But if I’m playing as a person who does things I would never do in real life (and wouldn’t do things that I will do) how is that person me? Even if they look like me, they’re still a different person because they’re acting completely differently.

And if they’re not me why do they need to look like me? Or be the same gender as I am?