Guild Wars 2

I play mostly male characters. My main is supposed to resemble at least a little me in game, I’m too egocentric to main someone I can’t relate to, but since I’m gay, I prefer to toy with a man’s appearance overall, so I kind of understand straight guys playing girls.
I’m glad that males are starting to get much more interesting clothing options… Daydreamer’s Finery outfit is perfect.

Mine are simple. I didn’t like the look of light armor on males in Guild Wars 1, So I made a female Necro. So when Guild Wars 2 Came out, I male a female Necro so I could keep the name, also my wife helped me create my Necro both times, same for mg female Norn Ranger and Female warrior. As we both agreed that there cultural armor looked the best for women.

It’s a rather hard question. I have played female characters, though most of my characters at the moment are asura (they don’t feel gender-divided but are rather cute and epic). I have one male human and one female norn.

The reasons why I tried female characters are diverse:

• curiosity as to how different outfits look
• more aesthetic in several ways than males: they are more elegant and their animations are kitten
• to break the stereotype of playing a heavy muscled male who looks like a tennis player or hollywood star (or both? ;P)
• to have a go at skimpy outfits, yes I couldn’t help it, sorry for being human xD

its a simple answer the same reason girls play male characters, people create 2 character types one they want to relate with and one for eye candy.

to be honest males dont have much going on aesthetically in this game
the Only reason i changed my asura engineer from female to male was because of the Exemplar outfit .

My main is male Charr, and 6/8 of my chars are male. I’ve actually made 2 female for lore reason ( wife of an other char ).
I’m myself a male, and when I play a MMO I want to identified myself in my character, so my mains are always males.

I prefer playing hot female characters just like my sister prefers playing hot male characters. We just prefer playing games with characters whose character/armor design we find appealing. I know many people have more complicated and in-depth reasons for why they play the characters they do, but it’s pretty simple for my sister and me lol.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

I also laugh at the responses about the appeal of looking at a girl character while you are playing.

Why would you deride someone’s reasons for doing what they do?

Did you also play with barbies instead of GI joes growing up?

This is apples to oranges. I was all about She-Ra action figures over He-Man though, which is a better comparison.

I think that being kitten or cool on your male characters is much more fun than playing a female toon.

And this is the same sentiment that you’re laughing at above, just reversed.

Most of my characters in GW1 were female and that carried over to GW2. Like a lot of other players, I’ve done that for reasons which are basically aesthetic/stylistic; human and Norn female characters, which comprise most of my lineup, just – to me – look better and more attractive than their male compatriots, and so do their armor and outfits. The fact that there is no difference in stats or fighting abilities between the genders also helps. My main is a Norn female engineer, whom I’ve currently got dressed up in the Exemplar outfit, dyed black, with the Black Feather Wings backpack skin, over ascended armor with mix-and-match skins; my guildmates like to joke about her goth appearance.

Because I like looking at girls.

That is interesting.

To be honest, most of my characters are both male and charr. I found that even if I make a female character (especially human or norn, charr female doesn’t count in that really) I can play it only for so long. Only exceptions are my norn ranger (name and gender succession from 1st WoW character) and sylvari ranger (created to be the closest to Hearthstone Warsong Commander graphic).

I highly dislike anime-zated characters in games, so my only other female is a bank and name saver.

I think the factor is voiceacting (hence why I can’t play human male, too), strange animations and laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

Not a fan of dressing up female characters in underboob, butts and such either. Why should I get excited about pixels while I can have it in real life?

Rym.1469:

Not a fan of dressing up female characters in underboob, butts and such either. Why should I get excited about pixels while I can have it in real life?

I have absolutely no idea how the two are related! Can you elaborate this please? How many sexual partners per month does it require to invalidate dressing up your character in attractive clothes? Is there an intermediate area that allows tight skirts but forbids revealing upper body attire?

laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

That’s how you usually actually wield a 2h sword, though…

TheBlackLeech.9360:

The only characters of mine that are female are my mesmers and my elementalist.

I just can not bring myself to make a male character whose special ability happens to be shattering clones into purple/pink butterflies.

Elementalist is pretty much the same thing… but for a different reason.

Male light armor classes have a real issue with their wardrobe at the moment. Everything is a skirt or a dress…. and since it took so long to get my male Necromancer to look like he wasn’t a crossdresser…. I figured I’d just make the elementalist a female.

So that makes a total of three female characters out of the 11 on my roster.

I also laugh at the responses about the appeal of looking at a girl character while you are playing.

Did you also play with barbies instead of GI joes growing up?

I think that being kitten or cool on your male characters is much more fun than playing a female toon.

All it takes is creativity. There are a lot of combo’s male light armors can pull off, and I have many I can show you that look anything but feminine. Just takes time.

Aerathnor.8305:

Depends on the race really. MMO’s tend to make male models extremely buff/barrel chested and I hate the look. If I’m playing an agile character or a mage archetype I don’t want to look like I can bench press a car.

Thankfully GW2 has a sylvari/asura male models that are lithe, any other race is female for me though.

Humans have many skinny body types… The only one missing really is a fully fat body type.

Sirendor.1394:

• more aesthetic in several ways than males: they are more elegant and their animations are kitten

See I always read this but surely it is on a case by case subjective basis. Most agile classes are fine but females humans look really stupid with greatsword animations on Warrior or Guardian. Like they look like they are about to topple over at any moment with how they hold it, and don’t get me started on attacks.

Fermi.2409:

laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

That’s how you usually actually wield a 2h sword, though…

Not really. From this position you can only attack and this attack will be slow and predictable. You can’t defend yourself. As a bonus, if you hold it so low, you may trip and fall.

Surely this question can be posed the opposite way round. I’m female but many of my characters are male. It has nothing to do with sexual attraction for me, I just like to have a bit of variety. It means overall I have a greater choice of faces, hairstyles, armour, voices and animation. Considering there are only a couple of good face choices for each race/gender (imo) it’s good to have a mix of male and female characters.

Fermi.2409:

laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

That’s how you usually actually wield a 2h sword, though…

This is how you hold a greatsword.

Genlog.4983:

1 love to look ad the butt off a female then a male
2 armor looks better
3 hair style
and much more
pic says it all :p

Yeah … body paint photo might be a problem here. Think you need to rethink that.

I only play female characters to seduce teenage boys and steal their gold.

In Guild wars 1 I only have one male character, a ranger who also happens to be my oldest character at 10 year old now. I hated everything about him from the way he talked to the way he moved to the way he spoke. The only reason I still have him is because he is my first and oldest and I just can’t let that go.

The rest of my characters are females which I enjoyed greatly for a wide variety of reasons.

In this game, so far I only have a female Asuran and I’m having a lot of fun with her.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Did you also play with barbies instead of GI joes growing up?

No, I played with Tonka trucks, green army men, and built models of airplanes. So much for your idiotic stereotype.

I certainly like looking at cute female characters, but I can’t play one myself. In order for me to commit time to playing a character I need to care about it. And in order to care, I have to connect.

I can’t connect with a female avatar. I enjoy the eye candy but I can’t shake the “this isn’t me” feeling. I would sooner play a male asura or charr (and I don’t like either race much) than a female.

Xdmatt.3958:

I certainly like looking at cute female characters, but I can’t play one myself. In order for me to commit time to playing a character I need to care about it. And in order to care, I have to connect.

I can’t connect with a female avatar. I enjoy the eye candy but I can’t shake the “this isn’t me” feeling. I would sooner play a male asura or charr (and I don’t like either race much) than a female.

Right there with you buddy. There is nothing I enjoy more than a shapely rear on a lady with engorged posterior dimensions.

As a butt man, it is my favourite. As a player, I just can’t identify with female characters.

Endless Soul.5178:

No, I played with Tonka trucks, green army men, and built models of airplanes. So much for your idiotic stereotype.

Let me further shatter his idiotic steroetype. I played with those things too, and legos, and rode horses, and did karate, and played dress up.. xD

Dante.1763:

Endless Soul.5178:

No, I played with Tonka trucks, green army men, and built models of airplanes. So much for your idiotic stereotype.

Let me further shatter his idiotic steroetype. I played with those things too, and legos, and rode horses, and did karate, and played dress up.. xD

Same here. I mainly have female avatars in games but as a child I played with green army men and lego.

I get that some people can’t identify with a toon of the opposite sex. But then I wonder, why can you indentify with a different race? I have seen people say they can’t identify with a female character, but they can play a charr. So you can identify with a large hairy bull cat monster, but not a human female?

Imo the fact that in video games, you can be anyone and anything you want is one of the things that makes it so appealing. In the fantasy world of video games you can temporarily become something completely different. I personally never understood why some people try to make characters exactly like themselves, not that there is anything wrong with doing so. But I just ask myself, you enter a fantasy world, can be anyone or anything you want, and you pick yourself? I like to find something a little bit more creative

Again I’m not saying there is anything wrong with playing as yourself, to each their own, but for me personally I like to be someone completely different in the world of video games.

Because it prevents teabagging and therefore promotes a healthy PvP atmosphere.

Rym.1469:

Fermi.2409:

laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

That’s how you usually actually wield a 2h sword, though…

Not really. From this position you can only attack and this attack will be slow and predictable. You can’t defend yourself. As a bonus, if you hold it so low, you may trip and fall.

When running around/in motion, you hold it behind yourself like that.

Fermi.2409:

Rym.1469:

Fermi.2409:

laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

That’s how you usually actually wield a 2h sword, though…

Not really. From this position you can only attack and this attack will be slow and predictable. You can’t defend yourself. As a bonus, if you hold it so low, you may trip and fall.

When running around/in motion, you hold it behind yourself like that.

You hold it behind yourself, but not like that. You hold it up. It’s a greatsword, not a plow.

Do you ask why male authors write female characters in their novels? (Or vice versa). Do you question David Weber’s sexuality because his main protagonist, Honor Harrington, is a strong woman? Is there a problem with how Lois McMaster Bujold handles the various Vorkosigan men?

Play the character that fits the concept. Sometimes gender is a factor in that (my Thief’s egotistical but oh-so-charming ladies-man mien goes very much with his maleness; his elder sister, the responsible stay-at-home one, she has to be female because a lot of the Thief’s life history comes from decisions his parents made in their desire for a male heir. And my human guardian is male because he was originally developed as a love interest for another guildie’s male character). Sometimes it’s irrelevant (my street rat warrior happens to be female but that is a minimal factor in her view of the world or physical capabilities; in fact I could flex most of my double handful of RP alts to work as either gender with minimal tweaks).

For context, I’m a straight woman who finds the female form more aesthetically pleasing to draw and inhabit, though I’ve seen some jaw dropping art with male subjects. But I don’t leave half the world out when it comes to enjoying characters and their stories.

In GW1 I played all female characters because the armors looked better on them. I just continued that trend in GW2, even when playing charr/asura, where armors are pretty much the same regardless of gender. So by now it’s just a habit.

Another factor is GW games don’t have any RP story reasons that make playing the opposite gender harder than playing your own. In Bioware games I usually go for a male character first, to explore the romance/story options that I actually prefer (being a straight male irl), but even there I usually make a female char for a later playthrough just to see all/most of the content.

As a white male, creating a white male character is perhaps the least interesting character I could possibly make.

Scar.1793:

The gear looks nicer as well or do you use skimpy outfits like 90% of female humans?

I do use skimpy armor on my human and sylvari females…

…but I use skimpy armor for ALL my characters. If my characters started talking directly to me (the player), they’d probably wonder why I put them all in tight-fitting, ab exposing armor all the time.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Fermi.2409:

laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

That’s how you usually actually wield a 2h sword, though…

This is how you hold a greatsword.

The sword in that gif is actually a Longsword. It is 52 inches long, making it much shorter than the wielder’s height. The Greatswords in GW2 are gigantic monstrosities way bigger than the characters holding them. In real life, there’s nothing saying you can’t carry a greatsword like that, nor is there anything wrong with the way Female characters carry them, or the asura, well, unless you’ve been consulting with Skallagrim, who has about as much experience in handling greatswords in battle as a museum curator.

Chrispy.5641:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Fermi.2409:

laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

That’s how you usually actually wield a 2h sword, though…

This is how you hold a greatsword.

The sword in that gif is actually a Longsword. It is 52 inches long, making it much shorter than the wielder’s height. The Greatswords in GW2 are gigantic monstrosities way bigger than the characters holding them. In real life, there’s nothing saying you can’t carry a greatsword like that, nor is there anything wrong with the way Female characters carry them, or the asura, well, unless you’ve been consulting with Skallagrim, who has about as much experience in handling greatswords in battle as a museum curator.

Actually asura carry them upwards, regardless of gender. Thankfully.

Varezenem.2813:

In my case it is because whenever I make a male character I try to identify myself with it but it seems to be impossible to make a male character that I identify myself with in most MMOs. Female characters do not feel like me at all therefore I do not need to identify myself with them.
TLDR : Male characters are in the uncanny valley for me.
PS: Also isn’t she cute? =D

I’d say she should try some brighter colors. Not like hot pink or anything, but a wardrobe of drab “pretty much black” is more glum and more emotionally depressing. You know, earth/nature colors are quite in the middle, not being ridiculously bright while not looking as depressing.

But I’d agree, very cute. A naughty Asura might try scooping her right up for his lab experiments.

It’s because there are two main ways to view your characters:

o As an extension of yourself in the game world

o As a companion to you

These different views result in different but valid, fun choices. For once everybody on the forum is right. Must be a first.

MFoy.3284:

It’s because there are two main ways to view your characters:

o As an extension of yourself in the game world

o As a companion to you

These different views result in different but valid, fun choices. For once everybody on the forum is right. Must be a first.

True that. But I bet people would think it ‘creepy’ to consider your characters as companions to you (the player) and thus being some sort of fetishist’s reason. Don’t get my rationalization twisted though, I view my characters as companions to me, but I can see contrary viewpoints to mine.

But one can make a contrary view to the other, it being ‘weird’ to attempt to reflect ones self in the game and trying to act out some inner psychological power fantasy because they’re denied such in the real world. Again, it’s a faulty viewpoint.

What purpose someone makes their characters is their business and trying to spin it negatively should be the thing frowned upon.

While technically I had always played a character of the same gender as me (I’m a guy) but that all change 2 year ago.

I bought a couple of additional character slots to played the remaining professions which one of them was an Elementalist. I rolled with a Sylvari due to them being part of nature however I was never satisfy with the overall look of my character but I still carry on. Mind you this is the second Sylvari character but unlike the first one I made, I didn’t really like the available faces and hairstyles and it was also limited (this was before the new faces and hair update) so I pretty much used my favour ones on my first Sylvari character.

Once I hit the 500 AP mark to get an total makeover kit, I immediately on him but it still the same result. Thank to that kit, I decided to click on the female option to give it a try and I was able to yield much better result and I easily settle on the apperance and I stuck with it ever since. Heck I even had to buy a name contract to rename her now.

Funny thing is that I kind of end up playing dressed up with her aswell when the wardrobe patch came in as the female light armours were much more appealing than the male counterpart and I end up making quite a few armor combo so I kind of changed her armours every few months!

One thing I can’t quite understand is how some can’t identify with a character that isn’t the same sex as them irl. It seems strange to me that it’d create such a divide. Personally when I make a character I like to envision them with a part of my own persona, whichever sex they are.

Female humans just look better to me.

Jelle.2807:

One thing I can’t quite understand is how some can’t identify with a character that isn’t the same sex as them irl. It seems strange to me that it’d create such a divide. Personally when I make a character I like to envision them with a part of my own persona, whichever sex they are.

I am fairly sure it is the opposite for some of us. I’d find it strange if it didn’t create a divide, after all we will never have the same view point as a whole. As someone who sees a character if human as a representative for oneself, I think it is all down to how you enjoy stories being told. From first person, or from third person with many view points.

Different strokes for different folks.

MFoy hit the nail on the head I think. Some people enjoy seeing their character as an extension of themselves to the point a likeness forms, others see it as a companion to adventure with.

Pants just look better on them, nomasayian.

MFoy.3284:

It’s because there are two main ways to view your characters:

o As an extension of yourself in the game world

o As a companion to you

These different views result in different but valid, fun choices. For once everybody on the forum is right. Must be a first.

There’s at least one more though: As a tool to play the game with.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Chrispy.5641:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Fermi.2409:

laughable 2h greatsword wielding for human females (pulling it after the character like a plow in the field).

That’s how you usually actually wield a 2h sword, though…

This is how you hold a greatsword.

The sword in that gif is actually a Longsword. It is 52 inches long, making it much shorter than the wielder’s height. The Greatswords in GW2 are gigantic monstrosities way bigger than the characters holding them. In real life, there’s nothing saying you can’t carry a greatsword like that, nor is there anything wrong with the way Female characters carry them, or the asura, well, unless you’ve been consulting with Skallagrim, who has about as much experience in handling greatswords in battle as a museum curator.

Actually asura carry them upwards, regardless of gender. Thankfully.

Read my post again. ’There’s nothing saying you can carry a greatsword like that, nor is there anything wrong with the way female characters carry them, OR THE ASURA…’

Before you make a post saying that you were confused and say that when I said female characters, you thought I meant all female characters, you’ve been playing the game for a long time, and you’ve been on these forums more than long enough to know better. (also, Asura carry them on their shoulders, totally different from upwards)

PistolWhip.2697:

Jelle.2807:

One thing I can’t quite understand is how some can’t identify with a character that isn’t the same sex as them irl. It seems strange to me that it’d create such a divide. Personally when I make a character I like to envision them with a part of my own persona, whichever sex they are.

I am fairly sure it is the opposite for some of us. I’d find it strange if it didn’t create a divide, after all we will never have the same view point as a whole. As someone who sees a character if human as a representative for oneself, I think it is all down to how you enjoy stories being told. From first person, or from third person with many view points.

Different strokes for different folks.

MFoy hit the nail on the head I think. Some people enjoy seeing their character as an extension of themselves to the point a likeness forms, others see it as a companion to adventure with

In any story, the thing that keeps people coming back to read them is that the creators make the characters relatable to the reader in some way. Even a big bad comic character like Magneto is written in a way so the character relates to anyone who reads him. In real life, people tend to gravitate towards people (and dogs, and cats) that they share common traits with, whether its a personality trait (shyness), or an affinity for a certain type of food.

It wouldn’t be too far off to say that people create a character (when given the option) to relate to them in some way, and there is always going to be something about that character that has something in common with you, even if the connection seems small and totally insignificant.

Male animations suck (lol at how they run its so terrible) and pretty much all medium armors look downright terrible on male characters

i still play a male though… played my thief as female for a while but recently switched

Jelle.2807:

One thing I can’t quite understand is how some can’t identify with a character that isn’t the same sex as them irl. It seems strange to me that it’d create such a divide. Personally when I make a character I like to envision them with a part of my own persona, whichever sex they are.

My Charr has a whole past, making him rather unfamiliar and not as relateable as your average Charr to which makes him more an outlier of most Charr in his cultural region but he relates well with Asura who like his mild courteous and studious nature or Humans who enjoy listening to a Charr speak bluntly of his own people and how they interact with other races (he’s not one to speak in terms of blowing things up, slashing throats and all that). He’s a crafter although he can fight too.

I do relate to him but not as him being me, but more as him feeling like an outlier of his social groups.

But I don’t think it creates a divide, no more so than speaking with a friend irl who is their own individual. My friends may like some of the things I do, but they are nothing like me. By some peoples’ rationale, I shouldn’t be able to identify with them or their likes or problems because they aren’t me? Or had different upbringings or goals, expectations and personalities?

Sometimes I wonder where people’s creativity went. Even kids can make up imaginary friends and most of the time, those imaginary friends aren’t mirror copies of that kid.

I don’t even really think about gender when making a character in RPGs.

I just want to look cool, and if I end up making a female character to accomplish that then so be it.

its the same reason why pll like to play cute female characters
there many reasons what pll think about that some even bad

see pic
and you might get it what i mean
but stile for many players male ore female its very populair

so yea every player have a different few what they like to see and how they wanna look
in the game

Jinroh.4251:

Probably the same reason women like to play as men!

It’s a video game?! Should that matter? If someone is uncomfortable then they have bigger problems than wondering about who’s what at the other end of the avatar.

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/427/559/0ef.jpg

^This.^

I don’t know why people have difficulty with this. People create characters for their own interests, not yours. There’s no reason for anyone to have issue with that, period.

No idea why this thread has gone on as long as it has because it doesn’t accomplish anything meaningful here.

I play, in no particular order…

Thief, human female, Ascalonian
Mesmer, human female, old school Krytan
Ranger, human male, Ascalonian
Elementalist, asura male
Warrior, human female, Canthan
Guardian, human male, Kournan
Necromancer, human female, Istani
Engineer, human male, Vabbian/Canthan ancestry

Ranger, human female, Ascalonian/Krytan ancestry
Mesmer, asura female
Warrior, asura male
Guardian, sylvari female
Necromancer, sylvari male
Elementalist, human female, Orrian

Elementalist, charr male
Ranger, sylvari female
Thief, human male, Ascalonian/Krytan ancestry
Engineer, asura male

… because I am an altoholic and being stuck with one class/race/gender/whatever to play would be BORING.

I personally play female characters mainly because the male animations for running and casting in my opinion looks really bad, my first charaacter was a male but the running looked so bad (human) that i just couldnt continue playing it, i had to role a female human, i only play human and since male humans have awful animation, very stiff, very clunky, I just cant play one, also armor looks alot better on females than males, especially cloth (mesmer is my main)

Chrispy.5641:

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Chrispy.5641:

nor is there anything wrong with the way Female characters carry them, or the asura, well, unless you’ve been consulting with Skallagrim, who has about as much experience in handling greatswords in battle as a museum curator.

Actually asura carry them upwards, regardless of gender. Thankfully.

Read my post again. ’There’s nothing saying you can carry a greatsword like that, nor is there anything wrong with the way female characters carry them, OR THE ASURA…’

Erm.. that’s how I read it. ‘Nothing wrong with female characters holding swords like that, or the asura.’ (as in it’s not wrong for asura to carry swords like that either). Implying that asura females drag their swords as well. To which I replied asura actually hold their swords upwards.

Before you make a post saying that you were confused and say that when I said female characters, you thought I meant all female characters, you’ve been playing the game for a long time, and you’ve been on these forums more than long enough to know better.

Umm, ok?

Chrispy.5641:

(also, Asura carry them on their shoulders, totally different from upwards)

No, asura females hold them upwards just like human/asura males do (see below). This may not be what you meant, but it is what I meant.

I think we are simply having a misunderstanding. It seems you think I’m talking about how they hold the greatsword when sheated (though correct me if I’m wrong). All I said was that asura female characters hold their greatswords upwards (which they do), as in not holding them like a plow like females of all other races do. Since the discussion was about that in the first place I didn’t see the need to specifically state I’m not talking about how they sheate their weapon.