Internet Gender Issues

[BroomJockey]

Precisely, that makes perfect sense, and it's obviously why they play female characters. What I don't get is why they don't just say that.

Actually, some studies found that male players have a tendency to imbue female video game characters with human traits, and will even look at it more like a team of "her and I" than "I control this avatar." So it might not always just be "I like to look at something cute."

[Nyoibo]

Holy Crap, you're a woman

Of course not, women don't exist on the internet.

[Kalli]

Actually, some studies found that male players have a tendency to imbue female video game characters with human traits, and will even look at it more like a team of "her and I" than "I control this avatar." So it might not always just be "I like to look at something cute."

Sounds like one of those studies with about 50 variables they don't consider. Does it not make more sense that a male character would feel like an extension of self, and that's why they call female characters "her and I"?

[BroomJockey]

Sounds like one of those studies with about 50 variables they don't consider. Does it not make more sense that a male character would feel like an extension of self, and that's why they call female characters "her and I"?

They had people play almost the exact same game, with only the variable of gender of avatar altered, so it doesn't really matter what they do and don't consider, it doesn't alter the speech used by the player.

But speaking as a gamer, no, a male avatar does absolutely not feel like an extension of me, and my frequent swearing at that damned bastard for not doing what I told him will attest to that.

[Bloodsoul]

I remember being mistaken for a female on several occasions; once was on a Lord of the Rings roleplay forum because my male character was so polite to the opposite sex that posters thought I couldn't possibly be male myself. Second time was just recently playing Mortal Kombat Armageddon online; then again, my PS2 handle is "Lilium" and my created character is female (albeit a scantilly clad devil <.<).

"Bloodsoul" is the username I tend to use the most in recent times; if not available, then I go with the French varient, "Amesang" (such as with YouTube and Xbox LIVE; lastname for a female character I draw as well, but most just mispronounce it). My GameFAQs account is "MK Sonic" and a few other places I use "Schadenfreude" or "Schadenfreude Studios." (with regards to that LotR forum, due to a typological glitch, my username is completely blank)

I was about to say something along those lines. Mates of mine always play male characters and wonder why I play female characters. It's simple - I'm heterosexual and don't really want to stare at a male from behind for ages.

They've yet to come up with an answer to that one.

Rapscallion

Or as a variation to that note, the reason I have more female characters in Dungeons & Dragons than I do male is because I like to draw my characters... and I enjoy drawing girls more than I do guys.

[Kalli]

my frequent swearing at that damned bastard for not doing what I told him will attest to that.

I always used to put shit on people who did that, until I started playing arena

[Lace Neil Singer]

That's an interesting spin on things. I RP frequently, and nearly all of my characters are male. It's weird, I never really thought about it til this thread. XD

[gremcint]

Seeing as how only one person is ever going to guess, I'll just say it.

I am male, there I know it was burning in the back of your mind.

[XCashier]

Post here and say what gender you are, plus what other usernames you've used online and whether you've ever been mistaken for the opposite sex. XD

I'm female. I use XCashier both here and on CS; on most other forums I go by Sue DeNym or Sue_DeNym. I never get mistaken for male with that pseudonym, though I think I was once with XCashier.

[blas87]

In older versions of CS, I was blasphemy87. I dropped the 87 off of blas87 on CS, because after a while, everyone just knew me as blas.

I do get mistaken for a guy sometimes on CS, because my avatar was Ville Valo for the longest time, and now it's the butthead couple from Wisconsin from South Park.

It's not a big deal....and it doesn't take long to find out I'm a girl. But I figure the less people know, the less we can pinpoint who I am, the better.

[Eggmont]

Never been mistaken for a girl on any forums, my wow character is a different matter. I play a human female warlock by the name of Averdria, in the early days of playing the character I was mistaken for a girl quite a few times. Now that ive been playing for a while and am rather well known that mistake is only ever made by newer players, which can be rather amusing if they do so in front of 24 over people who do know of me.

[Stormraven]

I usually prefer not to say, mostly so I can see what people think. I don't think my handle gives it away. It's the same everywhere I go, or almost. I've been some variant of Stormraven on just about every forum I've joined, unless the name was already taken. My alt is Aalinoor, after a character I played once.

[Slytovhand]

I played a Pally in WoW, thus I feel I can resurrect this thread..

My name her has caused people to question my gender.. I think by a few ppl here. It's fairly gender neutral, and I tend to be more 'balanced' in the way I discuss things (though, not with a lot of emotion).

My RL name also goes either way (unless you know where it comes from). After I left Pizza-slut as a driver, they kept my nametag.. was apparently very handy for either guys or girls!

I usually prefer to use female avatars on games.. partly cos I think they look better, partly cos I don't want to be looking at a guy all the time, but I think mostly because I'm more of a dex-based, agility type character - not a strength-based one. A slimmer form seems part of that idea.

I recall 2 specific incidents in WoW when I got hit on cos of my female avatar... loved it when someone wanted to give me this 'great' item they just collected (too bad it was BoP - quest reward!!), and the other was a guildy who didn't know of my alt That was funny, and I ribbed him about it for ages

What I have noticed on such games, if you're 'female' (either as alt or RL), then it's also assumed you're a noob, and don't really know how to play! Try telling that to a lvl 60...!! (must have been lucky, or had the guys all show you through!)

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That's an interesting spin on things. I RP frequently, and nearly all of my characters are male. It's weird, I never really thought about it til this thread. XD

This is something that fascinates me, mainly because I do it myself. I don't always play a male...in fact, with me it's probably closer to fifty fifty male female ration with characters I create. It seems to depend on the game.

The reason it fascinates me is that I have no idea what makes me want to play a male character when I actually DO do it. it seems to depend randomly on my whim at the moment. So when other women do it, I want to know why THEY do it.

I'm just curious, really.

Not sure if I've ever been confused by anyone on the other end in a game where they didn't know me or couldn't see me, though (I have played on line games before, but I much prefer table top rpgs.)

As for net forums, well, anyone here suprised to find out I'm a woman? Far as I know, nobody's confused me anywhere, even when I wasn't using my pic as an avatar. But then, I wouldn't really know unless they said so.

[KabeRinnaul]

I'm a guy, and I'm either KabeRinnaul or ZemTheManiac just about everywhere, though a few of my older logins are instead under Sahandrian. The first two are original characters from my stories, and the third is a fairly obscure D&D/Greyhawk reference.

I don't think I've ever been mistaken for a girl outside of online roleplays where I was playing one.

I was about to say something along those lines. Mates of mine always play male characters and wonder why I play female characters. It's simple - I'm heterosexual and don't really want to stare at a male from behind for ages.

They've yet to come up with an answer to that one.

Rapscallion

One reason I play Terra in Dissidia. The other reasons are that FF6 is the best Final Fantasy, she has a well-balanced move set and stats, and one of her HP attacks utterly destroys the AI on a small stage unless you badly screw up the timing.