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Gender Crossplay: Why men play as women in games? - Page 2

Blogs > holdthephone
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Prev 1 2 All
DoSu
Profile Joined May 2011
Spain54 Posts
March 02 2013 02:58 GMT
#21
In the game "Gunz The Duel" 99% of players picked female, me included. Mostly because of the movement animations for K-Styling.

Any1 who has played it will know what Im talking about.
Nothing
holdthephone
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States523 Posts
March 02 2013 03:01 GMT
#22
God is that game still alive? I played that like a decade ago.
Erik.TheRed
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States1655 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-03-02 03:39:53
March 02 2013 03:38 GMT
#23
Reminds me of a classic 1996 WIRED magazine article "Who Am We" that touched on the concept of split identity in an online/virtual space. The whole idea of a chatroom or "MUD" was so new at the time so it's interesting to see how some of those thoughts have actually panned out as RPGs have become so much more mainstream.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.01/turkle.html
"See you space cowboy"
Ettick
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United States2434 Posts
March 02 2013 04:20 GMT
#24
"I'd rather look at the back of a female character all day than a male character"
-Guy I did some low level dungeon in WoW while leveling up for the first time

This was when I was about 13 so I didn't exactly get their point, though I'm pretty sure I can see where they're coming from now
Burrfoot
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
United States1176 Posts
March 02 2013 04:52 GMT
#25
Probably the only situation where the opposite sex will jump repeatedly on command for any of us!
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Davlok-1847/career
Capped
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom7236 Posts
March 02 2013 07:43 GMT
#26
^ lmfao burrfoot.

Never really thought about it, but i tend to pick women about 70% of the time i think, even been faced with the thought that its weird and im going to get questioned not knowing what to say (my wife and brother in law have asked before lol)

Someone posted "the bully effect" which i think applies to me somewhat...i prefered watching my small (albeit still giant norn) female smashing things up as a greatsword wielding guardian in guild wars 2.

Other times its me wanting a "sneaky" character and i feel women are smaller and more petit, so fit the role better and i choose them.

Sometimes i do just choose them without thinking, others are times like re-playing mass effect, might as well choose the other option right?

I guess on some level i do just prefer to look at small bodied women then big brutish men though, but usually i'll choose a male role for some "big bad class" in a game
Useless wet fish.
Kuni
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Austria765 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-03-02 16:42:24
March 02 2013 09:39 GMT
#27
Nice writeup, I can see why this would hold true in some cases, but overall it seems way to overthought, than it really is. I can say for myself, that when I choose a female character in a game, it is because of the fact, that it is much nicer to look at a woman's ass all the time and male character design tends to be more generic most of the time. It really is as simple as that, nothing more, nothing less, nothing left with a questionmark.
Moreover, you don't really roleplay in any of the games, where the looks of your avatar are a visual factor. This is quite important I feel. You just don't identify with the avatar at all, it's just necessary to use it in order to play the game in the first place.
Another part is probably the racial preference. I mean if you like Elves, Dark Elves etc, pretty much always, the males look like, well .... like they bat for the same team.


On the other hand, I could not really see myself picking a chick in a classic D&D session, where I actually have to really pretend being my character (otherwise such games wouldn't be fun at all).
bonus vir semper tiro
WindWolf
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
Sweden11767 Posts
March 02 2013 14:12 GMT
#28
In the games that I play the most, certain characters only exist as one gender (I don't know how to say it in a better way). For example there is no male Windrunner or female Dragon Knight in Dota2. The character you play in Sanctum is always female. And in my favorite game Vacant Sky, my party mostly consist of the female characters (when I get the chance) because I like them in the story of the game, in addition to that their battle abilities fits my play style.

But when I play games where I can customize my character, it depends on a couple of factors what gender I choose, and it varies a bit from case to case. But in general, I think that when I choose female characters I do so because they look good aesthetically (Aesthetics in something I care about when playing games).
EZ4ENCE
Animzor
Profile Joined March 2011
Sweden2154 Posts
March 02 2013 16:09 GMT
#29
Men like the idea of being a girl for a while, but they pretend like it's because of "ass".
TheFish7
Profile Blog Joined February 2012
United States2824 Posts
March 02 2013 17:56 GMT
#30
Maybe it has something to do with this? No offense meant

+ Show Spoiler +
~ ~ <°)))><~ ~ ~
snexwang
Profile Joined April 2011
Australia224 Posts
March 02 2013 18:26 GMT
#31
I probably stopped playing self-insert characters shortly after my 12th birthday. These days, I just play as what ever looks the best. If that happens to be a 20-something brunette with perky breasts then so be it.

I don't identify with or role-play as the characters I play. Consequently, however, I probably don't have as much fun as I could be having in certain games.
Ryka
Profile Joined October 2010
United Kingdom254 Posts
March 02 2013 21:10 GMT
#32
As others have pointed out, I play whatever character I find to be the most aesthetically pleasing. I don't role play at all so it really don't matter whether my characters are male or female. Usually the female characters look better to me but it varies.
Kenpachi
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States9908 Posts
March 02 2013 22:34 GMT
#33
Roleplaying is kinda pathetic to me. i tried it with my friends and i never found myself really getting into it ever. That being said i always proudly picked a male character but being female didnt bother me and at first it would be different from being a male character. Id be like lol im girl but id soon forget it and play the game like it was meant to be played.
Nada's body is South Korea's greatest weapon.
Myrtroll
Profile Joined December 2010
139 Posts
March 03 2013 01:43 GMT
#34
The question is why people keep asking this question.

People are different, and will pick different things. That's why some males pick female avatars, and some females pick male ones. There need not be anything "big" behind it at all.

If you look down on your male friends for picking female chars, there is a good chance you are a homophobe, and you should look into that instead of judging your friends choice in a game.
blackone
Profile Joined November 2010
Germany1314 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-03-03 14:36:37
March 03 2013 14:35 GMT
#35
On March 03 2013 10:43 Myrtroll wrote:
The question is why people keep asking this question.

That's what I'm asking myself too. Why is this a thing that people talk about? Where does it say that videogame characters should be a representation of yourself? I mean, do you also ask why people play an Orc in Warcraft even though they're human in real life? Is that race crossplaying? What about skin color? Hair color? I don't think it says anything about the person, most people just make a character they feel like playing the moment they create it. Whatever looks cooler, of fits a certain type of character, it can literally be anything.
Fruscainte
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
4596 Posts
March 03 2013 17:06 GMT
#36
Because back in my early WoW days, the female characters had cooler animations.
LaNague
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Germany9118 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-03-03 17:44:57
March 03 2013 17:43 GMT
#37
why is that weird, its not like i dress as a woman, i just control one in a video game.

Also, 99% of those games, you play as a char, but you still talk as a player to others, not as the char.
So you dont really roleplay a female.
Very few people actually pretend to be a female when playing a female char, and most of them just do it to mess with others.







why people ask tjis question? Because they hear roleplay game and think everyone roleplays in it, when in reality players just play a game.
BabyToss!
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Czech Republic588 Posts
March 03 2013 19:19 GMT
#38
On March 02 2013 09:00 FromShouri wrote:

I think it is as simple as that for most people, you seem to have some gender "idenity" crisis going on, I say fuck what society says are gender "specific" roles. if you're a female and you want to slam a beer after lifting weights go ahead, if you're a boy and you want to worry about your clothes and make up, do that.

Just don't let society tell you who you are.

The bold part, million times and then some more.
Nowadays a Filthy Casual | Follow your dreams |
Dfgj
Profile Joined May 2008
Singapore5922 Posts
March 03 2013 19:29 GMT
#39
I imagine the majority of people don't self-insert when playing, so it's kind of an irrelevant question.

For me it's just the aesthetic of the character I'm creating.
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