Starlock wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

You can do all these other things, and it's perfectly normal. Why, then, would it seem out of the norm to play one, the other, or both genders?

Some do not use their imagination much when it comes to playing this game... in spite of it being an RPG. That said, even among role-players, some just never play a character of a sex that doesn't match theirs. I don't get it either. Sometimes, I ask them about it. Often they'll awkwardly say they don't think they could do a female character (note - I've yet to meet a girl gamer who has issues playing non-female characters). I'll ask - why is that? They often have this strange idea in their head that females are somehow an entirely different species. At that point I usually just give them this look, and then they'll awkwardly say they regard me as "just one of the guys." I'll point out the foible of that, and maybe also say something asking how weird it is that they can play different races (who may literally be different species in the campaign setting) but can't manage a female character.

I don't pester them for that long about it, because they're victims of sexist cultural conditioning. Same deal with the guys who only play girl characters "for the looks" (translation = sex objectification). The good role-players I've interacted with really don't consider their personal feelings about sexes or genders when creating their characters... they do it because... well... role-playing. What our culture says about sex and gender roles becomes irrelevant, because those norms are different in the fantasy worlds we are playing in anyway. We have game masters running historical settings where women are regarded as little more than housewives all the way to fantasy settings where matriarchal rule is the standard (drow, anyone?). Why not explore all of that freely and leave your real world baggage behind?

All the races in the game have their genders based on human rl gender, so someone not wanting to play as a certain gender but still deciding to play Argonian makes perfect sense.

Besides being an avid gamer, I write science fiction and fantasy. I am used to working on experiencing adventures as another character, through their eyes. Male or Female, Human or Elf.
While I am no RPer, I do try to have at least a hint of backstory and outlook for my ESO characters, and enjoy immersing myself in their experiences and choices.

I play any gender and any race really...Rarely do I ever play Breton though. Bretons are simply too boring for me, but I digress.

Also who plays an RPG to play themselves? That's utterly boring. If one wants to play themselves so badly, why not just get up and do stuff IRL? Lol

Claudman wrote: »

I play any gender and any race really...Rarely do I ever play Breton though. Bretons are simply too boring for me, but I digress.

Also who plays an RPG to play themselves? That's utterly boring. If one wants to play themselves so badly, why not just get up and do stuff IRL? Lol

Because in a game you can do things you might not be able to irl?

Im a guy and have 50/50 male and female alts.
My main male character has 90 bag space and usually 20 free space.

My main female character has 150 bag space, ~100 used by different costume pieces, 21 different costumes saved in Wykkyd Outfitter and every piece of civilian clothing available, when entering a city I use Outfitter to quickly swap out of Armor into something more "dressy".

I find this accurately reflects the situation in my RL house

tactx wrote: »

So you guys with wives or girlfriends, what do they say or have they said when they see you play a girl in a game and hear the girl character screaming and yelling all the time when you take fall damage, attack, etc.?

Just yesterday the wifey complimented that my female bosmer looks like a slightly shorter version of her imperial adopted mother. I told her I took inspiration from the second best, the only more beautiful woman I know holding the controls.

I believe her words were "Awwww!"

Edit: I know many females have played male characters to not be judged or hit on, or even receive obscene messages. I've not seen a female response in this thread stating "they play a male because they like to look at the guy"...

You may want to take a trip back through the thread, methinks...

Creepers happen. Trust me though, no one thinks highly of them.

Do you tell your wife or girlfriend "I'd rather look at a girls butt in a game" as well? And does she says so you play a game to stare at a character's butt? How does this dialogue go I wonder.

When I made Ara (I had made Syl before meeting her), she immediately asked me which of her toons could have a cute relationship with Ara. We settled on her female imperial, Nytte. My straight wife elected to rp as as lesbian (which I believe she does faithfully, I might add).

I'm starting to get the feeling you don't understand the "IC/OOC separation" thing that is a major rule in rp. For example, if my character says "Hi, I am Ara." It is not me, Doctor of the Frost, telling you I am a woman. It is a character speaking to you. Likewise, I don't even for a second think I am a girl or behave like one OOC just because I play one.

That make sense maybe?

A lot of these responses seem like some people aren't being honest with themselves and going with the least embarrassing reply which can only be "i like looking at a girls figure!!!1one!".

None of that's addressed at me, so I'm not going to respond.

Deflecting by saying "we're not argonians in real life or vampires", etc. That's different because it's clearly a character. But a gender, and acting as if you're the opposite sex in a game is very different than a species because you can be a breast wielding illogical argonian or vampire.

This does pertain to me, so I'm gunna answer.

Why must I be female to play a female?

I'll assume you're not going to say I have to be, skip to the bold if you do think that though.

If I do not have to be a biological female in real life to play a female, why would you ever assume I am because I do?

Pending your answer, I'll hold any further comments on that.

And as far as names goes, yea obviously a female character named Chuck or Jim is silly, but instead of a general name like "shorty" or "remedy" these guys have names like Lady Madeline wearing a pink dress and a tiara. It's those cases that are... interesting...

Okay I legitimately don't think you understand roleplaying. That's not a dig, I'm just being dead serious. Have you ever played a tabletop RPG before? Perhaps played tomb raider? I'm genuinely interested in your response.

@tactx

(Edited several times for spelling and grammar)

They have boobs

DocFrost72 wrote: »

tactx wrote: »

So you guys with wives or girlfriends, what do they say or have they said when they see you play a girl in a game and hear the girl character screaming and yelling all the time when you take fall damage, attack, etc.?

Just yesterday the wifey complimented that my female bosmer looks like a slightly shorter version of her imperial adopted mother. I told her I took inspiration from the second best, the only more beautiful woman I know holding the controls.

I believe her words were "Awwww!"

Edit: I know many females have played male characters to not be judged or hit on, or even receive obscene messages. I've not seen a female response in this thread stating "they play a male because they like to look at the guy"...

You may want to take a trip back through the thread, methinks...

Creepers happen. Trust me though, no one thinks highly of them.

Do you tell your wife or girlfriend "I'd rather look at a girls butt in a game" as well? And does she says so you play a game to stare at a character's butt? How does this dialogue go I wonder.

When I made Ara (I had made Syl before meeting her), she immediately asked me which of her toons could have a cute relationship with Ara. We settled on her female imperial, Nytte. My straight wife elected to rp as as lesbian (which I believe she does faithfully, I might add).

I'm starting to get the feeling you don't understand the "IC/OOC separation" thing that is a major rule in rp. For example, if my character says "Hi, I am Ara." It is not me, Doctor of the Frost, telling you I am a woman. It is a character speaking to you. Likewise, I don't even for a second think I am a girl or behave like one OOC just because I play one.

That make sense maybe?

A lot of these responses seem like some people aren't being honest with themselves and going with the least embarrassing reply which can only be "i like looking at a girls figure!!!1one!".

None of that's addressed at me, so I'm not going to respond.

Deflecting by saying "we're not argonians in real life or vampires", etc. That's different because it's clearly a character. But a gender, and acting as if you're the opposite sex in a game is very different than a species because you can be a breast wielding illogical argonian or vampire.

This does pertain to me, so I'm gunna answer.

Why must I be female to play a female?

I'll assume you're not going to say I have to be, skip to the bold if you do think that though.

If I do not have to be a biological female in real life to play a female, why would you ever assume I am because I do?

Pending your answer, I'll hold any further comments on that.

And as far as names goes, yea obviously a female character named Chuck or Jim is silly, but instead of a general name like "shorty" or "remedy" these guys have names like Lady Madeline wearing a pink dress and a tiara. It's those cases that are... interesting...

Okay I legitimately don't think you understand roleplaying. That's not a dig, I'm just being dead serious. Have you ever played a tabletop RPG before? Perhaps played tomb raider? I'm genuinely interested in your response.

@tactx

(Edited several times for spelling and grammar)

I legitimately don't understand role playing and have never played a tabletop RPG. Haven't played tomb raider either. Your reply helped to elucidate the disconnect from reality and the game world and I see how it could be much more immersive, and perhaps even therapeutic, stepping out of the real world and only focusing on the game world for a time.

Thanks for the great reply, @DocFrost72 !

I don't. Actually, since I'm gay, I prefer to admire those gorgeous muscular guys, just Majoll in Port Hunding.

tactx wrote: »

So you guys with wives or girlfriends, what do they say or have they said when they see you play a girl in a game and hear the girl character screaming and yelling all the time when you take fall damage, attack, etc.?

Edit: I know many females have played male characters to not be judged or hit on, or even receive obscene messages. I've not seen a female response in this thread stating "they play a male because they like to look at the guy"...

Do you tell your wife or girlfriend "I'd rather look at a girls butt in a game" as well? And does she says so you play a game to stare at a character's butt? How does this dialogue go I wonder.

A lot of these responses seem like some people aren't being honest with themselves and going with the least embarrassing reply which can only be "i like looking at a girls figure!!!1one!". Deflecting by saying "we're not argonians in real life or vampires", etc. That's different because it's clearly a character. But a gender, and acting as if you're the opposite sex in a game is very different than a species because you can be a breast wielding illogical argonian or vampire. And as far as names goes, yea obviously a female character named Chuck or Jim is silly, but instead of a general name like "shorty" or "remedy" these guys have names like Lady Madeline wearing a pink dress and a tiara. It's those cases that are... interesting...

You're serious, right? On page 6 of this thread I said this:

I'm female, and 1/3 of my chars are male. I see my toons as characters in a world, not as extensions of myself. They all have their own stories. Needless to say, I can empathise with males who enjoy looking at female avatars. My three males are certainly fun to look at when I play, which is something I don't get from my female toons. I do have to agree with some of the other female gamers here that the male char models can have some awkwardness, especially in the legs, but overall they can be attractive, and mine certainly are! I don't RP (except for maybe in my head) but In the end it all comes down to what kind of a story is this character living out. I have a male Breton who's story is having an Altmer father who secretly supports him while openly rejecting him for being half elf (I love how you can give Bretons pointy ears). I have an Argonian female who I started back when Morrowind came out so I could play the underdog in that expansion. Having an imagination is fun.

Are you actually reading some our responses?

Male, only create male toons. Mainly because when I game I like to envision myself as if I am the character. Sorta like role play, I tried playing as a female but I ended up deleting the character right after a few minutes

Personally, I think that males playing female characters is more about gamer culture than gender.
I believe there are a variety of reasons for this.
These are the reasons I have heard from male friends and or guildies in eso and other games;
1. I prefer to stare at a female butt than a male butt all day
2. It's funny when someone challenges my lil gnome girl to a duel and then i kick their ass.
3. I like looking at my girls naked.

I did not make up those reasons but have heard them many times. Some guys go as far as transforming their voice to female with some voice app on discord just to troll people.

Im a female by birth and i prefer to play female characters as I am very feminine and petit in rl and i cant help expressing myself via my characters. I tried to play male characters but they felt too butch and i just couldnt relate to them. The most masculine character i play is an orc female lol Shes a tough lady and I pvp on her ...she has attitude and i have quite a bit of that in me too.

Noone asks why some females play male characters or why some people play both female and male characters or why some only play beastie folk? Hmmm

The only reason I ever play as a female in a game is if there's a story reason to or if I come up with a character idea that fits. If I thought of an idea, I'd create a female character in ESO but otherwise, I play only as male characters. The common excuse is "I'd rather stare at a female character than a male character" but I personally find that excuse to be total bull. If you're staring at your character in the first place (which is different than simply seeing your character in the process of the gameplay), then you're obviously gawking.

Then, of course, you have the dudes that find it hilarious to troll other dudes by acting like a female. Those kinds of players I can actually somewhat understand, I can imagine it'd be hysterical to do that. But I've had this discussion with people before and I almost always see a lot of them using the "staring" excuse.

In Mmo’s I played before ESO I usually played female toons cause I liked their character model better then the male ones. The male’s were to bulky for my taste most times. How ever in ESO I’ve pretty much made male toons. They did a really amazing job with the male character models in this game.

Either way what gender you play on a video game shouldn’t matter. If you’re that insecure with your sexuality that someone playing a different gender on a game really concerns you, I feel that’s more of an issue you need to deal with.