Is it weird for female players to play male characters?

[Chorne.8195]

I've played Zelda plenty of times before, but Link is super feminine, especially in BotW. He even dresses as a girl and passes for one in one part of the game. It's easy to play as him to because he never speaks. When a character never speaks it makes it feel more like a tool that the player uses rather than a character of their own, I think.

[ReaverKane.7598]

@Danikat.8537 said:

@finkle.9513 said:Think most people come from games that where gender locked, so a healer would always be a female character, a warrior is male charterer.... i think we are all used to different sexes playing different genders, i really dont see what bearing in life a character you play in a game has.. I started off playing Mario, but when i played the mushroom it didnt make me drug dealer...

I've never played a game with gender locked classes, I didn't realise they were that common. Unless you count the ones where you always play the same character, like Zelda.

Check out BDO for a current example (also one of the reasons i don't really like the game).

[Egrimm Van Horstmann.7921]

Completely agree that female attire in the game doesn't give options for less revealing. If you want to play a male character, do it. I would love to see more armor skins for females that are not a bunch of cut up spandex. I would even be for having the option to gender swap the clothing. Asura get males armor female or male, would be nice to have the option for females of other races. If their worried about a no shirt on a female model they could have the underwear show for that particular part of the body which means there's no worry about creating something new. Maybe a dye channel for underwear, but nobody is going to argue it's not worth it. For the players who run around in their undies they could color them.

[Donari.5237]

@Chorne.8195 said:

It might just be from a lack of experience. Not writing or reading-wise but life-wise. I'm only turning fifteen in a couple months...Hopefully trying out a male character and playing the story with it will help out with that.

Ahah! Yes, to both of those points. At fifteen you're just starting to figure out how your own mind works, let alone anyone else's. I didn't write a good male character until my early 40's (a blood elf male in The Burning Crusade that morphed into my dashing Daredevil of today; I call him good based on feedback from many other people, not my own conceit). I did play male characters before that, in re-enactment and LARPing, but generally as already written characters such as Athos, Horatio Hornblower, and such. (I have a very plain face and back when I was skinnier and more flat chested people did mistake me for a guy until I spoke, so I could pull off such roles in the right costumes).

What went into finally figuring out the male mind? Well, practice, as noted in your second point. I wrote some bad caricatures for a while in tabletops and MMOs. And reading. I've been a voracious reader since childhood, almost entirely F&SF, so I've seen countless examples of how to write characters no matter the author's gender. And realizing deep down an important point that writers will tell you, but takes some time to internalize: you design and write the character first. Gender is the last thing you figure out about them, not the first. It may be that the character you're designing just won't click except as a specific gender (perhaps the culture they're in enforces certain roles and outlooks and if you genderswap the role you're making a maverick when you wanted someone who fits in). But if you want a strong commanding officer sort with a secret paralyzing fear of roses (silly example), that could be male or female. Or trans or neuter or whatever fits.

But not every character you play in GW2 needs to be chock full of RP and lore. I don't know about you but I play zoomed out super far to avoid motion sickness. Some people talk about staring at pixel butts ... well, my entire character is generally about two inches tall on my screen while running or fighting, and the screen is a couple of feet from my eyes, so I don't exactly identify with the avatar :) So I have a number of alts that I haven't even figured out personality for, they're just there to have profession options. I simply make sure they have lore appropriate names and appearances in case they ever do get a story.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

@Crab Fear.1624 said:Look at it this way:

When you play any of your characters, you do no become them, you just take over their lives for a little bit and force them to do things. After you log out they go back to their regular lives with a few hours of time time lost. Yes, they are traumatized.

Lol. That made me laugh.

“Hmmm what shall I do today?” thinks I. “Shall I kick a puppy? Tear wings off flies? I know, I’ll play gw2 and force my chars to run around killing things while wearing revealing clothing!!”

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, and by the way all.

Happy Holidays

★Merry★ 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ ••。★Christmas★ 。 。° 。 ° ˛˚˛ Π____。˚˚ ˛ •˛•˚ /__/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜田田｜門｜ ˚And a Happy New Year•

? ? ⛷????? ☃️?

[OneYenShort.3189]

@Chorne.8195 said:It's frustrating. The issue is mostly with my perception, I understand that, and I want to try something different, but I'm just too paranoid about how I'll be perceived...

You are playing a GAME, not a reflection upon reality. Have fun! :)

You want to play a male character so that you have more access to different looks? DO IT.

[Weindrasi.3805]

Why are you even worried about this? Like, if your worst case scenario happens, and your guild thinks you're a man who plays a bunch of female characters--why is that an issue?

I'm a female player and I play both genders without a second thought. My main in guild wars 1, who I played for years, was a man. In guild wars 2, I have male and female characters. Hell, I even have a female named "The Harlot", and I'm sure people assume I'm some pervy dude when I'm on her (frankly, the thought makes me chuckle).My dad plays this game with me. He's a 60-something year old dude, and he plays male and female characters too! Lately, my male charr and his female norn have been running around the game. Nobody would be able to guess from those characters what we're like IRL ;)

If you want to play a fierce female character who isn't sexxed up, make a charr. Female charr are great! (image of one of my female charr included)https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/44134/gw628.jpg

[Leo G.4501]

@"Chorne.8195" said:I'm afraid that if I join a guild or something and appear as a male, all my other characters will become redundant and I'll be mistaken as a creepy dude who solely plays girls.

This is what is wrong with society now a days.

Long story short: Nobody cares. The only reason I'm even posting in this thread is so you know there are people out there that DO NOT CARE.

EDIT: And when I say "nobody cares" I don't mean "no one cares what gender you make your character", I mean no one cares about if you're a creepy dude or a whatever-chick-that-can't-be-described-by-negative-stereotypes-because-reasons.

If you can't just play games because you want to play games, then maybe you should ask if you're enjoying said games? And that means in every respect of how you play those games.

[Nilkemia.8507]

Answer : No.

[Tekoneiric.6817]

@Chorne.8195 said:I've been playing GW2 for two years, and I have six characters. All female, and I've enjoyed every single one of them. ( Except the Norn. I hate that voice actor. )

I love the female Norn voice. It's a commanding voice that conveys their strength and stature. Most of my main characters are female Norns and I've been playing them for awhile so I tend to associate it with myself sort of like how Stephen Hawking associates his synthesized voice with himself.

[Tasida.4085]

Nah it's not weird, play both genders. What's really weird is males playing loli's. Now that's truly disturbing. I am female and prefer to play female toons, but more power to those that want to diversify.

[STIHL.2489]

never mind.. googled it.

[zengara.8301]

kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

[Cobrakon.3108]

@"zengara.8301" said:kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

So im going to guess what the community would consider weird or unusual on average.

If you are a girl and have a majority of male characters = or >70 percent.... that's probably considered weird.If you are a boy that has a majority of female characters= or >70 percent that's probably considered weird.

So in someones mind they might wonder if the women with a majority of male characters is

1. A tom Boy
2. A Lesbian.
3. Doesn't want to be harassed

For men who have a majority of Female characters it could be.

1. Is immature likes to look at sexy pixels
2. Is low testosterone
3. Is gay

Now whether you agree with the correlations, I think some of these thoughts are pretty common.Its important to note that weird can simple mean out of the ordinary. I tried to give you a view similar to how many people might approach it, when they aren't virtue signaling and are being honest about it.

[Oglaf.1074]

@"Cobrakon.3108" said:

3. Is gay

I highly doubt that one mate.

There is neither the sex appeal, nor the self-insert/identifying angle for a gay man when playing as a woman.

... unless you conflate being a gay man with being a drag queen.

That being said of course, I'm not saying a gay man couldn't play a female character - quite the contrary. But I highly doubt he does so solely because he is gay. It is quite a silly idea.

[STIHL.2489]

in a game where I can play a giant cat or a living tree.. I am not gonna judge what "gender" someone plays. As long as you are having fun, play whatever you like.

[Leo G.4501]

@"zengara.8301" said:kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

Not riled up by "x gender playing y characters". My issue is the OP, and most people, feel it's perfectly acceptable to not only unjustly generalize guys but also label them negatively for little reason than they are playing a video game but it'd be considered hostile or attacking if I considered a woman who needs social validation starving for attention (such as needing a reason to play a character in a video game).

[Egorum.9506]

People play gay male charr all the time, which I don't really understand. Cats have barbed penises

[Cobrakon.3108]

@Leo G.4501 said:

@"zengara.8301" said:kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

Not riled up by "x gender playing y characters". My issue is the OP, and most people, feel it's perfectly acceptable to not only unjustly generalize guys but also label them negatively for little reason than they are playing a video game but it'd be considered hostile or attacking if I considered a woman who needs social validation starving for attention (such as needing a reason to play a character in a video game).

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@"Cobrakon.3108" said:

3. Is gay

I highly doubt that one mate.

There is neither the sex appeal, nor the self-insert/identifying angle for a gay man when playing as a woman.

... unless you conflate being a gay man with being a drag queen.

That being said of course, I'm not saying a gay man couldn't play a female character - quite the contrary. But I highly doubt he does so

solely

because he is gay. It is quite a silly idea.

I'm not focusing on the identity thing, but the attention to fashion that gay men can have. Things like that become stereotypes and I don't think its out of the question for people to wonder if someone is gay if they have an affinity for female fashion. Another thing that might cause people to draw conclusions would be how girly all the female characters are. I think someone that tends to dress their girl characters with frilly things paired with bifrost and can talk about the struggles of sparkle fashion... While its not a guarantee, I could see someone drawing conclusions.

[Zephyra.4709]

I make characters and play both genders equally; but for some races I prefer male - male Charr look cooler in most armors (plus shoulder skins on females always look like they're floating).

Since I frequent WvW and I hear plenty a voice in TS it's not surprising in the slightest to find a lot of males playing female characters. It's a game after all, have fun! Play what you feel like playing, don't let others make you feel uncomfortable.

[STIHL.2489]

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

@Leo G.4501 said:

@"zengara.8301" said:kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

Not riled up by "x gender playing y characters". My issue is the OP, and most people, feel it's perfectly acceptable to not only unjustly generalize guys but also label them negatively for little reason than they are playing a video game but it'd be considered hostile or attacking if I considered a woman who needs social validation starving for attention (such as needing a reason to play a character in a video game).

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

3. Is gay

I highly doubt that one mate.

There is neither the sex appeal, nor the self-insert/identifying angle for a gay man when playing as a woman.

... unless you conflate being a gay man with being a drag queen.

That being said of course, I'm not saying a gay man couldn't play a female character - quite the contrary. But I highly doubt he does so

solely

because he is gay. It is quite a silly idea.

I'm not focusing on the identity thing, but the attention to fashion that gay men can have. Things like that become stereotypes and I don't think its out of the question for people to wonder if someone is gay if they have an affinity for female fashion. Another thing that might cause people to draw conclusions would be how girly all the female characters are. I think someone that tends to dress their girl characters with frilly things paired with bifrost and can talk about the struggles of sparkle fashion... While its not a guarantee, I could see someone drawing conclusions.

The real question is, Why should we need to draw conclusions at all,

There does seem to be a inordinate amount of time spent by players to psychoanalyze other players, truth is, people are very bad at this guessing game to start with, through the veil of a video game it gets worse, and only shows their limited world view and scope when they toss out these kinds of assumptions/ I mean really, someone might do miniature painting as a hobby, and this very into color schemes and patterns and this carries over to their video games, or they might work at a clothing store, or do Ren Fairs, or even be professional costume makers, they could be photographer, etc, etc, etc.

Why not simply enjoy the discussion if you can all have fun fretting about frilly female fashion without the extra need to complicate anything by drawing in some cases totally unfounded (and often wrong) conclusions. Just enjoy the game.

If someone wants to play a male character, then play a male, why does anyone need to make it more then it is.

[Oglaf.1074]

@STIHL.2489 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

@Leo G.4501 said:

@"zengara.8301" said:kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

Not riled up by "x gender playing y characters". My issue is the OP, and most people, feel it's perfectly acceptable to not only unjustly generalize guys but also label them negatively for little reason than they are playing a video game but it'd be considered hostile or attacking if I considered a woman who needs social validation starving for attention (such as needing a reason to play a character in a video game).

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

3. Is gay

I highly doubt that one mate.

There is neither the sex appeal, nor the self-insert/identifying angle for a gay man when playing as a woman.

... unless you conflate being a gay man with being a drag queen.

That being said of course, I'm not saying a gay man couldn't play a female character - quite the contrary. But I highly doubt he does so

solely

because he is gay. It is quite a silly idea.

I'm not focusing on the identity thing, but the attention to fashion that gay men can have. Things like that become stereotypes and I don't think its out of the question for people to wonder if someone is gay if they have an affinity for female fashion. Another thing that might cause people to draw conclusions would be how girly all the female characters are. I think someone that tends to dress their girl characters with frilly things paired with bifrost and can talk about the struggles of sparkle fashion... While its not a guarantee, I could see someone drawing conclusions.

The real question is,

Why should we need to draw conclusions at all

,

There does seem to be a inordinate amount of time spent by players to psychoanalyze other players, truth is, people are very bad at this guessing game to start with, through the veil of a video game it gets worse, and only shows their limited world view and scope when they toss out these kinds of assumptions/ I mean really, someone might do miniature painting as a hobby, and this very into color schemes and patterns and this carries over to their video games, or they might work at a clothing store, or do Ren Fairs, or even be professional costume makers, they could be photographer, etc, etc, etc.

Why not simply enjoy the discussion if you can all have fun fretting about frilly female fashion without the extra need to complicate anything by drawing in some cases totally unfounded (and often wrong) conclusions. Just enjoy the game.

If someone wants to play a male character, then play a male, why does anyone need to make it more then it is.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. ;)

[Leo G.4501]

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@STIHL.2489 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

@Leo G.4501 said:

@"zengara.8301" said:kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

Not riled up by "x gender playing y characters". My issue is the OP, and most people, feel it's perfectly acceptable to not only unjustly generalize guys but also label them negatively for little reason than they are playing a video game but it'd be considered hostile or attacking if I considered a woman who needs social validation starving for attention (such as needing a reason to play a character in a video game).

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

3. Is gay

I highly doubt that one mate.

There is neither the sex appeal, nor the self-insert/identifying angle for a gay man when playing as a woman.

... unless you conflate being a gay man with being a drag queen.

That being said of course, I'm not saying a gay man couldn't play a female character - quite the contrary. But I highly doubt he does so

solely

because he is gay. It is quite a silly idea.

I'm not focusing on the identity thing, but the attention to fashion that gay men can have. Things like that become stereotypes and I don't think its out of the question for people to wonder if someone is gay if they have an affinity for female fashion. Another thing that might cause people to draw conclusions would be how girly all the female characters are. I think someone that tends to dress their girl characters with frilly things paired with bifrost and can talk about the struggles of sparkle fashion... While its not a guarantee, I could see someone drawing conclusions.

The real question is,

Why should we need to draw conclusions at all

,

There does seem to be a inordinate amount of time spent by players to psychoanalyze other players, truth is, people are very bad at this guessing game to start with, through the veil of a video game it gets worse, and only shows their limited world view and scope when they toss out these kinds of assumptions/ I mean really, someone might do miniature painting as a hobby, and this very into color schemes and patterns and this carries over to their video games, or they might work at a clothing store, or do Ren Fairs, or even be professional costume makers, they could be photographer, etc, etc, etc.

Why not simply enjoy the discussion if you can all have fun fretting about frilly female fashion without the extra need to complicate anything by drawing in some cases totally unfounded (and often wrong) conclusions. Just enjoy the game.

If someone wants to play a male character, then play a male, why does anyone need to make it more then it is.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. ;)

But what do you accomplish by calling said cigar a cigar?

[Oglaf.1074]

@Leo G.4501 said:

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@STIHL.2489 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

@Leo G.4501 said:

@"zengara.8301" said:kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

Not riled up by "x gender playing y characters". My issue is the OP, and most people, feel it's perfectly acceptable to not only unjustly generalize guys but also label them negatively for little reason than they are playing a video game but it'd be considered hostile or attacking if I considered a woman who needs social validation starving for attention (such as needing a reason to play a character in a video game).

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

3. Is gay

I highly doubt that one mate.

There is neither the sex appeal, nor the self-insert/identifying angle for a gay man when playing as a woman.

... unless you conflate being a gay man with being a drag queen.

That being said of course, I'm not saying a gay man couldn't play a female character - quite the contrary. But I highly doubt he does so

solely

because he is gay. It is quite a silly idea.

I'm not focusing on the identity thing, but the attention to fashion that gay men can have. Things like that become stereotypes and I don't think its out of the question for people to wonder if someone is gay if they have an affinity for female fashion. Another thing that might cause people to draw conclusions would be how girly all the female characters are. I think someone that tends to dress their girl characters with frilly things paired with bifrost and can talk about the struggles of sparkle fashion... While its not a guarantee, I could see someone drawing conclusions.

The real question is,

Why should we need to draw conclusions at all

,

There does seem to be a inordinate amount of time spent by players to psychoanalyze other players, truth is, people are very bad at this guessing game to start with, through the veil of a video game it gets worse, and only shows their limited world view and scope when they toss out these kinds of assumptions/ I mean really, someone might do miniature painting as a hobby, and this very into color schemes and patterns and this carries over to their video games, or they might work at a clothing store, or do Ren Fairs, or even be professional costume makers, they could be photographer, etc, etc, etc.

Why not simply enjoy the discussion if you can all have fun fretting about frilly female fashion without the extra need to complicate anything by drawing in some cases totally unfounded (and often wrong) conclusions. Just enjoy the game.

If someone wants to play a male character, then play a male, why does anyone need to make it more then it is.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. ;)

But what do you accomplish by calling said cigar a cigar?

Dispel any rumours that you want to bed your own mother.

[Leo G.4501]

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Leo G.4501 said:

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@STIHL.2489 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

@Leo G.4501 said:

@"zengara.8301" said:kinda interesting people get so wild up by "Is it weird for female players to play male characters?" Specially when people all seem to agree........Have not read all the answers, but if anyone could answer to me in a honest....but not brutal like "thirst", would be awesome.

Not riled up by "x gender playing y characters". My issue is the OP, and most people, feel it's perfectly acceptable to not only unjustly generalize guys but also label them negatively for little reason than they are playing a video game but it'd be considered hostile or attacking if I considered a woman who needs social validation starving for attention (such as needing a reason to play a character in a video game).

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:

3. Is gay

I highly doubt that one mate.

There is neither the sex appeal, nor the self-insert/identifying angle for a gay man when playing as a woman.

... unless you conflate being a gay man with being a drag queen.

That being said of course, I'm not saying a gay man couldn't play a female character - quite the contrary. But I highly doubt he does so

solely

because he is gay. It is quite a silly idea.

I'm not focusing on the identity thing, but the attention to fashion that gay men can have. Things like that become stereotypes and I don't think its out of the question for people to wonder if someone is gay if they have an affinity for female fashion. Another thing that might cause people to draw conclusions would be how girly all the female characters are. I think someone that tends to dress their girl characters with frilly things paired with bifrost and can talk about the struggles of sparkle fashion... While its not a guarantee, I could see someone drawing conclusions.

The real question is,

Why should we need to draw conclusions at all

,

There does seem to be a inordinate amount of time spent by players to psychoanalyze other players, truth is, people are very bad at this guessing game to start with, through the veil of a video game it gets worse, and only shows their limited world view and scope when they toss out these kinds of assumptions/ I mean really, someone might do miniature painting as a hobby, and this very into color schemes and patterns and this carries over to their video games, or they might work at a clothing store, or do Ren Fairs, or even be professional costume makers, they could be photographer, etc, etc, etc.

Why not simply enjoy the discussion if you can all have fun fretting about frilly female fashion without the extra need to complicate anything by drawing in some cases totally unfounded (and often wrong) conclusions. Just enjoy the game.

If someone wants to play a male character, then play a male, why does anyone need to make it more then it is.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. ;)

But what do you accomplish by calling said cigar a cigar?

Dispel any rumours that you want to bed your own mother.

Ah, I guess I misunderstood the context of your post. I thought you meant it's not drawing conclusions if its true or something. Haven't had any coffee yet...and it looks like I won't since I'm out, all the nearby stores are closed and I'm not driving in that snow...