Posted by Amatera on Friday, October 30th, 2009 - 28 Comments
Tags: aurora, blizzard, china, gender, king of the world, law, LGBT, mmos, sex, Shanda, warcraft
China continues to prove that MMOs are serious business. So far, both the government and the corporations that operate in the nation have proven that they aren’t shy about controlling the market economically, socially, or culturally. It wasn’t too long ago that they started to crack down on gold selling, and seemingly innocuous game content sometimes needs to be changed for a title to even be released in the country. Blizzard learned that the hard way (apparently they’re not big fans of bones over there).
One company has taken things a step further than normal by banning male players who choose to play female characters, demanding that their sex be verified by webcam. If they can’t prove their identity, then they can kiss their account goodbye. Interestingly enough, this policy does not apply to girls who’d like to experience the thrill of having a hairy chest or a little something extra between their legs, but I’m willing to bet a few hundred yuan that the community is already a bit of a sausagefest.
Currently, this only affects Aurora Technology’s King of the World, an online game so niche that I could only find a single image of it using the good old Google Image search, but that doesn’t stop it from setting a dangerous precedent. Aurora is a subsidiary of Shanda, a company that publishes more popular MMOs such as Aion, Maple Story, and D&D Online in the region, signifying that the mandate has the potential to spread. I wouldn’t expect Blizzard to take up the banner any time soon (in fact, they seem downright friendly to the idea of gender choice after offering a sex change service), but the day may come when they have to conform to the policy to continue operating World of Warcraft in the region, just as they were forced to in the story I linked towards the top of the article.
So what’s the beef? Why can’t a person play any type of character they want? Isn’t that one of the things that draws people to the genre in the first place? To get away from the real life and, in some ways, become the person they want to be?
I have several male characters, but my main has always been, and always will be a female Troll Rogue. I’m not entirely sure why I picked that combination, but I’ve always fancied the fairer sex in video games when the choice is available. It’s easy to say “because they look nice,” but I gravitate towards thinner, more agile characters and those tend to be girls more often than not. And hell, how many people play a female Troll anyway? It’s nice to see a little variety out there on the fields of Azeroth!
Sure we’ve all had our run-ins with gender-bending griefers and unfortunate interactions with that “hawt Blood Elf chick” who we thought we were getting to know oh-so-well.
Certainly, character customization is open to some level of abuse, but what about the LGBT players out there? Those that honestly identify with or would prefer to play a character of the opposite gender because they can relate to the game, and the community, better that way. Is there any legitimate reason why they should be restricted? The US server Proudmoore is home to one of the largest guilds on the planet, the puntastically named Spreading Taint. Undoubtedly, there are some Chinese players out there who suffer from their real-life sexual orientation or feel the need to hide it from their family and peers. It’s a real shame that they can be so easily prohibited from finding like-minded friends online. This ruling prevents them from having a group like Taint to call home.
I’m not out to start a culture war, but this is a pretty heavy issue for some players out there. Any thoughts, readers? If you play a character of the opposite gender, what drove you to do so?
Related Posts: Female Toons - Take II, China Outlaws Gold Farming, Another One Bites The Dust, Soloing: My First Quests in Northrend, Part Five, WoW China Can’t Catch a Break,
By Armengar on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 6:04 am
i play with female character because whenever im playing the game im 99.9% of the time seeing an ass! and when im seeing an ass for 99.9% of the time im playing,well i prefer to see a nice female ass
By Phanttas on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Well my main is a Nelf hunter who’s male, who I started playing because I always used to play Elven hunter equivalents in RPGs and felt weird playing a woman. I think I just couldn’t get into the character.
When I started my Dreanei priest though I didn’t feel a male was right. It’s because when I think of a priest or healer, I think of it being a woman. Like with nurses; most people who are told to imagine a nurse would think of a female one.
Females I find fit certain classes better and vise versa for males. E.g tanks and melee dps I usually think of as a male roll.
Anyone agree with me, or have the same sort of feelings?
By Rhabella on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 8:48 am
@Phanttas,
I don’t necessarily agree with you but respect the opinion. Both of my tanks are females because I thought it would be nice to have a female in what is typically thought of as a male role. I later discovered the females are the warriors in the NE race so my resurrected female DK tanking it up seems rather appropriate. My female dorf was rolled as a joke, but now people always whisper things like, “holy shit man, I never see female dwarfs.” I have friended all of them lvl 80s I see on Draenor and think there are like 8 total, so I like the unique factor especially when I think I might be the only one that tanks. Sex of toons, for most of us, has nothing to do with gender or GLBT issues. It has to do with what looks cool, whether it be a female troll slicing and dicing, a draenei caster casting circle of healing, a male tauren in plate, or a female dwarf using a shield as bag as her. I know this topic has been beat to death and I wish we could all just decide it means absolutely nothing deeply rooted to most of us.
By Armengar on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:40 am
another reason im not playing a male NE hunter is that they got really lame shooting position
By bloodraptor on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
i dont usualy create female characters because i feel kinda wield playig one but my uncle make female characters because he thinks that most the faces on the males look funny. i would also rather that a male character doesnt come hitting on my female charcter thinking i was actualy a girl
By Daxiel on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Every single male I have spoken to who plays a female toon says the same thing: “that if they have to look at a toon, it might as well be a female toon.” As a male, I have played nothing but male toons but understand the allure of playing a female toon.
This allure, of course, is nothing more than an objectification of females and an indulgence of immortality.
The only real difference between a 14 year-old who runs his level 1 NE female into a vacant room and makes her dance in underwear and the older male who plays a female toon is …. hmm, guess there is not much of a difference after all.
By Shamtastik on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
RPG? what RPG? I’m playing whack-a-mole with Grid everytime I come online, i have no time to look at asses, heck, i zoom so far out to see boss’ AoEs that it ends up like playing FF7 all over again.
By LolConnor on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Animations. For Casters, i roll Nelf Females, and Human Females.
I just HATE the casting Animations of the Male Versions, Melee isnt so bad for me, so i roll male for them.
By HerofTime on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I am a guy, and always play male toons. I just can’t get into the game if I’m playing a girl toon. It’s just easier to play a toon of the same sex for me.
By jimbob on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
@Daxiel
OMG! There is a HUGE difference between some random 14 year old with an obsession of some pixel toon in their underwear and ‘an older male who plays female toons’
The difference being we’re not 14, and don’t play female toons ‘cos they are nicer to look at!’ and don’t dance on top of mail boxes in our underwear.
I personally play female toons because i prefer playing female toons. That, just that.
It’s a game. I play female toons. No ulterior motive, no dancing near nekkid. No trying to get other people to give me stuff in the off-chance i might be a real life femme. Nothing.
I play female toons. Get over yourself and your lack understanding that this is just a game and has no bearing n reality or your narrow-minded viewpoint.
PS I think you meant immorality rather than immortality, but either way, you are still deluded.
By Amatera on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
@jimbob
I know what you mean, man. As I stated in the article. I don’t really have any ulterior motive. I’ve *never* made it a secret in-game or otherwise that I wasn’t a dude.
By Dr. Jones on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Belf girl, orc male, tauren male!
By spikolie on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
i started out by looking at the characters and reading their descriptions. the Undead male is me to a T… the dance, the gross rude.. the odd jokes about mucous and goo. I’m NOT pretending, that character on my computer is ME. yeah I’m a nerd…
By Noric on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I have a lot of female toons. The gender goes with the spec, or in the case of my paladin and priest due to another char I’ve created in a different game.
By Azurienatei on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I’ve got a male BE Paladin alt, and I chose it cause, honestly, I like bishounen guys. I think the BEs are pretty! Lol. I also think some NEs are pretty, which is why someday I wouldn’t mind playing one of those.
By Blahbahblah on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Human Male Paladin… He has almost exactly my haircut, hair color, and eyes. The only difference is he’s shorter and looks stronger. Played a male draenei hunter for a bit, but it was too weird looking at the tail/hoof/tentacle thing he had goin on.
One time I made a female blood elf hunter and leveled her up to about 35. I actually noticed that people treated me differently than when I was on my male pally, it was a slight difference but it was still weird.
By Zreena on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 12:29 am
I’m a IRL girl, and I play girls. ZOMG NO WAI. However, I would love to play an undead male, they are too cool.
By Mordraiv on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 8:20 am
@ Zreena
in my old guild, a friend of mine was female, and played an undead male priest
Female Troll rogues > Male Troll rogues, (trust me, i play a male troll rogue, and their stealth/moves look retarded, than god for race change to undead)
@ Daxiel
I lol at you and your…lack, of research? Yes, it is true perverted males tend to do mailbox strip dancing for that extra copper, but the rest of us simply like playing the game, which, WoW is, a game… I mean honestly, if we were as immoral as you think, wouldn’t you think we’d be watching pr0n? and not staring at an animated ass all day? Some of us (look at my view on trolls) just like/don’t like the way some genders cast/attack.
By Daxiel on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 11:47 am
@ Mordraiv and jimbob
You both sound like people who might say, “I read Playboy for the articles.”
Hide it, rationalize it, and justify it all you want (which you are certainly entitled to do), but you are not fooling anyone.
“the cast animations are better” lol
Also, don’t mistake a clear understanding of human nature for “narrow-mindedness” ….
By Drew on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I find it sad when I see grown men playing female characters. about 80% female characters I come across are males.
By Amatera on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
@Drew
I dunno about that. I’m as manly as they come (the hair on my chest says so!), but I grew up around women (mother and two older sisters) and have a lot of female friends. I wouldn’t say I’m feminine, but I feel pretty comfortable around them and don’t feel weird or creepy about playing female characters.
By Mordraiv on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 7:30 pm
@ Daxiel
You sound like someone, who needs a hug. Too bad you’ve pissed me off and i won’t give you one. Tell me that you’d enjoy a 9 foot tall creature hunched over to about 6 feet stalking people in stealth mode with arms moving back and forth like a toddler on a bouncy toy, or if you’d like a subtle character who moves around, like you’d expect a rogue to. Also, what you have isn’t a “clear understanding of human - nature” it’s an obsession with making people feel out of place, and an insane ability to want to be the one that is right, even when there is no answer.
Is Amatera a perverted SoB for playing a female? Or is he cool because he’s the author? You haven’t subjugated him, even though he has openly said he is a male playing a female, you only attack those who you think won’t bite back, so do us all a favor and see a psychiatrist about your case of narcissism.
“the cast animations are better” you obviously take no pleasure in the GAME, I like to take note in minor details, which include animations of charactcers, the Blood Elf cast? yeah, that’s gay, does that make me perverted? for wanting to not look like a fag while casting spells?
“read playboy for the articles” Why, isn’t that comical? Why should we spend our time defending ourselves from unnecessary and inappropriate attacks from a man, who obviously has an unfathomable desire to see himself berating others with questionable reasoning and prejudice towards childish topics. when we could be logged in game staring at poorly animated female figures and reading playboy articles?
You clearly, have something against people who don’t see things as you do. I never thought about the feminine features of my ONE (FORMER) female characters until well… now..
To all those who ENJOY this game and ENJOY playing the characters they play… my hats off to ya
By Daxiel on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
@ Mordraiv
Its not that I have something against people who don’t agree with me … this is a lively debate and thus we disagree with each other … its nothing more personal than that. We are both launching our character attacks … it is good-natured, all in all.
Admittedly, I came into this with all guns blazing and spared non from my condemnations. For that, I apologize and recognize the fact that there are many players, such as yourself Modraiv, whose desire to play a female character is not rooted in sexual attraction. I do apologize for attacking you personally on that point …
Nonetheless, I remain convinced that as a general principle, males who play female characters do so primarily due to sexual attraction. It is no secret, for example, that the success of the Tombraider games was driven by a predominantly male gaming demographic … neither is it a secret that her sexuality was one of the primary selling points of that game.
Equally so, WoW females are attractive. And in this, they draw out those attractions which, though perfectly natural, are nonetheless wasted on anything that is not a RL relationship. One might argue, “why is this a problem?” Admittedly, whether this is viewed as a problem is directly dependent upon one’s worldview.
Let me again underscore what I should have underscored from the start …. I was wrong to apply this condemnation to all players.
Also, I don’t need to see a psych doc … I play one in RL lol. My experience, though admittedly anecdotal in nature, has been that the majority of males who play female toons do so out of a desire to objectify the female form in-game and thus, females in general. It is, in my professional opinion, an unhealthy and unworthy use of such sexual attractions.
(and I do totally agree with you about BE male animations … one of the reasons I stayed Alliance in BC lol)
Cheers
By LadyWolf on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I play both genders with my characters yet am a girl in real life. Yes, girls play WoW. For me, it depends on what style and attitude I want the character to have when I create it. To me, Trolls are “Al Capone” style gangsters so I have a troll mage (male) and a troll hunter (female and my original trial character). The mage simply looks cool (current level) in Robes of Arugal and a blue Brewfest hat. The hunter just looked cool when I was tinkering since I could not find the BC trial version on the website. I also have a male BE Hunter, Priest, and DK, male NE DK, and the rest of my 14 toons are all female of some sort. Yet no orcs, just don’t care for them. My main overall is a female undead DK tank/dps. Quite a nice look for starter gear with the minion beside me like a hunter pet. *wants to go play now* Have fun all.
By Pc098 on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 10:33 am
Back in the day i use to do arena, i found out the female char had a edge over male conterpart as they were hader to manualy target, so i used to arene whit female toon for this reason( ex: female Tauren VS male Tauren). But in everyday playing , i usualy go whit class, like someone stated earlier, female priest sound natural :). Anyway, its just a game no mater WHAT type of char u play, male or female.
By Mooshake on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I’m male and my main is a female draenei DK, i’m going to be changing it to gnome soon. To me WoW is a pretty much a game of dress up. It’s why I choose certain hairstyles/features over others. I just think they look better. I have a big affinity for female gnomes, but I prefer the male gnome dance. It’s just a preference that I have, I like pretty things and like to choose how my virtual personas look.
By Heartbourne on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:07 am
Great article Ama.
Gender and sex are two different things. When you are choosing your character, strictly speaking, you are only choosing the sex.
By Amatera on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
@Heartbourne
Speaking of which, I didn’t get *anywhere near* the RP community.