Posted by pixiestixy on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 - 66 Comments
Tags: /dance, female, fun, gameplay, gender, girl, guy, harassment, male, noob, RL, sex appeal, stereotypes, toon
 RL girls or not, they’re taking this bear down! |
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post exploring the relationship between a WoW player’s RL gender and what gender they play in-game. And all you Project Lore readers out there are so great that you provided tons of comments for me to ponder over. Let’s take another poke at the subject.
One of the things that I didn’t address earlier, but that comments certainly did, is whether girl gamers have inferior or superior skills when it comes to playing WoW. Personally, I think it’s all about experience no matter what gender you are. I’m sure there are just as many noob guys who play. But regardless, the stereotype is that girls can’t play. Or that just because we’re girls, we make good targets for taunting and sometimes harassment while playing in a male-dominated setting. And there’s a lot of us who don’t appreciate being treated differently for any reason, much less such stupid ones.
Magradon commented:
I think us girls need to take WoW by storm… I’ve had WoW stalkers and guys who actually profess their love, talk about visiting me…and all I ever did to deserve it was to be nice. /ignore
And Nightwisher elaborated on similar experiences:
i get ALOT of shit for even playing wow and being female… boys just cant take girl gamers seriously. though im pretty sure my fully epiced resto druid would stomp some faces if i actually liked PVP’ing.
My experiences have been less extreme and more amusing. Like when a guy toon properly positions his /dance so it’s right on my chick’s ass. Lovely. But my purpose today was not to spread *Girl Power,* even though there are plenty of us who certainly kick butt in game. Really, I just want to have a bit more fun on this topic. So on that note, here’s the flip side of the situation.
I actually have a lot of fun being the instigator sometimes. One of my favorite things to do when bored? Find a random male toon. /flirt. Wait for a response. /slap. Run away! Makes me laugh hysterically every time! I don’t know, maybe doing that sort of thing makes things harder on other girls in game. I hope not. But regardless, it’s hilarious. I try not to take things too seriously, and typically my targets don’t, either. It appears that there are others roaming here on Project Lore who also use sex appeal to their own advantage.
Like AlysiumX:
ok ok i admit it, im a guy playing a girl character but thats only for the +5% chance for grp invites
Way to keep it real.
While I previously guessed that girls do not generally play cross-gender toons, it seems that you lovely ladies out there have proved me wrong. So props to brandywine, Hatell, elfennau, Cyan, Wrongway, Halcath and Percolatte, among others for breaking that misconception I (and based on the comments, apparently others) had.
But it still seems that guys are a bit more likely to fall into that roll. Whether it’s “cuz i dont feel like watching some guys ass when i lvl up” (thanks Marcwaznthere, for your articulate explanation), or if you’re like jimbob who admitted, “i just have an ‘affinity’ with female toons, go figure!” I guess we all have our reasons for playing the way we play, even if we don’t think about it much.
Female toons? That’s just how I roll!
I thought Alayea phrased it best:
Female players FTW!
So, let’s get this discussion going again. Regardless of your RL gender, do the benefits of playing a girl toon outweigh the other crap that some of us put up with because of it? Can you really get away with more when you roll female? And will you silly boys out there ever realize that a girl toon, no matter how hypnotizing she may be, is not your personal play toy?
Related Posts: Female Toons: Are You Girls Or Guys In RL?, Will The Real Women Of WoW Please Stand Up, Dedicated to All of the Weird Ones, It’s Ladies’ Night, BlizzCon 2009 Video Highlights: Live Goblin, Worgen Gameplay,
By LuntiX on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Well, as I posted in your previous blog about Female Toons, I usually don’t roll a female toon unless it’s it’s a caster (except for druids). I don’t know why but I can’t get the hang of certain male casters (such as Blood Elves, recently Recustomized my female BE priest to male and it feels weird). I really don’t mind playing a male character, it is nice to have a female character now and then to mix it up. I’m trying to roll male only because it’s odd going into a vent for a guild or pug and everyone thinking you might be female.
By Silver on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Whether your playing a female or a male toon, 9/10 people will assume your male either way. So that first vent conversation is always entertaining when everyone starts freaking out about a female voice on vent. Just playing a female toon though does get you a lot more attention, loot and grup invites even though it shouldn’t.
On the flip side to that though, it’s always fun to flirt with the male toons in the downtime to raids or just when your bored. And all those guys who find out I’m actually a girl and not a guy playing a female toon and treat me any different by being obsessive (there are a lot of those guys out there) get a quick trip to my ignore list. All my best wow friends liked me just as much before they found out i was a girl.
By Wonocva on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Well personally I’ve never played a female character, as a guy in real life. My guess is that guys either do it for the benefits (like group invites and whatnot) or just because it’s something to look at while you play. Personally, it’s never mattered to me. Although, I think the main reason is because I do role play, and it’s very difficult for me, even in my writings, to get into the female mindset very well. However, if I was on a PvP or PvE realm only, I suppose I’d still just play a male character either way. I’m more of a lore fan and I get into the game, so playing a male character makes it feel a little bit better for me since I am a male.
By Ambermist on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I’m posting on your blog twice in one day, but oh well. You’ll get used to me!
I don’t honestly see a lot of difference in the way I’m treated. My name and gender both pretty much clue in everyone who runs into me in-game that I’m a girl, and I’m okay with that. I also (apparently stereotypically) played a healer for a long time before becoming a full-time moonkin.
I do think I get flirted with more, which is flattering unless it’s a noob, in which case /ignore or Report come to my aid. I also think that sometimes some of our officers worry about our feelings more (we have several female raiders), but I don’t have a problem with that either, as I’ve made it plain not to spare my feelings if there is something I need to fix.
I think there’s more issue with other girls playing WoW. I think WE still see ourselves as a minority in the gaming world, and many of us having used our girl status for our benefit sometimes see other women as a threat.
Okay, this topic is apparently one I have a lot more to say about than I realized! I actually only revisited Project Lore today to tell you guys that I had chosen your blog as one of my top 7 on my own blog, http://battlechicken.wordpress.com. I really appreciate the work you do here; thank you!
By Gabereal1 on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I have much respect for women in wow. In part because my guild leader and best friend is in fact a girl. I have played with her for a couple years and her skills match up and even destroy some of the best pvpers on the realm. And i think we all know there are some pretty bad male players out there its just women are get more attention in failure then in success.
By jens on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Well i think its crazy that some guys flips out because priest that owned you .. when you was a paladin yourself,,, and shes female.. then theres nothing bad in calling her a bitch. and say she should go back to her Hello kitty, well myself.. i am respecting female wow players.. ( lince ur fantastic. ) .. and therefore i always always ask of people in my group/guild/raids gender.. cuz all wow players is not supposed to be boys. then the game would be rather Boring.. we need some P!nk minds in this game :-p ( even though i know some girls hate pink ) girls is thinking on a often more positive way ..
not like all thoose lvl 35 huntards you gank as a lvl 23 pala ( it was so fun) keeps spamming : noob ! bastard ! mthrfcker . and so on..
well girls i respect you : Mourned, hunshat, Ôwnage, Roflcopterz and ragerx . EU bronzebeard
By Ronaldinho on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Maybe it’s just me or my server, but I don’t see very much in-game cross-gender “fighting”. I usually expect the female toon to be a male player IRL, that is until I hear the voice on Ventrilo. There was a Night Elf Priest in my guild, played a female toon, and was a female IRL. She was a damned good healer. I just don’t expect a big population of female players. It’s because of the way our culture is.. really. Our culture subliminally tell’s you what a “normal” female should be doing, and what a normal “male” should be doing. And according to popular media, i.e. women’s magazines. YOU SHOULD NOT BE PLAYING WOW, YOU SHOULD BE DOING MAKE-UP AND FINDING BOYS. Don’t listen to those stupid magazines. Break the stereotype women, do it for all of us. Just go watch 10 minutes of T.V., and when you see a commercial come on for house cleaning and other things related to house keeping, tell me if it’s a guy or a girl in the commercial. It will be a woman, everytime.
By Cozmus on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I have never degraded and will never degrade a female toon on WoW for my own manly amusement……ok, i don’t make a HABIT of doing it. I reapect female players and know that in fact most of them can probably kick my argent ass. That said, I would love having a girlfriend that actually played, (and was good at), WoW. I just think it would make life so much easier.
By Hitmen on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
well I only roll female toons because the actually do look better than male guys (except the orc and tauren, but then again the tauren male and female look quite ehm *cough*) anyway I also roll male toons, but it doesn’t really matter for me what I play or even what’s in front of me, I can say as a guy that I don’t care if the other player is a guy or a girl in real life if they are good at what they do than they are the best choice for it, even if it’s a guy playing a female toon or a girl playing a male toon… So yeha I think this one comment is for both the blogs written ^^;
Greetz,
Hitmen
By Salima on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Im a guy, i play a girl character and it just scares me how many weird people are there. There was even someone that confessed his love to me. I would change my character gender but i dont want to give money
By El Wero on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I didn´t comment in the last post because I`ve always thinking, “There´s nothing better than being a badass dwarf beating the sh~t out of ppl”, so all my chars are dwarfs (DK, Pally and a Rogue), but I keep on thinking “What´s so amuzing about playing with a girl char”, so I decided to create a female dranei hunter, and it kinda feels weird about playing with her, like she´s my little sister that I can take care of her.
So, I still keep playing with my dwarfes but it´s a funny experience playing with a female char, I´m even thinking about making a female NE priest just for the fun.
But I digress with you Mr. Pixiestrx, all the chars are toys, because WoW is a game.
By Penrose on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
A male friend of mine plays a female character because he likes the NE female “bounce” on the log in screen. That is when I said, “my eyes are up here buddy!”
By Xian on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
As I mentioned in the previous blog on this topic, I’m a guy playing all female chars, but if you ask me my gender in game I am going to say “female” 99% of the time just because it is fun to mess with people’s heads. (something I am very good at >:D)
I personally have never noticed any “special treatment” from other people just because I play a female character. As has been said before, most people will just assume that EVERYONE is a guy, but especially so if they play a female character. I got tired of correcting people for calling me “dude”, so I never mention gender unless someone asks me first. But even being a guy, I despise being called “dude”. Why? No clue. I just don’t like it.
By james on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
im a dood and i play a chick i dont care whats the diff? if ppl want to know if i am a girl IRL i tell em the truth or if theyre flirting i go “yea… im a guy IRL pervert”
By xxdeathangel on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
my friend changed his toon from a boy to a girl his 80dk was pinkbunnyman now its pinkbunygirl and my friends and i wont stop giving him crap at school because i dont see the point of paying money to change a characters sex, but if u started as a girl thats different go ahead but anybody knwo why guys are cahnging their toons to girls for a cost of real money? it seem so weird and my friend used the i dont want to stare at a guy excuse but i say its a video game who gives a shit?
By Selke on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I’m a guy and for me, playing a gender boils down to what it is I’m playing. Warrior, pally, & hunters are always male characters while warlocks, priests, & DK’s have always been female. Druids, Mages & Shamans are my no rules classes.
Before you call me sexist, keep in mind that I’ve only played my DK as a tank. I wouldn’t even know where to start as anything else with her…
By Zatkhar on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
And will you silly boys out there ever realize that a girl toon, no matter how hypnotizing she may be, is not your personal play toy?
Actually, she is. Providing that I pay monthly to play the game and that it’s my character
I’m male, and I play both male and female characters. For instance, female Tauren? No thanks? Male Gnome? No thanks. (People wonder what I have against male Gnomes, and I honestly don’t know :S)
In the end, I think it’s all about playing someone you think look nice
But yeah, some people are just weird. On my first main (female Human Priest), I remember getting all the loot in Zul’Farrak because the other caster thought I was female
By Halcath on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I have never experienced any negatives with my female toons. In fact some 70 gave me 90 some odd gold for my female troll’s 60 mount just cause I was nice to him. But there is a girl in my guild who plays Belf Females almost exclusively. She was healing an instance and someone (who was already being a dick) died. While he was waiting for his rez, he kept calling her a bitch and that she couldn’t play cause she was a female. Yeah that was an experience. I do find that it is boring playing a male. Whenever I am my female toon people just come up a talk to me. I have more friends on my female toons, and always have some one to talk to. This might be a little skewed though as my my male is a Mage and my female is a Healer.
By saxonn on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I’m a guy and i have known ALOT of girl gamers whether is be in WoW, Guild Wars, whatever. These gamers also include my little sister and some of my cousins cousins, and i know a good chunk of these girls can kik my ass in WoW, its all a matter of (i cant think of a better word) Talent and experience that people have not gender.
and don’t steriotype or creep out the women guys, you could be missing out on a new friend ^_^
By kiley on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
i said it once and i’ll say it again, female toons played by guys BY FAR outweigh the amount of female toons played by actual females.
therefore=if i’m talking to ANY player, i assume they are a guy. Without question. The only time i ever find out if the toons are Female in RL is if i hear their voice in Vent.
By Waton on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
In BC, my main was a female human mage. My logic behind it was ‘Well, since I’m gonna have to wear a dress anyway, might as well go female.’ Guys have attempted to flirt with me many, many times. It’s more entertaining than anything, really.
As for girls being viewed as less skilled than guys, one of my best friends, who happens to be a girl, is usually at the top of our raids whether she’s healing or specs shadow to DPS. I don’t treat my female friends any different than I do my guy friends.
By Cadia on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Most of my toons tend to be female. I generally find in most games I prefer to play female characters. Its never to due with the attention its given me from other players (I think I’ve been /flirt’d once randomly since 2yrs of WoW playing) I personally just find female characers more engaging. Not because I want to perv at them or that I’ve ever been on a RP server, but I can’t help get into a game more I feel my character has a sence of ‘coolness’ or be it ‘kick-assness’ and I just find that only comes with female toons.
As for women playing the game. I went out with a girl who played WoW and she had progressed much further raiding then I could have dreamed of in BC and was always top listed for raid slots and I knew only a handful of her guild mates knew she was a woman and those were not the raid leaders. Its just down to expierence and being a male dominated medium, guys generally have more gaming expierence but not skill.
WoW tho is one of those games I believe is great for introducing non-gaming women into gaming, theres alot of satisfying momments (leveling, gear, new places) and unlike most games it doesn’t feel like it has a trival end. This is where I think female WoW players suffer because most of them are first time gamers. But still I’d never assume a female gamer has less skill than a bloke.
By Aggrø on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Ofcourse girls are worse than boys at playing games, what a question! No really, makes no difference.
The few girls I knew who played WoW were as good (or better :S) than me so I geuss we’re all just the same.
Actually I have a friend I’ve been playing with ever since I started (helped me with zalazane and then we kept questing and grouping together just for fun). We were really good, also thanks to the fact I’m a Tank and she’s a Healer.
One day we were talking about how RL sometimes blocked playing WoW and I asked her if her girlfriend ever said she should stop. She said like: Well that’s a bit hard since I’m straight and a girl. I was all like: Oh, I assumed you were just playing a female toon for fun. Nothing has changed since then, maybe I’m a bit more gentle now XD.
By Taskun on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Honestly, I have never cared about what gender people are…it usually doesn’t come up with a text-based chat system…So in all reality it doesn’t matter to much as long as you aren’t flaunting your genitalia around.
All I really care about are 3 things
1) Can you play the game?
2) Can you play the game well? (I can help you if you cant :p)
3) Are you extremely annoying like a 5 year old?
4) Are you drunk?
If you answer yes, maybe, no, and no I can probably deal with you and have a good time…
By Aurofel on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I only have three toons that I ever really play on, and being a woman myself I started off with all female characters. I played my Gnome Mage up to 80 — and now that I’ve experienced how it is to be a female playing a female, I’ve made a male Tauren Druid. Let’s see how differently I am treated when it’s assumed that I’m a male *^_^*
Another weird thing to look at is which race you play as a female. As a Gnome, I have to admit that I never really had too many creepy/hilarious situations of males flirting with me, etc, unless they also played on Gnomes. However, on my Draenei I am approached quite regularly. Although I think my Gnome is pretty damn sexy ( What? I do! ) I can see that most male players would choose a Draenei over my poor little Gnome — as they would choose a Night Elf over a Dwarf, or a Blood Elf over a Troll.
So it’s not just being female that attracts a lot of male players, but being a “sexy” race, too.
By Thudis; on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Im a guy IRL every time I get into a group when theres a charecter that a girl plays everyone automaticly asumes that there a guy I try to help the girl players all the time but I still don’t get why other guys don’t think girls can play the game
(p.s I’ve had to many girls thanking me for helping them convince the guys in a group of a guild that there a guy )
By Thudis; on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Girl
sorry screwed up on the last word in the p.s so replace the last word guy with girl
sorry bout that =P
By Rhea on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I’m a female, and I play all female toons. Playing a guy toon just feels odd. I assume everyone I meet in-game is a guy irl, until I hear another female voice on vent. I once joined a pug, got on their vent, they were all loud and well being guys I guess. I said “Hi, guys!” and there was silence. Then…”holy chit, an actual girl!” and ” See, I told u girls play wow” It is always funny to talk on vent for the first time with a new group.
I don’t feel that I get treated any different because I’m a girl, or my toon is a girl. I think each player should be respected (or not) on skill, not gender. I have run across a few people that assumed I had inferior skills because I am a girl, and I hope I proved them wrong.
By Dulica on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
HAHA! My sis/co-guild leader is the first one quoted
We are like little fan girls over here! 
And, sorry to say, I did just rool an undead warlock male..only because he looked awesome and I had a great name that would only work for a male. so, it’s awesome. I hope that people look at me not just as ‘a chick’, but someone who is fun to play with.
Great blog!
By Alayea on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
The only people who know I’m a female player are my guildies and when I’m on Ventrilo with a pug raid. To be honest, it hasn’t really affected me either way. All that’s expected of me is to be good-natured and do my part for the guild, my pug raid / heroics, etc.
It’s nice being treated with equality and respect.
By FrostSeer on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
It’s cool to play a girl toon. I think if I’m going to spend hours in front of the monitor staring at some hero, then at least let it be a pretty one (I’m a guy). As for female players, I pretty much try to treat all players the same way regardless of their gender.
By Sean on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Female blood elves don’t look like Dragonball Z rejects, yet they can be paladins. That’s why I chose a female BE for my pally.
But, female orcs and trolls look stupid (ok, not stupid, but not as awesome as the male versions) which is why my Troll Hunter is male.
Though I do feel less caring if my female characters die in game. Whereas I get more frustrated if my male character dies. (A DK reset an elite quest mob’s health by re-summoning him when I was in battle and had his health down to 300, the abuse I gave that poor boy).
I think it’s because I relate more to a character that’s similar to me (though ironically I hate bearded dwarves even though I’m Scottish and breeding the facial hair currently).
But I can see why some people prefer female characters, and it is true, you do get preferential treatment, sometimes I pretend I am female on my female character, well not really, I’m just not straight with the truth, I roll play on non-RP servers, put it like that. =P
It does get you places. o_o
By Nefarean on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Well, actually, something funny happened on the Deeprun Tram. I’m a guy IRL but i play as a female. A male character and I were on the tram, and he decided to /flirt. To make things awkward, i said,”I’m a guy.” She, of course, said,”That’s funny because im a girl.” The rest of that ride was spent in silence.
(P.S. being female does get you places :P)
By Percolatte on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I’m a girl and I predominantly play male characters. The one time I played a female blood elf, I had random people following me around Org, waving, dancing on top of me, etc. It’s not that fun. Maybe it bugs me more because I’m a girl IRL, and guys playing girl characters can shrug off the treatment easier because they are men.
The old raiding guild I was in had trouble taking girl gamers seriously until I proved them wrong. If you are nice, and you know your stuff, it doesn’t matter.
By Magradon on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I love this topic! Because of your previous blog I decided to try a male character. As soon as my little lvl 1 guy walked down the road, another guy came up to me and started talking smack and challenging me. This has never happened to me as a female toon. Point to my story? Males and Females in the game are treated differently, but I have never been given anything for free, or treated inferior as a female. A lot of girls will say that they get things for free or invited to group just because of their gender. It all boils down to the simple truth: a good player is a good player, no matter what they are in real life. Oh, and ladies! Don’t rely on your gender to get you the things you want. Do the work! Represent! lol
By scruffy on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
the dam ad keeps getting in my way i cant read the thing completely move the ad
By Loki on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Never really noticed that there is any sterotype towards women in the game. Then again maybe that’s because I play in a guild where the minimum age is 21. Guild tends to be more, um, ribald when no women are on but that’s the only real difference at least amongst the people I game with.
By Kimeghale on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
My toons are all male except for 1 (yes I am a guy). I decided to make my DK female after reading your first post on the topic, just to see how girls were treated on wow. Personally, I was appalled at the way some guys talked to me, some even going as far as to try to have very disgusting conversations (almost wanted to report them for it). After bout the 3rd time I had a guy do that to me in 4 days, I retired her, making her my bank toon, I do want to say that any girl that plays a female toon, I am sorry for the way some guys treat yall.
By Blaze on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Am a guy and play a female toon and i dont see any benift other than the char model is better
By Kathy on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 4:42 am
I’m a girl (obviously haha, know any guys named Kathy?) and I play a girl toon. They’re much better looking
That’s pretty much my only reason. The night elves the best for the slut dance too haha.
I always find it funny seeing a guy with a girl toon, just because I happen to be a girl, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. Someone once said to me that they’d rather stare at a girl’s butt all day rather than a guys while playing HAHA. Makes sense
Though I do appreciate the large male Draenei for some laughs
By Ombrenoire on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Playing this game really has nothing to do with what gender you are in the game or in real life. Before I was ever introduced to computer or on-line games, I played paintball and table-top strategy games. When I started those, the other players (mostly male at that time) all had the same comment, “We’ll go easy on you since you’re a girl.”
I soon rose in their ranks to become lead strategist, finding the solution that they seemed to never find.
I never let it bother me that they believed female players were inferior to them. I used it to my advantage. If someone constantly underestimates me and my skill, then they will not play at their full potential since they expect an easy win. Makes my win all the more painful to them.
Hey, the last person who underestimated my Hunter even went so far as to brag to his guild that if he lost to me he would pay me 3000g. His Guild Leader, his older brother in real life, forced him to pay me in front of Ironforge.
My guild used to hold “strong toon” competitions in Goldshire pre-BC. My level 60 Hunter constantly beat our top players (lvl 60 Rogue, lvl 60 Pally, and lvl 60 Druid). Why? I was the girl playing with the boys and was not considered a threat.
So I say let the little boys think what they will about girl players. True gamer girls know how to play their toons by trial and error and reading guides posted out there. Chauvinists exist everywhere, it’s how you deal with them in the end that really counts. If you can make them eat dirt along with their words, all the better ^_^
To use the old cliché: Girls rule! Boys drool!
By Lullei on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Since i played wow since the launch of the game and only played male toons (i am a boy irl) i did grow tired of them so i started a female toon, not becus of anything else than just that they attack cooler and use ranged wheps cooler in my opinion.
By Cotytto on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 7:10 am
I play whatever too I like the look of best.
Horde
Tauren:I prefer males but females are okay too.
Orc:I prefer males just because the calves of the females are so huge they make any footwear look ridiculous.
Troll:I go either way.Males and females animations and looks are equally good.
Blood Elf:Always female.I hate everything about BE males.Laugh, walk, dance emotes.Just ugh!
Undead:Both are cool.I like them equally.
Alliance
Human:Always female.I cannot stand anything about male humans.I can’t even get one to level 5 I just hate the way they run like they have a spear shoved up their butt!
Gnome:Male gnomes creep me out,but sometimes that’s a good thing.Gnome warlock for example.I still greatly prefer female gnomes though.
Night Elf:Always female.Again I don’t like the way the males move.
Dwarf:Male dwarf is my favorite by far.I had a 58 dwarf rogue preBC and I loved that guy.Females are okay if you find the right armor.Any midriff exposing armor is out!
Draenei:Greatly prefer females.Males look too top heavy for my taste.Though the cool gun animation made me have one male hunter.That’s enough for me.
Yes I am picky.I have to look at these characters for 80 levels.And since most of your time is spent running from one place to another, hating your character’s looks while they move leads to not wanting to level them.
Look at the female orc.I love 90% of their model, but those stupid calves just make me hate them!So why would I quest around with a look I hate?
And I am a guy for the record.Yes we can be picky too.I want my toons to be aesthetically pleasing to me.Is that so bad?
It does lead to some creeps hitting on me though.They quit when I tell them I’m a guy.
By kRonoTyp3 on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Undead Female Warriors FTW =P
By kRonoTyp3 on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 7:17 am
How can’t you love the frontflip when you Heroic Strike someone in his forehead?
By Jauris on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Personaly, I love playing a female toon. Yes, it’s not a bad to look at as my dwarf’s large buttocks, but it’s benifited me a lot in game. I tend to get a lot more invites in game, as well as gear. I remember once in H Nexus when the lovely plate belt dropped off of Cyanigosa, and there were two warriors in the group ( Myself, and someone who I think his name was Kurlin) Anyways, we both needed that belt pretty badly. I asked him if I could have it, and sure enough, his response was ” Ladies” first. I thought it was actually quite nice of him, and it made my day.
Maybe chivalry isn’t dead?
Jauris-Exodar
By Svenofnine on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
So, I’m a girl, and I play female toons. I don’t try to get any special treatment, nor do I want any! I play with 7 guys, and they love that I’m a girl, they treat me like one of the guys, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I get yelled at if my heals suck, why shouldn’t I get treated the same? Now, in real life? That’s a different story, they treat me like one of the guys, with a twist… I am a girl, after all! haha
The Always Sexy,
Svenofnine
Boulderfist
By Scornic on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 7:51 am
30% of the guild my 3 80’s are in is composed of female players and they are treated no differently then the guy players though are guild is layed back we are working on getting into 25 mans but are 10 man groups are 50/50 and they out dps and tank the guys alot of the time… I think its a matter of the immaturity of the players not a stereotype and what not, but thats my opinion.
By Austin on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 8:09 am
The best response I have ever heard on this type of subject was, “until I hear it on Vent, your male”. I tend to agree.
Although, one of the best players I have ever played with, was female. I used to group with her alot, show her the ropes, my little secrets, etc…I left for a few months because work got hectic, came back to find she has 3 80’s lol. Awesome!!
I have personally tried to roll a female toon, reason being that +5 to group invites ^_^ but the whispers just got to be too much, so I deleted her.
I’m all for female gamers. The more the better.
By Keikura on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Guy playing female char’s here. For one simple reason…
The human male run animation is… I can’t honestly put it into words. I hate it with a passion. The female run animation? Perfect! Doesn’t look like she’s ill or anything. And no, it has nothing to do with her butt, getting all excited over a CG model is not something you should be proud of!
Reason I do have male chars though is that you can actually see all the details on your armour. Have a look at the same shoulders on a female char then on a male. There is quite a large difference. The armour details being first but for instance with the shoulders they don’t just get all tiny (or scaled down due to the model size of the character) and fade into obscurity, they standout and give +5 to bad-ass-ery an’ stuff. ^^
On the whole though thanks to not being able to tell if a female is playing a male char or if a male is playing a female char (or any of the other combinations) everyone gets treated the same (I hope everyone gets treated the same regardless of gender just not because you can’t tell the gender of the person playing that char). Could we almost go so far as to say their is no sexism in WoW? Probably not, but I bet we’re closer to it not existing in WoW than in the real world.
By jimbob on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Cool, i got a mention
*chuffed*
By Dayrius on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 9:37 am
best healer in my guild is a girl
they can play, nuff said
By Zeb on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 11:29 am
cry me a river
By Reme on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I personally haven’t really seen a problem with female players not being taken seriously. My guilds main tank is a pally played by a female and one of the best tanks I’ve ever had. Also have a girl playing a Spriest who’s always near the top DPS in 10/25’s.
As far as guys playing female toons, it’s simply a matter of preference. Some classes just look cooler as female. And a bonus you can find yourself a sexy outfit (Robes of Insight on BE female for instance) I’ve actually made a good amount of gold from all the sad lonely guys who play this game for dancing. /sigh
By Patti Heinle on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
We have a few girls in our guild and most play girl toons. We have alot of guys though who play girl toons. It is amazing how many. I am a girl in RL and I am the GM of the guild and always have been. My guild takes me seriously and there is no doubt who is in charge.
By Crash on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
all i have to say is… im a dude and i play chick characters… i would rather look at the ass of a fem character for hours at a time then the hulking dudes of WoW….. (note, ive only ever played BE, NE, dwarf once (as a guy…), and DR)
if that sounds weird to you then take this–> t(o.ot)
(soz if the last part is to graphic for you >:D)
By Lench on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Being an older gamer I tend to roll Female toons. Mainly for the eye candy . Most male toons just look like they have a large uncomfortable item stuck up their backsides, while the Female toons, minus Undead females, have a more smooth flowing motion in everything they do.
In my old guilds heyday of destroying the Twink 19 brackets, we had several RL females that were very highly skilled at what they played, (A mage 19 yr old really comes to mind). She had the ability to kite someone till they literally would come into our vent server and say my god your good.
Several RL couples, (man and wife, brother and sister,) were members as well, in the good ol days of World PVP, the RL females were as blood thirsty, if not more than us males. Made for some very good times, to hear a Female voice talk the talk and walk the walk with a very high level of skill.
Most RL females I have trampled through WOW with are very skilled and add a nice perspective to the way the game is played.
My next wife will be a gamer, and a good cook. ( or at least order decent carry out). :0)
By Jenjen on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I get picked on for being a female tank sometimes. Not an awful lot, but occasionally someone will make a quick jibe.
I usually just ignore it.
By Kirsty on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I’ve played wow for over 2 years now.. have two level 80s, lock and shammy… raiding 10man etc… and i have never really got any stick for being female lol. Officer of my guild and i am taken seriously
i’m always up for some of the banter tho, you always get the..
“oh no she can’t do that she’ll break a nail” comments flung at you. but tell them to shut up and get on with it
stereotyping is lame
By Eliphias on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Hey. Dont normally post but this sparked something off in my mind and found myself debating the pros and cons to being a female or a male char.
My main toon is a male gnome and i see it clearly now more than ever that female toons seem to get some kind of different treatment just becasue they have a poorly pixelated posterior. Whether the people behind the female toons knew this when they rolled they have somehow managed to have had abuse and harrasement thrown their way alot of the time.
My guild leader is a female in RL and in-game and she is one of the nicest people I have met on and off screen, but she herself has had her fair share of wit thrown at her from time to time.
My friend plays a female, but is a male in RL, he says the reason to this is due because there is some infatuation for groups to invite female>male toons.
Overall i think female toons get treated differently but alot do bring it upon themselves. I mean come on! Who hasnt stood on a mailbox dancing naked while screaming “GIVE ME GOLD”!
Peace out!
By Dan on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Only reason I personally play a female toon is because I don’t feel like staring at a dudes ass for countless hours a week.
=P
By Dan on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 7:08 am
I play a Female Character for the roleplay! But I pride myself in -not- wearing scanty clothing…I’m not from goldshire! Black mageweave *shudder*
o/
Also note to -all- DK’s between 55-58 who wear DK armour and generically all RP -exactly- the same…Stop flooding AD!
By Nikky on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Um this really an overstatement and comes off (to me @ least) as whining
Every other person I’ve raided with rolls a female toon, regardless of their RL gender.
Never once EVER…not in Dalaran, not in Naxx, not in any Heroic, not anywhere in the world for that matter, have I seen someone pick on someone else just for having a Female toon.
I mean think about it, it just sounds stupid really.
I can understand this might be sort of an issue in the race’s where noobs on a trail account aimlessly dick around on general chat asking what DPS means, and idiotic stuff like that .
But no, me nor people in my guild have ever witnessed this, therefore anyone who does decide to pick on you for rolling a female toon is participating in a rare act
That means dont stand for it and either report the sexist basterd or pwn him to death!
But this is indeed rare a rare occurrence and this whole article comes off a bunch of people whining for respect
Indeed sexism is wrong but skill will ultimately earn you respect, not whining how tough you have it
By khazzhar on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Personally, I think that people should stick to their real gender when they pick a toon. Just my preference. It can be confusing when talking to someone in a group for the first time, not knowing whether to address them as he/she. Of course, Juggy plays on a female toon and is one of the most kickass players EVER, so w/e.
By Jing* on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 7:33 am
I have 2 rogues on the same server, one female, one male, both blood elf, both lvl 80 with maxed out lockpicking. One thing i’ve realised is that when ever I help people pick a lock on my male rogue i’d be lucky enough to get 1g as a tip, and thats if i ask nicely. On my female rogue however, people just spontaneously give me 5-10g without me even saying a word. oO. Just my 2 cents.
Jubei’Thos
Male Player.
By Bade on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I have played WOW for a little over three years now. During that time I have made only two female toons and a boat load of male toons ranging from 80 to 8. I currently have a female pally at level 24, she is always getting free stuff from random people. For example I was doing recruit a friend with a buddy of mine in the Belf starting area, we had traveled to Silvermoon to train and scan the AH for anything of worth. I randomly receive a /w from an 80 warlock telling me that he randomly picks low level toons and helps them out. Keep in mind that my toon is supported by two 80s and in no way wearing shabby quest greens. Needless to say he then proceeds to mail me two sets of gear while my friend received nothing making me believe it was due to the fact that my character was female. Another story my wife plays alliance where she is leveling a paladin, she has received over 1500 gold from random ass people simply do to the fact that she is a female….where was the love while I was leveling my male warrior.