Female Toons - Take II
Posted by 
pixiestixy on Thursday, March 26, 2009 - 66 Comments Tags: /dance, RL, female, fun, gameplay, gender, girl, guy, harassment, male, noob, sex appeal, stereotypes, toon
pixiestixy on Thursday, March 26, 2009 - 66 Comments Tags: /dance, RL, female, fun, gameplay, gender, girl, guy, harassment, male, noob, 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?
Reader Comments (66)
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 )
Girl
sorry screwed up on the last word in the p.s so replace the last word guy with girl
sorry bout that =P
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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)
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.
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
the dam ad keeps getting in my way i cant read the thing completely move the ad
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.
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.
Am a guy and play a female toon and i dont see any benift other than the char model is better
I'm a girl (obviously haha, know any guys named Kathy?) and I play a girl toon. They're much better looking :-D 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 :-D
Though I do appreciate the large male Draenei for some laughs :-D
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!
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.
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.
Undead Female Warriors FTW =P
How can't you love the frontflip when you Heroic Strike someone in his forehead?
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
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
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.
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.
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.