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)
Cool, i got a mention :D *chuffed*
best healer in my guild is a girl
they can play, nuff said
cry me a river
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
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.
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)
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)
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.
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 :D
stereotyping is lame ;)
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!
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
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!
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
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.
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.
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.