Why Do Guys Play Female Characters?

[bibliomane]

But, as time went on, I started feeling weird when I tried to roleplay a female character one minute, and then jumped onto voice chat to bark orders; it just felt awkward to be this giggly, bubbly, happy girl character, squealing in delight every time she killed something, and then talk in my male voice. So I no longer play female characters for this reason.

Female does not = giggly, bubbly, happy. roflmao. I was on a 4th life horc female fighter in shroud a few years back and being fairly quiet on voice chat for a change. We got to the buffing at the shrines and I said something. One of the other players, a man playing a female toon, gasped and exclaimed, "You are a girl!"

"Not really," I told him. "I'm a woman and that won't stop me from kicking your ass." I spent the rest of the run turning down proposals :/

[Drelak]

I think it may give a bit more insight to tell you why I don't have any female characters at the moment.

I feel that if I had a female toon, it would be like a doll. There just to be pretty, to be a toy. To be looked at.
As someone said "someone you want to be with", but in truth just a toy.

This reminds me too much about the mentality towards real girls and women I see everywhere in the main western culture, and which I have been guilty of untill I learned better. It just brings to me that disturbing feeling.

When I play male toon, I can just ignore him, and concentrate on the adventure.

[Todkaninchen]

Role playing reasons.

When I started playing PnP D&D all the clerics were female, all the mages were male. Barbarians were male, rogues tended to be female. That concept just stuck with me.

(In other MMOs without voice chat I would play a female because if the guys thought I was a girl I'd get free stuff. It was so easy.)

Ummm... That's because in classic D&D, Clerics were the "girlfriend characters" to give the womenfolk something to do without too much of a complex starting explanation...

...and rogues--thieves, actually--were the next step up in complexity for the few women that got hooked.

Personally, for me, I picked a female halfling as one of my first characters--a repeater kensai--but every hireling I used looked like a perv with a preteen girlfriend. So, I switched out and play almost exclusively male halflings because of the +1 AC, +1 to hit, and the fact I don't have a character taking up a lot of my screen...

[Jorianon]

I have a lot of characters, and they are split up about half and half male-female. I guess i just do it for the variety, the same reason i play multiple classes and races. I never imagine that the character i am playing actually represents me, so that's not an issue.

Same here. I alternate between male and female characters and have an equal number of both. Why wouldn't I play female characters? I'm not trying to create an accurate depiction of my real life self, I'm creating a fictional hero to run through quests in a fantasy game.

[Brendae]

I just want to feel pretty.

[katz]

i feel pretty! oh so pretty! i feel pretty, and witty and....

[Ivan_Milic]

I dont get it,most of the people playing are older than in other mmos but they still act the same when a woman speaks on mic.

[Drelak]

I dont get it,most of the people playing are older than in other mmos but they still act the same when a woman speaks on mic.

The environment can cause one to revert to earlier mindset.
You can see this when you have 50+ year olds that go to courses in a school like environment. They are almost throwing paper airplanes, and men might tug the bridles of the ladies.

[Brendae]

I dont get it,most of the people playing are older than in other mmos but they still act the same when a woman speaks on mic.

The instinct to be protective over women is a natural one programmed over eons of evolution and I don't think think that most men are consciously aware of the fact that they are doing it.*

*At least this will be my excuse if I ever find myself guilty of this behaviour.

[FranOhmsford]

i feel pretty! oh so pretty! i feel pretty, and witty and....

Fantastic film - Best version of Romeo and Juliet ever in my opinion!

However That final word you omitted did not always mean what it means today!

[karl_k0ch]

Is it this time of the year again?

I do not like how male elves, and, to an extend, female dwarves look like (because a Dwarf without a beard is almost naked).
This is why my Dwarves are male, and my Elves (or characters who were an elf in a past life) are female. For Warforged, I roll a die.