I never buy into the "eye candy" thing. It is some other reason surely, because none of these avatars are physically attractive unless you are messed up in the head or something. Being a chick is just silly to me.

dealwithit.jpg

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.


S

I don't really know why I do it, but I've long since past the point of worrying about it.

Because it bothers youGǪ




GǪor, more likely, that if you absolutely have to stare at an avatar for hours on end, it's nicer if it's a female one.

Because there are many sexually insecure men out there who play video games. Having a male avatar is deemed "gay" by them.

Because there are many sexually insecure men out there who play video games. Having a male avatar is deemed "gay" by them.

For the boobs?

Funnily enough, the exact same argument can be used for the opposite choice.

Besides, I doubt any of us are here (or I hope we aren't) to make cyber-sex-buddies, so the sex of the avatar shouldn't be that important. If you get to know the person to the point where it'd make a difference, you would know the difference, I should think.

Once when I was online in my dwarf clan, I met a level 41 dwarf named Cindy and we fell in love despite her being below my status. I would send her poetry about warcraft and she would edit it for me. As my wife works a hundred and eighty hour week, this gave me plenty of opportunity to organise a liaison with Cindy in real life. After arranging to meet, I packed my dwarf costume and battle axe and used my wife's credit card to buy a bus ticket to the town Cindy lived in. As it turned out, Cindy was actually a real dwarf. And a man. We still made love so as not to waste the money I had spent but I left feeling deceived and only partly satisfied. Why can't people just be honest?

i too am deeply disturbed by this phenomenon

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

It makes your forum posts seem 20% smarter.

Edit: misspelling

It makes your forum posts seem 20% smarter.

Edit: misspelling

In hopes of hearing someone say, just once in their lives, the words "you - look - faaabulous darling..."

Just a guess...

My Jita alt is female, but thats only because of eye candy when trading.

The assumption that this is a male only action is also foolish. I have met a few women who use male avatars. Generally, they maje the similar arguments such as easier on the eyes, what they prefer, etc. The one more common argument is that it also reduces harassment from the same guys that hit on any female avatar

Funny how those who complain about men using female avatars never seem to complain about women using male avatars.

I also have to wonder, these people who insist that you play an avatar of matching gender, what happens in a game like diablo 2 where classes are locked to gender? There if you wished to be a mage, your main option was the sorceress. Spear or now users had to be the amazon. Do these people refuse to play certain classes then?

The one more common argument is that it also reduces harassment from the same guys that hit on any female avatar

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.

Only log into her to shuffle ISK or haul stuff from Jita or wherever.

You're just bad with the character creator.

A lot of interesting replies.

But one thing just occurred to me.

All these women avatars are getting blown up.
Shredded, Frozen and flat out pulverized.

Is there a hidden psychological message int that ?

Hmmmmm.

I think the real answer comes down to whether you identify with the character or not. For me, Kytayn is a representation of me, and I made that choice when I built the character.

I didn't care but being a chick would be stupid. No immersion at all unless you have some sexual issues.

WHo sits in eve looking at their little tiny less than an inch picture all day? Weird

I didn't care but being a chick would be stupid. No immersion at all unless you have some sexual issues.

WHo sits in eve looking at their little tiny less than an inch picture all day? Weird

GǪand thus you invalidated your own argument: since you're not staring at that little picture all day, it ceases to matter what's in it.

Also, you're not a chick (wellGǪ unless you are, but then your answer would make even less sense) GÇö you're you. The avatar is a chick (or not).

I don't identify with my char, as I see it just as a way to try something what I wouldn't do in real life. And I prefer doing that when I got a char that's easy on the eyes.
Tbh, I always played with female avatars, except in early times, but playing a male char just didn't feel right. Not many guy enjoy looking at other guys. I'm sure most of us rather enjoy watching someone of female gender, even without it being some topmodel or somesuch. If you rather enjoy male avatars then female avatars, that's up to you.

Tbh, these threads mostly seem to come from guys playing male characters, never seen it from another combination (like girls playing female chars, or guys playing female ones)

Absolutely that is how I see it too, I am not female so I could never relate to a female character in a game for years I have never understood the boys playing as girls and think it is some projection of themselves. Or I am one of the few who play games to immerse myself into it for a few hours and can't do that with gender not my own.

Didn't invalidate anything dumbass. It is not the picture it is the immersion learn to understand. You're a dude playing a chick you most likely have some dude problems like huge pimples and no dates at 25.

These threads also seemed to come from guys playing male characters who were "disappointed" (to dramatically understate it) to learn that that hot avatar was a guy in RL.

I never understood this. You're also not a pod pilot, you don't live thousands of years in the future, you don't control the wealth of nations. And yet gender is your biggest obstacle in connecting with your character?

This would be a dead horse thread. Please use search before posting.

A) Social Disorder
B) Abused by sister / mom / niece
C) Too much mom huggin in childhood
D) Too much **** viewing
E) Never had a Girlfriend (need to type that otherwise those ppl think about goodfights)
F) Stuck in high school girl obsession
G) Natural Psycopathic behaviour
H) A mix of all above
J) All above togheter

It seems pretty obvious to me that your parents caught you looking at a playgirl when you were young. The traumatic moment was enough that ever since that day you feel that you must over compensate your manliness which I'm assuming includes driving a fast car or big truck, saying anything chauvinistic in public, hosting football sundays with a barbeque and maybe a little man on man in the closet wrestling afterward.

You can try to hide it, you can deny it all you want, but that little boy wants out again. You should seek professional help before you attempt to start a bromance with your male friends.

I never understood this. You're also not a pod pilot, you don't live thousands of years in the future, you don't control the wealth of nations. And yet gender is your biggest obstacle in connecting with your character?

Yeah pretty much Freudian :)

No see I had dates and sex all my adult life so the desire and need to look at a female avatar is little strange to me. I am perfectly healthy male and was blessed with great sex in my 41 years on the planet.

Because there are many sexually insecure men out there who play video games. Having a female avatar is deemed "gay" by them.

See what I did there?

Because there are many sexually insecure men out there who play video games. Having a female avatar is deemed "100% straight" by them.

That makes no sense.....

If they have a female avatar then they are trying to prove it to the world that they are 100% straight. Guys with male avatars just don't care what others think :S.

In short: why does it matter really? Some like to play with guys, others like to play with girls. Let us respect that, and blow each other to stardust to celebrate the freedom to choose.

I find that guys with male avatars spend a lot of time attempting to point out that guys with female avatars are some how different. They seem to think that it draws attention away from the fact that they really 'like' their male avatar.

Because we need more real women on the internet ;p

That awkward moment when you are sitting in the future's WiS expansion and chatting to a "girl"

I am not female so I could never relate to a female character in a game

Of course I am a Pod Pilot when I play this game. Do you weirdos have no imagination either? I feel sorry for the "Lost Generation" us X'ers had great imaginations. Sad for you.

Because we need more real women on the internet ;p

That awkward moment when you are sitting in the future's WiS expansion and chatting to a "girl"

Never assume. That's what vent and webcams do, weed out the posers, also if you miraculously get an actual female on webcam, well if they're actually there that's just gold.

Call me Dr. Girlfriend.

Heck, that was the source of enough jokes that she used to be my avatar on the TEST forums.

Didn't invalidate anything dumbass.

It is not the picture it is the immersion learn to understand. You're a dude playing a chick

More like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rk-gLXqA5g

"Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with the opposite sex within a particular society.[1] Cross-dressing has been used for disguise, performance art and as a literary trope in modern times and throughout history"

It's also terribly gay, except for those who made their avatars as convenient ************ material.Which isn't much better.

Because there are many sexually insecure men out there who play video games. Having a male avatar is deemed "gay" by them.

To me it seems freakishly weird...

Why is she wearing her bra on her face?

Already accepted the fact that eve players are probably married men with beer in 1 hand and cigarette in the other :P

... others like to play with girls.

i too am deeply disturbed by this phenomenon

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.

....
No offense to the irl TV community,,, carry on as you are in peace and love.

S

Just wait till over several years we get WiS. Then I am looking at a females behind wiggling when walking.
Somehow that is just more pleasing to the eye than some male butt.

Severe case of bug-eyes.

:quagmire:

You're the one saying you don't have enough imagination to immerse yourself using a female avatar.

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.

....
No offense to the irl TV community,,, carry on as you are in peace and love.

S

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.

....
No offense to the irl TV community,,, carry on as you are in peace and love.

S

To me, its an ingame personification of yourself.

To me, its an ingame personification of yourself.

Now those who, in audio comms, run voice changers - that's a little creepy. Would rather have a bunch of "Dr Girlfriend" around.

You're just bad with the character creator.

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

^^this

plus, you'd be surprised how much free **** you get from gullible lonely nerds....

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.

....
No offense to the irl TV community,,, carry on as you are in peace and love.

S

thank you for helping me realize my soon to be new "profession"-i'm gonna make a female alt, name her something sweet and innocent, then hore "her" out

Because at the time there was no Incarna. There was no walking around in stations. In fact, the character creation process was far more basic and simple back then. Gender choice was meaningless back then because all character creation did back then was create a tiny character portrait. Nothing more.

Now we have Incarna and captains quarters. If I had the ability to change my characters gender and race I would. But my choice so many years ago is permanent.

Plus I'm a big fat lady-boy who's into wearing fake boobies, lipstick and high heels.

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.

....
No offense to the irl TV community,,, carry on as you are in peace and love.

S

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.

....
No offense to the irl TV community,,, carry on as you are in peace and love.

S

In most games the player model is completely aesthetic and has no bearing on the world around him/her. I see people obsess over the character customization in games and wonder why... it really doesn't matter what YOU look like in a game. If you need eye-candy that bad in a game then something is wrong.

Yeah, all of those people who want new ship models and ship skins available are totally insane!

In most games the player model is completely aesthetic and has no bearing on the world around him/her. I see people obsess over the character customization in games and wonder why... it really doesn't matter what YOU look like in a game. If you need eye-candy that bad in a game then something is wrong.

In most games the player model is completely aesthetic and has no bearing on the world around him/her. I see people obsess over the character customization in games and wonder why... it really doesn't matter what YOU look like in a game. If you need eye-candy that bad in a game then something is wrong.

Hm.. well, I didn't say anything about ship skins or ship models. But, if you think so...

In most games the player model is completely aesthetic and has no bearing on the world around him/her. I see people obsess over the character customization in games and wonder why... it really doesn't matter what YOU look like in a game. If you need eye-candy that bad in a game then something is wrong.

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...

Maybe it's just my upbringing in an older and now outdated world but it just seems to me like playing dress up on a Saturday night and trolling the seamier parts of town.

....
No offense to the irl TV community,,, carry on as you are in peace and love.

S

To me it seems freakishly weird for a male to run around in a virtual universe with the identity of a hot looking woman...S

For me it seems extremely disturbing that someone would see its game avatar as an extension of him/herself. That is , at least for my eyes, a clear lack of self security and lack of clear perception of the world. That is a fantasy, and fantasies that you cannot separate from reality are mental disorders, not the other way around!

My main hobby is drawing, and i ma reasonably good at it. In my 12 years of drawing the thing I have drawn most are female faces, because they are beautiful and fascinate me! When I made my eve characters, not for a single moment I even tough on making a male avatar! The same way that in these 12 years I never ever wanted to draw an ugly male face!

Now If you think the picture that you have sculped with eve tools must represent something about your sexuality, then I am sorry for you, you might not notice it, but you DO have a problem! Lack of capability of separate yourself from the things you built in your life is not healthy. This is the type of person that buys an expensive sport car to parade it on street and thing they are better because of it. They accelerate very very fast with these cars on street and feel awesome because they think" I can go so fast!" while they are unable to understand that the merit on going fast is not theirs, its from the engineer that made the car! You are not your car, you are not your drawings, you are not a murderer when you play Grand thief auto, you are not your eve avatar!

If you cannot understand that, I feel sorry for you, because you are among the mass of mentally challenged people that is not even aware of your own surroundings and of yourself.

There are what like 50 women play Eve? LOL

Basically if you choose to play a female character and you are a male in real life then deep down you are a woman and God made a mistake. =P lol

To me it happens right as you create the character. We all know what kind of character we are creating and therefore we all partake in "roleplaying" in some shape or form.

The difference happens when some people create a "character" while other recreate "themselves".

For those who create a "character", gender is of little importance. They will generally go for the gender (if possible) that best suits the character. Gender choice becomes just another "attribute" as other visible parts like hair/size/clothing...

For those who recreate "themselves", gender is probably one of the biggest "requirements". With this mindset, creating a character with the opposite sex generates the issues described in the OP.

Keep in mind, none of the two styles of creating characters should be considered better than the other. Even I, depending on the situation/game/electronic medium, will use one or the other.

It boils down to whether some of us want to play as observers to a story or pretend we are inside the game.

For EVE, I prefer the observer style of gameplay and therefore do not feel gender choice has any effect on how I enjoy the game. Same thing when I watch a movie.

Hey, hey, hey, let's not get nasty about this.
Obviously everyone has different views on the subject, which is natural and cool and interesting, because we're all human beings. I'd be worried if we were all the same. I didn't see anyone bashing anyone for anything to begin with, so there's no reason to continue being pissy about the way some people approach it.

The straight guy says he feels that gay people are missing out because girls are awesome.
Anything wrong with that? Of course he'd feel that way.

A gay person might feel the exact opposite way about the same straight guy, but since he's gay, it's natural he'd feel that way.

Each person is bound to have a different viewpoint, and each one isn't inherently right. Some things might work for some people and others for others, since we all think and relate to things entirely differently. I hope this isn't big news.

And people all have their reasons for picking avatars.
Some peoples' avatars are simply discrete characters - so gender doesn't matter so much to them, because the avatar isn't a representation of the person at the keyboard, it's a digital fictional character who is an egger. And that's cool.
And for some, it's a digital representation, so they make the avatar look like themselves, or how they'd like to look, and act like they would in real life. That's also cool.

Me personally, I have a male as a main and then a secondary female pirate. She's a distinct character from me and myself, but my main is my "space persona," you might say. (Something like Tricia McMillan becoming Trillian.)
And hey, if your space persona or character or whatever ends up being female, that's awesome, as long as you're okay with it and it works for you. That doesn't mean much of anything about your gender or sexuality or what-the-hell-ever, as there's infinite different ways humans relate to these kinds of things. If you have experience in theatre, you probably know a bit of what I'm talking about.

Mine just happens to be male because I'm a guy and I think it's cool to be a guy (though I think girls are cool too), and I can most easily relate to flying around in a spaceship with my center of bodily mass lower than a female's. And yet I have a distinct female character who also flies around, she just shoots a lot more.

I figure I'll just drop this post in here. Wrote it last night in response to a thread that was a Rip-off of this one and got locked because people were being daft (as you can probably extrapolate from a few comments).

I create alts randomly. Random race, gender, and customization options. Except this one. Needed the hood for the name.

whenever I drop by in the Help chat most people think I'm a guy, so I guess everybody just assumes all characters, male or female, are men!

Reason 1: I am "GenderQueer" and as such do not fit in the binary gender system that society has perpetuated.

I think "society" can be forgiven for perpetuating a biological generality. Just saying...

I think "society" can be forgiven for perpetuating a biological generality. Just saying...

Because it bothers youGǪ




GǪor, more likely, that if you absolutely have to stare at an avatar for hours on end, it's nicer if it's a female one.

This

Except, I choose male for my mains ;) cuz hmm eyecandy! also, seriously, guys need a bigger package in this game. Just like every other damn game out there >:(

I think "society" can be forgiven for perpetuating a biological generality. Just saying...

A bigger crotch on a male character is eye candy for you? O-okay...

I can't help but notice that my reasons for choosing a female character are very different from the majority of people in this thread. I think that I am very extroverted in so far as, rather than be a willing victim of the "Proteus effect" I create a character that already IS me so I do not end up becoming something I am not.

What you are thinking of is NOT gender, you are thinking of "sex".

The Sex of something is NOT the same as the Gender of something. Sex is something scientific and gender is really something cultural.

Do keep in mind the animal kingdom could teach us a great deal about "gender" and "sex".

Male Sea Horses for example get pregnant with baby Sea Horses.
Some insects reproduce parasitically and other insects have several different distinct "female' sexes.

I think you get the idea.

I can't help but notice that my reasons for choosing a female character are very different from the majority of people in this thread. I think that I am very extroverted in so far as, rather than be a willing victim of the "Proteus effect" I create a character that already IS me so I do not end up becoming something I am not.

Once when I was online in my dwarf clan, I met a level 41 dwarf named Cindy and we fell in love despite her being below my status. I would send her poetry about warcraft and she would edit it for me. As my wife works a hundred and eighty hour week, this gave me plenty of opportunity to organise a liaison with Cindy in real life. After arranging to meet, I packed my dwarf costume and battle axe and used my wife's credit card to buy a bus ticket to the town Cindy lived in. As it turned out, Cindy was actually a real dwarf. And a man. We still made love so as not to waste the money I had spent but I left feeling deceived and only partly satisfied. Why can't people just be honest?

GǪand while we're at it. Real men wear pink.