The benefits of having a female avatar/character in online games

[Doom]

I will never understand how players online think im a chick. Playing a female character doesn't mean im female lol. Plus my PSN should indicate that im male lol

You have no idea how many people out there can't even comprehend that someone would play a character opposite of their own gender.

But that aside I really don't get why would people try to hook up in videogames

Edited January 3, 2015 by DocDoomII

[Kashiyuka]

I might not go advertising my gender but those who do have the right to do so.- Why must a girl go into hideing her gender?

 

Some girls do like to show they are female in a Username- It's ok for them to do so- Same as a guy with a username showing he is male.

 

I think it's ok if a girl wants a fem name it's her right to show off her girly side.- can't help if alot of guys simply like to jump on girls online -_-u.

 

Now if a girl uses a sexual name or in your face come and get me name like- Singleandwilling, BustyNLusty etc I agree then they have it coming.

 

Girls with just Fem/Girly names- PrincessofFlames, WinterWonderLass, Grrl Power.- I think it's their right to pick a name and not have to feel that people say you brought it upon yourself. 

 

Imo.

I'm not talking about usernames though.  I don't mind that whatsoever.  I mean when a girl is constantly flirting with other guys online, or saying extremely suggestive things because she know she's part of a minority of sorts.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not tarnishing all girls with the same brush, but I have seen it happen on more than one occasion.

[Sir_Palkia]

I'm not talking about usernames though.  I don't mind that whatsoever.  I mean when a girl is constantly flirting with other guys online, or saying extremely suggestive things because she know she's part of a minority of sorts.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not tarnishing all girls with the same brush, but I have seen it happen on more than one occasion.

I've certainly seen my fair share of those kinds of girls! 

 

Protip: they don't seem to comprehend the idea of a guy denying their flirtatious ways, it's like they weren't programmed to deal with that  kind of situation!

[Piers Nivans]

I might not go advertising my gender but those who do have the right to do so.- Why must a girl go into hideing her gender?

 

Some girls do like to show they are female in a Username- It's ok for them to do so- Same as a guy with a username showing he is male.

 

I think it's ok if a girl wants a fem name it's her right to show off her girly side.- can't help if alot of guys simply like to jump on girls online -_-u.

 

Now if a girl uses a sexual name or in your face come and get me name like- Singleandwilling, BustyNLusty etc I agree then they have it coming.

 

Girls with just Fem/Girly names- PrincessofFlames, WinterWonderLass, Grrl Power.- I think it's their right to pick a name and not have to feel that people say you brought it upon yourself. 

 

Imo.

I didnt suggest female gamers hide their gender. Having a feminine PSN or username isn't a problem. Only stating that if I use a female character it doesn't represent my own gender. Personally I enjoy playing with a female characters because its more enjoyable for me. Plus all the wonderful and fabulous customization they have   Before I get way off topic lol Neither gender should have to face problems in the gaming community. 

[Sigma999]

I have a female characther in Playstation Home unfortunely I don't play that a very long time ago. Although i remember seeing guys send me friend requests and talking to me thiking I was a girl (by the way I'm male). I can see the point of view of female gamers getting aroused because of their gender and that's is so stupid. Everyone is gamers, the gender doesn't matter. Just get fun and don't bother others because you can't control your hormones.

 

I tend to create a female characther in videogames whenever is possible and like to play games with female protagonist mainly because i want to experience a whole new point of view in the eyes of a gender I don't belong to. 

 

Also, I'm tired of looking at a guy's ass    (third-person view).

 

GTA online was an exception and choose to play as a dude on the other side  in Saints Row the Third I changed to a woman to get more enjoyment out of the story.

[Izularia]

I think it's more creepy than handy to be a girl sometimes. It's not that I want to hide my gender or something - I'm a girl and I'm fine with that, but all too often it's annoying to get flirty messages when you're playing online. I want to PLAY, I'm not looking for something else, those people don't even know me. In the end, why should it matter whether you're a boy or a girl? We're all gamers (or humans ), no matter what gender. Of course, I like meeting new people and making friends, but not that way. 

 

To be fair, there are also people (either boys or girls) who want to get attention. For example: Once, I received the following message: "Hey sweetie, I'm a cute girl and I need help. Please help me, I'll do everything for you. I'm a girl, you don't want to disappoint a girl, do you?"   I don't know, would be way too embarrassing to be like that... 

 

A little more on-topic: I always have a female character as I like them better than male ones, and whenever I get odd messages, I try to avoid them as good as possible.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Izularia

[Kittet3]

Hmm, only time I've faced anything like that was playing Borderlands (Pre-Sequel) I was playing with 3 randoms for a few hours, and they all had mics but I lost my PlayStation Eye (Didn't have a mic at the time), so I couldn't talk to them. They argued about whether or not I was a boy or a girl (One of them swore my username was pronounced Kitty, so they all started to call me that) They also debated whether or not I could speak English (Decided I could because I was following their instructions)... Finally, we decided to get to the bottom of it and they had me nod or shake my head if I was a girl, and shoot to tell them how old I was. After some inappropriate jokes, we started to battle again... It was kind of nice because someone always revived me and came to help me if I was cornered, even though one of them pointed out I had been doing more work then them all the way up to this point.  I don't know if they really believed me or not (What are the chances your playing with an 18 year old girl?), but it really didn't matter.

[Shinobi-Versus]

Unfortunately, thanks to my PSN username having a female name in it (it's meant to be a Resident Evil reference goddamnit) I get the same shit girls do.  The lengths some people go to just to pester you is amazing sometimes.  Ignorance is bliss.

 

But girls who go around advertising their gender and get the same treatment?  No sympathy.  Are you here to game or are you here to lead on some thirsty teenage boys?

 

Doesn't really help that your current avatar is Yumi.

[Kashiyuka]

Doesn't really help that your current avatar is Yumi.

Good point     Can't ignore a cool avatar though 

[XIII-Order-Xion]

I didnt suggest female gamers hide their gender. Having a feminine PSN or username isn't a problem. Only stating that if I use a female character it doesn't represent my own gender. Personally I enjoy playing with a female characters because its more enjoyable for me. Plus all the wonderful and fabulous customization they have   Before I get way off topic lol Neither gender should have to face problems in the gaming community. 

True.

 

I've noticed that as well, female customization is far more detailed most of the time.- I think because a girl likes to get into the depth of a character look, ranging from style to way of carrying herself.

 

But in truth Game creators shouldn't limit the guys customazation either I sometimes like to create a guy character to play as in games and get bummed that the male custom opitions are limited.

 

Games need to expand and allow both genders to have the ability to be who or whatever they want .

 

As for gender representing you in a game- If you play as male or female- orc or elf-who cares it's a game it's not RL- games are a portal for people to open up new worlds and become whoever they want.

 

Be it becoming a Nathan Drake or a Lara Croft .

[Piers Nivans]

True.

 

I've noticed that as well, female customization is far more detailed most of the time.- I think because a girl likes to get into the depth of a character look, ranging from style to way of carrying herself.

 

But in truth Game creators shouldn't limit the guys customazation either I sometimes like to create a guy character to play as in games and get bummed that the male custom opitions are limited.

 

Games need to expand and allow both genders to have the ability to be who or whatever they want .

 

As for gender representing you in a game- If you play as male or female- orc or elf-who cares it's a game it's not RL- games are a portal for people to open up new worlds and become whoever they want.

 

Be it becoming a Nathan Drake or a Lara Croft .

Only a few games I have played that allow such a high level of customization. The day I see equal customization for both genders in more games it will surprise me  Exactly I totally agree with you. Gaming is its own world and doesn't have to represent who you are irl. Some seem to forgot this  Btw love that you used Nathan Drake and Lara croft as an example. Two of my favorites 

[XIII-Order-Xion]

Only a few games I have played that allow such a high level of customization. The day I see equal customization for both genders in more games it will surprise me  Exactly I totally agree with you. Gaming is its own world and doesn't have to represent who you are irl. Some seem to forgot this  Btw love that you used Nathan Drake and Lara croft as an example. Two of my favorites 

Lara and Nathan seemed like the best example- I enjoyed seeing adventures played out through a Female and males P.O.V- you can notice various things depending on who's eyes you look through but in the end they are both kickass.

 

As for equal custom items I think games like soul calibur do it pretty well- but games like saints row I noticed the girl characters have various dresses, outfits, heels, make up, skirts and jean items etc.

 

Yet when I did my male playthrough it seemed like most of the guys items were pallet swaps- I could be wrong though my knowledge on a guys wardrobe is a bit limited lol- if you had to know since in SR4 Nolan had a voice acting job on that game I made a nathan drake ripoff lol.

Edited January 4, 2015 by lts_Rainbow_Dash

[dmann]

When I play games, be it an ARPG, or an MMO, I have a male character. And I am male. So my perspective is a bit interesting, considering I don't gender flip usually.

 

But in context, I try to treat everyone the same. Be they male, female, or 2 headed bogbeast. And in a way, I can tell when someone is a good person, via gut feeling. And in all honesty, that gut feeling has never steered me wrong.

 

 

Gaming is gaming and-Gamers are Gamers.

 

This gels with my opinion of gamers too. And I define it this way;

 

Gamer Girls; The ones you will find playing the hardcore games, that won't give up, and are the normal ones. These I would happily stand side by side with, as the beasties try and dine on my electronic skull.

 

Girl Gamers; The ones that the industry produces (Fragdolls etc) that people think are "real" gamers, but are really eye candy for the lecherous males.

 

If anyone doesn't understand my rambling, just think of it this way; I am an equal opportunity gamer...

[Dreakon13]

Girls with just Fem/Girly names- PrincessofFlames, WinterWonderLass, Grrl Power.- I think it's their right to pick a name and not have to feel that people say you brought it upon yourself. 

 

Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely anyone's right to use whatever name/avatar/whatnot that they please and not get harassed.

 

Playing devil's advocate however.  You know people are going to treat you differently in a game if they have this inkling that you're female.  It's not fair, it's not right, but that's what it is at this point.  To say someone innocent in all of this being harassed "brought it on themselves" for having a perfectly reasonable username is obviously pointing the finger in the wrong direction if we hope to fix this someday (the focus should be cleaning up this awful cesspool we call the gaming community)... that being said, unless this is your first day on the internet, which isn't very likely, you went in knowing you're calling attention to yourself.

 

EDIT: And maybe I'm wrong there.  This is coming from someone who puts way too much thought into my username and my online identity if I plan on interacting with others.  I also feel no inclination to make my username "Pr1nc3_Ch4rming" or "BeefcakeZx" or "MisterIncredible" or whatever some obviously gender-correct masculine name might be for me.  Maybe other people are inclined to punch something in simply because it sounds nice, not really thinking about how dirtbags online might look at them... and they have every right to do that and not be bothered.  But this is the internet, and the gaming community is notoriously trashy.  If you innocently park your average looking car in a notoriously bad neighborhood... eh...  *shrug*

Edited January 4, 2015 by Dreakon13

[NadeShady]

Sitting in Varrock on Runescape yelling "free gps pls" as a Girl was always a deadset way to getting full rune, let's all admit it.

[Death]

I'm a guy and I get creeped out by others guys "advances".

[XIII-Order-Xion]

Hey Dmann nice to see you outside of the Forum Games.

 

You are enabled to your opinion- no need to think you have to justify what you say- which that P.O.V is interesting.

 

The gut feeling is a great tool I use that as well to make friends online main reason my Friend list is pretty small, I most of the time have to play with you for a while before even adding a person.

 

But that is great and how it should be play with others no matter what as long as you all are having fun.

 

I play like 85% female characters on games I do the flip when I want to create a cool guy character or see if things change- most the time I do the flip is in Fallout games.

 

Dreakon hope I spelled that right lol- I see what you mean.- but the community will never be perfect at all no matter what anybody does there will always be a person who wants to stand out.

 

Be it trolling or harassing.

 

In the end it is up to not the community to try and change but I guess the gamers- we have to handle these things as they come as we see fit- and with that hope that most will try and change to be mature and handle these problems with a adult mindset.

 

So that said sure a girl can go into a game with a Girly Id and know what is coming- but doing so she will have to deal with what and most likely will come her way.

 

Same with guys- Going in a game and seeing a gamer that is different just stop and think- let's try and just have fun not drag up somethinhg that will just explode into a huge mess.

 

Not saying guys are solely at fault at all if anything i've ran into my fair share of wild and mean girls as well online.

 

The change in community shouldn't start with hoping someone will fix it but with us as gamers fixing it- even in a small way.

Edited January 4, 2015 by lts_Rainbow_Dash

[Piers Nivans]

Lara and Nathan seemed like the best example- I enjoyed seeing adventures played out through a Female and males P.O.V- you can notice various things depending on who's eyes you look through but in the end they are both kickass.

 

As for equal custom items I think games like soul calibur do it pretty well- but games like saints row I noticed the girl characters have various dresses, outfits, heels, make up, skirts and jean items etc.

 

Yet when I did my male playthrough it seemed like most of the guys items were pallet swaps- I could be wrong though my knowledge on a guys wardrobe is a bit limited lol- if you had to know since in SR4 Nolan had a voice acting job on that game I made a nathan drake ripoff lol.

Both kick major butt I agree and the stories are what really grab me. To go on  a crazy wild adventure  Soul calibur is very equal with the items which is awesome! Saints Row is horrible playing as a dude. Either the clothes are ugly, tacky or just like you said pallet swaps. Playing a female boss ins Saints Row at least have the option to wear good looking clothes and want to keep changing unlike the male I did the exact same thing! Nolan North is amazing 

[Dreakon13]

The change in community shouldn't start with hoping someone will fix it but with us as gamers fixing it- even in a small way.

 

I hope you didn't get the impression that I think some magical force is going to come down and fix our community problems for us.  Of course it's gamers that need to be the ones fixing it, gamers are the problem.

 

The question is how.  You can't force dirtbags to play nice, we don't even know who the dirtbags are until they act like dirtbags lol.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Dreakon13

[XIII-Order-Xion]

Both kick major butt I agree and the stories are what really grab me. To go on  a crazy wild adventure  Soul calibur is very equal with the items which is awesome! Saints Row is horrible playing as a dude. Either the clothes are ugly, tacky or just like you said pallet swaps. Playing a female boss ins Saints Row at least have the option to wear good looking clothes and want to keep changing unlike the male I did the exact same thing! Nolan North is amazing 

Everything shifted on the pages I was looking at page 2 then got shifted to page 3.

 

Custom items etc can only get better- Borderlands did well with how to custom your characters though their weakness is how little you see your character but that makes up for it online I guess.

 

I agree Nolan was great in that game just a place to be a ham at.

 

Dreakon again sorry if misspelled- I guess you are right about how it's up to us to mod how much we let others see us- feels kinda sad that is the world we live in but like leaving a average car in a bad neighborhood we must take charge and own it when something bad happens.

 

Lol no magical forces meant we shouldn't just wait for mods,admins, servers to fix our problems.

 

Gamers are the problem- but I think if enough gamers try and make changes for the better the community can change for the better- the trick is breaking the old habits.

 

Which is a tough wall to break.- but maybe if enough try change might be possible.

 

It's up to how bad gamers want that to happen.

Edited January 4, 2015 by lts_Rainbow_Dash

[dmann]

Hey Dmann nice to see you outside of the Forum Games.

 

You are enabled to your opinion- no need to think you have to justify what you say- which that P.O.V is interesting.

 

The gut feeling is a great tool I use that as well to make friends online main reason my Friend list is pretty small, I most of the time have to play with you for a while before even adding a person.

 

But that is great and how it should be play with others no matter what as long as you all are having fun.

 

I play like 85% female characters on games I do the flip when I want to create a cool guy character or see if things change- most the time I do the flip is in Fallout games.

 

The only time I really genderflip is games like FFXIII, or Skullgirls (where Ms. Fortune is my fave cause fast), or similar.

 

But I try and be kind as well. Might be why I am liked. That and my silly sense of humour.

 

 

Both kick major butt I agree and the stories are what really grab me. To go on  a crazy wild adventure  Soul calibur is very equal with the items which is awesome! Saints Row is horrible playing as a dude. Either the clothes are ugly, tacky or just like you said pallet swaps. Playing a female boss ins Saints Row at least have the option to wear good looking clothes and want to keep changing unlike the male I did the exact same thing! Nolan North is amazing 

 

I think a cool thing with some games is the MC gender roles are blurred. FFXIII, the Alice series, and Sacred 2, are some off the top of my head...

[iDoneGotU]

Other players are definitely nicer to you with a female avatar. In Borderlands 2 I played as Gaige and the male players gave me rare/orange weapons, which is pretty good even if I feel a little bad. Also, when I had Nepgear as my PSN avatar I had a bunch of random people adding me, but I changed it because guys kept asking if I was a girl which is weird. Even if the person is a girl these guys think they'll see something lol. 

[XIII-Order-Xion]

Is FFXIII and Skullgirls a genderflip?- those are games where the main characters are female.

 

A Genderflip is a game that you pick your gender I think- fallout,saints row , skyrim etc.

 

Anyway Dmann you are cool in my book glad you are sticking around the forums.

 

IDoneGotU- don't let a avatar define you- you can choose what you want it's just a picture- as for playing as a female in games again just a game if gaige is your fav play gaige lol.

 

If I ever can get my hands on Pre sequal I prob will be playing Handsome jack clone myself- he just seems badass.

Edited January 4, 2015 by lts_Rainbow_Dash

[Dreakon13]

I think if enough gamers try and make changes for the better the community can change for the better- the trick is breaking the old habits.

 

That's kind of a non-answer though... we don't have old habits to break.  By and large the people on this site aren't the problem.  The people doing the harassing need to clean up their act, and if they're okay with being dirtbags in the first place, it's going to take more than some "good vibes" to fix it.

 

Not that I expect you or me to have the answer, but that's what needs to happen in order to have these gender-specific usernames used freely without the risk of being singled out.  The community is broken, in this regard.  It needs to be fixed.  And I think that begins with the administrators, moderators and people with authority that run these games/servers taking more swift (perhaps harsher) action when harassment is reported.  And it ends with gamers as a whole cleaning up their act.  Until then, we don't have much choice but to use our heads when it comes to how we want our online identities to be represented, and the repercussions it can have.  To bring this full circle, if you choose to represent yourself as a female in a broken community that's known to single females out... just like if you choose to park your car innocently enough in a bad neighborhood... you could make the argument that you're not doing yourself any favors.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Dreakon13

[Piers Nivans]

Its_Rainbow Dash you are right custom items will get better and have more choices in future games as the developers will notice the lack of custom things you can achieve with our characters in game  Only time you get to really see your character in Borderlands is when your in the menus looking for what mission to select, changing gear or setting u skill points  Any game with Nolan North's voice in I will play no questions asked 

 

 

 

The only time I really genderflip is games like FFXIII, or Skullgirls (where Ms. Fortune is my fave cause fast), or similar.

 

But I try and be kind as well. Might be why I am liked. That and my silly sense of humour.

 

 

 

I think a cool thing with some games is the MC gender roles are blurred. FFXIII, the Alice series, and Sacred 2, are some off the top of my head...

Agreed! Any game that features a strong female lead is always going to catch my interest