My main is a Tauren female druid in an RP server though I am not a female and, surprise, not a Tauren IRL. I never got this thing about people thinking its strange for a guy to roll a female toon because I don’t feel that my character is me in any sense (I actually rollplay 3 Tauren siblings of which my main is the younger sister) or that is even an extension of myself. Is a character I created in a fantasy world. Have you never played Tombraider? Have you ever thought you were Lara Croft? Well, I never did and I loved that game. What seems odd to me are those people who treat their toons as they roll themselves IRL, that don’t realize that this is all a game and that actually think that they’re gonna get laid when they flirt with my toon and then get really angry when I whisper them that I’m a guy, because this is the real issue here: they do feel cheated when they discover that the toon that makes them horny is a guy IRL but that is not our fault… Well this is what seems really weird to me.

My 5 cents,

Finn

In Aldor bank, a lv55 Gnome Rogue asked me if I could use him… as, well… to keep it PG, I’ll say an “assistive device”.

O_o

WTF is wrong with people?!

Even my bank toon.

Like BBB said, it’s about playstyles and preferences.

I’m not an RPer, and I don’t project myself into my characters or identify with them, beyond being in the game I like playing.

I also have ZERO desire to get a 3rd person view of ANY male model’s backside for 70+ levels.

Ain’t gonna happen.

I’ve gotten the “Hey sexy” comments. I usually tell them I’m male, and invariably get the “gay” comments, to which I have a standared macro’d response:

“I’d like to point out that somewhat over half of all the toons in WoW are female, while it’s figured that female PLAYERS only make up 10-15% of the userbase. Next time you flirt with a “hot NElf chick”, do the math. Chances are she’s packing meat.”

That usually shuts them up.

I’ve had the ‘pst’, and what I perceive to be an accusing tone ‘you’re not really a girl are you?’ But never have I had ‘you’re not really an Orc, are you? Imagine if we all played humans. Boring.

Seems odd to me that, to some, it’s ok to play a completely different species, just not a girl. Unless you are a girl. Or an Orc.

I’d never heard the male Night Elf prejudice until I read these comments. I gave my Druid (resto/feral hybrid) the old worldly wise explorer look. He’s a badass. Plus Male Night Elves have a rich, smooth voice. Compare it to the Blood Elf whine, or the Gnomish nasal. The “glance around” tick actually looks cool. Much preferable to the Human sigh. I love my male Night Elf.

And he’s got one of the funniest jokes in the game. “What? I can’t hear you.” My nine-year old had to explain it to me. Then I must have laughed for, like, 15 minutes straight.

I have to admit that while the cross gender thing doesn’t bother me, I still can’t bring myself to make a female character (maybe it’s society, I don’t know), with one exception. A few local IRL buddies and I made a guild so we’d have a game to play together online. Trying to convince one to join with us we were explaining roles and when we described what healers do, he derided the role with a bunch of offensive, sexist vocabulary. When the role fell to me I made a total girly girl (Night Elf resto druid) just so I could make him call me “princess” if he wanted any healz.

Then I got attached the character. It was fun to play. The picking flowers, enchanting, buying bags and pets and nice clothes. It was an aspect of the game that had totally passed me by until I tried to exaggerate it. I’ve since stopped exaggerating it, but it’s still a small part of how I play. Even with male toons now.

There’s only been once when I know gender mattered. A high level Blood Elf Pally ransacked Sentinel Hill. Killed everyone but me. Then stripped and danced for me until I /slapped him and tried to walk away.

As a much older player than most, I’m very secure in my masculinity. I have had people comment about my druids name, as they thought it was a funny bimbo name, but I have never been harrassed because I am a male playing a female toon. You will get catcalls and such, and its just part of the ride. Enjoy and play on.

IT IS JUST A GAME.

If someone is being a jerk, then /ignore XXYY and be done with it. Simple. And that can be harrassment or just a regular turkey, but it 99% door no.2 in my experience.

I HAVE Found over time though, that most male players get protective of female toons, regardless of their true RL gender. It just IS.
Running instances, I’ve seen where female toons get a little bit more protection and healing than their male counterparts. It is just hard-wired into most males.

A previous blog had me cracking up, when a little gnome rogue female got hit and SQUEEKED, and it make everyone want to go protect her or heal her. (Even though they all KNEW it was a big hearty male playing in RL.

“Ugh, I have to get my chest waxed again.”

“What’s estrogen? Can you eat it?”

Plus, as a female orc, I will probably never get /sexy or /flirt thrown my way.

But I got a free run through RFC, not to mention Knuckletor and Luzran.

I started out relating to myself when I rolled my Male NE Hunter. When I became further experienced and found Female Dranei… I HAD TO HAVE 1! So I rolled a Female Dranei Shammy…. Have you seen them dance? WOW!! so much more appealing than the lame “John Travlota” immitation that the Male NE’s do.

I do get a lot of /Whistle, /flirt & /sexy emote Harassment… if I have the time I stop long enough to play on it for a couple secs and on many many occasions I had people giving me a couple G. Hey… if they want to give me free Gold… i’m not complaining!

The Victories are much Sweeter. The 1’s I love the most are when I’ve been picked on by Male Tauren and they get thier Butt kicked by a GIRL! You can tell it’s a definate ego buster when after the get beat.. they get camped…. and they have to call on fellow MALE Charachters to come beat up on a girl! I’ve seen his “Back-up” arrive and won’t attack me simply because it’s a “Female”, and while they just stand there watching me kick his butt again & again…and then in front of all his guildies/Friends blow him a /Kiss before I leave. I KNOW that his TS/Vent/Chat is chopping at his ego like a Rogue on Meth!

Some of my best experiences were playing with Women that actual played Female Charachter. My smoothest questing/instance group was a Female Dranei Prott Warr, Female Gnome Warlock, Male Gnome Mage, Male NE Hunter (me) and a Female NE Resto Druid, and yes… we were all playing our own gender of Char’s. I also raid with a Male NE Shadow Priest that is played by a Woman, and She’s very good at it, Her Boyfriend plays a Human Ret Pally.

It’s a Fantasy… Live it out!