Thread: Gender?

This isnt really a specific Race of Man thing, I was just reading the breasts thread. As a female IRL, I was wondering why men tend to always have at least 1 female character? (not accusing, just wondering =P) - while all of my other females friends and I never have a male character?

Originally Posted by Peryite

As a female IRL, I was wondering why men tend to always have at least 1 female character?

I actually have none, mainly because since I'm male and I think my characters should be male.

Originally Posted by Peryite

This isnt really a specific Race of Man thing, I was just reading the breasts thread. As a female IRL, I was wondering why men tend to always have at least 1 female character? (not accusing, just wondering =P) - while all of my other females friends and I never have a male character?

Same reason they play elfs, dwarfs, and hobbits. Its another option for variety in a harmless video game. There doesn't have to be some deep seated psychological reason.

And in some cases, some races or genders don't look or play as cool in certain situations. Its about preferance at the moment. I got females, males, humans and non-humans. Its all about playing a variety and making use of everything Turbine has to offer. Besides I'm paying for it, why NOT make use of every option? lol

The same question can be asked in reverse btw. Why would a female play a male? Yet no one cares. lol

My kin leader only has female characters because he notices that he gets his ore nodes stolen from him much less as a female. I guess its a form of chivalry .

This is something that happens not just in LOTRO, but in just about every other game as well. It's called the "girl bug".

People, particularly guy players behave differently toward women, or at least.. people they percieve as women. It can be an advantage if you're into that sort of thing.

In Ultima Online, people would make a female character and run around naked with a sob story about how they had just been killed and lost everything. Then, they'd get free stuff from people, sell it, and do it again.

That's probably the most prominent example I can think of. If you do that with a male character, people just call you a noob.

I have noticed (to a small degree, but still noticeable) that my "girls" are treated nicer than any of the males and dwarfs I have. Wierd.

Yet same person operating them all on the keyboard.

Its all about the view.

To be seriously answer that from my part: Unlike rest of animals, in humans, women have been decorated with more beauty than man... (even most women might accept that as well) , in animals, male always have been more decorated and beautiful.

Because of that may be, man loves to stare at a woman even its in pixels rather than already something similiar to them, hairy and scratching

I have male characters and female characters, I don't find it special reason, I guess like someone said above, it is not really different than picking to play an elf or dwarf or hobbit or even chicken in game.

Is it because most people playing this game are lonely men? What are the demographics of LOTRO?

All of my characters are female. I'm not really sure why... They just are. It might be for realism, it might be that I think I'm bad at roleplaying men. Anyway.

Once upon a time I had a male character, a captain. His name was Tarathelion, (which was a nice name, I thought.) if anyone remembers him. Before he really got anywhere he was deleted and replaced with Fanandal, a woman captain.

Now, the funny thing about Fanandal, is her backstory, as unoriginal as it is. She pretended to be a boy so she would get accepted as a soldier's page and could join Pelargir's armed forces. She pretended to be a man for so long that she has almost become one (not literally >.< ). She has a female herald becuase she... uh... enjoys intimate company with persons of the female persuasion. (no sexuality-lore arguments please, we can do that later). And when I play with her people always think that I'm a guy, even when I try to suggest to them that I'm not male.

the females in LOTRO are diffrent in WOW, in WOW they do those dances but here the girls are much more realistic, so are the guys for that matter

Some people RP ... to one extent or another. To others its just a game and no different than playing Lara Croft.

Personally I make female characters now and then but never really play them very far. Doesnt feel right IMO to kind of represent myself to other players as a female.

But again ... it all depends how you view the game and your POV

I'm male, and I always create male characters in games. I tend to imagine "myself" as the character in the game, so I usually make my avatar look as close to how I look in real life as possible.

It's never really occured to me to create a female character.

I hope that doesn't make me gay...my wife would be pretty upset!

...at least I think she would be. ;p

Originally Posted by Jebtyl

I'm male, and I always create male characters in games. I tend to imagine "myself" as the character in the game, so I usually make my avatar look as close to how I look in real life as possible.

Same here, except for the good-looking beard. And the cool scars.

Originally Posted by LOTRFan101

Same here, except for the good-looking beard. And the cool scars.

...well the beard and scars go without saying.

I have always wonder why in the heck anyone is concerned with this at all? Is it because those who do care are so insecure in their own sex that they could never create a set of pixels that arrange themselves into looking like another gender? Seriously, who cares?

I have female characters in other MMO's and people have said, "Oh your a guy?" I say "Yes," and move on no big deal. On voice chat they can me by the female name I gave my character again, it does not matter to me, I AM PLAYING A GAME.

I have never treated a character differently because of their gender in game...hell I am usually zoomed out as far as possible to get the best view I can of the surroundings so I know what is going on in the battle(s) around me. So a lot of the time I can't tell if they are male of female anyways.

Well, if there is anyone out there who really has a problem with this, I say get over yourself and maybe take a moment to figure out what the acronym RPG stand for.

Originally Posted by LOTRFan101

Same here, except for the good-looking beard. And the cool scars.

Luckily, I have a beard and a few facial scars (though, nowhere near as impressive as my toons).

I have trouble telling elven males and females apart sometimes :/

Originally Posted by frufan

I have trouble telling elven males and females apart sometimes :/

Don't we all? I think even they do.

I have 4 toons all female. Breast size all different ranges. Class all different. I`m male gender in RL. This is not about a fantasy of women and size. I did this as part of research. My paper when completed will reflect that of what is experienced in MMO`s. Be it that of either sex and the affect of gender toon`s in a kinship/Tribe from other toons. I`m really disapointed in the Moors as there is really no gender there except now the Weavers are now classed as female. All else there is male and no options offered. Shame on LOTRO for a part of this MMO that is and appears to be all male orientated. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Why does it matter? That said, it's a lot to do with aesthetics for me. I play male elves, the one time I tried to roll up a female elf I couldn't get over how their face looked kind of like they'd had a few lifts. On the other hand, I play female humans, because the male avatars seem 'off' to me in that I find their legs too short. (That's because I like a long-legged silhouette, and that's how I tend to draw in RL.)

I'm a male RL, but I don't understand what the gender of my character has to do with anything.

Originally Posted by IamSpanky

I have 4 toons all female. Breast size all different ranges. Class all different. I`m male gender in RL. This is not about a fantasy of women and size. I did this as part of research. My paper when completed will reflect that of what is experienced in MMO`s. Be it that of either sex and the affect of gender toon`s in a kinship/Tribe from other toons. I`m really disapointed in the Moors as there is really no gender there except now the Weavers are now classed as female. All else there is male and no options offered. Shame on LOTRO for a part of this MMO that is and appears to be all male orientated. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

If you're being accurate to Tolkein--which they're trying to do--female Orcs and Uruks aren't even mentioned. It was only the males who fought, or so we assume...

Originally Posted by Peryite

This isnt really a specific Race of Man thing, I was just reading the breasts thread. As a female IRL, I was wondering why men tend to always have at least 1 female character? (not accusing, just wondering =P) - while all of my other females friends and I never have a male character?

Using words like 'always' tend to break down your argument when talking about people.

I am male with all male characters because the pen-n-paper characters they are based on are all male. If I had more character slots, who knows.

But as to whys on males playing female characters? Who knows, it could be perversion, it could be desiring to play a varieyt of characters, it could be to gain social advantage, it could be anything.

Why do many men fantasize about breasts? Maybe because they spend their first year or so getting food there?
Why do some men fantasize about nurses? My theory is it's because a nurse gave us our first full-body sponge bath...

the human girls in lotro are actually realistic and dont look like the programer was drunk when he wrote them. WoW is to cartoony, thats why we love lotros girls. ive only got 1 girl char and i notice no diffrence in how i am treated.

I never really make a female character in any MMO I play, or any game with character creation really. Same reason I like epic sounding names (over something like Ilosalot). I like the manliness, but not in a sexual way. As much as I'd like to be, I'm not 6'4 weigh in at 250lbs of lean muscle. I'm not saying that is the only good way to play or anything, nor am I comdeming those who play the opposite sex. Thats just the way I play. I make my character as "cool" as I think I can. Thats it. My opinion. I think LOTRO women are quite conservative. It could always be worse... http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20061025

Originally Posted by Winterfell

I have always wonder why in the heck anyone is concerned with this at all? Is it because those who do care are so insecure in their own sex that they could never create a set of pixels that arrange themselves into looking like another gender? Seriously, who cares?

I have female characters in other MMO's and people have said, "Oh your a guy?" I say "Yes," and move on no big deal. On voice chat they can me by the female name I gave my character again, it does not matter to me, I AM PLAYING A GAME.

I have never treated a character differently because of their gender in game...hell I am usually zoomed out as far as possible to get the best view I can of the surroundings so I know what is going on in the battle(s) around me. So a lot of the time I can't tell if they are male of female anyways.

Well, if there is anyone out there who really has a problem with this, I say get over yourself and maybe take a moment to figure out what the acronym RPG stand for.

I guess its down to their own immaturity, close minded ness and insecurities. I guess they'd never admit to playing Tomb Raider where your main character is a big breasted British woman.

I have a Weaver. But mostly just cause I always wanted to be one of the giant, improbably social insects that inevitably appear in almost every MMORPG.

Who cares?

I'm a girl and have recently made an elf male. He's pretty!

As a male, I would prefer to stare at a female pixelated-behind while I play. If you want to stare at a dude's butt, go for it. I won't judge you. Pervert.

I don't really like how the male avatars look. I have a male minstrel, but both my captain and guardian are female.

I have both male and female characters. I prefer the female Man model to the male Man model (that just sounds weird, "female Man," but you know what I mean), but I like the male Hobbit model better than the female Hobbit model, elves I don't have a preference, and Dwarves I don't have a choice, so I have both male and female characters.

Anywho, I have found that when I play a female character, people are more helpful, actually people tend to be way too helpful. It is usually when I am playing my female Man characters that random people will try to "help" me kill a mob that I clearly don't need help killing. They never help my male Hobbit.

I tend to determine what gender a particular character will be based on which one I think makes that particular class look cooler.

When i first started playing this game last year i had 5 male characters. Shortly after, my wife pointed out that i should make at least one female character just incase i ever needed to fight the witch king of angmar. The logic being that only females could harm/kill him in the lore. It made sense so i deleted a character and made a female hobbit. Up front i let everyone know i am a guy and the reason why my character is a chick. In the end it shouldn't really matter about this subject unless the male is trying to rp a female on voicechat or ventrilo. Thats just wierd.

Originally Posted by thumperhilltrot

I like looking at women. I'm sick that way I guess. There aren't enough good looking females around. We need more!

Notice the men tend to play female elves and female humans. Ok, that's what you need to look like. If you don't, go see your local cosmetic surgeon.

And why are women so frigid nowadays? I mean, seriously, they need to be wandering around trying to find a fat out-of-shape gamer to "know". What is the world coming to?!

Also, there is something in my psyche that says I want full and complete control over a woman. Make her do anything I want. Not only that, but like it too.

Now, before you get angry, remember that I'm only answering a question you asked.

I laughed. I guess I'm sick too because I enjoy looking at the female form in *any* format, whether it's a picture, a sculpture, a painting, pixels, a cartoon, a movie, or hell even on the back of a trucker's mudflap (or on the side of a bomber plane). The female form is appealing to men. Duh.

Still, I usually play mostly males in MMOs, but I do have one female in this game. And no, she's not a healer... she's a badass, tough-as-nails, guardian.

When I role a support toon, they are invariably female (minstrel--fem hobbit; captain--fem rom). It's appropriate for a nurturing, helpful character class.

Originally Posted by Selcian

When i first started playing this game last year i had 5 male characters. Shortly after, my wife pointed out that i should make at least one female character just incase i ever needed to fight the witch king of angmar. The logic being that only females could harm/kill him in the lore. It made sense so i deleted a character and made a female hobbit. Up front i let everyone know i am a guy and the reason why my character is a chick. In the end it shouldn't really matter about this subject unless the male is trying to rp a female on voicechat or ventrilo. Thats just wierd.

Well. It's acctually so that the witch king can't be slain by any man. So basically, anyone who isn't a male Man is possible witch-king slayers.

A good friend of mine would always make female characters in any mmo he played. When asked why, he'd reply:

"Because, if I'm going to stare at someone's behind for hours and hours, I want it to be an attractive behind."

~Wallaby

I'm female in RL and have always played female characters. I did try to play a male in Cabal one time but I kept losing him. At least in this game I'm a fully clad, armour wearing guardian.....not a high-healed, thong-wearing amazon who's armour covers less the higher it's defence is.

I do it for many of the reasons listed above, ther'es something artisticabout the female form and if i'm going to look at a toon for hours why not something nice? I never make a secret of the fact that i'm actually a guy in real life. what guy doesn't like looking at women it's the way we're wired well most of us.

In LOTRO i started out with 4 males and 1 female elf delted a few remadeafew. AT one point i had a male captain had a cool scarred look figuredo ut for him with an eyepatch and I delted him in the end now i have a female captain. My main is now a female burglar i only have 2 males.

It's all a matter of prefernce mal/female dwarf/elf/man/hobbit blond hair or dark? etc...

I only have male characters because the odd names I pick for them wouldn't look right on female characters (like: Oliveboy, Olive*girl* doesn't sound right...)

My characters tend to be female to exploit the general status of most video game players. The general video game developer knows that the general target audience isn't someone who's bound to be hawking down the gorgeous girl at the end of the bar and by giving the players a more pronounced, better looking, female demographic in game they can make 'em happy. So it tends to be that female characters have more customization options and look better than male characters.

And if I'm going to be staring at my character, I want it to look the best.