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Wildefire
General Goods Vendor
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 1
Location: USA |
| Virtual Transvestism: An Introduction @ Terra Nova |
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In the first of a planned series of articles about "dudes who play female toons," Terra Nova brings us <a href="http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/01/virtual_transve.html#more" target="_blank">Virtual Transvestism: An Introduction</a>. (I'm not sure that transvestism is exactly the right word here, but it sounds better than transsexualism or transgenderism I reckon.)
<br><blockquote><em>Online gender-bending as we most commonly encounter it today -- in Second Life, for example, or World of Warcraft -- is in some ways quite complicated, but in other ways rather simple. Men and women who present cross-gender in these worlds seem to be more open to the idea that their transvestitism has meaning. Not that it necessarily carries some huge psychological or philosophical weight, but that virtual gender choice reflects, in one way or another, not just the avatar but the player behind it.
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<br>Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that, in such worlds, sex is a staple of interaction. Sex may not be the act of sex, per se; it can also include any sexually-charged situation, such as flirting, gift-giving, etc. Whatever its form, when sex is recognized as a pillar of a virtual culture, it becomes harder to insist that the choice of an avatar's gender -- an avatar that will then go out into the sexual environment -- is without implications.
<br><a href="http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/01/virtual_transve.html#more" target="_blank">More...</a></em></blockquote> |
Wed Jan 25, 2006 11:42 pm |
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Kepler
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 109
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Gee, how about calling it something like...hmm let me think..roleplaying?
Maybe I am in the minority but I play female Monks and Warriors because real life war has always been about men fighting each other. It is just neat to portray women as something more than housewives.
But then again, Terra Nova is notorious for its Gonzo Journalism and journalists who have played WoW and nothing else online. |
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Wed Jan 25, 2006 11:48 pm |
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Wildefire
General Goods Vendor
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 1
Location: USA |
quote:
Originally posted by Kepler
Gee, how about calling it something like...hmm let me think..roleplaying?
Quite right Kep. Personally, while I have frequently chosen female avatars in offline/single-player games simply because I liked the wiggle, in online games I've mostly rolled male characters because I just don't think I could roleplay a very good woman. (Wiggle notwithstanding.)
The only female toon I've ever had in an MMO was during the beta of City of Villains, where people don't bother roleplaying anyway. I had a 4.5 foot-tall pony-tailed goth girl Brute. It was great to see her fistfighting mobs twice her height and knocking them across the room, stopping only to dab on some patchouli oil and take a wheeze off a clove cigarette.
_________________
For each toon kills the mob he 'groes, yet each toon does not die. |
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Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:15 am |
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Kalia
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
Posts: 30
Location: Arizona |
LOL! What an amusing article! As a female gamer, I think it's interesting that the topic is even "newsworthy". The only reason it's titillating is because of the whole homophobic attitude of a lot of males. Who cares what gender players' avatars are? I certainly don't. LOL!
I suspect that a lot of the "newsworthy" thing about transvestism (or whatever they called it) is due to the fact that -some- (note that I said SOME) gaming males are looking for an online relationship and they don't want to find out that that svelte little elf on the other side of the screen is really a balding middle aged guy named Vinnie who's sitting in a dark pizza-box-infested room in his boxers while smoking a stogie. 
Personally, I don't play male characters at all...ever. I just wouldn't do them justice. Not being a male, I can't presume to know how they'd react. I can make an educated guess but, when push comes to shove, I just don't have a clue....swagger not withstanding. |
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Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:25 am |
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Roqua
High Emperor
Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 897
Location: rump |
I disagree with homophobicism of males Kalia. What is that based on? What numbers show males are more homophobic than females? From what I've seen almost all girls play female characters, where guys are much more open to playing male or female. Wouldn't that indicate that the ladies are the homophobes?
Or maybe I just don't like the term as I get called that a lot. But how can I be a homophobe if all my friends are gay? Could someone be an arachniphobe if all their friends were spiders?
I did have a straight friend but he wore a pink shirt a couple months ago. Now I'm the only straight guy I know.
_________________
Vegitarian is the Indian word for lousey hunter. |
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Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:53 am |
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Kalia
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
Posts: 30
Location: Arizona |
quote:
Originally posted by Roqua
I disagree with homophobicism of males Kalia. What is that based on? What numbers show males are more homophobic than females? From what I've seen almost all girls play female characters, where guys are much more open to playing male or female. Wouldn't that indicate that the ladies are the homophobes?
Or maybe I just don't like the term as I get called that a lot. But how can I be a homophobe if all my friends are gay? Could someone be an arachniphobe if all their friends were spiders?
I did have a straight friend but he wore a pink shirt a couple months ago. Now I'm the only straight guy I know.
LOL...you'll notice in my post I said "a lot of guys"...not all guys. I KNOW that all men aren't homophobic and would never presume to say so. While I don't have numbers to qualify the opinion, I think that male society has a lot more stigma attached to the male/male relationship than the female society has towards the female/female thing. Some men find it very stimulating, in fact.
As a woman I can tell you that the idea of a relationship with another woman is not repugnant to me. Would I ever pursue one? No. Do I want one? No. But the -idea- doesn't bother me at all. Most (I said MOST) of my friends feel the same way. My own belief is that it's part of a lot of women's natures. For the most part, people are not bothered or offended if, for instance, two women are dancing together at a club or at a party. But if two guys were? Whoo....watch out!
I also indicated that I play female characters exclusively because I don't have a clue how to play a male beyond the stereotypical stuff. Not being one, I just don't feel that I would do the gender justice. I don't think that all female players feel this way...in fact, I know a lot of my fellow female gamers who actively play male characters. *shrugs* That was my personal observation about myself. |
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Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:04 am |
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xSamhainx
Paws of Doom
Joined: 11 Sep 2002
Posts: 2192
Location: San Diego |
I frequently pick female toons in SP games (like half the time) because quite frankly, I like the way they look decked out in full armor or no armor at all. I like the sounds they make. I also tend to care for them just a tad more than my male chars, it's just the way it is, perhaps some strange cyber-offshoot of inherent paternal instinct.
I have always pretty much drawn the line at MMORPGs tho, since the game is entirely social, and I myself think of female chars there as "female". But female characters in MMORPGs seldom even pretend they are female. Some of them or their friends even repeatedly correct you when referring to he as she, even though he's wearing the proverbial chain mail bikini. So why do they do it? Maybe for the reasons I listed above. All i know is that it's confusing, and Im starting to hate when people do it.
Yet I actually did it myself, my last toon in WoW was a female, and I played her as "Shadowpaws" the daughter of the exalted primary toon "SilentPaws". It just felt weird, but it was sorta fun. I had the urge all the time tho to tell everyone that would listen "Im not really a girl!". I dunno, it was weird, even pure roleplaying it, I dont imagine Ill be doing that again.
_________________
“Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving.”-Mark Twain |
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Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:41 pm |
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Hindukönig
Guards Lieutenant
Joined: 27 Feb 2004
Posts: 170
Location: Halle (Saale) / Nuremberg [Germany] |
Mostly I play female characters in CRPGs because I sure hope for hot steaming lesbian scenes. |
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Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:02 pm |
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Roqua
High Emperor
Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 897
Location: rump |
quote:
Originally posted by Kalia
quote:
Originally posted by Roqua
I disagree with homophobicism of males Kalia. What is that based on? What numbers show males are more homophobic than females? From what I've seen almost all girls play female characters, where guys are much more open to playing male or female. Wouldn't that indicate that the ladies are the homophobes?
Or maybe I just don't like the term as I get called that a lot. But how can I be a homophobe if all my friends are gay? Could someone be an arachniphobe if all their friends were spiders?
I did have a straight friend but he wore a pink shirt a couple months ago. Now I'm the only straight guy I know.
LOL...you'll notice in my post I said "a lot of guys"...not all guys. I KNOW that all men aren't homophobic and would never presume to say so. While I don't have numbers to qualify the opinion, I think that male society has a lot more stigma attached to the male/male relationship than the female society has towards the female/female thing. Some men find it very stimulating, in fact.
As a woman I can tell you that the idea of a relationship with another woman is not repugnant to me. Would I ever pursue one? No. Do I want one? No. But the -idea- doesn't bother me at all. Most (I said MOST) of my friends feel the same way. My own belief is that it's part of a lot of women's natures. For the most part, people are not bothered or offended if, for instance, two women are dancing together at a club or at a party. But if two guys were? Whoo....watch out!
I also indicated that I play female characters exclusively because I don't have a clue how to play a male beyond the stereotypical stuff. Not being one, I just don't feel that I would do the gender justice. I don't think that all female players feel this way...in fact, I know a lot of my fellow female gamers who actively play male characters. *shrugs* That was my personal observation about myself.
Couldn't that be the reason most guys are labbelled homophobes? They don't understand gays so stay away from them? Guys know guys are ugly and girls are better, so a how can you understand a guy that things guys are the good looking ones? It makes no sense. Guys like lesbians because if we were girls we wouldn't be stupid and think guys are the good looking ones; and we know we would be lesbians.
So you are not homophobic because you avoid male characters because you don't understand how to roleplay them. Most guys understand hot women have power over men, men get women when they have money, money is power, so being a hot women is the same as being a rich guy. It gives you power and control over other men, and hopefully helps you get hot women for hot lesbian action. So guys are less homophobic and women are more homophobic. But I still think you are saying you are not a homophobe for the same reason some guys are homophobic.
They way I always saw it was more gays=more women for me. But now that I'm married that wouldn't matter. But i still like gays, manly for the reason i like women: pure pity. You just don't get that men are desgusting. How can I not pitty gays and straight women for not getting something that is so obvious?
But i also consider homosexuality just as a gay activity. Homosexual man-love is the same gayness as putting hair gel in your hair or wearing tight clothing, or going to a non-barber, or shaving your body hair, or putting sugar and cream in coffee, or drinking mixed drinks, or wearing pink, or seeking out comfort, or having emotions beyond horny and angry, or many, many, other gay activities that most fake-straight guys engage in daily and think they aren't gay.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with being gay. Besides me and Jose Wales, I don't think there are more than a handful of straight guys in the world. If I didn't like gays i wouldn't be able to like anyone.
Val awarded me a metal for being straight before. Its a coveted metal too. But now that we established that you are indeed homophobic, we need to work on liberating your mind from your bigotry. And you can finally live free.
_________________
Vegitarian is the Indian word for lousey hunter. |
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Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:01 am |
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Kalia
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
Posts: 30
Location: Arizona |
Well all righty then. *backs away slowly*  |
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Fri Jan 27, 2006 1:01 am |
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