Mithra and gender

[PTT]

Really, this shouldn't be that much of an issue..

If you want to set people straight on what your real life gender is, you can. If you're unsure of another's gender, you can ask. If you're not comfortable revealing this information, you can simply decline, and/or roleplay your character's gender.

So... yeah. If you want to play as a male character, by all means. If you think this female character is pretty, go ahead.

[Kaickul]

Here is something I think people should take into account when playing a female. I've read several of these discussions and in all of them come down to two sides. You either think its weird/wrong or you don’t see the problem. I'm not on either side, but I just wanted to add something to the discussion that’s worth considering.

There was a study on the African plains about which type of manes lionesses preferred. So researchers took two stuffed life sized lions with different manes and dropped them off near a pride of females. Despite the fact that these stuffed animals made no movements, no noise, nothing, the lionesses still came up to them and began to rub them, enticing them and "presenting" themselves for mating.

Does this mean they obviously don't get out much? No it doesn't, just as a male character that is attracted the female aspects of a CG character. It's instinct, pure and simple. Plain and simple you act a certain way when a member of the opposite sex is presented to you. When you present a female with shapely hips, and enticing walk it appeals to basic instincts. This is the debate with the online environment. The more visual and realistic it becomes the more we are to forced to face things that conflict with our basic reactions to stimuli. So is it wrong to play a female character? No, but those who do should understand that with the bombardment of sex in media and so forth, you should be quick to establish yourself as a male. Are the people who get upset over this wrong? No, they aren’t. Why? Because you are playing with their minds by presenting them with a female character then telling them your male. While consciously the game is still just moving pictures, those moving images are triggering basic responses. How well people control those urges… well that’s another discussion.

I bet those lionesses would have chased down those researchers if they were conscious enough to know they were being manipulated in such a way.

[Cerulia]

To be honest PTT, I don't think it's that big an issue either... I felt a bit silly after I posted it and expected it to die after a few posts ^_~

Seems to have turned into a 'Males playing Mithras' thread now though, so I'll probably just bow out unless something relevant to me comes up ^_^

[tazirai]

Net drifter


you make a very true point on BASE human and animal nature.
no matter how advanced we become. instinct will always be there.

[CouchZRXCellent]

I pretty much assume every person on the internet is a guy until proven otherwise. There are some dudes that play female characters and actually play a pretty good female which is scary and sick.

[Michiko]

The truth is, the whole idea that 'girls don't play computer games' is pretty outdated, if it was ever true... I have two sisters and we all play them, and I know a lot of other females who play too...

I have to agree though there's nothing quite as funny as watching people finding out that I am a girl. The best response was "wow, girls play games?".

:spin:

[Koyasha]

Personally, I find it increasingly annoying of late when people think I'm a guy. It's even more annoying when people refer to me as 'he' before I set them straight. I don't really care what people assume, and I *really* don't care what gender *they* are in RL. So for all of you that do care, and do assume that people are male...ask if you want, but until the person says one way or another, have the courtesy to refer to them as whatever their character is.

Personally, I just wonder why people are so interested in this topic, especially with people they only recently met. Why people can't just treat all female characters AS females, and male characters as males, until a situation comes up where it is reasonable to want to know what the person is in RL, I don't understand. I can't ever recall asking anyone whether they were male or female in RL, and I don't see why I would want to.

[Nameless]

I hit on mithras just to annoy them (that's me) and do what ever, say marry me and crap (I'm a pain). But one mithra that I did this too is scaring me >.> I thought she'd blow it off but no >.>, maybe it's to teach me a lesson lol.

But I have no problem with guys playing girls. I rather see a girl play a galka though and get hit on by a female character, har har, OMGWTF =O

[Fadedsoul]

this is one of the stupidest questions / conversations tied with MMORPG. Your real life sex doesn't matter. And when people ask, remind them of that. Alot of girls play this game, and most of them that I know play male characters because of the love starved, social outcast loser guys that find it needed to "hit on" in game girls.

Play your mithra and enjoy your superior dexterity, and if someone hits on you, or obsess on needing to know your RL sex and phone number, say a prayer for thier pathetic soul, and move on.

[Fadedsoul]

Originally posted by Cerulia
Wow, haven't been able to get to this site at all for days, very weird... Anyway...

That's exactly the attitude I was worried about originally! I am a girl who plays this game,

and no one of moderate intelligence really cares

Worry about the social outcast and perverts that do care. That should be your concern.

[Aniedi]

There was an interesting gaming stat I read:

Less than 7 percent of people playing an online game will be
female.

So think of it this way, if a lot of males did not play female characters you'd never see the nearly even distribution of them. Instead female characters would be VERY rare and since you were one of the only females, you'd get immediately pounced on by the 150 males in the area.

I don't know if its as bad as 7 percent anymore, but I still think its no where near 50 percent.

So I actually prefer not to know. I like to think of characters in game as characters in game. Real life sex matters to me as much as real life race, handicap, skin tone or sexual preference; it just doesn't matter at all.

I'm never going to meet ANY of these people in real life. So mostly I just want people to stop feeling the need to explain. If you are the taru black mage "Jujubee", then just be the taru black mage "Jujubee." You can emote accidently peeking up my mithra skirt and blushing, but please don't feel the need to tell me that in real life you are a 6'7 linebacker. It means as much to me as if you were a 75 year old woman with no legs.

I've always kept hitting on or things in game as well. If they try to hit on you as though its the real life person, I'll simply roleplay the silly mithra even more. They'll eventually get tired of me putting three "rrr"s into every place an "r" falls in a sentence, as well as my telling them that although I'm more than a little curious it isn't even the breeding season!

[Fadedsoul]

it's a role playing game..... When people ask me if i'm really a guy or girl I don't respond. And you will never catch me saying it because here, just like in game, my real life sex and stuff doesn't matter. however, also obvious, by the way I act I do believe my sex is quite obvious. If you tell someoen that ask you about your RL that your a 68 year old bald ex felon named "Buck", they'll get the point. They'll realize your joking, and at the same time realize you have no interest what so ever in sharing RL information.

Long as you don't flirt, they won't take that kind of interest in you anyways.

[Blackflare]

sorry Koya, I'm just not used to any mithra actually being female o.O; I think you were talking about me at least right? When you were getting your pizza? Eh heh. Anyways... um.. see ya in game ^^

[Koyasha]

Hee. ^_^ Not just you. Happens a lot. =/ That's why I got annoyed about it.