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General: MMO Bans Males Playing Female Avatars

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  • ItzcoliuhquiItzcoliuhqui Member Posts: 94
    Originally posted by Rin_Pride

    Originally posted by Sovren1

    It's like being a writer. Being a writer you have to create stories for any gender, race, creature, beast.


    Nicely said =)



    It's all about creativity. Some ppl see only a pack of skills, stats and equips on screen, while others always, maybe subconciously, give their characters "ghosts" (hello, GitS =)).



    Personally, when I play a MMO, I always create some kind of backstory for my character, some reasoning like "why did heshe done this". It even affects this chars playstyle (for example, when I play rogue-class chars - they supposed to be greedy, bitchy and "every way to win is a fine way"-like, so I can easy kill someone with a backstab or steal someones loot ^,..,^). It's also about class - I too think that male-mages look stupid in robes, especially when almost in every MMO males are muscular and monkey-like... and, WTF? You want THIS guy to wear a robe?))) It's a nice option to be able to change constitution of char for such puposes, though the only game which I played in which this was implemented was Anarchy Online.



    Well, and "yes", it's always more pleasing to watch females ass all day long, in place of male's ^^



    It's really about aestethics - you want your char to look cool and so on. Now tell me, guys, are you able to measure women's beauty? Guess you are, though even it will be just your personal opinion. And now tell me - can you measure MEN'S beauty?))) Guess not. I hardly ever find males beatuful, my subconcious just doen't work that way. I see all males... dunno... the same, I can never understand why girls think than some guy is more cute than others... I just can't get it, I AM guy myself) So, back to the topic. Players always want they char to look cool and beatyful. It is, exept someone really wants to RP himself in the game. So, what do we get? Normal, geterosexual male without any mental problems, prolly wouldn't want to see himself "big, muscular and hairy", just because he's fine with what he is in RL. So, he will want to be aesthetically satisfied with his char. If a man can be aesthetically satisfied while lookin' at a "big, muscular and hairy" male all day long... then hell yeah, he is a gay))) We cannot measure male aesthetics, that is why we play female chars).



    Besides, it can be really fun to act like, for example, dwarf or orc girl. When you see that some guy harrasing some female char, and what is worse - there is really a girl playin' that char, you can start running after him screamin' like "Come here, sweetie" and stuff like that, usually underaged kids (which usually are the ones, who try to date girls in a game) get really embarassed) And besides it's really fun to PK someone using female char, and it's not so shameful, when some fem char kills you fem char)



    Man... When I saw the big post, I thought that you had really something to add to the discussion. I suppose I should blame myself, after all... When you said the part about looking at a female's bottom all day long... I should have just known and stopped, but I kept going until I felt completely brain numb :/

    Thanks

    The Anti Social Gamer

  • Nikoz78Nikoz78 Member UncommonPosts: 910

    Sounds like China is more fascist than socialist.

    image


    I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.

  • DreadlichDreadlich Member UncommonPosts: 597

     

    Originally posted by chrimwinster


    Some women play as men to not be hassled and bothered, so why would a guy want this?
    To answer I am always telling everyone  I am a really a bloke but I prefer looking at my character as a female is a bit  lame
    Though its a free choice why do you want to decieve other players. You must get guys come on a bit, do you ever role play and suddenly think crap I am now flirting with a guy who thinks I am female?
    I do play female characters occasionally in say Baldurs Gate but not MMOS; I AM NOT female so why do I want to pretend/confuse/act like an amazon etc in an online game.
    ATB
    Chrimwinster
     
     
     

     

    Married, 2 kids and very straight. I don't deceive people when I play female toons. I don't ask for nor accept charity and if someone, for their own sad reasons, decides to hit on me, my immediat reply is "I'm a guy". I couldn't care less what they think, I don't play MMOs to socialize. I think of other people as intelligent NPCs for the most part. I prefer female toons usually, BECAUSE THEY LOOK BETTER! That's my opinion, and if I'm gonna play the same damn character for months, I'm not making it some fugly male just so you don't feel deceived. I'm not concerned with you or your opinion. It's my $ and my time and my f'ing game to play how I want.

    You homophobes need to get it in your head that you just might be wrong. Maybe everyone doesn't see the world the way you do, and just maybe, you don't have the right to know what my realworld sex is because you inhabit the same virtual world I do.

    EDIT: Judging people on what they find attractive is ignorant as well. People have all sorts of fetishes and animation/art is a pretty huge category. Erotic art and anime/hentai has been around for a long time. I would be surprised if more than a small percentage of those that like erotic art actually get off to it. It's an aesthetic choice. Again I'll say, the only people that seem to have a problem with males playing female toons are narrowminded sexist homophobes and sleezy or desperate men looking to cyber. This thread is full of immature people bringing up the nonsensical gay card. Even if, for some reason a gay guy made a female toon (what that does for him, I have no clue), why do you or anyone else have the right to prevent him? If someone deceives someone by coersing money, items or time, then punish that, not the sex of his character.

    MMOs Played: EQ 1&2, DAoC, SWG, Planetside, WoW, GW, CoX, DDO, EVE, Vanguard, TR
    Playing: WAR
    Awaiting 40k Online and wishing for Battletech Online

  • redcap036redcap036 Member UncommonPosts: 1,230

    What about dwarves, i mean who can tell?

     

  • DemondimDemondim Member UncommonPosts: 19

    All I can say is "hahahahahahaha"

    Person who thought up this insane restriction needs shooting... they still shoot people in communist China don't they?

    image

  • BleakmageBleakmage Member UncommonPosts: 186

    You've got to be *uckin* kidding me!

  • ItzcoliuhquiItzcoliuhqui Member Posts: 94
    Originally posted by Nikoz78

    Sounds like China is more fascist than socialist.

    Why are people still associating this with the Chinese Government? It's a private company for a GAME!

    This discussion boils down to this, it's a free market, if you don't like what they're offering... Don't buy it!

    Any free company in the world could get away with enforcing a rule like this... It's not illegal. It may be imoral, but I know a ton of people(outside of china) who would argue that being dressed as a woman is imoral.

    The Anti Social Gamer

  • DeatrixDeatrix Member Posts: 47

    private game company yes, but if they are imposing a restriction its because some one is making them, almost anything policy/restriction wise can be tied  back to the chinese government, if you havnt been paying attention to the last 100 years of history, its the way that country works >.<

  • SioBabbleSioBabble Member Posts: 2,803

    Originally posted by Deatrix


    private game company yes, but if they are imposing a restriction its because some one is making them, almost anything policy/restriction wise can be tied  back to the chinese government, if you havnt been paying attention to the last 100 years of history, its the way that country works >.<

    I don't think that anyone told these guys to have this policy.

    I think they decided to do it on their own, based on the cultural context they operate in, which might include subtle government persuasion.  But I think it's far more likely that the initiative was that of the company itself, in compliance with Chinese social norms.

    China has always been, regardless of the nominial ideology, a somewhat authoritarian culture at best, nothing like the western model based on Enlightenment principles.  Confucianism and all, you know.  This is an aspect of that culutural milieu.  Fascism and communism (as practiced in the Soviet mode or the Chinese mode) both tend to be authoritarian at the very least, totalitarian more often than not.  China will fall back on the old ways that are rooted in millenia of culutural evolution regardless of the label the current regime slaps on itself.

    CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.

    Once a denizen of Ahazi

  • Sovren1Sovren1 Member Posts: 312

    "Damn, I'm such a newb...I thought communism meant that no matter what company puts out w/e over there...the Government owns it and splits it proceeds among it's people or keep it for the supposed greater good, or can put laws on it, or can even restrict how you play it. Didn't they make a law that you can only play so much per day? Lol, I;m such a newb."

    Yeah, yeah...I know Hong Kong is different...especially on the kow-loon side.

  • DeatrixDeatrix Member Posts: 47
    Originally posted by SioBabble


     
    Originally posted by Deatrix


    private game company yes, but if they are imposing a restriction its because some one is making them, almost anything policy/restriction wise can be tied  back to the chinese government, if you havnt been paying attention to the last 100 years of history, its the way that country works >.<

     

    I don't think that anyone told these guys to have this policy.

    I think they decided to do it on their own, based on the cultural context they operate in, which might include subtle government persuasion.  But I think it's far more likely that the initiative was that of the company itself, in compliance with Chinese social norms.

    China has always been, regardless of the nominial ideology, a somewhat authoritarian culture at best, nothing like the western model based on Enlightenment principles.  Confucianism and all, you know.  This is an aspect of that culutural milieu.  Fascism and communism (as practiced in the Soviet mode or the Chinese mode) both tend to be authoritarian at the very least, totalitarian more often than not.  China will fall back on the old ways that are rooted in millenia of culutural evolution regardless of the label the current regime slaps on itself.

    You are right to an extent, but in chinese society compliance to social "norms" isnt a choice, it is demanded with strict penalties. Perhaps the dev's are jumping the gun on a restriction that could come down from the government? i dont pretend to be a analyst of chinese government and policy, i just tend to stay current on news/cultural behavior, especially when it comes to China, interesting country they have over there, despite the fact I  would never live there. They have slowly become the economic giants that they could have been decades ago if they adopting a bit more "capitalism".

  • korvasskorvass Member Posts: 616

    I've kept quiet on this one, because however backward I find some government's policies to be, what China (or individual companies) enforces on it's culture is not really any of my concern.

    But I don't see what this kind of censorship offers to anyone. Surely, if a male wants to play a female character (really, interacting with a bunch of pixels and sensory stimulations via a computer) to have fun, game, cyber, whatever the hell they like, then isn't it surely that person's right as a paying customer?

    Of course maybe this particular company and/or the Chinese government has a different view. I just find it hard to comprehend what ruling bodies (be they governments, companies, etc) hope to achieve with censorship like this. Are they less..how can I say it, 'Chinese' for wanting to play a bunch of images in the shape of a female fantasy character? Are they less useful members of society? Is there a belief somewhere among those in power that a man playing a woman is some kind of deviant, and more eager to commit crimes against said society?

    Hell, maybe I'm trying to be too philosophical, so to simplify matters, try this on:

    "It's a bloody COMPUTER GAME, people!!!"..Christ, all the problems in this world, and we're focussing on pointless minutae like banning men from pretending to be Japanese schoolgirls, and trying to ban computer games entirely because they're devil-spawn...

  • SioBabbleSioBabble Member Posts: 2,803

    Originally posted by korvass


    I've kept quiet on this one, because however backward I find some government's policies to be, what China (or individual companies) enforces on it's culture is not really any of my concern.
    But I don't see what this kind of censorship offers to anyone. Surely, if a male wants to play a female character (really, interacting with a bunch of pixels and sensory stimulations via a computer) to have fun, game, cyber, whatever the hell they like, then isn't it surely that person's right as a paying customer?
    Of course maybe this particular company and/or the Chinese government has a different view. I just find it hard to comprehend what ruling bodies (be they governments, companies, etc) hope to achieve with censorship like this. Are they less..how can I say it, 'Chinese' for wanting to play a bunch of images in the shape of a female fantasy character? Are they less useful members of society? Is there a belief somewhere among those in power that a man playing a woman is some kind of deviant, and more eager to commit crimes against said society?
    Hell, maybe I'm trying to be too philosophical, so to simplify matters, try this on:
    "It's a bloody COMPUTER GAME, people!!!"..Christ, all the problems in this world, and we're focussing on pointless minutae like banning men from pretending to be Japanese schoolgirls, and trying to ban computer games entirely because they're devil-spawn...
    Because it's all about control.  China goes out of its way to try to control internet access, for example.  Rupert Murdoch cut a deal complying with Chinese government content restriction bans on his satellite news service.

    The control extends even into leisure activites.

    It's all about control.

    CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.

    Once a denizen of Ahazi

  • chrimwinsterchrimwinster Member Posts: 45

    No offence meant at all. I look on mmos more as a social theing hence the confusion/deception point of view.

    But Homophobe really? Admittedly you are spot on with married and kids bit but why does my stick to gender preference make me anti gay?

    ATB

    Chrimwinster

     

     

  • redcap036redcap036 Member UncommonPosts: 1,230

    But what about Dwarves? 

  • ItzcoliuhquiItzcoliuhqui Member Posts: 94
    Originally posted by Deatrix

    Originally posted by SioBabble


     
    Originally posted by Deatrix


    private game company yes, but if they are imposing a restriction its because some one is making them, almost anything policy/restriction wise can be tied  back to the chinese government, if you havnt been paying attention to the last 100 years of history, its the way that country works >.<

     

    I don't think that anyone told these guys to have this policy.

    I think they decided to do it on their own, based on the cultural context they operate in, which might include subtle government persuasion.  But I think it's far more likely that the initiative was that of the company itself, in compliance with Chinese social norms.

    China has always been, regardless of the nominial ideology, a somewhat authoritarian culture at best, nothing like the western model based on Enlightenment principles.  Confucianism and all, you know.  This is an aspect of that culutural milieu.  Fascism and communism (as practiced in the Soviet mode or the Chinese mode) both tend to be authoritarian at the very least, totalitarian more often than not.  China will fall back on the old ways that are rooted in millenia of culutural evolution regardless of the label the current regime slaps on itself.

    You are right to an extent, but in chinese society compliance to social "norms" isnt a choice, it is demanded with strict penalties. Perhaps the dev's are jumping the gun on a restriction that could come down from the government? i dont pretend to be a analyst of chinese government and policy, i just tend to stay current on news/cultural behavior, especially when it comes to China, interesting country they have over there, despite the fact I  would never live there. They have slowly become the economic giants that they could have been decades ago if they adopting a bit more "capitalism".

    Errr... First of all, there are plenty of MMOs in China and since this is coming as breaking news, I imagine they aren't all implementing a ban on males from playing female characters(I believe WoW has no gender restrictions). Second, there are other games where this exists(outside of China), namely Ragnarok Online, where male players are banned if caught playing female characters.

    And I wasn't aware that there was a social norm in China to not play female characters in Games. Does this also aply to Arcades? Like, if I go to China and chose Nina in a Tekken game, will my life be in danger?

    Like I said, this is a perfectly legal move from a company in most contries... Heck some games FORCE me to chose my gender depending on which class I'm playing! Where did my freedom go?!?

    The Anti Social Gamer

  • SerendiptyJoSerendiptyJo Member Posts: 3

    As a mother ( who games ) of 3 girls of school age who also game  (8-18 yrs of age range). I find it appalling and verging on sick that in order for my girls to play this game they will have to go on webcam to prove they are " allowed " to  play this game. Especially when it is well known about China's penchant for underage school girls. I'm sure this breaks not only British child protection laws but a few international ones aswell. I for one will be WARNING other parents about this game as opposed to reccomending it. 

  • SioBabbleSioBabble Member Posts: 2,803

    Originally posted by SerendiptyJo


    As a mother ( who games ) of 3 girls of school age who also game  (8-18 yrs of age range). I find it appalling and verging on sick that in order for my girls to play this game they will have to go on webcam to prove they are " allowed " to  play this game. Especially when it is well known about China's penchant for underage school girls. I'm sure this breaks not only British child protection laws but a few international ones aswell. I for one will be WARNING other parents about this game as opposed to reccomending it. 

    Excellent point.

    You've outlined a few unintended (I'm sure) consquences of this policy.

    CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.

    Once a denizen of Ahazi

  • chryseschryses Member UncommonPosts: 1,453

    What next?  Are they going to ask us to play avatars that best match our race?  Sorry you cant play a Dark Elf because you are too white?  pathetic.

    Mostly I play a male avatar but I never see an issue if a guy wants to play a female avatar and lets face it as a straight guy you probably want to watch a sexy femal toon fighting rather than a hairy bloke.

    Besides its pretty obvious you are not a gal when you get on the headsets! 

    Remember it goes both ways.  We had a girl in our guild who played a male avatar.  Did we care? no

    Asking for a webshot is pure insanity and its only going to turn off female players. 

  • JChopstixJChopstix Member Posts: 2

       Scottish or Russian? Are you really that ignorant?

  • yupeizuanyupeizuan Member Posts: 16

    I think you it is the trend to play with real sexual. Our online world will become more significant!!!!

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