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MMO Bans Men Playing As Women

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the nice-legs-bob dept.

jkcity writes "In a bizarre move Aurora Technology the owners of the King of the World MMORPG has taken the unusual step of banning men who play women characters but the ban itself does not stretch to women playing men. If you want to play as a woman now in game you have to prove you are a women via web cam. This is something that people ask for in many mmorpgs I myself have seen people say people who play women in EVE online as being some kind of degenerate but how long can a policy of verification by web cam last since its so easy to get around it doesn't seem to solve much and is an insult to many."

24 of 616 comments (clear)

  1. So that means... by fistfullast33l · · Score: 5, Insightful

    no role playing in a Role Playing Game?

    1. Re:So that means... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No powergamers either. Min/maxers pick girl characters (assuming no stat drop) because:

      *You can get free stuff with minimal effort.
      *You don't spend 30+ hours a week staring at the cartoon picture of a guy's ass.

    2. Re:So that means... by gzerphey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I tend to play female characters in the RPGs because it is my perception that the programmers put special twists in to try and get more of the female market. I don't know if I'm just deluded or not, but it seems to be true.

      At any rate, what is to stop me, or anyone with a girlfriend or wife, from a quick substitution for the webcam. My wife would think this rule is ridiculous and do it in a heartbeat.

      More to the point though, I have to agree with the Parent here... Its a FREAKING RPG. Let people Role Play in the Game as they see fit.

      --
      I don't have a microwave. I do, however, have a clock that occasionally cooks shit.
    3. Re:So that means... by disckitty · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "If you want to play as a woman now in game you have to prove you are a woman via web cam." This is a ridiculous comment. The population will become almost 100% male. Not just because all the men can't play as women, but because the women will find it too intrusive or perhaps too much of a hassle to have themselves screened by some total stranger. W.T.F? Way to alienate the demographic that is frequently being targeted for inclusion. They may as well not bother wasting the game developers time creating these female avatars in the first place. Though perhaps having avoided myspace and facebook, I'm out of the loop, and people now-a-days voluntarily show themselves off online to strangers.

    4. Re:So that means... by blueZhift · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly! If they want they could just add a basic player profile where you have to indicate your real body's gender. With that any player could then check to see the if the other person behind the character is really a man or a woman. I wouldn't mind having to indicate my real age and gender, if that means I could be whoever I wanted to be in the game.

      Actually, revealing age scares me even more! I still love video games and mmorpg's in particular, but skew significantly older than the core demographic. What does that mean? It means getting party invites becomes one hell of a lot harder when you're old enough to be the party leader's dad! Online games are a great way to have fun with others who share a common interest, but too many details from real life would just get in the way of that. I have to be an old guy in real life everyday, do I have to do that in online games too? I hope not!

      --
      To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
    5. Re:So that means... by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Proving they're ugly should be easy. It's proving their strong or brave that's the tough issue.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    6. Re:So that means... by bughunter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You'd rather spend 30+ hours a week getting your cartoon ass stared at by other guys?

      You know, I'd played female tabletop RPG characters with about equal frequency as male PCs for years, without having to worry about that. If the other players at the table bothered me "in that way," a quick shocking grasp or heat metal to the codpiece set them straight.

      But my first female toon in WoW was a bank alt, and I dressed her in her undies and a buccaneer's shirt, cuz she looked good in them. Then I noticed other toons standing around and gawking at her.

      And you know, I finally felt what most women must have to learn to deal with when they grow bewbs.

      And the second revalation is that it only took me about 60 seconds to get over it, and ignore it. It's their problem, not mine.

      So, I say, let cross-gender roleplaying happen. It's educational.

      --
      I can see the fnords!
    7. Re:So that means... by Psmylie · · Score: 4, Insightful
      The problem I forsee if there is the thought that only women are playing female characters is that anyone with a female character will be harrassed. As it is now, the more perverse among the male MMO population show at least a little restraint, because they know the odds are that the "she" is actually a "he". Basically, being able to make a female avatar after verifying that you are really female sets up female characters to be targets of all sorts of unsavory advances. Women have enough of that in real life, they shouldn't have to be the target of it in a game.

      Unless, of course, they want to be

      --

      psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo

  2. Why? by corsec67 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I am playing a MMORPG, I am going to be spending a lot of time looking at my avatar. Why can't my avatar be something I like looking at?

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    1. Re:Why? by misleb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Very well said. I don't want to spend 8 hours a day starring at some MALE avatars butt. To each his own, but I play a female because I'm /not/ deviant and because I'm not a gay man.


      How insecure do you have to be to have your sexuality threated by a male avatar in a freaking ROLE PLAYING game? You're either gay or you aren't. Looking at a male avatar doesn't make you gay.

      When I first explained this to my friends, and they realized they have spent days upon days looking at a male characters butt, they switched as well.


      Are all your friends 14 years old?

      I've heard some good practical reason to play as a woman (free shit from other players, for example), but feeling insecure about looking at a male avatar? WTF?

      -matthew
      --
      "THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
    2. Re:Why? by jollyreaper · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If I am playing a MMORPG, I am going to be spending a lot of time looking at my avatar. Why can't my avatar be something I like looking at? Because a giant disembodied floating set of knockers would be distracting for the other players.
      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
  3. Interesting excuse ... by miller60 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... for the Aurora guys to look at gamer girls on their webcams.

    --
    RichM
    Data Center Knowledge
  4. Ridiculous by bahwi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've played male and female chars in mmo's and have had no problems. It depends on the person playing, if they are going to cause trouble they are going to cause trouble no matter what gender.

    Also, no matter how hard you beg the developer, that hot elven chick just won't be that way in real life. And this step doesn't get you closer to that.

  5. Just watch... by The+Orange+Mage · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...as suddenly, the in-game populations turn to about 80% male, 20% female.

    And that's a conservative guess...I bet most would skew it even more towards male players.

    1. Re:Just watch... by Culture20 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would guess it will trend toward 99.999% male. What geek-girl that you know of would go through the hassle of letting some anonymous geek-admin see her real face just to have the honor of logging in with a female avatar, then becoming the target of cyber-sexual harassment because the perps _know_ you're female? They'd be better off just removing female avatars.

  6. Mom is a woman! Easy fix... by dontspitconfetti · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it's just a one-time webcam thing, the people who are really desperate can have their mom or sister appear on the webcam for them. Even Grandma Nana counts as a woman!

  7. Greater crowds than ever... by Jugalator · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And all of a sudden, female avatars started gathering more male players than ever before trying to get them into their multiplayer party, and harass them with guild recruitments. :-p

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  8. So how do you "role play" this? by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Like, there are going to be some existing male-as-female players, and to bring them in line with the policy, you'd have to make the female avatar male. Doesn't an RPG have to have some storyline reason for this?

    (If they're planning to "grandfather" ["grandmother?"] existing male-as-female avatars, that'll probably create even more problems for them.)

    --
    Apology to Ubuntu forum.
  9. Hey look... by Sheik+Yerbouti · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A little known MMO that I have never heard of has pulled a publicity stunt and gotten some free coverage from Slashdot. What what what? Slashdot is there target demographic. Congratulations sirs PT Barnum would be proud.

  10. Simple fix by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sex: M/F
    Real-life sex: M/F

  11. Re:finally by I'm+Don+Giovanni · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "But it's kinda stupid cuz the actual females playing as females do that too."

    Well, that's what females do in real life; use their feminine wiles to their advantage. ;)

    But your complaint is absurd. If one is unable to resist the feminine wiles of an online-character, then it's his own fault, not fault of the the person playing the female character.

    I've known many that have played characters of the player's opposite sex (both men playing as women and women playing as men), and I see no problem with it. The whole point of playing RPGs (either multi-player or single-player) is to get to assume a role you could never assume in real life. The ability to choose your character's gender, ethnicity, etc, goes along with that.

    This business of requiring webcams for anyone playing as a woman is the stupidest thing I've heard of in a long time.

    --
    -- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
  12. TG's by LSD-OBS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Erm, what about transgendered individuals, such as your mother?

    --
    Today's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why. -- Hunter S. Thompson
  13. No more metroid... by caesar-auf-nihil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Guess I can't play Metroid any more or I'll be a degenerate. Guess I had better not accept Princess Peach as a randomly generated character in Mario Kart either. Better not accept any randomly generated Wii characters either.
    What a load of crap. It's fantasy - a game for goodness sake. My guess is really some loser who runs the service just wants to look at pictures of the people playing women characters.

    --
    -When going for broke, go for Ithaca!
  14. Re:There's only one solution to this... by mdwh2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You may joke, but there is a serious point there - what about transgendered people who cannot "pass" in real life? (Either pre-op transsexuals, or transgendered people who have no intention of transitioning).

    It's sad that the assumption is that playing a gender other than your biological sex is only done for deception. Having to conform to gender roles is bad enough in real life; let's not bring it online too (and a roleplay game, of all places!), where your physical body shouldn't matter.

    One of the things I found interesting about traditional (non-computer) roleplaying is that there were no hangups in playing a different gender (after all, no different to playing a different species such as a dwarf or an elf), but I guess as it becomes mainstream, we get all the mainstream prejudices and hangups.

    I wonder, can women still play men in this game?