MMO Bans Men Playing As Women

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."

Comments

Oh man, now I can't fake being smart

[stewbacca]

So can I not be a 400 year-old wise mage, when I'm neither old, nor wise?

Playing gender roles

[identity0]

ROFL My Waffles, I actually did a report in a college class on gender about gender selection in MMOs...

Out of about 6 or so people interviewed, the most common reasons given for playing as female were:
  - Male characters are ugly in many games
  - People (males) give you free stuff if you're a female character, especially a newbie
  - People are more likely to help you if you're an attractive female character
  - Females get better looking clothes
  - Men want to look at an attractive avatar, and don't necessarily think of it as being themselves
  - Females want to play an attractive character, or like the clothes a female char gets, but don't necessarily think of it as being themselves

Reasons people don't like playing female:
  - Guys hit on you constantly
  - Occasional stalkers
  - Many female avas are overtly sexual or 'slutty'
  - Female avas don't look tough or 'butch' even as warrior-types

One female gamer said that when asked her gender while playing her female char, she tells people she's a guy because that gets them to stop bothering her. WHen she plays as a male, she tells them her real gender because that also freaks them out. The people I talked to basically just want to play the game, and don't like having sexual or gendered attitudes imposed on them, so I wonder what they will think of this.

This move by the company really seems like implicitly supporting the idea of using MMOs as a hook-up site, instead of a fantasy realm, so I doubt it will be popular among the people I talked to.

Re:So that means...

[operagost]

Makes you wonder exactly what body parts they want you to put on camera. Imagine the humiliation if a woman is refused because she allegedly has a mannish face-- so they want "more proof".