Its a guy thing…

            Well, that is what most people think about gaming in general. A guy thing. Odd though that there are a lot of females walking around in the gaming world. Everywhere you look there are girly characters hacking about. When you count the ratio of males versus females gaming, you will probably come in at one to ten or worse in most MMO's, yet at the same time actual girl characters are more like 50-60% of the populace. I cannot blame them for it, as my favorite gaming character of all times is called "Shalla Quickblade" , closely followed by Moxy, Doxy, Foxy, Loxy, Roxy and Grit, all four feet high and a most excellent party for Icenwind Dale, half of them female. I am a guy, and I like to play girls. So do a lot of other guys. So what is our obsession with female characters? Is it simply the shape we find appealing, or do we sit oogling them from behind our keyboards (that's what a lot of people seem to think about gamers still, especially when it comes to Tomb Raider and the illicitly hacked Nude Raider) whilst playing games? We all know the latter is not true, regardless of what people think or may claim of gamers, we are a very nice and social bunch of escapists. None of us consider a female representation in a game to be anywhere near a substitute for our wife, girlfriend or women in general (although the wives and girlfriends out there may kick me for this, it is true). The computer might take up more time than they want, but it has nothing to do with the fact we are looking at some shapely curves. And boy, those curves are shapely. The more technology progresses, the more shapely the curves get, lifelike and amazing.

            What is our fascination with girlie characters then? In a game like Diablo II where gender choice is decided by character choice  (the Assassin, the Amazone and the Sorceress are all girls) it has little to do with what we want as our representation, and more with the fact we want character A or B. But in Guild Wars one gets to choose whether to be male or female, and that choice is not limited by anything. To make matters worse, a lot of games offer the opportunity to model your character to your needs and desires. Oblivion gives you complete freedom over the face, the hair, and the age of the character, allowing for extreme customization. No two characters ever look the same. I spend quite some time modeling my girl until she looked exactly as I wanted her to look. It is a face you get to look at quite often (Every time you open the inventory, for example). Why did I pick a female? Well, I thought the model looked great. All of them, actually… I even had my wife make me a model. I buy new dresses for her when I have the money. I have a whole collection of cloaks, different pairs of shoes and hats, trousers and other stuff. And this is rather stupid, to boot, because she runs around in chainmail most of the time. Rarely do I go out dressed like a true vamp, when adventuring I wear armor and a sword. Swords do not go with velvet dresses, let me tell you. I got extremely annoyed when I realized that wearing a cape made my nice, freshly bought 150 gp necklace vanish. If I buy a necklace that makes me look pretty, I want to see it on my character. Same goes for a ruby-gold ring… I want to be able to see it. Didn't just spend 800 GP for nothing now did I? I customized her to look pretty… after all, what is prettier than a nice, young lady with a big fat sword in her hands chopping monsters to bits? Lious Royo knows…. Well, my lady is not very fashionable at times, as I sometimes ran around in a nice green dress whilst still wearing my Mithril Chain Boots. Another fashion failure. But does that mean I am giving into my womanly side? I merely enjoy roleplaying, and if I pick a female character, I want to play that female character. My Orc Berserker would never be caught, dead or alive (well, dead, alive most certainly not) in velvet pants. Steel armor plates or nothing at all please!

            Our avatars, (used here in the broadest sense of the word, so not your picture on the forum, but also your characters in Guildwars for example) for that is what they are, mere representations of us, on the internet might or might not resemble our personalities. A small female dressed in plate armor looks pretty daunting, because you don't know what it might have up its sleeves. A big female dressed in plate mail looks like a brutish thug. We can also create these images with male characters, and a lot of us do just that. Some say they simply do   not like the male models in a game. Thing is, womanly shapes appeal to the man's eye, and thus we like to use womanly shapes. It has little to do with actual transgender interests or sexual appetite. Roleplaying, yes, but most of it is sheer enjoyment in some of the finest graphical marvels made by designers over the world. After all, what is a pretty curve meant for but to look at?

Many thanks to SnipiousMax for an excellent suggestion. See you at the next installment!