Breakfast Topic: Girls get free stuff
by Jennie Lees 
Feb 1st 2006 at 7:30AM
This Slashdot thread got me thinking: what is
it with girls and free stuff in WoW? We've touched on it before, but
this thread goes into more depth.Firstly, people seem to assume that female characters get free stuff. Guys then admit to playing said female characters, and vehemently deny any ulterior motivations, trundling out the same old "If I'm going to be staring at an ass, it may as well be a nice one" line again and again.
I have female characters of every race, because I like exploration, and playing different races is part of that. However, I've never even had a whiff of free stuff for it. Not even when dancing semi-naked in Ironforge, with gnomes /whistling at me. An orc I met who was doing the same thing in Orgrimmar was raking the tips in, and admitted to being a guy -- is it that guys know how to play their audience?
Why do you play a female character? Ever had a surfeit of gifts or unwanted attention ingame?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Denise Feb 9th 2006 7:30PM
I am a girl, both real and fantasy, and I like it went EVERYONE is nice to me, as I try to be nice to them. I have received things from both sexes (Am I allowed to say that word now?) and have given things to both sexes. And the guys are as grateful as the girls.
chem Feb 21st 2006 10:28AM
I am a female who plays only female characters, on my night elf druid at lvl 12 i was totally lost and not sure what boat to get on in darkshore auberdine and i asked a lvl 60 male character where the boat would take me and i let him know i was new and still getting used to the game, the guy said "oh then i have a gift for you to help you along" and gave my 10gold. Very nice i might add i told him he didnt have to but wouldnt take it back. I still get gifts from male characters in the mail and such. As a female character i offer as much help to anyone who is unsure of what to do if i know how to help them or i ask one of the people who help me in the game so i can help in anyway. It'd be nice if everyone helped out.. But some guys/girls are in the game to meet someone and i dont know perhaps fall in love? or as someone put it "get some" =p
PodMonkeys Feb 1st 2006 8:31AM
I play female humans, a gnome, and an elf, but male dwarves, tauren, and trolls, because those are the models I think looks the best. Female Tauren aren't bad either, but I only have one. Asside from the questing, and combat, it really is fun to dress up your characters in sharp looking outfits. So I like to use character models that, in my opinion, are good looking. Male humans and especially the male elves, to me, are pretty weird looking. Since there is no benefit other than looks, between picking male and female, why not go for the one that looks best?
I definately don't do it for the free stuff. I've only gotten a couple of things, and its been split 50/50 between my male/female chars.
Another reason is that its fun to switch back and forth between male and female characters. Roleplaying the different sexes can be fun. You get to see different sides of things.
My name is Joe... and I'm a switcher.
Fatsobob Feb 1st 2006 8:33AM
I can tell you why, Because sad nerds feel they are giving them to REAL girls in a hope to get some. Keep on tryin nerds.
Molly Miles Feb 1st 2006 9:05AM
As a female who plays only female characteres at the moment, I can honestly say I've never gotten free handouts because of it. My guess as to why people give the handouts: It might have something to do with the stigma that "oh no! Females are inferior to males and thus will never get good items and lots of money on their own; we should donate to the poor things!" (Don't bash me for that, that's not my personal opinion.) While I would hope that's not the case, I'm sure that's some of the motivation behind it.
Either way, if people feel like being generous, I think it should be supported as it's only helping people out.
Brian Arnold Feb 1st 2006 9:28AM
My wife plays a human female, and she's had a number of random gifts in the mail from people that neither of us know. She's also had random high level people offer to walk her through instances and whatnot. It's crazy. I don't know what it is.
Personally, I generally stick to male characters, but I will say that the few times I've played a female character (generally in other games, once in WoW for a few minutes) people were quick to offer me help.
Fabian Feb 1st 2006 9:29AM
Not that I myself have many characters but they're all male. Interestingly I sometimes get accused of hitting on female characters when I'm offering them free stuff like armor kits (+24 to armor), even though I offered the same stuff minutes before to every other male character in a group...
...I think that's kinda funny. People tend to see what they want to see. When they want to see that "girls get free stuff", they ignore when the generous people give things indiscriminately of gender. At least that's my experience.
I must however admit that I once had a little macro reserved for female charakters. It said "Men should be aware that beautiful flowers have thorns, you are the best example XYZ!" before casting the "thorns" buff on a female character ;-)
...okay I stopped using it after one of those "targets" actually thought I was hitting on her and I couldn't even remember who that was - man that was too embarrassing, even in a game *gg*
Nanatsusaya Feb 1st 2006 10:04AM
The only offer I've had is an invitiation to 'go somewhere more private' from some creepy guy trying to chat me up in Stormwind. But I've never had free stuff. My girlfriend's been offered money to her gnome character; but maybe they just pitied her for being a gnome ;)
Dalton Marks Feb 1st 2006 10:08AM
Personally, I play as a female on most characters for just this reason. I've had level 60s give me massive amounts of gold (we're talking 20+ here) simply because they thought I was the gender that I played. Typically in raids as well, if I were to make a mistake in areas where usually I'd get kicked as a male toon, I was allowed to stay, only told to "be careful."
Dr. Woo Feb 1st 2006 10:20AM
I love the orc racial abilities (and with the Blood Fury buff in 1.9, I love 'em even more) and I really don't like the male orc model. Slouch much? Plus, their animations are jerky and unnatural-looking.
Sure, my toon may be ugly and have a loathsome voice, but I turn off the vocal sounds and give her a helmet. I think she looks badass in her Valor gear.
Dick Feb 1st 2006 10:35AM
I am a switcher. I play a female priest. In WC a warrior rolled on a nice cloth chestpiece and won it. I complained, and then let him die. He came back and told me he'd buy me anything I wanted at AH. I found a vest about the same as what he had rolled on. Next day my mailbox has the chestpiece and 10g in it. I was lvl 12 or 14 at this point with 2g to my name. I didn't think about it being my toon's sex that got me the gold at the time, but maybe it did.
Pickypants Feb 1st 2006 11:38AM
I agree with Dalton. I have always exclusively played female characters because people give me stuff and are more lenient of my mistakes.
I think the author of the piece hit the nail on the head. I think male gamers playing female avatars are shameless in the aquisition of non-earned goods, so we "sell it" a little more. Not because we are "better" at it per se, but because we are hiding behind our anonmynity.
That seems very cowardly, but I tell you, with the little time I have to play WoW, getting 10g in the mailbox because I used a crapload of emotes in my party chat never hurt anyone =p
deadcow Feb 1st 2006 1:08PM
I played a female toon in Ragnarok online before WoW and I don't know if it was because anime nerds (like myself) are more obsessive about anime girls or what, but I got free stuff all the time--also my stuff sold better in the marketplace when I vendored items even when my prices were higher than the competition.
Like Dalton (in #6) said, it's not just free gifts--I know my gf has had the same experience with raids when she's made mistakes--raids seem to be more forgiving toward female toons.
Mike Feb 1st 2006 1:38PM
See, this type of behavior I will never "get", just like I don't "get" buying gold/items or powerleveling. If you just get 10g in the mail randomly from some admirer because your toon is a female, doesn't that cheapen the experience for you? I don't know... I like to work for all my gear... Makes me feel like I haven't just been wasting hours and hours in front of a monitor.
Slybri Feb 1st 2006 1:42PM
I can understand playing a female in a single player RPG. Decking out your chick in the sexiest armor is always amusing. And yeah, I'm gonna be looking at her ass for 40 hours. But in an MMORPG, where your character represents who you are to a community of thousands, it's almost like playing a drag queen. No amount of free gifts or leeway can make up for that.
It just really bothers me playing with female characters who laugh and cry and dress like women, but who I know to be guys. It's just strange to me. And I used to work in the French Quarter in New Orleans...so I seen a lot of strange.
Pickypants Feb 1st 2006 1:53PM
Yes Mike, you've hit the point,
"I like to work for all my gear"
And very admirable that sentiment is, but I work for my paycheck, not to say you do not, and when the day is done, if someone wants to give me something for nothing, I not only accept it, I pander to it.
Ultimately playing a female toon does not pave the way to a work-free WoW experience. I still grind like a machine, get ganked in PvP, and raid 3-5 hours for an epic armor piece. Nothing will change that.
As for the arguement of "playing a female creeps me out," well... I don't really think anyone is going to change your mind. I don't think the idea of roleplaying a female is strange in the least, and my mind is not likely to be changed soon either.
Aenara Feb 1st 2006 5:29PM
I don't know if it is because my char is female but I do get free stuff a lot, and am often invited to groups more frequently than my friend's male chars (both of us are druids so its not that the class is more needed because we are the same). It may - if its a gender issue be that I am actually female and don't care if people know. I also admit to being a noob and take GOOD advice when given. So maybe its just that people like working with me, or it could be because my toon has the tightest rear and large tracks of land, but I prefer to think it's because I'm fun to play with - serious when I need to be, but can make even the worst experience amusing (yes that mob of 20 guys you just accidentally pulled slaughtered us, but look at the bright side, now your gnome ghost is FINALLY taller than me (my elf whisp)) or then again - it probably is the nice rear end.
Dearcy Feb 1st 2006 5:39PM
As one of only 7 actual females playing female characters on Uther, I've only been gifted an item once. I helped maintain a heal on a priest soloing an elite dragon and he gave me the plate that it dropped. I was just glad someone was exacting revenge on that which had, an hour earlier, turned me into a fine red mist.
Then again, I play a human paladin who doesn't exactly "work it". My husband plays a female night elf and he gets chatted up all the time. To my knowledge, he hasn't received any freebies. At least that I know of...
Dick Feb 1st 2006 10:46PM
I like to work for my gear as well. I didn't ask for 10G and I haven't been spending it like I have more than the 2g I had before the incident. I figured I'd be nice like the guy that gifted me and spread around the wealth to other new players like myself or the guild I just joined. If I was playing just to dance half naked, get tips and be asked to parties more often I can see a problem.
Fen Feb 2nd 2006 2:05AM
I generally play male characters in games, but only because the quality of the female skins/models tend to be at an end of the spectrum - slutty or poorly rendered.
Same goes for WoW. However, I have an Undead Female Rogue and I'm starting to think that the Tauren female skin doesn't look that bad, either.