Poll: More men play women than women play men
by Mike Schramm 
Sep 26th 2007 at 8:30AM
Perhaps brought on by the news that a Chinese MMO wants to reveal gender bending gamers, Cary posted a pretty interesting poll over on the WoW LJ, asking readers what their gender is and what sex they play as on their main character. The general consensus seems to be that most people play as their own gender, but overwhelmingly, more women play as their own gender than men. The poll itself seems a little off to me, as it's really pointless to compare the percentages given, but by crunching the numbers a bit (and please remember how bad at math I am), I get that 40% of men who answered play the game as women, while only 11% of women who answered play the game as men. Here's more data on this, that we've covered before.Very interesting. We've touched on the reasons for gender bending in game a few times before, and there are all kinds of reasons why people play as characters of the opposite sex, from staring at an attractive behind to garnering more money and attention (or less attention) from other players, to roleplaying a character.
But really, none of that matters too much-- it's just a game, and for whatever reason, people are welcome to play it as they please. A better question might be how you refer to the gender of other players. I've gotten in trouble a few times here by referring to players on the forums (including CMs, way back when I started) as one gender when it turns out they're actually another, so eventually I just decided to call it how I see it: if someone plays a female character I call them "her," and a male character gets called "him." For people playing a different gender, sure, it might come off a little strange. But it comes with the territory, I guess, of pretending to be someone else for a while.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mad Cow Sep 26th 2007 8:34AM
So yesterday, that's been known since MMOs threw a nice set of polygons up high and gave us something to "visualize".
Ghost Sep 26th 2007 8:41AM
My main is a female, and I'm not one irl, but I have a much less in depth reason for playing one. I am a rogue, and wanted to be an orc. One look at the orc male model screamed that they really shouldn't be able to hide behind anything, it just looks funny to me. So I went with the female model, which looked like it would be a more believable rogue. Simple as that.
yotix Sep 26th 2007 8:43AM
Hmmm. My first char was a horribly ugly gnome.
After staring at his butt for 30 levels, I started my twink family ... I'm a het male, so of course I prefer to look at a nice female bottom, so obviously I have to play female characters, right?
Erika Sep 26th 2007 8:49AM
I chose the undead female rogue for basically the same reason as comment 2.
Lykaon Sep 26th 2007 9:02AM
I'm a male and a I currently play a female Blood Elf.
I don't think I could pinpoint the exact reason I choose female characters (and almost always do).
I think it has a little to do with wanting to play something that I find attractive, a little to do with wanting to be unique, and a little to do with the benefits that come from people thinking you're female.
Most of all, I really think it's just to be more unique. With 40% of males playing females, it's not working out for me as well as I had hoped. :P
As for gender. I expect people to call me her or she in written communications. They have no reason to expect otherwise, and it just makes the most sense.
If people have talked to me in vent and still call me she, then I find it a little bit strange though.
Nathan Sep 26th 2007 9:05AM
Every since pen&paper D&D, most of my "main" characters have been female - a trend I carried into City of Heroes and WoW. When I role play, I like to embody a different persona than my own - and all of my male characters came down to adolescent male wish fulfillment. By making the character female - I immediately distanced her from myself - which made it easier to design a persona that didn't necessarily react the same way I would.
An outsider might say I'm suffering from a gender identity crises but a) I'm married and, to the best of my knowledge, straight, and b) Who's more secure in their manhood: the guy pretending to be a girl in an imaginary game, or the skinny dork pretending to be a strapping He-Man in leather underwear?
The fact is - if people only played according to their gender - there'd be practically no females in the game (I know that plenty of women, including my wife, play the game - but I guarantee it's not 4.5 million)
The way I view it, by having to type "Dude, I'm a guy." to the occcasional /flirt. I'm making it that much safer for the real females to run around in Azeroth.
Will voice-chat be a little weird for people when they hear my voice coming out of an undead female? Maybe, but probably not any weirder than hearing a pre-pubescent whine come out of a 7-foot tauren.
Hollywood Ron Sep 26th 2007 9:13AM
My melee class characters are generally male and my few female toons have been caster classes, just because male characters look too funny in their caster dresses.
Paul Sep 26th 2007 1:17PM
My main is a male and like the previous poster I like my melee classes to be male and my mage alt is a female mainly because not because casters are always girls but because I wanted a draeni character (since my guild is alliance) and I hate how the males looked.....so I picked female because they looked more normal.
raverach Sep 26th 2007 9:25AM
i play both genders, but i don't see my character as "me," i see him/her as someone i control, like a puppet. and in the fantasy archetypes some classes are cooler as one gender (a female rogue, a male paladin etc). i don't see the problem with someone playing the opposite gender character, as anyone can order around/control another person of any gender. people attach way to much (psudo-) psychology analysis on this issue.
instar Sep 26th 2007 9:24AM
I'm female. I have 8 characters: 6 are female, and two male. My hunter is a NE male, because I don't like the female NE bow animations (I see enough of that awful animation on my female NE warrior). My paladin is a human male, because somehow, it just seemed right to me.
I will never understand.. why does it even matter? It's not like playing the opposite gender in a game is wrong. Look at all the FPS games out there, almost all have a male protagonist. Does that make it wrong, or even weird, for women to play them?
Vad Sep 26th 2007 9:33AM
My wife plays all females. I have been playing all males. My wife looked at my lvl 37 mage and what he was wearing and said, " Maybe you should make a female Mage instead". I took a look at my mages tights and shoes and vest and tiara and said "hmmm... I think you have a point". The human male in WoW has an awkward look and stance in many classes and, frankly, the females look more impressive attacking. Females equal Trinity fighting look. Males equal Neo (get his butt kicked by Morpheus) look. This is just in the human arena. And the Male human voice.... Game show host material. I can understand why many players would choose a female as opposed to a male. Trinity vs Dork.
Ghen Sep 26th 2007 9:31AM
I like playing smaller characters, and I also like looking at female booty running around the world as opposed to male booty.
Warrior_Tess Sep 26th 2007 9:36AM
Hahaha, you needed a poll to figure this one out? Of course more men play women than women play men. It's the case in just about any rpg, table top or virtual. Personally the first char I rolled was a male dwarf, but that's only because I couldn't bring myself to play a female one.
I fully endorse the "call it how you see it" rule. Chances are you're less likely to offend a male playing a fem char than a fem playing a fem char.
In my long experiance I've found that around 90% of guys I've just met will refer to me as "he" even though I play a fem toon. Not that I'm offended, but they are promptly corrected. On the other hand, 100% of girls will refer to me as "her" and never need to be corrected ;)
Boys are silly.
Melissa Della Sep 26th 2007 9:55AM
The thing you have to understand about LiveJournal is that it's significantly more populated by women than it is by men, so the results of any LJ poll will be inherently skewed.
esumiwa Sep 26th 2007 10:19AM
Sorry folks, the whole thing boils down to something we in the west aren't necessarily concerned with: Homosexuality.
A guy playing a feminine role is percieved to be homosexual in many cultures; and in those cultures, being gay is bad, wrong, immoral or against the state.
A recent example is in Iran where 2 18 year olds were hanged for the mere suggestion of being homosexual.
In China, you are looking at a highly regulated and restrictive government system, where homosexuals or homosexuality is considered a crime against the state. (See 2005, June, Advocate. See April 2006 HRC Report: Dangerous Countries.)
Been watching this topic and finding it very amusing that no one wanted to say this simple fact: boys playing girls is looked down on and, at worst, considered subversive behavior.
Esu Miwa
Fizzl Sep 26th 2007 10:19AM
It used to be random same as id chose something like hair colour but these days its become habit to play female characters.
One of the main reasons for this was first character on wow was a human male priest, a very bad choice, after a couple of the level 60 dungeon items i looked like a steroid injected cross dresser and concluded if im gona be wearing a dress i may as well look good in it.
Crabbyman Sep 26th 2007 10:28AM
Being a male, I usually play male characters, but I just started a female shaman. The reason: freak people out that know I'm a guy. Its hilarious to /wink and /dance with the guys that know I'm a guy and get all creeped out.
Pike Sep 26th 2007 10:28AM
I'm a female who plays all female characters-- not exactly sure why, it just seems to be the natural thing to do. It allows me to "step into that character's shoes" more easily (since I am a geek and I do that whole roleplay thing).
My boyfriend is more willing to play both-- probably about half of his characters are male and half are female. But he's a far more "hardcore" roleplayer than I am so he's more willing to try different things than I am.
A lot of people assume I'm a guy because I play a night elf female as my main =P But to be honest I don't really blame them for thinking so... =P
Dabizi Sep 26th 2007 10:31AM
My current character is a lvl 68 Tauren Druid so I have a few options -
Stare at a:
Cat behind
Bear behind
Occasionally I get to look at a Tauren behind.
After 68 levels of this I understand why guys play female characters - just so they can stare at an attractive behind.
Jeremy Sep 26th 2007 10:40AM
I'm a heterosexual male, and about half of my characters are female. I don't really have a "main," but I have two level 65s, one of whom is a male gnome and the other is a female human.
I doubt anybody finds these poll results surprising - a more interesting source of information is probably http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/ which provides much more in-depth information.
My personal take on this is that the female form is more pleasing to look at, even if it's just a pixellated approximation. I believe even women prefer the appearance of women (not necessarily in any sexual way) from a sheerly aesthetic perspective - the male form's generally blocky nature doesn't have the depth and subtlety of the curves one finds when looking at females.
When I create female characters, it's always with the intention of solo play. However, this doesn't always work out, as is the case with my Paladin (who works better in groups). I always feel awkward playing a female character when grouped with other people - it feels as if I'm misleading them in some way by my character's appearance, even after I reveal my true gender. This is magnified if using voice chat, as there's a clear and massive disjoint between my female character's appearance and my own voice. I always feel more comfortable in groups if playing a male character.
One might think I'd learn my lesson and just create all male characters, but no - I keep being drawn back to the lure of the curves.