gizmo571's Journal

Role-play
The assignment from class was to create a character on a different server that is the opposite gender. When I received this assignment I was not too happy about having to play a male character because I almost always choose a female gender when presented with the option. I think I felt odd about playing a male character because it presents me to others as male and I am treated differently. As a male character I am expected by other characters to know how to play the game well and when I fail at a task or ask for help on "common knowledge" subjects in the game, other male characters are quick to poke fun at me. When I play as a female character other characters, especially male characters, have much more patience with me and are much more willing to lend a helping hand, give me gift items, or help lead me to what I am searching for. As a male character I was more on my own in the game than I am as a female character.

The character I created was a night elf warrior on the Bonechewer server. I chose to be a warrior because I thought it was something totally different from my class character and stereotypically I felt that as playing a male I should be a warrior. I chose the server Bonechewer because it just sounded tough. A warrior fighting in the Bonechewer server just sounded masculine to me. I allowed the game randomizer to pick a name for my character, Jargaton. At first I tried to pick a name but I felt that they were too feminine or masculine. I wanted to find a middle ground for my character's name and the randomizer allowed me to do so. Although I let the game choose a name for my character I personalized it by changing the hair color, face, and skin color. This may not have been a good thing for me to do. Looking at my male character's physical appearance, it somewhat looks like the "metrosexual" night elf. All I wanted to do while choosing these physical attributes was personalize the character and make it look nice, but I think I made the character look more like a pretty boy.

While playing the game few people came up to talk to me and I felt more alone in the game. I received quests and completed them with little conversation with others. When I received a quest to kill a specific number of animals it did not seem too different from other quests I had received as my female character, but I quickly found out that it was like playing a different game. As a male character the game is much more competitive. For example, when I was running around looking for animals to kill I would approach my target, just as I had before with my female character, get ready to attack, and then some other guy would run up behind me and kill my targeted animal before I even had a chance. I became frustrated because I am still new to the game and it takes me a little longer to complete tasks. I think as a female character other characters give you "space" to fight your own battles. As a male character I felt as though I was being timed and had to kill the animal as soon as possible. I disliked the feeling of being rushed. When I have played my female character I have had other characters ask me to join a group so that they could help me, whereas a male character I was as much a threat to them as were the monsters.

Once I began to talk to other characters I realized it was obvious to others I was not a male in the real world. The first issue was the way I type. When I type in the game to chat with others I am rather informal. I also discovered how often I used smiley faces and how supportive I am, but not just like a "good job" and pat on the back but more like a cheerleader. I also saw that I use "....." a lot. Instead of ending a sentence I just drag it on with those little dots in all of my conversations. Once I stopped and actually ended my sentences I think it gave others the impression that I was more declarative and that is stereotypically more of a male characteristic. After all this was brought to my attention I became hypersensitive to all my actions and I feel I overplayed male characteristics and tendencies. It was either completely obvious that I was a female playing a male character or I was a cocky male who was just full of himself.

As a female I believe in equal rights of the sexes but in the game world I'm not sure how much they apply or if I really care. Of course I wanted to be treated well and equal to a male character, as a female in the game world, but the super competitiveness in the male characters I approached was not at all what I would call fun. Although there really isn't equality I don't think this is a bad thing. If you are a male or female and enjoy a more competitive environment, based off my experience, I would tell you to choose a male character. I'm not saying that all male characters are hyper-competitive and are playing the game against everyone else, but I am saying that they appear to be more compassionate to female characters than other males. I feel that my first attempt as a male character was somewhat of a flop. I discovered the little things that give away gender of the player, regardless of the gender of the character. Knowing what I know now it would be interesting to see if next time I could actually "pull off" playing a male character.

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