PlanetDreamcast | Community | Mailbag | 2/24/01

Community - Mailbag 2/24/01 - Gender Swapping With College Physics - by Mr. Domino Welcome to the PDC Mailbag. Every week we toss in a bunch of letters from our readers and do our best to dazzle you with wit and wisdom. Roughly, that translates to copying/pasting your emails and writing the first thing that comes to mind. But hey, you take what you can get. If you have something you want to contribute to the Mailbag, send it to this address! From: Nathan Taylor Subject: names changed to protect the privacy of fictional characters? Thats kinda funny. Anyway I think you are entirely right with the whole pouncing thing. I play Counter-Strike and if there is EVER a girl or someone acting feminen every guy in the game seems to pounce on her. I think its weird because girls are just like guys except for the obvious differences and they should be treated just like everyone else. You don't see people being all nice to guys who are playing but if there is ever a girl playing that people know is a girl before you know it the girl is sitting at the top of the scoreboard with a score of 25 and 0 cuz no one will hurt her. I think it is absoulutly sick to go online and look for girls and then like start the whole cyber dating (I'm diversing sorry). I think people should treat girls they meet online like anyone else cuz if I were a girl I wouldnt want 20 guys in line to get with me (unless I'm a whore...) -Lakario Yeah, I think people would be better off if they just ignored the gender in the first place. In all likelihood, the chances of a meeting are slim and none, so actually persuing supposedly females seems like a waste of time, especially if she's not all she's cracked up to be. From: Bryan Subject: Dude A couple of friends of mine are always picking female characters in online games. I don't know whats up with that but I always tell em it's gay as hell (Not that there's anything wrong with that!), but hey... whatever. Guys liking cute girls is "gay as hell." Ah, logic. I knew thee well. From: Matthew Von Stetina Subject: Attn: Mr. Domino Re: Sex on the Pioneer Hello, I'm one of those gamers who tends to prefer using female characters as well, Chun Li in Street Fighter II, Taki in Soul Blade, etc, etc. My first online experience as a female character was on a MUD, which was all text but still had many of the same issues you've found in Phantasy Star. Basically I realized early on that if I didn't want to be followed around everywhere by desperate guys online who used borderline offensive pickup lines I had to build up a reputation as someone you didn't want to anger. If some guy fed me some cheesy obnoxious line I'd go ballistic on him and make him feel like an ant by the time I was finished. To answer you question, however, ("If someone gave you a rare item just for being a cute girl, what would you do? Would you refuse and reveal your true person or just keep it and continue to lead them on?") - I've already had firsthand experience of what happens if you accept the gifts for a while and then reveal your true self later. I had been given several gifts by a rather experienced and helpful player who was several levels higher than I was. To give him some credit, he also helped and gave some useful items to me when I played a male character - he truly did have a generous personality online. This person, however, started asking personal questions about where I lived, if I could give him my phone number, if I could send him a picture of me, etc, etc, etc...basically getting things to the point where I was very uncomfortable leading him on. Rather than be a choad I let him know who my other characters were and that I was really a guy - which pretty much embarassed and devestated the poor guy. I don't know if he's been the same since - I haven't seen him online in a long time. Anyway - after that I operated as someone who was very familiar and comfortable with the game, not as someone who needed help in any way. My female character became a badass in her own right - I had gotten a bit of help to increase those first few levels or so but managed to gain the rest almost completely on my own. Rather than using her as an easy way to get attention or free experience or equipment or money, I turned her into a well-respected character, someone who people wanted to group with not because she was female, but because she was GOOD. What's interesting is when it came time for me to submit an addition to the MUD so that I might enter the ranks of the "Immortals" (the game administrators), I chose to continue to use her character in that position - becoming (as far as I know) one of the first males to use a female character as an administrator. I still got a lot of unwanted attention, but I typically stomped any out before it went anywhere, either by coming straight out and telling them I was not a girl, or if they were particularly obnoxious I would just let them know I wasn't interested in guys "in that way". Ironically that was more effective. Annnyway...long story short I had a pretty long stint, and retired from that MUD. I now run my own, and rather than continue with the confusion I've opted to stick with a male character as the primary administrator. Nowadays I only play female characters in single player games, or first person shooters where it doesn't really seem to matter what your gender is. Lot less headache that way. - Mat It's a shame, though, that you feel compelled to ignore the characters you really want to play as because of outside factors. While I hope that doesn't happen to me, I must admit that lately I find myself immediately creating a room and password protecting it so I don't have to deal with the other players. From: ryan jones Subject: Replay to PSO and sex editorial Well, I don't know if they're all desperate. But, I think it can be broken down into two catagories. #1 Roleplayers #2 Desperate individuals Roleplayers I LOVE to roleplay in character when I play PSO. I'm SSJLightsier online and I like to act out my character in the game. He's a cheery fellow with lots of confidence and never backs down from a fight! He loves to help those around him and he's gladly heal a party member or bring them back to life without a second thought. He's a gentlemen to the ladies and a good role model to the young-ins. Whenever I'm in a game with a lady character, I start up the usual "Good today madame!" Or I say a line or two of flirting. I don't do it because I think it's a girl playing, but I do it because I'm playing in character. My girlfriend plays on PSO sometimes and her character is always acting super cute (though, she can be sometimes too in real life). It's fun having a whole team of people actually roleplaying! Desperate Individuals Yeah, they are out there! They're looking for there cyber hook up! Though, I doubt Cyber Sex is possible in PSO (i dont even want to think about it), I know there are some people out there who do come on the channels actually looking for a possible girl to become there girlfriend! That just isn't me! I'm focused on finding rare weapons (must...find...frying pan....). Unless the person playing likes the attention I guess he could tolerate it, but I know it has to get annoying after a whiel. Choosing a female character then going online just to be hit on by a bunch of guys might drive some people insane. Or just very aggrivated. Those are my thoughts on the subject. Cyber sex is possible. After all, that's just the phrase for typing out sexual acts with others. Someone on the USENET group rec.games.video.sega was actually describing just this very thing recently, mentioning how a crowd had assembled around a couple who were using the function keys to touch each other and act out sex acts. Hopefully if people do feel some great need to do such things, they'd be smart enough to lock themselves in a password protected room, assuming they can get their hands to the keyboard to register. From: Evelyne Parisien Subject: Sex - female characters Its a nice piece from a male perspective. How about from a female point of view? Im a 43 female been playing online games since 1996 when I started playing Meridian 59. Within a few days online on Meridian 59 I was approached by a male character who wanted to have cybersex. Since I was new on the web, I had no idea what he was talking about. I asked around and found that it was very common. People were acting out dates and even weddings. I got married like 5 times in that game in the 2 years I played. I couldn't play one day without being hit at least 5 times. (thats why you had to be married, so men would stop hitting on you constantly). For the guys, to get married was like a trophy (c00l L00t). One guy, gave me a very nice god's gift, he was so nice to me so I decided what the heck, lets get married (no cybersex btw). Two weeks later, he disappeared and found out he was now playing a female player. I could hear the emote, guys were doing to him in the inn - YUK!!! and he seemed to have fun with it, he was getting lots of nice stuff. Anyway, after the divorce, he asked his god's gift back ( he never did get it) But what's funny is that 5 years later - him and his brother are moving in the same gamerz circle that I do. So we cross roads often & I always refer to him has my ex-husband. All in All this sex thing adds to the online community experience. Maybe some woman might be turned off by it but me, I enjoyed it - it adds to the drama I guess. (no cybersex of course, thats where I draw the line). But in games, like EQ & AC - the game are so big - the sense of community suffers because of the high volume of players, that Ive not experience any kind of sexual preferrences in years as I did in the smaller community of Meridian 59 so many years ago. What mostly, I hear now, is "your not a real women in real life" sometimes I have to fight with them to try to convince them that Im a real girl. So now, since EQ, AC I have not experience anything because of gender (which is a bit sad, I did enjoy the extra attention). Conclusion, sometimes the extra attention was a bonus but sometimes it was a pain and often I thought of making a male character just to be left alone. But I do have one thing to add tho..... Being a female and playing online games with mostly all men/boyz. You do get treated differently...... Example, you're in a guild, Im a high-level player, we are in war with another guild - a battle breaks out. The guildmaster tells me to stay away from the battle in fear that I get hurt or I should just supply them with food or spell items. Like because Im a girl, they think I can't play as well as them, which is not the case. Can you say "male chauvenis pigs". I don't mind the sexual innunentos but I hate being treated like a little weak girl, like because Im a girl, means Im not a good fighter/player. Sorry for the long rant, but being a female playing online games can be interesting.... or down right frustrating sometimes. (Boys do act differently from girls) If I kill another player in a battle, I don't recount the story 100 times and describe each move - men do have a tendancy to gloat and boost their triumphs or whatever and lets not get into the cussing part.... geez.... Thanks a bunch for the first hand experience and interesting background information. It's funny how I'm taken for a girl right off the bat while you sometimes have to really work to convince someone you are a female. From: Jeff C Subject: I understand When Everquest was first released I thought it would be funny to start with a female Character. I gave her a kind of girly name and then picked the best looking model for the high elves. Before I had hit level to I had and entire set of armor and four in game marrage proposals. My suggestion is the addition of sexual harasment courts to everyonline RPG. That way you could simply take them in and sue them for better game items. Jeff hehe Funny but scary thought. Then we'd have online lawyers making cases and bilking us all out of our mesetas. Besides, what would the fines be? Meseta is so common that any monetary punishment wouldn't even amount to a slap on the wrist, and you can't really detain people for comments made on-line. I wonder if this is as great a problem in RPGs which allow player kills. Next: More letters!