Reuters via Yahoo! News is running an interesting story about men posing as women in MMOGs to get free money, gifts and assistance. It has been my personal observation that female characters are much more likely to get twinked or invited to group than male characters. While I have never witnessed anyone virtually cross dressing I do hear that old joke that the 17 year year old elfin princess is really a 40 year old steel worker from Ohio all the time. Of course there are millions of reasons why people play characters of the opposite sex. It is of course called Role playing.

What do you think?

There was a time when RPG's (role-playing games) were related to whips and cuffs. Uh. But I agree that the male species are being discriminated agaisnt. Especially when it comes to "Ladies Night"...why can't we have a discount on drinks too? :(

So technically when it comes down to it, its a beverage issue. Er...nevermind.

role playing can be fun. i didn't find anything wrong with pretending to be joanna dark or lara croft. i don't think gals are any better off in game because the worlds are full of other men playing them. even if you meet a real life girl and that's your thing, chances are she'll be role playing a male character to get away from all that stuff.

when lonely male teenagers think you're a girl, expect to get a lot more messages then you usually do. it's distracting. especially if they send pictures and are hot :)

For my part I had male and female characters 50% / 50% in almost every single MMO I've played more than a month. But my main reason was to not playing all the same things over and over again - character classes, races or genders. So I've never tried to take advantage of my female characters or even pretending to be a *real* woman. My guess would be there are a lot who do, though (at least I've seen various guys doing this - even the "I'm a girl" thing). And there are some willing victims for this, too. :)

I think it really depends on the main target group of the game: World of Warcraft might have around 80-90% male players behind female characters (in my opinion), Guild Wars, too. Smaller, more niche-like games (with monthly fees) without the great marketing hype could have a lower percentage. I'm thinking about games like Seed, for example.

To come to a conclusion before I babble any more: In my opinion playing a female character as a man is not a big deal... as long as there are no questionable ulterior motives involved.

I like very much playing as female characters in RPGs (I play single-player RPGs only). I think it adds a lot of charm to the game.

As for online RPGs, my girlfriend sometimes plays as a male character ;) Why not, that's what role-playing is about :)

If you're going to play a character for months on end, you may as well enjoy their look. Male or female characters can be pleasing to look at, depending on your gender and personal preferences.

That and some games, such as WoW, have male casters which feature the exact same "body builder" appearance as their warrior counter-parts. Many players prefer their casters to have more of a frail physical appearance, and so they their casters end up being female, rather that male.

My own ratio is probably 50/50.

It is true that you are treated differently in many games based on your gender selection (the same as in real life... though, that isn't -- or shouldn't be -- a selection). I play both genders in games and think nothing of it. I also don't assume a female character is really female or vice versa.

When I used to play The Realm, I had a few characters, and one of my main ones was female. Being that I was really into role playing at the time rather than just gaming, I role played that character completely just as I did with my main male character. There were times I would let people know I was a guy, but I played the character as a female and went right along with all the "attention" that was directed at me. I didn't mind flirting back and forth as it was role playing and important as part of maintaining my character.

In WoW, I play both male and female as well. Though, now I am not really into role playing so much and am really there just to play. As was mentioned, I prefer to play female characters for casters just because they look the part better. Also, most of the good caster armor are robes... guys look a little weird in robes, though that is how wizards are generally thought of in fantasy stories. Anyhow, I play either gender just based on what I feel like playing. I don't like always playing the same thing all the time and that goes for gender as well as class and race. Of course, when I play my female mage, I get a lot more attention... flirting and so on. I generally ignore it now since I don't role play the character.

In single player games, I also play both genders. Sometimes, you get different stats and so playing the opposite presents a slightly different game. Most games unfortunately do not have any stat differences between the genders for fear of alienating players with the bonus strength to males and bonus intelligence to females (or something along those lines). In all honesty, that is usually true in real life. It's not set in stone and isn't always the case, but men usually are stronger and women usually are smarter. I really don't know why people complain when a game portrays that. Anyhow, enough ranting. Other games also have different scenarios based on the gender you choose (Fallout 2, for example) and this can make it interesting to play it with both genders.

In the end, it is mostly an aesthetic choice. You want to like how your character looks, or you want your character to look the part (in your mind), or whatever and so you choose based on that.