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Is She really a She?

Female Gamers and Gender Bending in MMORPGs

by Daelda

NOTE: I wrote this Article originally on October 20th. The next morning, just before I was about to publish it, I saw

the Article MJ published on our Site, The Female Character, The Male Player which while not identical to mine,

covered much of the same ground. So I decided to hold off publishing my Article, at least for a little while. Well, the

topic has popped up again on the swtor Forums, and it has been a couple weeks since his Article, so here is mine. Ihope you enjoy.

One topic that I have seen come up again and again on MMO Forums is the subject of Females

in MMOs and Gender Bending - or playing a gender that you really aren't in real life. A male playing

a female or a female playing a male. The old joke goes that GIRL stands for Guy In Real Life and

maybe that was true not that long ago, but is it true today? And does it matter if it is? Let's start byfinding out just who it is that actually plays Video Games and more specifically, MMOs.

Despite the fact that gaming is seen as a male activity, female players actually make up 42% of

the gaming population according to the ESA's 2011 Essential Facts About the Computer and VideoGaming Industry study.1 NPD just released a study showing that 91% of those aged 2 17 are gamers,

with females and those age 15-17 driving the greatest growth.2 Also, while 32.6% of MMO players aremarried or engaged, 57% of female MMO players are. 3

Another common belief is that females only play MMOs because their Significant Other playedMMOs. This is untrue, as only 26.9% of females were introduced to MMOs by a romantic partner. Of

the rest, 12.9% were introduced by a family member, 36.4% by a friend and 23.8% joined MMOs on

their own.4 When playing, approximately 60% of female MMO players play with a romantic partner

and 40% of females play with a family member.5In other words, a vast majority of female MMOplayers are playing with someone they personally know in real life at any one time.

Now, on to Role-Players: 60% of MMO players have Role-Played, with a relatively equaldistribution among males and females.6 44% of Rpers have created a background for their character,

with females slightly more likely to have done so than males. 28% of those that created backgrounds

for their characters weave in another player's character into the story, with females being 50% morelikely to do so than males. 20% of Role-Players RP at least once a week, and the likelihood of regular

RP increases slightly with age.

Males are almost twice as likely to gender-bend as females are, and that tendency increaseswith age but gender-bending tends to remain in the minority overall. In addition, the number of

characters a player has tends to increase as a player ages.7

So, let's summarize: 42% of gamers are female. Females are one of the fastest growing

demographics among gamers today. Females are very likely to be playing an MMO with someone,

1 http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp

2 http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20118481-17/91-percent-of-kids-are-gamers-research-says/3 http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000550.php

4 http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000550.php?page=25 http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001338.php

6 http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001525.php

7 http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000551.php

http://www.swtor-life.com/role-play/the-female-character-the-male-player/4054/http://www.swtor-life.com/role-play/the-female-character-the-male-player/4054/

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usually a Significant Other or a family member. Most players in MMOs have Role-Played and if you

encounter a Role-Player, there is a roughly 50% chance that the person is a female. So...is that hot

Twi'lek female actually a female IRL? Or is it a gender-bending male? Well...if the person is Rping, the

odds are probably 50/50. But even if it IS an actual female, the odds are that her Significant Other or afamily member is nearby watching you try to put the moves on her. So, is it really worth it?

In my opinion, anyone should play whatever they want to play. I am a Role-Player and yes, Itend to create two characters of each Species one male and one female. Partly so that I can experience

the story from each angle and partly because of the Role-Playing opportunities it affords me. No, I have

never danced naked on a mailbox for tips, or done anything to attempt to get money/gifts from otherplayers while playing a female character. I even had to tell one guy who actually started hitting on me,

Umm...look...I'm actually a guy. I could have led him on, but I'm not that sort of person. I gender-

bend for the same reason that I RP and the same reason that I play something other than a Human inany MMO because I want to pretend that I am something other than me for a while. I see no

difference in playing a female Human than I do in playing a Sith. I'm not a Sith. I wasn't born, raised or

trained to live as a Sith. So playing a Sith is playing something that I am not. Playing as a female is the

same I am playing something that I am not.

Now, for those of you who have concerns about gender-bending...I have only this advice:

This is an MMO, not a Dating Service. A great portion of females playing MMOs are already taken andtheir SO's probably won't look on your advances as all that welcome. So, play the game for what it is

a game! Don't worry about whether a Character's dangly bits match the player's dangly bits. All

that matters is if they can Tank/DPS or Heal and do it well enough to avoid the wipe. If you wantlove, either get a puppy, join a dating site, or go to a local hangout. And if you give stuff away to some

character based on apparent gender...well...I guess that's your choice. You'll get no sympathy from me.

Thanks for reading! And don't forget to follow me on Twitter @Daelda.