[MUD-Dev] RE: The Price of Being Male

[Sasha Hart]

[Castronova, Edward]

> you know, here's one thing i haven't heard from any man in this
> discussion, here or elsewhere: "Your study is wrong. I like
> playing female avatars. Being female is more fun and less hassle."
> Some have said they like playing females to look at the avatar's
> nice-looking body. Others have said females get gifts and are
> groups, so they should be better off. But no man has said that
> they actually do play a female avatar because, on the whole, they
> like how gameplay is when you're female. But quite a few women
> have said that about fronting as male.

Much of the time I play games using a female character, and do
prefer it. I also often play old characters, weak characters, dumb
characters, and not nice characters. I would jump at the chance to
play sentient tar in a major GMUD (maybe a feature character in a
Star Trek MUD, ha ha.) This is about variety. But I don't notice
enough of a difference in treatment to affect the decision, and like
playing female characters at least as often as I play male
characters. It is pleasant in a way that has nothing to do with my
identity and nothing to do with gifts or flattery. This doesn't mean
any study is wrong, though.

'Being female' in the game is a 100% different prospect. I do notice
different treatment when I have said I am actually male or actually
female. People are not so stupid that they confuse female avatar
with female person, or femaleness in general! How a character is
treated by others in game is NOT exclusively a reflection of how
those players think of abstract properties like being-female. Even
players who are deep in roleplay are fully aware that they are in a
social context with other real people, not just other characters,
and this is reflected in how they act in the game via their
avatars. This definitely impugns one of the 'implications' being
drawn from the study by the media, that there is a cast iron social
equivalence between the female label of a character and really being
female.
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