[MUD-Dev] The Price of Being Male

[Sasha Hart]

[Sanvean]

> For me, a lot of the discussion is interesting precisely because
> of the notion that men don't feel comfortable running female
> characters, when women gamers have been forced to run male
> characters over and over again.

I play female avatars a little over 50% of the time, and have been
doing this since I started playing MUSHes around a decade ago. Here
is the biggest and worst difference I encounter. Every now and then
I get asked whether I'm 'really a girl' (generally by some twelve
year old). It's embarrassing, but a minor inconvenience. "No." "None
of your business." "I'm a robot."

As a male avatar I hear way more disgusting stuff and innuendo. "Hey
u like 2 jerk off 2?? i spoo on u, hahahaha" "hey butt fag" <-
reason #1,472 I shouldn't venture into graphical MUDs. It happens
pretty frequently. Not when I'm playing a female avatar.

When I make people angry, they come up with gender-tailored verbal
assaults. This could easily be mistaken if you didn't see both sides
regularly.

Most of the problems you described are problems to me too - when
they occur, and when I play a tasteless game. I am embarrassed and
uncomfortable and disturbed at these things. And on top of that I
have people writing on mud-dev in a way that suggests I must really
be okay and comfortable with all of it. But I can't say for my part
that they really depend at all on what gender avatar I use.

So I can't echo your experience. What you see must depend on many
things.

> And whether or not the female avatars are worth less because fewer
> women play and therefore the demand is less for female-shaped
> virtual-suits or it is's because they're pink and have ribbons on
> them isn't really the point for me - either way that price
> difference is significant and indicative of a problem.

But of course it is very important to keep straight which problem,
to whom it is a problem, and how serious it is, or you will find
yourself tilting at windmills.
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev