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

[Tazzik]

From: "Castronova, Edward" <ecastronova at Exchange.FULLERTON.EDU
> From: Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes kamikaze at kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu

>> Most men don't want to appear female, simply because that's not
>> what they are or care to be viewed as.  And that really is normal
>> and OK; not everyone is an androgynous bisexual transvestite.

> truer words were never writ. not everyone is an androgynous
> bisexual transvestite.

> *******

> the argument is, men just like being men, so a preference by men
> for male avatars is not discrimination.

> but instead of just assuming that men like being men, and calling
> that normal, let's go ahead and ask the question: why do men like
> being men?

While this line of discussion may merit some sociological
considerations, I fail to see how it would truly relate to resale
value of a certain character - at least in regards to the claim that
there could be discriminatory factors at work.  I think we can all
take it as common knowledge that men and women prefer to create
characters of their own gender in these types of games, so why is
that basic truth being so quickly tossed aside when comparing the
selling prices?

Do you honestly believe that there should be no other factors
considered during the sale of the character, other than the level
and skills possessed by it?  Would it not make much more sense that
players spending hundreds (or, heaven forbid, thousands) of dollars
on a specific character might be a bit more picky about what they
are trying to buy?  It should not be difficult to imagine that a
character which closely resembles what a player would have created
for himself would have more value than one which does not.

Perhaps more thought should be put into evaluating the driving force
behind what makes someone purchase these characters in the first
place.  Obviously, this will vary depending on what the player is
planning to use the character for.  If it is merely a mule to
powerlevel the "real" characters he owns, or simply being purchased
for the items it has, then I would see the other factors (race,
gender, name, etc...) as being much less important.  However, for
those players looking for a high level character they plan to
actively play (who I consider to be the primary purchasers of the
characters), it stands to reason they will want one that most
closely resembles what they would have created themselves if they
had the time.

If I was to buy a character online, would I pay more for a male
character than a female one?  Absolutely!  In fact I would need some
serious incentive to ever purchase a female character, for the
simple reason that this is not how I would chose to represent myself
to my fellow players.  If you want to debate my reasoning for
preferring to create male characters for myself, that is fine.
However, I think you need to seriously reconsider the idea that my
potential price variance between genders is in any way a different
topic.

Taking these simple truths, I fail to see how the price difference
could be a surprise to anyone:

  1) The majority of men prefer to play as male characters.

  2) The majority of players in these games are men.

  3) Greater demand equates to a higher price, especially in an
  auction setting.

There is nothing extraordinary in those statements, so why are we
trying to find deeper meaning to the obvious?  Sometimes 1 + 2 = 3,
regardless of what 7 or 8 is doing.  Trying to claim that a player's
preference when creating a character could be completely disregarded
when it comes to purchasing a character seems like quite a stretch
to me.  If you wish to examine the social implications of why men
prefer to present themselves as male avatars, go right ahead.  You
simply need to understand that the price difference you are seeing
is likely a direct result of that statement.

It looks to me as though we already have a pretty clear cause and
effect for this situation, without trying to force some inferences
of sexual discrimination in there.  If you want to raise the price
for female characters, you need to increase the demand.  If you want
to increase the demand, you need to get more females playing these
games.  Trying to "fix" the situation with statements suggesting men
should not have a preference towards representing themselves as
*men* seems a bit over the top.


Brendan
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