Jul 31, 05:39 AM

Virtual Cross-Dressing

Night Elf Reuters (via Slashdot) reports that guys use female avatars in on-line games primarily to get a winning edge and it has very little to do with an actual urge to cross-dress.

I disagree with the idea that donning a female avatar gives you any sort of advantage. I don’t think there is any misconception in the community about how most gamers are guys, and that, given any interaction with another avatar, the odds are 80% or more that you’re talking to another guy.

There is a huge difference between just picking an avatar and actually deliberately trying to make others think that you are a girl. I am sure the occurrence of this is much less. If someone does this, it can give them an advantage starting out, but they have to keep lying, which is extremely difficult to do convincingly. I imagine it is fairly mentally taxing as well. With the increasing use of voice communication, this practice has probably been rendered impossible.

Another reason why people choose to be females is for the sake of diversity. In most games, if we were required to stick with our actual gender, it would be a massive sausage fest. And that isn’t good for anyone.

-Jon
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