My brother-in-law asked me the other day when we were teamed in LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) why most of my characters were female. I gave him my patented witty response #321, "If I'm going to be staring at a digital butt for hours at a time, it's not going to be male." However, I get this question from time to time and there's a couple of reasons for it. The first is you get more free stuff if your avatar is female. Most gamers are guys, and they want to make sure any real chicks stick around so they're nice to anything that may be a woman on the other end of the keyboard. I guess it's a quantity over quality concept; they're nice to every apparent female on the off change it is a real female. Back in the day that wasn't very likely, but more and more women are joining the ranks of online gaming so the pack is widening, so to speak. The second reason I usually pick a female is a larger variety of character options for your avatar.
I'm not talking about different classes, I'm talking about the look. For some reason the programmers spend more time creating looks and appearance items for female characters than they do for the guys. Don't believe me? Check out City of Heroes/Villains some time, it's almost 2 to 1 in favor of the women there. And, hey, I can't help it I like a good looking character. You've seen one beefy sword weilder, you've seen them all. Maybe that makes me a bit of a clothes horse, but I don't care. I like a good looking character.
And, honestly, I have always been intrigued by the heroine. Guys have had a strangle hold on heroic fiction since it's invention. Tolkien, the father of modern fantasy, gave at best supporting roles to women in the battlefield. Although I do commend him the pivotal roles he did give them, but they were not a part of the main cast. However, until recently there hasn't been a strong female hero in fantasy. More often than not, the strong female character was the villain of the piece there only to act as temptress to the noble musclebound hero. With the rise of women in fantasy, such as Paksinarrion for the Oath of Gold series, Hermine in the Harry Potter series, and many others we see a larger breadth of female heroics.
And in the world of MMORPG's we see this change as well, the women hold their own. The female characters are able to stand toe-to-toe with the boys on the front lines, they're able to hurl balls of fire with the bearded mages in the back, and they are able to sneak past to steal the goods with the little weasels. It's nice to see a woman save the day.
So, the next time you're making your next character on your favorite server, consider the deadlier of the species- woman. And if anyone gives you any flak about it, I give you permission to use response #321.
I'm not talking about different classes, I'm talking about the look. For some reason the programmers spend more time creating looks and appearance items for female characters than they do for the guys. Don't believe me? Check out City of Heroes/Villains some time, it's almost 2 to 1 in favor of the women there. And, hey, I can't help it I like a good looking character. You've seen one beefy sword weilder, you've seen them all. Maybe that makes me a bit of a clothes horse, but I don't care. I like a good looking character.
And, honestly, I have always been intrigued by the heroine. Guys have had a strangle hold on heroic fiction since it's invention. Tolkien, the father of modern fantasy, gave at best supporting roles to women in the battlefield. Although I do commend him the pivotal roles he did give them, but they were not a part of the main cast. However, until recently there hasn't been a strong female hero in fantasy. More often than not, the strong female character was the villain of the piece there only to act as temptress to the noble musclebound hero. With the rise of women in fantasy, such as Paksinarrion for the Oath of Gold series, Hermine in the Harry Potter series, and many others we see a larger breadth of female heroics.
And in the world of MMORPG's we see this change as well, the women hold their own. The female characters are able to stand toe-to-toe with the boys on the front lines, they're able to hurl balls of fire with the bearded mages in the back, and they are able to sneak past to steal the goods with the little weasels. It's nice to see a woman save the day.
So, the next time you're making your next character on your favorite server, consider the deadlier of the species- woman. And if anyone gives you any flak about it, I give you permission to use response #321.
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