MMO Bans Men Playing As Women

[wraggster]

via /. (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/26/1517244)

In a bizarre move Aurora Technology the owners of the King of the World MMORPG has taken the unusual step of banning men who play women characters but the ban itself does not stretch to women playing men. If you want to play as a woman now in game you have to prove you are a women via web cam. This is something that people ask for in many mmorpgs I myself have seen people say people who play women in EVE online as being some kind of degenerate but how long can a policy of verification by web cam last since its so easy to get around it doesn't seem to solve much and is an insult to many."

rofl

[DarthPaul]

Lol. Damn I gotta be more careful from now on... :rolleyes:

[TeenDev]

man... now I can't get on... :mad:

[fenrir911]

lol, i play as chicks all the time cause they kick more a$s than a guy, and i dotn want to see some huge muscular guy's big bulging a$s in front of my screen (what guy does)

[JKKDARK]

Luckily I'm a girl

[PLZKLLME0080]

This is bull. now when they mean you have to prove it via webcam... you get where im going with this. :cool:

[ab88]

Luckily I'm a girl

Cam or it's a lie. :mad:


jk :p

[DarthPaul]

Luckily I'm a girl

I know that you dream to be a girl my friend. But don't worry, go to Czech Republic or something, you can choose to be a girl there. :)

[SimSon2k3]

Luckily I'm a girl

me 2 :rofl:

and pls post a pic or you will get a ban xD
just kidding ^^

back to topic

thats bullshit xD
i want to play as a girl because they look much better than a man ^^


sorry for my bad language xD and iam a man ^^



Cam or it's a lie. :mad:


jk :p

look at icq there is a w for woman xD

und wusste nicht das hier deutsche sind ^^

[Sp3ct0r]

haha lmao! this is like the funniest thing i've seen all day.

-First of all, wut if they use a webcam and the people watching it think shes a guy cuz shes just plain ugly? lol

-second of all, you could jus get a friend to go on webcam

-third of all, there are many programs which let you place pre-recorded video in place of webcam video and it looks the same

-and finally, wut if you're a transfestite?... not that i am or anything... <_< >_>

lol

[NeoXCS]

Thats discrimination isn't it? :rolleyes: When I play an MMO game I usually mix it up depending on how the character looks in whatever game I'm playing. Like I don't really like looking at dwarf women in WoW. :rofl: The guys don't look as scary. :p This new ban is pretty stupid. I myself don't play this game but, good luck to those guys who do. :p

[Taris]

Doesn't rpg stand for role playing game? To play a different role? kinda losing sight of the idea of mmorpg, isnt it :P

[Shadowblind]

Its disturbing when men play as girls. If you wanna be a girl that much, just get a gender change you freak.

[kris threat]

Quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. You get a great character idea in your head and you want to use it on the game but then BAM! You aren't allowed to because you're a guy and the character is female. What makes it worse is the rule only applies for males playing as females and not the other way around as well. How is that fair? Its not. I also fail to see how a man playing as a woman is disturbing. There are plenty of games guys play that aren't MMORPG's which feature the main playable character as a female. Some examples would be Tomb Raider, Perfect Dark, and Parasite Eve. You play that role of women in those games so why is it any different than here. There is no difference; thats why. Hopefully for the people who play this game as opposite gender characters won't have to put up with such a piece of crap rule for very long.

[Markzilla]

Personally, I find this whole concept hilarious.

[steve520]

holy shit im in trouble i use a cassandra off soul calibar. christy off tekken and ****in samus of metroid but those girls kick ass.

[bowmessage]

i wanna hold up goatse to the camera whenever they try and verify me. I'd be like, yeah thats a true girl ass right there.

[Tetris999]

but mmorpg was funny when u played as a girl lol :p

[F9zDark]

Seems like these people merely want to have pics of their female players. This won't last long, or bode well for the company. Considering most female gamers aren't too quick to plaster the net with their pics (why risk being hit on prepubescent male players?) I highly doubt any woman would follow through with this.

Not only is it stupid, but whats protects these women from the company's "Women character Enforcers"? Are they going to have women employee check out these webcams? Because if not, thats also asking for loads of trouble.


Quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. You get a great character idea in your head and you want to use it on the game but then BAM! You aren't allowed to because you're a guy and the character is female. What makes it worse is the rule only applies for males playing as females and not the other way around as well. How is that fair? Its not. I also fail to see how a man playing as a woman is disturbing. There are plenty of games guys play that aren't MMORPG's which feature the main playable character as a female. Some examples would be Tomb Raider, Perfect Dark, and Parasite Eve. You play that role of women in those games so why is it any different than here. There is no difference; thats why. Hopefully for the people who play this game as opposite gender characters won't have to put up with such a piece of crap rule for very long.

I have to agree with you on that one. It is a pretty stupid rule and will only hurt the company in the end. But I suppose I can see where the company is coming from. MMOs are alot more social than most every game that puts a player into a female role. Since socialization is a huge aspect of an MMO, having players that "play their sex" is important, in maintaining the continuity of socialization.

For instance, if you were a female, and you saw a female character that you wanted to befriend, only to find out it was some 13 year old male, you'd probably be upset. If this happened every time you wanted to befriend a female character, who you thought was played by a real-life female, this would probably get pretty aggravating.

While I can understand why they made the rule, I sure as hell don't agree with it. People should be given the choice to play whoever they wish, especially so, if they are paying 15 bucks a month for it. I don't find it disturbing that a male plays as a female. In the same line of thought, it should be equally disturbing that a male human being should want to play as a male elf; but I have never seen anyone complain about that, so why should they complain about playing as the opposite sex?

[MagnumKain]

Rofl.

[VFerg]

Yea way to take away the role playing aspect of the game. Personally it just sounds like a great way to get a lot of pictures of women. Next they will take away all the classes that people couldnt be since you couldnt be that perosn, they will call this game second life. I normally use a women as a charecter just because everybody else seems to be so much nicer to you! Its pretty funny but at least you get some respect!

[Sp3ct0r]

Yea way to take away the role playing aspect of the game. Personally it just sounds like a great way to get a lot of pictures of women. Next they will take away all the classes that people couldnt be since you couldnt be that perosn, they will call this game second life. I normally use a women as a charecter just because everybody else seems to be so much nicer to you! Its pretty funny but at least you get some respect!

lmao, thats hilarious but it's true. If you play as a male, people will like curse you out and call you a noob and stuff, but when you play as a female they like hit on you and stuff, its so funny lol.

[Johnny Rash]

This isn't going to last long.

Like it's been said before.
Chicks just don't want to send in their picture for a 30 year old employee to beat it to.

[Nocuddle]

I can just use FakeWebcam & insert the girl there. LMAO

Questionaire on the webcam: Please show us ur pen1s, grab it & spin it 360 degree clockwise then anti clockwise. If you pass, we will give you your 'Male' character.

[Eyedunno]

The real reason is that the developers like to hit on the women who play their game, and so they want to know they're really women, and also need to know what they look like (no fatties).

[Lars Vegas]

Discrimination!!!

[kjetil1991]

people should have rights for playing what they want this is stupid =(

[IM back!]

whats the point?

[mnuhaily22]

I can just use FakeWebcam & insert the girl there. LMAO

Questionaire on the webcam: Please show us ur pen1s, grab it & spin it 360 degree clockwise then anti clockwise. If you pass, we will give you your 'Male' character.
and if ur a girl:confused:

[Basil Zero]

ROFL

alls i can say this is just a game, not something you look for a "Future Partner", alls i can say is this: GET A LIFE!

a game is just a game.

[kris threat]

Sure, I can see how it might make since in the developers mind. They want people to be the gender they really are so people can actually befriend them blah blah blah. But then why does the rule not extend to females playing as males. I mean, come on...if your going to make such a rule...have it apply to everyone...not just the males. Its a game for crying out loud...let the players pick what characters they want to play as or you game isn't going to be around very long.

[F9zDark]

Sure, I can see how it might make since in the developers mind. They want people to be the gender they really are so people can actually befriend them blah blah blah. But then why does the rule not extend to females playing as males. I mean, come on...if your going to make such a rule...have it apply to everyone...not just the males. Its a game for crying out loud...let the players pick what characters they want to play as or you game isn't going to be around very long.

That part bothers me as well. I really can't see any reason for this besides the fact that the employees want a visual record of the chicks playing the game. Thats what it really boils down. Sure they may blanket that with the social aspects, and while they would be right to do so, the fact they don't extend this to women playing as males seems to indicate its not really their motive.

Again, if the reasons are social ones, then they would extend it to cover women playing as men; cause in reality its a two way street. As others have said, women in games are treated nicer, often with more respect (although they are also often hit on, harassed for ASL, pics, myspace, etc or even sexually harassed). This rule could, in fact, worsen male-male interaction, since every male playing the game would be playing as a male character.

Since they would know that probably 99% of the males they come across would be actually male, there would be no doubt in their mind when they whip out the vulgar insults.

But it really doesn't matter, I can see this game having maybe a total female population of about 2%, with many females playing as males to circumvent having to post their pictures.

In the end, this rule will probably be the death of itself, if not the death of the game. As I can certainly see this ending up in the mainstream media, if not amongst the likes of feminist groups wishing to protect a female's privacy, which is paramount in online gaming, where women are, hit on and harassed by male gamers constantly.

[robman84]

This should extend to all games. If you want to play the part of a woman, you should be a woman. If you want to play as an alien, you should have to prove you are an alien. Driving games? Show me your brake disks. Asteroids? Prove to me that you are indeed a wireframe triangle.

As you may have guessed, I think this is rather ridiculous.

Rob (who is actually a small orange flightless bird)

[DanWare]

Well this issue must be close to your hearts, so many posts...

It is sad that people feel misled by someone's gender in a game - they're just players! What, do they wanna date them or something?

Hilarious stuff though.

[Shiori]

This is foonay.

^_^.


I can't imagine the amount of fake videos they will be swamped with. Its such a creative outlet. :D

[kris threat]

But it really doesn't matter, I can see this game having maybe a total female population of about 2%, with many females playing as males to circumvent having to post their pictures.

This is another point where I can see a major issue with this rule. Lets say that it really does have a 2% female population...and lets say alot of the female characters are actually played by males and then you suddenly tell them to stop and now all female character must send webcam evidence to prove their womanhood. Like you said...there would probably be an increase in women playing as men because they don't want to send their pictures to other people...and then you will also get a the developers desired effect of no men playing as females...suddenly this game has an all male cast with the only variety being the character class or race. I don't play MMOs but I still find this whole thing to be utterly ridiculous.

[F9zDark]

Well this issue must be close to your hearts, so many posts...

It is sad that people feel misled by someone's gender in a game - they're just players! What, do they wanna date them or something?

Hilarious stuff though.

Truth of the matter, yeah thats pretty much what it boils down to. I have seen in countless games, gaming chatrooms, forums and even MMOs where once a female makes it known, they get lambasted by every male within a 300 mile radius of their location. Well, thats a bit of an exaggeration, but needless to say, its pretty bad.

[m enterprise]

man thats so gay, men playing as women?

http://flowin4life.agff.net/addesign.gif

[Kloe]

I've never even heard of this game... I'm sure the game is crappy with developers like that.

[F9zDark]

man thats so gay, men playing as women?


I don't see how its gay. Play Heavenly Sword, and tell me if thats gay, playing a woman? There is nothing wrong with playing a woman in a game. If you believe there is then thats your prerogative. But many people don't. I don't for one. Depends on the game and whether or not I want to roleplay (and I mean, really roleplay, by refraining from OOC, speaking in the way people in that time period or location would speak, etc).

I have RPed female characters before and its actually rather fun. Thats the point of these games, to enter a virtual world as SOMEONE ELSE. Now if a guy played a female character and was going around asking male characters if they would like fellatio, now that'd be some cause for alarm...

[Eyedunno]

Yeah, that "gay" comment was stupid. The best example I can personally think of (for myself, anyway) is Sakura in the Street Fighter Alpha games. She's by far my favorite character, and it sucks that they didn't bring her back for any of the SFIII games.

[Hypershell]

As if nobody will find it offensive that a bunch of guys cooped up in offices are looking for as many webcam videos/images of young girls as they can get. Right. >.>