[MUD-Dev] The Price of Being Male

[Sanvean]

On Tue, 1 Jul 2003, Tom wrote:
> From: 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.

> Please bear in mind that I'm not trying to disagree with this
> statement, nor am I trying to belittle the trials that females go
> through in games, but you're missing the flip side of this, which
> is that while a large amount of male players play for advancement,
> a large amount of female players are there for social
> interaction. This "includes" flirtation, MUD marriages, sexual
> encounters and in-game relationships.

> Take Gemstone for example, while they don't condone sexual
> encounters and I believe their policy forbids it as they have a
> "family" market, the revolving door on Silverwood (an inn with
> private rooms) is full of concentual couples frequenting for a
> romp. I know for a fact that many of the female players are indeed
> female in real life, and that privately MANY of them compare notes
> on what men they've managed to seduce or "hook". I've heard more
> than one person comment on GS that it was a "meat market" with the
> females doing most of the "hunting".

Are you saying that it's full of lesbian couples? One presumes that
there's at least a few males participating there - which would mean
that they're also there for the social interaction. Just as maybe
some of the female players are there for the advancement.

> So while what you say is true, it's not nearly as one sided as
> that, there are many females who want the very things you're
> claiming as a blanket plague to woman-kind. They enjoy the
> attention, affection and are empowered by their interactions with
> the opposite sex. It just isn't always a "bad" thing. Depending on
> the game, this might not be the case, but in heavy role playing
> games, this interaction is very much a positive aspect.

Absolutely, I agree. We've got the same phenomenon in our game,
although it seems to me the netsexing female pcs are run by as many
males (if not more) than females. Interesting enough, there seems to
be a lot more stigma attached to the female participants than the
male ones.

But I'm also not clear on how this disproves my observations. Could
you expand on that a little? I'm also not saying that sexuality is a
blanket plague to women-kind. There's a big difference between that
and some of the phenomenon I listed.

Sanvean
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev