I play female and male characters in all the games I play. I play with at least a loose head canon for every character (for instance I have a male character who’s a hougan who joined the Templars to get revenge, a female character who’s a graphic designer who is totally new to the Secret World), so which gender I go with depends: the vibe I get from the game, the kind of character I want to play, and sure, who gets better clothing.
I try to avoid bikini-type clothing on any character just because it’s so overdone. I like to find interesting combinations of clothes, and tend to have both some go-to outfits as well as dressing for a particular zone or event. Fashion is always the true endgame!
My female characters definitely get unwanted attention from time to time, but that behavior goes back to my MUD days even, so it’s nothing new. If anything TSW/SWL players have been more polite and generally less “handsy” than other games, but it’s also a trend I’ve seen overall, people are (generally) more respectful of boundaries than they were in the past.
Speaking more broadly about TSW/SWL, the game overall promotes openness and acceptance. A wide swath of LGBTQ characters are represented in-game. I have heard of players who discovered something about their orientation by playing the game and going on to make changes in their lives as well.
In general the game does a good job of making the world feel real, and the NPCs in it feel real, whether they fall on Cassandra King or the Haugbui Mother end of the scale, or go off the charts and decide to get in the pool with Inbeda. Whatever your preference or desire, I’d say, come hop in the pool and don’t worry about it.
I played a female character I really loved in TSW, and when the transition to SWL happened, I couldn’t recreate her well enough. So I decided to try out a male character instead, just to see the cosmetics and switch things up (I sort of regret that choice since in retrospect I had way more stuff unlocked for female characters vs. male ones, but no biggie). I found a face combination I really like for a male SWL character so I’m pretty content with how things played out.
quick edit: also as other comments have referenced, the fashion collection is its own reward haha. I love trying to collect all the cool pieces that catch my eye
I chose a male character only because it acts as an extension of who I am. I’ll make a female character in a game I’m not as serious about especially if the graphics lean heavily toward that being a desirable choice but for me TSW and SWL has been more of a community or life outside of my normal life and thus I want my character to represent me In some form. As for the name Drenneth was the name of a main character in a story I once started writing. This was years ago and never amounted to much but it was a fantasy story revolving around two “people” Elderoth and Drenneth. They were Infact the same person but dawned a different identity based on the world they existed in. Elderoth represented life and all things good where Drenneth represented death and all things bad. They existed only to maintain a balance in the world. Ie. When times were bad and society was corrupted Elderoth would be born into the world as a saviour to bring peace or hope and when times were too good and society had taken too much for granted Drenneth was born into the world to bring about war and hardship. In the end the goal was to maintain an equilibrium through a constant cycle of good and evil.
As for choosing Drenneth over Elderoth I’ll be honest. Elderoth was already taken. But it was fitting for my PvP personna.
I like to have an avatar that looks as much like me as possible because I find it helps my immersion in the game.
I only once tried playing the opposite gender (female) in an MMO years ago and was appalled by the unsolicited messages I got. I ended up responding with things like ‘sure, let’s, but I hope you won’t feel inadequate because I have a bigger penis than you’.
I come from the Dark Ages; the bad old days of being a woman playing online games. In most MMO’s, my main (Illesdan) is Male and looks generally how he looks in SWL.
It also depends on the MMO. For example, City of Heroes; I had tons of alts, and a good chunk of them were female (because back when it was first live, I had backstories for EVERYONE). And I won’t lie, the women tended to look better and less goofy than the male characters in that game.
Or, in the case of high-fantasy settings, I’ll usually put Dan out as a human or a half-Elf. Depends on what racial bonuses there are.
Yeah, creeps/pervs used to be an issue, but thankfully, people grew up. And, we all know most y’all ain’t playing your gender anyway; the female/male ratio in this game is totally out of whack,
I am female who always plays female characters. I have often wondered the same thing @MangaSpirit
For me personally, I don’t have an issue with playing a character of the opposite, it’s just that male character models seem more “clunky” to me and female models seem more “Smooth” or polished I guess you can say. I have played games where there was no option and I just felt like I was going slow and the movement wasn’t as fluid. It may not have been that way realistically, just was so used to female characters that it felt that way to me.
I play games with a lot of guys who choose the female character and I have often asked them why. The answer I get most times is “Females have a smaller hit box”
A hitbox is an invisible box-like area that when penetrated, counts as a “hit”. It’s different than the model (the visible character and his colors that you see). The hitbox is meant to compensate for lag and movement. When a character is moving, his hitbox is usually farther from the model. When a character is still, his hitbox is located directly on top of his model.
Contrary to the name, a hitbox is actually composed of several boxes that represent the character’s different areas (head, arm, torso).
When it comes to MMO’s I can’t answer for sure, but from my experience with friends, in FPS games seems to be the hit box. Now, I am not saying that applies for everyone, just giving one possible answer to the question
I’m a guy and I got a male char, but I don’t really like how it looks… since I look way better than my in game char in real life… no powers though, yet… except maybe the ability to deadlift a small car half up the ground while still being able to run a marathon and fight a pitbull to protect my dog lol… did that yesterday. Anyway I would play a female char cause it looks better and its kinda cool to have a female char that can use a weapon she would barely be able to pick up in real life. If I play a female char I usually make em subvert expectations and play a berserker or tank in other games, with the biggest weapons possible and if I play a male char its usually an assassin or mage or whatever I feel has the highest skill cap in the game and usually focused on pvp.
I am male and I have 9 characters.
4 males - 5 females. (8 client - 1 steam)
One of them - is not a Bee.
Each of them dress differently according to how I feel they should look.
None of them wear the same thing.
I tend not to change their clothes.
None of them look like me at all.
On the subject of creeps and pervs. I once logged a female of mine and headed off to the BF portal and there was this toon, well known to all, (No idea if it’s a guy or girl)
They commented to me via a /tell and a /say “Mmmm, sexy”
I ignored it and carried on. I then logged one of my males and passed them again by the same portal, and they sent a msg with “Gay”.
So being a man, and playing this MMO - I can see that there are some weird people who think it’s ok to send msg’s to others, that constitute as nothing but harassment and shows they have no brains.
On the subject of sexy clothes. I say wear what you like, if you like it - wear it, who cares what anyone else thinks it looks like, you aren’t wearing it to please them. (Unless you have a handler or are a dom/sub duo)
Anyway, It’s a game, not real life.
"Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short Wear shirts and boots 'cause it’s okay to be a boy But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading 'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading But secretly you’d love to know what it’s like wouldn’t you What it feels like for a girl"
