A Word of Advice to the Ladies Re: Character Creation

Well, in my opinian, the smaller characters stand out more. And I think it is because the camera angles down rather then up.


So I think, if you want to hide better, go normal size.



Ive noticed alot of small characters, but hardly any tall ones. That may be your problem.

Not to be mean, but you make it sound like everything that happened to you is based on whether you were normal sized or smaller. That's saying that even the nice people liked you because you were smaller. And this part just confuses me:

Maybe I'm missing something here, but it sounds like you aren't telling us the whole story.

My mesmer was a female and the smallest model possible, and sure I got perverts around me (like with all my female characters) but even my male characters get harrassed at times. It's going to happen when people don't know the difference between adult humor and sick behavior. Either go along with it and laugh a bit, or play a different character.

I do hope your gaming experience brightens up for you though if you are really disturbed by it.

Does that work? Do they get hit less because they are small? That would be great.

i think for simplicity a character is a character and not doing the extra computing on size

if it were harder to hit a smaller target all the top guilds would be midgets

My thanks to those on the forums where I'd posted this, who've observed the same. Why it's affected some and not others I'm not sure. As far as names, I'd have thought that I'd have more troubles with "Sister Sin" than with "Sister Fate," instead of the other way around (I didn't). And as far as behavior, I'd like to think I'm fairly mature. Maybe a little twisted and goth, but that wasn't the type of person I seemed to be attracting.

As I said, some were really nice about it, and that's not my complaint. I could have handled that easily enough. I actually also don't mind a little playfulness, although I don't think I invite it (and no, Ander, I don't cry harrassment at everything). And I guess I should also say that it wasn't 100% of the time I was playing that character, but it was like a roadblock I'd suddenly run into on occasions.

My concern was the clinginess that a few of them would exhibit. In a few cases, it wasn't enough to politely say "I've got to go," there'd always be an endless stream of "oh wait, you've got to see this," "you've got to come with me/us to Xxxxxxx," "when will you be back," "let me show you Yyyyyy...." Two were particularily bad, and if I spent too long at Ascalon as that character, they'd be back in my whisper.

I'd spent much more time as different female characters and had much fewer (almost no) troubles of this type. Scaling is the only thing I can really think of that was significantly different with that character. Maybe it's something else, I don't know, but this was simply my observation.

Either way, I just thought I'd offer the advice, in case someone would want to know beforehand.

What!? I've had that happened to me a couple of times before, I don't call that stalking, I call that someone finding a person willing to help and play with them.

If you don't want this to happen, then just give everyone the cold shoulder. If you consider that too cruel, than congratulations you're a kind player, and that's why they're being so 'clingy'. I have helped some 'clingy' players before, some of them (surprise, surprise) were actually female gamers as well. If it becomes a problem, then just politely tell them to stop, as they won't take the hint if you keep making excuses.

there is the option to "ignore", you know.

lol i don't see why u would complain if u had seen gaile grey's followers u wouldn't say a word, she musta had a hundred ppl following her at the end of last beta in district one of LA. maybe they thought u were flirting the way those females dress, toss their hair, and rub their weapons maybe u turned them on or maybe u were just paranoid. The latter is more likly because i had ppl following me for no reason i think sometimes ppl do it just for fun or to see what u will do. I have done it in other games just to watch the reaction. Like in css just follow someone. It gets perty funny

If you don't want clinginess, then the best way is to:

1) don't tell then you are a female,
2) don't talk about personal stuff and just play the game,
3) give your avatar a name that is gender neutral.

If you go into a game loaded with teenaged males and expect to be able to tell them you are a female and not get "bugged" then you are on the wrong planet

Having gone through all of this stuff myself, I don't reveal anything about my real self to anyone unless I come to trust them over a long period of time. After all, I play these games to PLAY them and have fun, not as a social event.

Another sure-fire solution that one of my lady-friends uses is to play a male avatar. That works 100% even if you tell them you are a girl

If I were you, I'd look less at the sex and height of my avatar and more at my behaviors in game.

There is also the possibility that they are new to the Online gaming aspect or "hit on" all female characters. You may have been the only one that reacted. Getting a reaction seems to have quite an effect. Look how many "Trolls" frequent forums.

As bad as this may seen I tend to want to atack the small scale female chars.

Now before you bite my head off let me explain. The smaller female chars *look* like an easy kill (in no way am i saying that they acually are). For example if you scale down a male warrior he gets stocky as hell, but if you scale down a female warrior she just *looks* weak.

Now ive had my ass handed back to me on a platter by one of those *weak* looking female chars.

This isnt a sexist post, just something that Ive noticed.

This helps the original post how...?

If things get too dicey, you can try switching to another district of the town your in. The stalkers won't know where you went.

I play a small female char, and I have NEVER had any problem about anything.

I am a female and I play all my characters as females & at max side. I experienced no "interesting behavior" and I certainly don't want to discount what you have said happened nor psycho-analyze you or your behavior. I do hope it doesn't happen again and that you stay in the game.

I've not noticed that size makes a difference in viewing. It did seem that everyone was the same height that I was.

Ok, skimming over this I see its more about PvP sort of ... discrimination? I guess? Due to size and gender?

Well I've noticed something odd with the NPC enemies while playing with my boyfriend all weekend.

I am an Elementalist Monk, He is a Warrior Elementalist.

Now... the odd thing we noticed was that all of the enemies would MOST of the time run past him and crowd and attack me instead though he was closer.

The bears in Wizard's Folly did this and so did the Grawl and Charr along with those stupid little and annoying Devourers in all of the areas they were in.

Is this some sort of freaky NPC programmed discrimination or hint to go for the supposed weaker of the two characters or what?

I never could figure it out, perhaps they figured I was weaker due to my build, or maybe because I'm a girl. I had all sorts of things after me while they just passed him up.

Can ANYONE shed any light on this or tell me if they noticed anything odd like this as well?

The game usually targets spell casters first, since they can help maintain the tanks in battle. Once the support troops are wiped, the front line can be eliminated more easily.

Yup, such AI code does obviously exist. I think it takes into account both how weak a character is along with how much damage they are doing.

So, an elementalist who is doing a lot of damage and is easy to kill is going to get attacked a lot. If you were the monsters would't you do the same?

P.S. another factor seems to be range, so stay back!

I am male but I frequently play female characters. I think there is a Pygmalion strain in me.

It takes a bit of getting used to. The first thing you notice is how ridiculous men act around female characters. I often cringe and am embarassed for my gender. The second thing you notice is how needlessly protective men are of women. Even if you are a warrior and they are a monk they try to shelter you from the bad guys.

When a male player acts inappropriately towards your character, do what real women do. Just ignore them.

good thing that caster targeting is part of the game, otherwise it would not be very challenging. I'd expect this kind of game to feature at least some feasible AI. Of course they will attack spellcasters first, warriors have far better defense but are far less dangerous. If I am in battle, I always go for the monk, then the elementalist and the mesmer, cause they hurt your team most in the long run, and have little armor.