A Word of Advice to the Ladies Re: Character Creation

Yeah, when a character that is dressed up like some sort of gothic hooker named Sister Mercy walks up to you and you are a human male it is TOTALLY inappropriate to show any interest in her.

That is if you have been castrated

Seriously, sexuality is part of the human experience. The trick is to realize that and work with it appropriately instead of trying to deny it.

P.S. I don't get the reference to Pygmalion at all: does your wife play Henry Higgins and teach you to speak properly? Perhaps a Hermaphroditus complex or even Achilles who cross-dressed a bit?

I must be old-fashioned but I prefer real life women over anything computerized. I like adult humor just as much as the next person, but saying that someone is a human male is a poor excuse for some of the immature conduct.

I do agree with this

I've always wondered how showing sexual interest is considered to be immature? More like the other way around. Pre-teens are the ones who aren't ready to show it due to a lack of certain hormones... they are literally immature, at least physically.

...most of her complaints were about them asking if she'd like to team. A simple no will usually suffice and if it is ignored there is always squelch

I don't think you put enough stock in the power a name can have. Who would a man rather date 'Sister Fate' or 'Munter R Hidious.' Think about this now, using Sister adds that forbidden fruit element of catholasiam. Then add something like Fate, Death or other taboo state well your in a world of harasment. Just try it create 'Munter R Hidious' I bet no man will be interested.

I have 4 characters

Manticker Swaith - Warrior/Ranger - Male - RP
Hadreen Balthazaa - Elementalist/Warrior - Female - RP
Fayth Harpie - Necromancer/Mesme - Female - RP
Cobweb Suelanie - Ranger/Monk - Female - RP

I expect Fayth will get the most harassment, and Hadreen will get the least.

Just try a differant name, something less forbidden fruit and more rotten fruit.

gabby

and

That's where people seem to have this wrong. I have no problem with mature kidding (anyone who's seen my sense of humor probably knows that) or wanting to team -- my concern is that some of the interest was intense to a creepy extent and that "no" didn't suffice. Plus, I didn't bring it up to complain to everyone about it (I can handle it), I simply thought that others might appreciate the forewarning.

Anyway, I'm tired of having to explain myself. From here on in, say what you want.

Having played probably in the area of 100 male and 100 female characters in these games over the years, I've been through all of this more times than you can imagine. Add in the 100s of people I've teamed with both male and female and I've probalby seen it all, from guys acting like women to get advantage, to both women and men looking for (and finding) actual marriage partners in these games, to cyber sex... yes, all of it.

My point is that my own behaviors determined the outcome to a much higher degree than my avatar.

Dealing with this did take me a while and I no longer play female avatars at this point as it is too much effort.

In any case, learning how to use the /ignore function in all of these games is essential because some people ARE creeps and that will be true no matter what your avatar.

Good luck in GW and have fun!

Don't waste your energy trying to get through to those that can only see it one way. Even if I don't share your same concerns, having started a thread a while back about the maturity of the players in the last beta, I do appreciate your intentions.

there is a /ignore in this game isn't there?

I always thought that was gods gift to mature gamers. Now if it just worked for dancers too that would be great!

All of my characters are generally small, except for my elementalist which I made tall. Just add the people to ignore if they are harrassassing you.

all my characters are female and as short as i can get them. the only undue attention i get is in game when i play my monk, but that's from opponents.

One point I'd like to add: Ignore might work well to stop the chat-harrassment, but that doesn't make the creep go away. Here's a scenario:

Let's say you're playing a female character, and you are in town waiting for a couple of your guild-mates to arrive, so you can set up a team. You start wandering around, maybe over to the Outfitter, when some guy starts chatting you up. You politely let the guy know you aren't interested in chatting or teaming with them (waiting for friends), but the guy won't lay off.

So you Ignore them. But now you are trying to get your team set up, making changing Districts more of a pain, and this guy is following you around. Everywhere you look, there he is.

Point is, harrassment comes in many forms, and chat is only one of them. Forcing someone to change districts borders on Griefing, and we should not simply expect a player with female characters to accept this sort of behavior.

I'm a guy (albeit not a creepy one), and I totally understand where Sister mercy is coming from on this. I have three male characters and one female character. Guess which one gets chatted up all the time, while the others are pretty much ignored? Makes being a Solo player a real pain, when guys won't stop trying to cajole me into teaming my female Elementalist/Mesmer with them.

"No" means "No", guys.

I think SisterMercy is trying to say that it is pointless ignoring one guy, because you wouldn't normaly see the same guy twice, but you could get harrassed by a guy in every town. That simply means youd have to type in a name or two everytime you walk into a town.



A little of advice cant hurt, but you guys are almost offended by it. Lighten up.





(SubNote: I dont stalk chicks in this game, but if they dont move I take a picture of them )

I just think this is a computer game and there's no such thing as stalking in a computer game. There is, however, something like paranoia in a computer game.

The only one I talk dirty to in gw is my girlfriend

think of it this way people - if you are getting harassed, think of the character of the person harassing you. They have so little hope at getting a girl in the outside world that all they can do is follow a female character (they may not even be sure that the PLAYER is female - hell, ALL of my characters are women) and hope that they may get one token of affection. This kind of behaviour makes me feel ashamed to be a "geek"

So what would you call having the same person follow you around for a few hours after repeated requests of asking them to leave? True its just a game, but the other people across the monitor are real people and not to be "toyed" with like this. It might be fun for the guy who is "stalking" the girl, but honestly he is ruining her game experience by doing it. Online games are not meant to have fun by making others misrable but by having fun together by helping each other and playing together.

but they cannot do that. They cannot find out where you are, unless you tell them; if they keep sending you messages, you ignore them, its that simple.

That is one of the best features in this game. You can't be followed into an instance. And if you are in a common area, with the press of a button you are in the same common area but in instance 37 of it. Now they have no idea which of 50 some common area instances you went to.

There is most definitely in-game stalking, and there are plenty of reported incidents where in-game stalking slowly turned into real-life stalking.

Imagine someone messaging you on an instant messenger asking you to explain why you didn't talk to him last night when you were playing from 2 to 3. When you never gave him your IM name. There are enough insane people out there, paranoia is not necessarily a bad thing.

that's just weird, not in-game stalking. If stalking limits itself to that game, and in particular, that very instance, this is not a big deal. Seriously, if you put them on ignore and switch instances, how can they know where you are? If you haven't given them your IM, how can they talk to you on it?

Trust me, I know what real life stalking is. It's very scary. But if you're referring to a game and using the word stalking, something's wrong with you, and it's more of an insult to people who have experienced stalking, that you are using that term for such a far cry from what it really stands for.

It's paranoia, nothing more.

its just sad when things like this come up. makes me wanna go back to singleplayer baldurs gate for life

but seriousely. Ignore and switching districts. They cant follow you, they cant talk to you = they dont exist. Problem solved.

Why ar you guys so offended if someone just wont stop talking to them? Just keep thinking they are 35 years old living with thier mom in the basement....with a girlfrien who actually in fact is a man

What I mean is, stalking starts somewhere. If someone you only know from in-game becomes obsessed with you to the point of stalking, there may be a long period before that where he expresses this obsession in-game only. Even though it may technically not be considered stalking, the nature is very much the same, so I don't think it's entirely accurate to call a premonition of what is happening paranoia, since there might very well be something more going on.

Reading some of these posts just re-affirms why I don't talk to ANY females in ANY games, say the wrong thing or talk to the wrong person and you're automatically thrown in the "stalker" "creep" "pervert" category when in fact maybe it's just a case of someone being friendly. I for one, am married, but is there something wrong with talking to women? Seems that way....at least in this game.

Some of these people out there are giving some guys such a bad rep it seems....I dunno if this is the right word....but taboo to talk to females/female characters in the game. Which is pretty sad/lame/1500 other words.

I think some people, sad to say but they should take notes from counterstrike players, if a girl/female/whatever enters a server not a single person will believe they're a chick regardless of what they do. So as far as I'm concerned from now on, all the "women" in here are fat, hairy bald ugly men. So there.

I want to add that stalking online is a serious, criminal issue, and should not be taken lightly or mocked here.
If people feel like they are being harassed in game, they need to feel comfortable enough to report it. Making light of their problems causes more pain and doubt.

This topic has taken a serious turn. Please think carefully before you add a flippant remark to the thread, because what may seem like a non-issue to you may be a serious issue for a fellow community member.

I am a male and will be playing a female char as my main. I played a female monk over this past weekend and made her tiny as well. I had 0 problems with guy toons /tell me and the such. I, like the other males here, play a female toon due to the free hand outs

I see no issue here. If you feel threatened follow these simple steps.

1. Change districts (they cant follow)

2. /ignore (they cant talk to you)

There is no way someone can *stalk* you in this game, unless you give out to much info. Which is a "no no" on the net anyway.

Just be smart, and there is nothing going to happen to you.

If someone is playing a game in which they are almost completely anonymous to the real world doesn't feel comfortable enough to report someone maybe they shouldn't be playing, along with the fact like Manterlock just said, it's not that hard to "be smart" about it.

It certainly can become an emotional issue for those of us who have experienced stalking in-game and out. I'm grateful for those here who seem to understand that.

Some sound suggestions have been offered here. We're lucky GW has these built-in methods to cope with offensive players.

What I don't understand are those who just keep returning to this thread and repeating "paranoia." Some players are young and inexperienced gamers. Telling them they're just paranoid not only diminishes and discounts their own experience but discourages them from speaking up to receive the good advice offered here.

Dalia

Probably a bunch of 12 year kids jerking off behind the screen. Ted Bundies in the making. It's sad.

Back when I started playing games online, guys could be a problem. During everquest I had several "stalkers" from my old guild (who had my email address because our leader required all members to give him their email addresses and put them on our guild website). Didn't go past annoying emails, but it was a pain.

I ended up leaving that guild, and since then have barely had any issues. In fact, I would say in comparison to a few years ago, guy/girl relations in games have gotten extremely better.

I'm sure the original poster just got stuck with a few of the jerks, and as it's been said, ignoring and changing districts is the best thing to do (if they're really bad you could report them too).

I am however tired of this "I will assume all girl characters are fat guys" thing (and Borealis, I really can't understand why you would not talk to any female character.. you're not going to allow yourself to speak with a large percentage of the players then). Someone has to post something like it anytime something like this comes up. If you're playing the game, you shouldn't be thinking about what gender the people around you really are anyway, right?

Just to add my $.02 to this, my main character has been a monk for the last couple of BWEs, and I always make her the smallest size possible. That said, I've also never been harassed in game before.

To me, it's not so much what size character you are. If deranged individuals want to harass you, they'd do so no matter the size of the character. With that in mind, my advice is to find a nice guild and collect a good list of friends to team with. Pick up groups have never been my thing, and in my experience, leads to more aggravation than fun.

Instancing in this game is a beautiful thing.

This is about 1 level down, rather then all the way down.


If an average human male was the size of the middle character size. Then the average female would be one level lower.

Maybe its that.


Then again, I could be wrong.

Ok, there actually ARE 35 year olds that live with their parents playing GW, that have girlfriends... that AREN'T male o.o;

How do I know?

I know a few personally...

Not every guy thats over thirty is a creepy nerd stalker XD

Then again i'm just rambling...

The only thing my BF finds offensive about this game is lack of facial hair for warriors...

BUT thats beside the point...

Stalking in a game can be really annoying, but there IS such things as the ignore/block list...

I've had no issues. I happen to be male, but it's not like anybody can tell when you play a female character. I have an equal split of male and female characters (male monk and ranger, female necromancer and mesmer) and have noticed no differences in the way I am treated either way - excepting that my monk got a lot more invites - I am guessing that's a class thing though, not some bizarre association with "maleness". It is incomprehensible why anyone would bother following you around in the sea of female avatars out there without some form of encouragement; you allude to it happening a lot - I can't see how unless you either have the worst luck on the planet or make reference constantly to the fact that you are female in life. As has been mentioned, it's easy to escape from folks should you happen to meet one you dislike, and not revealing information about yourself is probably a good habit anyway online.

Laughable. Guess that's your degree in criminal psychology coming to the fore? Bundy was so normal that nobody believed it could be him. He was educated, handsome, outgoing and charismatic. He worked at a rape crisis center, had no criminal record until 1976. He was not the typical sexually repressed stereotype but was comfortable around women, a scholarship winner and well thought of.

As for the 12 year old comment, 12 year olds masturbating is perfectly healthy. I can only think you are mentioning it because you somehow find it repugnant - I doubt any would use GW as a source for fantasies given how available sexual material is on the net.

Then again, did your character have a "sexy" name. That has influence too.

That was more of trying to prove a point more then anything, I'm sure I'll talk to females in the game, but I'm not going to go out of my way to do so, nor will I treat them differently then any other guy playing. It seems [b]TO ME[b/] in this thread a mountain is being made out of a mohill, every person in here obviously knows how to avoid such people and if they're unable to do so or put themselves in such a situation it's their fault. Yes stalkers are a serious issue.....in real life, this is a videogame...nothing more.

By the way, how can you be tired of the comment I made.......if every guy thought like that this thread would not exist. Right? You're also correct about thinking about someones gender while playing, I don't....please don't assume the married guy does. I could careless whether I'm playing with a chick, dude, hermie or what have you.

P.S. Don't misconstrue the comment about mountains and mohills I made, I've had my share of stalkers......imagine having a 350 gay guy stalk you at work and follow you around every time you go outside to smoke....yet mr. stalker doesn't smoke. Then imagine having to tell your gay boss about it......not fun.

I really only gave this thread a brief overview since I'm busy, and I apologize if anything I say has been said.

This is just one of those things. Some of it is the fact that you may just be a nice character, but a fair bit of it is also the fact that players, although may not be more "attracted" in a sexual sense to you, but rather just in a psychological sense. I mean, the female character (Or what some might assume is a female player) would be a fair bit nicer, maybe less goal-orientated, and overall someone other players want to go with. This is based off a gross number of generalizations, as most of our thoughts are. But personally, I don't even care.

I don't play female characters in this game, not because I never have and/or because I think it's "sick". I've found myself playing a female in World of Warcraft (Female Human Paladin) because the males looked butt ugly. When I adventure in the world, I want a good looking character, regardless of sex. So then why must they make the guys look deformed? I don't know, maybe to force players who desire a cool looking character onto the female sex. I do however, understand that players tend to be more "clingy" to female characters, probably due to my generalized reasons which I stated above. Size doesn't seem to have anything to do with it, it's sex-based.

They're just more interested in talking to you, for whatever reason it may be (It varies between players) as opposed to the manly man with a beard. It's nothing new, and I'm sorry that I don't really have any advice for you to perhaps help you, except to keep your "cicle" of friends select. Just need to tough it out really. I would just ignore them. Sure, you may think it isn't nice, but it isn't nice interrupting someone either.

There is more than one girl in any given world. So it makes sense that some people may not experience it, and/or you may not experience it all the time. Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't make the people who have had this experience paranoid. It's based purely on chance.

i admit i prefer to play with people who use female characters, alot like SSE4 said its the generalizations. Most people who play male chars are more agressive by nature, they seem to talk less and run ahead of the group more(this is my experience it may be different for you, and i have found a few male players like myself who dont have this "i can do it myself" attitude) But people who play as female are more talkative, more friendly, and all in all generally better team mates whether its a girl or guy behind the screen dosent really matter its the attitude they approach the game with that makes me want to play with them. I personally refuse to use female characters (tho i was very tempted on my warrior) but this is mainly due to the fact that i like to feel that im the one in the game, and being female REALLY constrews that image i have in my mind

From my gaming experiences: Sometimes there is a group of young puppies who cling to the first person crossing their path and label that person a friend. They will doggishly follow the friend and never tire from tells/suggestions/questions/invites, no matter how bruntly kicked or how often deviously slaughtered by luring them as "bait" for the level-impossible-uber-slaying-monster-from-hell.

The good news is that those persons are rarely "gender based" in their targetting, they are 1) too insecure to speak to other gender 2) random in their approach.

Normal players answer a question when asked about basic gameplay (ergo like where is the exit). Some take that up as a signal for the "friend label"

Like most vermin, very hard to get rid of.
One method that seems infallible though. Will not post on forum due to "sensitive ears" being about.

PM it to me, I can tell it will make me laugh