Friday 30 April 2004

Pic of the day: I am not a woman in real life, and I don't have glowing eyes in real life. Which of these is the more important to know?

Games, girls and "girls"

I have played online games since the time when MUD (Multi User Dungeons) was considered the ultimate gaming experience. There's one thing that has changed very little over the years: A majority of the players are boys or men, and some of us are playing female characters from time to time.

It is a safe bet that the same thing goes on in the newly released online game City of Heroes. Superhero comic books have traditionally appealed more to boys than to girls. This is certainly not without exception: For instance, Al Schroeder of Nova Notes fame famously met his future wife in the letter column of Superman. (Schroeder is currently writing and drawing the online comic MindMistress.) But generally superhero comics are the domain of young males. You would not necessarily believe that when entering the online world of Paragon City.

Most of the characters you'll see in City of Heroes are indeed male, but there is also a substantial female population. In all fairness, there is also a substantial female population on the message board. Then again, women are generally better with language and overall more communicative, not to mention that I notice them more easily... Anyway, it is a safe bet that some of the female characters are played by men (in fact, I play some of them myself) and some by women. Some girls also confess to playing male characters from time to time, although this seems less frequent.

***

Here is a bit of free advice: Don't just out of the blue ask a female character "Are you a woman in real life?"

You may think 'Why not? The worst that could happen is that she says no.' But that's where you are mistaken. In fact, that is one of the best things that could happen. The most likely thing to happen is that your fellow player will seriously wonder about your motives. Pretty bad things that could happen are, for instance, the other player's parents deciding to cancel the account to save their precious little kids from roving pedophiles like you. You see, even in the case that the other player actually is female, this is highly unlikely to help you in any way. She could be underage, or a grandmother. Even if not, women have this tendency to either be married or have a boyfriend. This is particularly likely if they are good-looking or have a winning personality.

It is highly unlikely that in an online game you will just happen to find a woman whose womanliness will be of any use to you. So don't ask in the first place, unless your need is very generic... For instance, if you are actually a girl yourself and want opinions on good painkillers for the monthly pain, or something. And frankly, I don't see an online game like this as the natural forum for such requests.

***

Even when I play a male hero (and I do that a lot too), what you see is not exactly what you get. For instance, I am not nearly as eager to pick a fight in real life. In real life people can actually die; and even if not, broken bones don't heal in two minutes. Also in real life I cannot run long distances or leap over tall fences. Not to mention that I don't look nearly as athletic...

In short, I think City of Heroes is a particularly bad place for romance. The girls are not always girls, the boys are not always boys; and even when they are, they are not themselves. And unlike EverQuest, people don't sit around for a long time waiting for things to happen. So do yourself a favor, check out girls somewhere else.

(In related news, last week my online journal got a hit from someone searching for "city of heroes babes". Make of that what you will.)