I remember this one
friend from long time ago. She was a Dark Elf, dressed in a greenish,
middle-level wizard robes. Strangely enough, her name was 084 something…
possibly her phone number, as I’ve never tried to call. We were good friends;
for a lone warrior like me, a wizard is a great help. We stuck together
wherever we went, spending so much times together that someone might actually take
it as a romance. It was not. I was aware of the fact that everything is in the
online world and… how should I put it… to be honest I wasn’t sure if she was
really a ‘she’, either…
In
the United States, the only humungous and most populated MMORPG that I know of
is World of Warcraft. However, back in Asia, the number of such games might
result in the hundreds. MMORPG, which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online
Role-playing Games, are games that allow you to create you character, your
‘identity’, and perform activities according to the theme of the game including
adventure, fighting monsters, racing of any kind, treasure hunting, and much
more. The capacity of virtual worlds in MMORPG is gigantic; the number of users
can result in the millions. And, needless to say, with games that are based on
cooperation and interaction between living human beings, communication is
unavoidable. Unfortunately, along with that, some disruptive behaviors
follow, the ones worth mentioning being gender bending. Gender bending
is when someone of one gender chooses to appear as the opposite gender in
online context. Usually gender bending is considered and dishonesty or even
betrayal if found out later in relationships, as we can see in examples given
in class about Joan and Ms. Terious. However, gender bending in the
world of MMORPG has a different motives and consequences, for more exotic than
normal social networking sites.
As
we probably can tell, majority of MMORPGs players are males. However, the
proportion of the two genders of characters in the games is quite equal, even
leaning toward females. Seeing female characters played by male players is
rather common in this context. Research reports that males are 3-4 times more
likely to gender bend than females, and older men are more likely to play a
female character than younger males. Yet,
there’s no such thing as considering gender-bending a disruptive behavior, or
at least no strong feelings against it. What are the motives of gender benders?
And why, then, is gender bending in online games not frowned upon?
Researchers
have been conducting online polls and, from numerous comments and answers, come
up with top three reasons of gender bending: first, if you are going to look at
a butt for hours from now on (most MMORPGs are in third-person perspective),
you better look at a nice one. Second, as most games are made by males, female
characters’ models are paid more attention and look more fluid and pleasant.
Third, female avatars, just like in real world, are treated better. (Not so
sure about the last one because as most users are aware of gender bending,
sometimes they don’t take it quite seriously.) With the first reason being the
most popular and sound, at last gender binding in online games might only be of
artistic and sexual appeals.
Why,
then, is gender bending acceptable in such context? In my opinion, it all comes
down to the concept of goals or functions of the communication. In our
examples presented in class, the goal of their communication is to create a relationship,
possibly a romantic one. It is very different in the world of online games.
There might be cases which female avatars commit fraud or something of that
nature to others, but those are less likely. Users gender bend for themselves,
and as everybody is aware of it or might even did it before, the disruptive
behavior becomes a personal choice as it hurts nobody.
Gender
bending itself can be a serious matter, especially to those who are looking for
real relationships. In the context of MMORPGs, however, the issue has a new
take to it. Despite the interesting nature of gender bending in MMORPGs, lots
of people still find their love online and bring it out to the real word. As a
computer-mediated technology, the virtual worlds in these games still perform
their task; to bring people together no matter where they are.
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