Sexual Dimorphism and Gender Identity

[Wuvvums]

I've always been contemplating this about WoW and it made me think how hard it is to toy around with different gender identities. For an example, if you were to play a character like Mulan, I still think it'd be assumed by others that your character is a female because of the model. You could emote it and put it in your RSP, but I think a lot of appearances are often judged by the model.

So I was wondering, could it be possible to make a character the opposite model? Even if the human male and female look drastically different in WoW, I would think that there are some human males that could make themselves look like a female and vice versa, if only because humans in real life can do this too. I think the same can go for blood elves, gnomes, dwarves, and undead. Would it be allowable for one of these races to roll a male character but use the female model?

My biggest worry is that someone may get offended by the notion, but I see this as the best way to play a character who wants to express their gender. I also think it would be a rather unique experience, and one that hasn't been touched upon much, perhaps because of the fact that it seemed impossible to make a character that has an androgynous model. What are your thoughts and ideas on it?

[Binkleheimer]

It's already been done on this server.
Yes, it is possible.

[Wuvvums]

Oh? Which character?

[Miah]

I imagine its would be easier with some races than others. After all, some really do have a large difference between male and female, such as orcs, or draenei.
Dwarves though, for example, its almost a running gag that if you put a beard on a female dwarf you wouldnt know the difference, and before world of warcraft, it was actually part of the setting, before they decided that people might rage over female dwarves having the optional beard.

So for me, it would work with:
Human
Dwarf
Night elf
Gnome
Troll
Blood elf

But not with

Orc
draenei
Tauren

As their gender divide is much larger than with the others, by body mass.

[Nostra]

Trolls are pretty different too, I mean they hardly look to be the same species,

[Wuvvums]

I actually heard in alpha that tauren had very little dimorphism, and that the females were just as big, if not slightly bigger, than the males. Same goes with trolls.

The call for the sexual dimorphism was to cater to the player demands, so I am curious if tauren and trolls can be included in that list.

[Etmosril]

I can name Valentin as a character who's played with a model of the opposite gender. Yup, it's possible.

[Dotsy]

I've seen several people do this. The reasons behind it are good ones, I think. It just goes to show that not all male characters are the muscular type or that females can be the muscular types as well. (I know of several characters in those scenarios.)

[Anski]

I've seen it done, and support the idea completely.

[Xigo]

Notably, ChampionMouse played Pakna, who was essentially the Orcish Mulan.

All of us in the Bloodsworn were okay with this, and our characters acted as though she was male. Which, humorously, culminated with my character falling in love with Pakna and then being disgusted once she found out the truth.

Regardless. It's doable with Orcs, with dedication.

[Wuvvums]

I'm quite happy that people are in support of this idea! I actually haven't seen this one done a lot myself, so I didn't know if it was something the playerbase was alright with.

[McKnighter]

Well, Caidrah aka whatever her demonic name is now... Was a Blood Elf female.

Now she uses a male Fel Orc model. /nod


Btw, 700 posts... So, /does a dance

[Wuvvums]

Congrats, McKnighter

And I remember seeing Caidrah too, before becoming demonic.

[BountyHunter]

I can name Valentin as a character who's played with a model of the opposite gender. Yup, it's possible.

. . . -Fistpump-

But, anywho, yeah, go ahead and do it but I would recommend thinking about how such a thing would affect your character too if they look quite a bit like the opposite gender. For most people it would make them uncomfortable around others due to the fact that when they find out the truth (if they find out the truth) there is a good chance of someone growing a distaste towards them. This is actually what Valentin is afraid of and thus rarely ever tells the truth to anyone and is horrified about doing so, expecially to a friend.