Character customization is on its way into Azeroth-- when Wrath of the Lich King comes around (whenever that is), we'll be able to change the way our characters look more than ever. But Blizzard still isn't interested in letting us change the most major functions of our characters-- Vaneras over on the EU forums makes it pretty clear that gender changes are never going to happen.Gender changes are still a subject that inspires a little taboo in real-life, but actually, in World of Warcraft, it's something that a lot of players might want. Plus, while it's obvious that Blizzard wouldn't want people changing race or class (since there are actual abilities that go with both of those choices), there is no difference in the game between male and female, save for the cosmetic look. Sure, the story behind it would be a hard workaround (I'll let you imagine how that might play out, or, more likely, not), but allowing gender changes wouldn't upset the game, and would let those who feel they've made the wrong choice, err, "fix" things.
The fact is, however, that just like race and class, the gender you chose when you rolled a character have probably determined that character's existence. While changing the character's gender is just a cosmetic thing in terms of code, it's not in terms of identity, and that's what Blizzard has a problem with. The idea of a role playing game like WoW is that you choose a role to play. And if you have the option to change that role at a moment's notice, what's the point of asking you to choose in the first place?
Subscribe
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-27-2007 @ 4:47PM
Necrous said...
I'm surprised bizz doesn't jump all over this for the $10 name change that would go hand in hand with the gender changes.
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 4:58PM
Zor said...
makes me wonder...do female toons have a 'hidden' buff?
iv'e noticed a few 'female' toons seemingly better then their identical male counter parts...
would help with the female population.
and explain the oddles of male people playing female toons.
..i dunno >.>
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 5:03PM
Amaryllis said...
Wowinsider can read my mind.... I'm a girl, and I usually prefer playing female characters, but I would love to change my blood elf to a guy, and was wondering if the name change could be taken this far. At the moment, being a rare female Horde char + elf + dodgy chain thong outfit = much, much hassle. That said, blood elf guys are not a great alternative...
Really, though, I can't see that this would really work well. I think you'd just get a whole lot more guys playing girls to get game advantage once they realised the way things work among love-starved WoW geeks (and I know that's not the only reason guys play girls - but on my server I swear it's a big one).
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 5:07PM
Mort said...
Easy, just put in a trinket like the Orb of Deception. (Insert Horrid Joke Here) of Gender Deception.
Honestly I think that women would probably take more advantage of this than men. I have had many a conversation with female guildies and friends that they wish they had rolled males to avoid the attention.
Maybe they will give female warlocks incubi instead of succubi? Or are all female warlocks at least a little bi-curious?
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 5:12PM
Arturis said...
Originally, when I created my engineer Gearhead, I had created him as a male gnome warrior, but at one point I got completely bored with him and decided he should be a rogue instead. So I deleted and rerolled, but this time chose to be female, and I explained the gender shift as an "engineering accident" to anyone that would listen.
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 5:14PM
Aurix said...
I can just imagine some horrible Dr. Mourea-ish transgendered Orc...
:shudder:0
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 5:22PM
Marcus said...
There's enough magic in the world of Warcraft to change Illidan into "neither demon nor night elf, but something more", but not enough to turn Guroth the male orc into Gurlina the female orc :/
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 5:36PM
Juneau said...
Damn, I'd love to change my druid to a chick, I hate the look of Nelf males.
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 5:38PM
Druid dude said...
Seriously? People want to change gender on their characters?
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 5:51PM
Wrenzo said...
There used to be a bug when you ate a Savory Deviate Delight, then used Dartol's Rod of Transformation. If you un-Furbolged yourtself you'd switch gender. At least that's what always happened to my Male Gnome. I'd turn into a saucy Pirate Wench. I haven't tried it lately though. It was pretty funny the first time I saw it happen!
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 7:19PM
Sky_Paladin said...
If you complete Tirion Fordring's quest line in the Western Plaguelands, there's a gnome near Chillwind Point that will turn you into a Scarlet Crusade member - sometimes as a boy, sometimes as a girl.
Unfortunately you can't fight/mine/leave the area with it, but it sure is fun :)
11-27-2007 @ 8:47PM
Scionicle said...
Gender change as an in-game service that has been made available in NCsoft's Lineage 2 just recently with the launch of The 1st Throne: The Kamael. Actually the funny thing is Lineage 2 didn't offer as simple and most required service as character transfer over different servers for quite some time and honestly it's not the best example I can give, but the fact is there is indeed an option to change your gender. In World of Warcraft such service could be available for PvP and PvE servers, but not for RP realms IMO.
Reply
11-27-2007 @ 10:18PM
Pook said...
I really dont understand what Blizzards problem is... If someone wants to give them 10$ to change there Name, Sex, Class, Race - even going from horde to alliance or vice versa.
I dont see that it would be difficult for them to filter out any equipment or what ever that you shouldnt have access to on your new race/class.
Reply
11-28-2007 @ 12:22AM
Jowbulla said...
If you can't figure out what gender you want your character to be when you make it, maybe you should be playing some FPS or something.
Reply
11-28-2007 @ 12:10PM
Fabian said...
If genderchange was allowed why not on a RP-server ?
When you change your name and gender, don't you really change your character?
Just two possibilities for a plot:
1. magic. theres so much magic, why not this kind - voluntarily or involuntarily...
2. new character. when you change name & appearance, you can RP-story the death or MIA of your old character and start with a fresh story for the changed one.
11-28-2007 @ 3:30AM
Miharu said...
I was going to comment about gender changing IRL, and about how difficult it would be to make a beefy male orc into a slim female orc, because the body type just isn't right. It's already hard enough in real world for men to be made into women.
But then after reading the comments, engineering and magic turns people into dragons and whatnot, so why not use those to change gender...
Reply
11-28-2007 @ 9:09AM
jefeweiss said...
I have a character that I would like to change her gender. My first character in WoW is a female tauren, as a male IRL I just didn't really know enough to consider the way people would react to a female character. It seems like there are a good number of people who think that a male playing a female character is perverted in some way. I still don't really get it, but with voice chat it's becoming harder and harder to avoid occasionally interacting with people like that. It would be a lot simpler for me if I could just change my character to male. I really don't have time to level another character to 70 and grind all my reps and gear.
Before voice chat I really didn't as much problems, now I don't even use voice chat in PuGs even though it would be pretty useful.
Reply
1-12-2008 @ 4:00AM
RayT said...
Human & Blood Elf female toons are aesthetically pleasing over the males. I am a male player and I chose a female toon thinking why would rather look at a female toon over the male, plus their stats (male & female) are the same. I played solo and didn't really interact with anyone but later on the interaction almost became necessary as quests became harder and I found myself doing more instances & group quests. Thats when choosing a female toon becomes very awkward. I contacted Blizzard about this, explaining that this was my first character and my first time playing WOW and that I had no idea of the game dynamics that would come into play. In addition to this mistake, I believe I chose a bad realm and wrong type of realm. I asked for assistance from Blizzard but their policy is very unforgiving, even to new customers that may have made some initial mistakes without knowing.
I think everyone should have 1 such change that is permitted due to them being new etc. The changes however should be only for toons of the same race and type.
Unsatisfied with Blizzard's stance - I stopped playing. Blizzard has become complacent and has forgotten the value of real world money...
11-28-2007 @ 9:15AM
Betsy said...
I have forever regretted not making my warlock a gnome. I'd pay money in a heartbeat if they'd let it happen.
Reply
11-28-2007 @ 9:38AM
Linkage said...
I actually base my Wow characters on people I know in real life, so changing their gender would seem a bit strange to me.
Reply