I have often been asked why I chose to play a male character in WoW when I am female. It's an interesting point. Many of the female gamers I know have rolled male models at some point. It's certainly not for the same reason that many male gamers roll a female avatar. From various conversations I've had that is more to do with running around the WoW-verse staring at a cute, pert little butt than anything else. For female gamers there is often a more insidious reason for choosing to roll a male avatar. It's simple, we don't want you "boys" to know we are women!
When I first started playing WoW I rolled my very first little character an Orc Hunter, called Moggoth. I rolled the female model and I liked the look, but what I didn't appreciate was the reaction I got when trying to join a group, it wasn't unusual to be kicked from a group just because I admitted there really was a woman behind the keys. I was surprised at the level of mysogyny, that female gamers were considered to be "inferior" and "emo", that simply we were too easily offended and couldn't handle the stresses of the game. I was left sitting in my chair wondering whether a male gamer being able to handle the stress of using a mouse better than a woman was down to too much testosterone and "one-handed play" - obviously this would, infact, give you a much strong wrist and therefore allow many more hours of play before RSI set in - because they were never going to find a girlfriend with that attitude!
So all this gave rise to the fact that I started rolling a male characters. The most notable of which has been a Blood Elf Tankadin called Braegor, who has been my Main for a very long time now. My experience of playing a male tank has been that I bypassed all the abuse that came with either being or being perceived to be a woman and could just get on with what I love to do without having to defend my position all the time. It was a relief to finally be able to play in peace, get a group whenever I wanted and not have some snotty fourteen year old tell me I couldn't play just because I didn't have extraneous accoutrements between my legs!
When I "come-out" as being a female people are genuinely surprised, generally not angry but quite shocked all the same. I wouldn't say I get extra kudos for being a female who plays a tank but certainly it's just not something that people are expecting. Only once did I get told to go and roll a female "fluffy class" like a priest, funny how people perceive that healers should be played by women, there must be a maternal psychology going on there somewhere.
As for females not being able to "handle" the stress of the game, my experience has been that it is just not true, the females I play with generally tend to be more philosophical when it comes to wiping and other disasters, they also tend to be more interested in furthering the progress of the group at their own expense and less obsessed with gaining every "phat epic" that comes along. Female epeen does exist, and yes I have met female players who have had there head so far up their vagina I am surprised they even managed to target a mob but they are, thank Thrall, a minority! Personally, I don't mind swearing or stressful situations but I just don't like abuse for the sake of abuse (and why should any player, female or not, put up with that anyway?).
The fact is, though, that having women in WoW does change the game, especially when you get to end-game but it's nothing to do with the female play-style or their ability to play. It's all about human interaction. I'd like to say I'd never been hit on in WoW and until I entered end-game raiding it just didn't happen, but as soon as you start interacting with your fellow guilides in a more "intimate" way and using VoIP things change. As I got to know people better I got hit on more often, mostly it wasn't intrusive or enough to feel like I was being pestered, but I was aware of it. I suppose in some ways I invited it because the more I got to know these people, who I now considered my friends, the more I relaxed and was more "myself" and I am quite a flirty person. It happened with other female guildies too, they found themselves in a position where they got into "flirtations" and it does change the nature of the relationships in the guild, there is no avoiding it. That is just what happens when men and women get together, it's all just biology! Is it bad for a guild? Yes and no. It's not while there is no seriousness and it's all just still good fun, and when parties aren't falling out... but when it gets messy it can and often is a guild-breaker.
I'm not advocating that women shouldn't play WoW or that we should have "female-only guilds" - though I am aware that there are some of those floating around the WoW-verse - just that as much as WoW is game it is also a microcosm of the real world and that there is no stopping the natural interactions between men and women. I could never be someone that criticizes it either, I would have never met my lovely Druid if it wasn't for WoW, but at the same time I do recognise how destructive these interactions are to game progression.
Interestingly, though, now I am "loud and proud" to be a female gamer, I actually would prefer to play my characters in the female model. Braegor has really fallen by the wayside because I no longer feel such a personal attachment to him. I am much happier playing my Shadowpriest, Nakia - a female troll. I feel much more comfortable not hiding away behind a male avatar. I think a lot of that comes from the fact that I am confident in my ability as a player and that I am happy to tell any misogynists to go boil their heads in a vat of bat guano!
