• Kestrel [comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I'd say it's also, for some people (whether they realize it or not) a more accessible form of gender expression than crossdressing.

    • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Can confirm, I was born a girl but found myself using male avatars a lot because they felt right. Am now non-binary. :hexbear-non-binary:

      • MiraculousMM [he/him, any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        :sankara-salute: We love our feathered enby friends, don't we folks? :hexbear-non-binary:

      • riley
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        deleted by creator

    • VernetheJules [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Lol I was so repressed I would never pick femme characters because deep down I knew that was what I wanted for myself. I didn't want to give myself an inch in experimentation or else I'd risk opening the floodgates. Crossdressing was even more of a no-no for the same reasons.

      So yeah I totally believe that.

      • Orannis62 [ze/hir]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I would always pick female characters in games, but otherwise I was the same- I avoided femme presentation in all other contexts because I was so scared that, like, what happens if I like it? What does it reveal about me?

        The irony of ascribing THAT much power to presentation, though, is that at one point I worked up courage to try a dress, expecting to either feel repulsed or like it was 100% correct, only to find that, like, it was just a piece of clothing. The fact that it didn't have the innate power I was expecting ironically ended up delaying my realization that I was trans by like 5 years.

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I think that "digital expression" is its own thing. I've never had the urge to crossdress irl, but I always play girls in MMOs, and I know a lot of other guys like that (it's the plurality in FF14, with over half of the players playing as catgirls). I dunno if there's any research into this though it's just the vibe I get.

      • Orannis62 [ze/hir]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Worth mentioning that the video makes a distinction about this. There's a very real and noted difference between how people conceive of characters in traditional games vs avatars in VR, especially in VR setups with enough presence

          • Orannis62 [ze/hir]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Basically, the degree to which VR is able to make you feel like you're genuinely in a different reality.

            • ugly_disabled_cishet [none/use name]
              ·
              3 years ago

              No doubt every setup in existence doesn't even live up to the immersiveness of Vr.5. Does VR chat force a first person perspective? And is that enough or not even necessary to be "enough presence"? What level of setup broke the barrier for you?

              • Orannis62 [ze/hir]
                ·
                3 years ago

                Hell if I know, I've only done VR once and that was just to try Beatsaber lol

        • ssjmarx [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet, but it does sound interesting.