Gender in Gaming

I had a very interesting conversation with C about my female characters getting hit on in World of Warcraft. Much of it was background as she hadn't read this blog yet, but we got into discussions of women having to deal with unwanted attention from men all the time. I certainly know that I'm as much of a perpetrator as any other guy. (This dovetails with another conversation I had with N, concerning stalkers and unwanted advances, but deals with the less physically threatening aspects of sexual advances.)

We also talked about why I would feel disturbed by being flirted with online when in real life I enjoy the attention. There's the obvious point that I knew I was being flirted with by guys, and open minded or not, I'm not bi (...although I did flirt back with that one guy... lol). C pointed out that WoW is a role playing game and I should really see it as no more than that. I agree with that. I have no trouble separating myself from my character, but when I start chatting with someone I don't RP the character - I'm me, so the flirt from a male character is more... odd? I think I will put a little more distance between myself and Lindera and go with it that way.