"Pretending" to be male online as a kid...

[Wilhelm]

When I was 10, I, along with everyone I knew used to hang out at this website called Stardoll. I know it's lame but, it was different then.

Anyway, you have like an internet doll. You decorate it's house and buy it clothes. In the beginning you choose whether for it to be male or female. I chose female because I thought that was what I should do. Later on though, I didn't think it felt quite right. So I changed it to male and bought some male clothes. One of my friends asked me about this. I panicked and said that my brother had borrowed my account. I changed it back to female, created a new account, as male. And never went back to the female one. But nobody knew about this new account I'd made. And you could join clubs on there, the first thing I did was join an *only boys* club. 

And that was probably when it started, then whenever I joined somewhere I always said I was male. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences?

[vik2ray]

i used to do that to. but over the years all my old accounts still bear my distinct changes in personality. but seem to keep similar names n backgrounds. like mygaia account only recently got changed to a male version because i had the most freinds there. but when i started transitioning my character changed. so it wasnt much of a shock to close freinds. but it waas on my facebook to a few people.

[Natkat]

so far I got the net I always been male as I remember.
I guess the reason where because for a time the internet was the only place I could be a guy and no one would questionate it,
I felt kinda bad for that but I also felt bad about not doing so.

it where first when I got older I also got openminded enought to put me on as transgender some places, but in general I am just male.

[anibioman]

ive always 'pretended' i was male in role playing with my brothers and other kids, in online games, and such.

[malinkibear]

I was always a guy on games and stuff, and wouldn't say or suggest otherwise. I was happy with people assuming I was a dude.

[Keaira]

I used to chat in an anime chat room as a girl and on my messengers as one. Even if I didn't try to be one people still thought I was female. And I was extremely happy about it. Of course there were people who got a little too close and I had to 'disappear'. But it was kind of a releif from my GID. And I hated telling people that I was born with a male body.

[rexyrex]

yep male online like games and that tried female but doesn't feel right

[Keaira]

Ironically, when I tried to chat as a male, people thought I was really female pretending to be male. It didn't feel real to me either.

[Sharky]

I always did that.

[Arch]

There was no "online" when I was a kid. I had to be satisfied with my own imagination and the occasional stranger who called me "Sonny."

[Devyn]

I did it all the time.

[blake]

People always assumed I was male from how I wrote. I'm not sure why. It was great. I used to get a kick out of correcting them by telling them "I'm female", but it felt false and the interactions never lasted long after that. Maybe it's obvious when you don't believe yourself.

One of my favourite hobbies now is online gaming. Everyone assumes you're a guy if it's CoD, and that is absolutely fine by me.  Gotta confess that it would be funny to win and then say that I'm a girl... there's just not enough room on the internet for some players' egos! If only I was less crap...

[Konnor]

Lol yeah I did this too, glad I'm not the only one. I was big into chat rooms and "cybering" and all that junk when the internet was new to me, and I always used my "male persona" with a male name I thought was cool at the time. I did this for years until I found out about transgender stuff. Looking back, I guess this should have been a sign that maybe things weren't right.

[Vincent E.S.]

I would play as a male about as often as I would a female. I always switched back and forth on things. Sometimes it was because when there's a dropdown menu for male/female, male would be on top and so would automatically be selected, and I just never bothered to change it and just went along. When I joined LOTRO (Lord Of The Rings Online), it was back when it first came out (we pre-ordered it), so I picked the gender neutral character - the dwarf, but everyone assumed I was male anyway.

When it comes to chat sites, I used to get on Omegle all the time, again, back when it was a bit newer and wasn't completely overrun by the trollz for lolz people. Most people assumed I was male by the way I talked, so I would screw with their heads and say I was a girl, and then laugh endlessly.

[Kentrie]

When I played Runescape in 5th grade I used to play as a guy named Derek.

[hwytoaster]

When I was 10, there wasn't an internet. LOL But I had 3 male cousins, and we'd play army. You know, wear cammo, put anything black, brown & green on our faces, and chase each other with toy guns. 

[JohnAlex]

Yep, I did this too.  For some reason, it just felt right, it just felt more comfortable to present as male online.  but even then I didn't know I was trans. 
Now I look back, and it should have been so obvious to me.

[Sauce]

lol, I did that every time I could make my own character. Habbo Hotel, My Coke Studios, Runescape. And it was really nice because I got the type of attention I had always been seeking.

[BlindedSkies]

Same exact thing here with a MMORPG (maplestory o-o;), after making a male account, I felt soo much better 

[Wolf]

YES. Actually this was part of the road to realising... Ever since I was 8, my mum then used to play Everquest (mmorpg) and she let me have a character, and I created a male Paladin. And thus began a long and arduous relationship with this game- when I got my own PC in my room with internet I was pretty much addicted to it.

I got that you could be addicted to a game but it felt like more than that, I was addicted to who I was- at the time conceived as the male version of me, and in some ways, then I thought it was a lie. Only when I realised the true nature of why I wanted to exist only in that world and why I'd rather be there than go out with my real life friends did I realise that actually all I was doing was... Being me.

I was addicted to the game, but also to actually being able to just be me and not have to act at all to how people thought I should be. I had to quit the game for exams and I never went back, but I came out not long after. I still miss just being able to be me and not worry about 'passing', but actualising myself in reality... Is far more rewarding.