I saw a thread here on gender dysphoria in games, and the general idea of playing as an avatar that matches the gender you are vs. the gender you were born, but I was curious about expressing your gender in the online gaming environment.

I'm curious to know if anyone else here plays games online as their expressed gender rather than the gender they were born? And if so, what have your experiences been?

I generally don't play online games as much as I do single-player, narrative-driven ones, but when I find an online multiplayer game I like, I tend to stick with it for a long time. I also tend to play games online expressing as female. I found this to be a particularly "safe" outlet for me to express as my true gender without as many scary consequences of being clocked out and about in the real world. Just being gendered correctly by friends online has actually helped alleviate a lot of the stress I build up living as a male day to day pre-transition.

To clarify, I never engage in cat fishing, or any sort of deceptive behavior online. Those who know me online as female know me based on pictures only of myself, and when I speak, I use my own voice, not something modified to make me "sound" more female.

I've made a number of friends online on PS4 who know me solely as a female. A lot of times it can be re-assuring to be gendered correctly based on my voice, and what images my closer friends have seen of me as female (For those who don't know the Playstation 4 has a "Real Name Request" feature which links to social media like Facebook, allowing others to see an actual photo of you as opposed to a simple avatar). In that regard, I can at least pass online, even if i couldn't do so in person. That's at least a little victory for me considering I'm pre-HRT/Pre-everything really.

Felicity, I feel the exact same way. I was playing a mutiplayer game on Xbox live with a bunch of dudebros (without my microphone on, since my voice isn't exactly passsable) and they were calling me "man," and it was probably one of the most gratifying things that ever happened.

My online avatars are all male, and whenever I make an account on a recreational site, I always select male as my gender.  Every once in awhile I'll just select nothing as my gender, but people seem to assume I'm male anyway, based on what I've been told.

The internet is one of my safe havens, since I don't have to pass visibly our audibly in order to be believable as the correct gender.  It also helps that I am friends with a good number of nonbinary and LGBTQA+ folks, all of whom are very open and accepting about the idea of me being trans.

It's been great, and I play with my mic on and I'm still taken as male only one week on T, just have confidence in yourself and you'll most likely pass, I've been told I sound 16, you sound a little different on the mic and most females are taken for males anyways

I used to go on Second Life a lot and tweaked my avatar constantly. It was nice when people assumed I was female and treated me as such. Felt natural. Also got a taste of what it was like to have guys hit on me. Pretty much the same thing with MMORPG's too, though to a lesser extent.

Now that my RL has caught up with my online presence, it's very gratifying. I've also found I've stopped tweaking or dressing up my avatar a lot. I can be hot online and IRL, so getting complimented on my avatar and then my RL pic in my profile is a very satisfying experience. And taking it even further and talking on mic or going on cam to 'prove' I'm actually female and having the other person be impressed is just awesome. It really makes me appreciate how far I've come now that I can be me online and IRL.

I'm rely glad gaming can be an outlet for both of you ladies, and I'm glad you find the experience enjoyable and comfortable

Well.... I have like 5 significant friends from gaming, 2 know I'm trans, the other 3 know me as female.

My whole clan on Runescape knows me as Vulynn, the teenage girl. I've Skyped with people and they've told me how feminine my voice is.

Passing online for me is oddly easy to do.