Playing female avatars

In another 'aside' post - I am often flamed for playing female avatars in (video) games - gay!  you're gay! (since when has that actually been an insult anyway?)  ...I'd say, when presented with the choice, about 98% of the time I'll end up rolling a female, and there are two distinct reasons for this:

The first is somewhat Machiavellian.  In my experience one frequently receives more beneficent reactions from other players when they believe you to be female.  I'm not going to bother with the whys and wherefores of this, the psychology behind it - I think its largely obvious. But its true.  In not a few cases I have received gifts from other players (and even been chatted up a few times) just because they believe I'm a girl gamer (obviously VOIP tends to pretty swiftly ruin the illusion, unless they think I'm a 200 a day smoker I guess). 

The second reason is simple: If I'm going to play a game for tens or hundreds of hours, I much prefer watching a woman run around the screen!

In fact there is a third reason: and that is; I actually gain some pleasure out of creating a female alter-ego for myself - just to make my illusion of being a girl-gamer a little more compelling.  And I guess this reveals a little of my roleplaying roots - and I suppose also hazy insight into my character that I enjoy this deception.  I do take this alter-ego quite far in that I avoid using typically male phrasiology when chatting in-game.  And I have a robust backstory for my female persona should anyone ask me any personal 'out-of-character' questions.  Essentially I'm roleplaying two characters, I'm playing a girl playing a .

Maybe there's a fourth too.  Maybe somewhere in there playing a female enables me to psychologically express my desire for female empowerment.

Chances are it mostly a voyeuristic two though.