I can't seem to leave internet gender swapping alone. Quiet at the back.
I asked Richard Bartle, the virtual worlds guru (remember MUD?), for his take on Nottingham Trent's findings that many women choose to play male characters online in order to avoid unwanted attention from pheremone crazed web geeks.
"How does that square with the move to Voip which is so prevalent in virtual worlds these days?" he asked. "After all, you can't pretend you're not female if you only have to open your mouth and then everyone knows."
Fair point, Bartle. Perhaps the next niche market in Second Life's strange economy will be supplying voice modulation software to all those gender swapping furries who fancy keeping their secret identity hidden.
