Do you find playing a character of the other gender awkward?

[Ellie O'Daire]

It's all just a character. Yeah, if I'm pouring a lot of myself into the character (IE: Shepard from Mass Effect), I'd rather play one that's female, but if it's a character that I feel is already well defined (IE: Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell) I'm also happy playing the character as it's handed to me. Heck, I'll even play the character when the game doesn't really want me to, like in Double Agent not ever taking certain actions that are available because I don't think Sam would.

 

[karamazovnew]

I male, but if I can choose my character's sex, then:
- Generic games without much character involvement (ex, MMO's, Pokemon, Torchlight etc): always female, always the same name. Rare exceptions like Skyrim where females have a weird animation and don't make much sense in a ton of armor. However I don't really like that in FPS games such as Mirror's Edge or Portal, where I can't actually see my character.
- Games with a ton of character development, but without any sexual choices: I'd say 50-50. Depends on the game. Depends who looks better.
- Games with sexual or romantic encounters, by choice: I prefer to play male, for obvious reasons (I'm as straight as a laser beam). One single exception would be Mass Effect, where my female Shepard was so damn beautiful I had to turn her into a proper biatch to the drooling guys around me. Couldn't even be a proper lesbian. Sometimes I really envy bisexuals.

If I can't choose the character's sex, then I'd probably have a real problem playing as a female through sex scenes, or having a kissy kissy character in it. Bayonetta felt strange to me for that exact reason. Duke Nukem? not so much. So I get the point... But sex is usually rare in games, and I'd rather is stayed that way.

 

[Flamb3Nobunaga]

It really is a toss up for me. In MMO's or RPG's like Skyrim, Dark Souls, or Mass Effect, I'll play as a dude because it makes it easier for me to project myself on the character. If I'm playing a shooter like Gears of War or any other genre with established characters, for some strange reason I like playing as a Girl. I guess it has something to do with my fascination and admiration of ass-kicking, tough-as-nails female characters. Occasionally I'll play as FemShep in Mass Effect if I'm doing a renegade run because FemShep as a Renegade is just more believable as a renegade than MaleShep

 

[Dragonbums]

I never feel awkward playing characters of the opposite gender.
Of course, being a woman, it's not like I can be exactly picky. I don't project myself into the game as the character so it never bothers me.
As long as the character looks cool, and has an awesome personality, I'm good.

 

[LAGG]

I don't care really, but when the game let's me choose or make my own character I usually choose females. If it's first person I usually choose male but rather have characters that don't say or do anything on their own, but third person I'll always choose female characters.

 

[Seydaman]

Only in Oblivion, because of the community mods.

Otherwise, the choice is meaningless besides maybe romance options, depending on the game.

 

[Madkipz]

How do feel about playing characters of the opposite gender, whether it be in a video game or table top pen and paper RPG's?

I have no particular feelings about it. I have made/played both male and female characters in both, as have most of my friends in my RP group.

I do have one friend, while awkward wouldn't be the right word for it, he has no qualms about playing a female character (had a rather strong amazon build on Diablo 2 if I remember), but if given the option he will make a male character. I think that springs from when he would DM, if a male player made a female character, he had them try to mimic the female voice. we eventually abandoned this practice as too many times we would forget, and had a female character with a male sounding voice.

I have a harder time not playing as the opposite gender because the guy role tends to be filled with tropes and it just gets uninteresting. At least the girl side trends on being allowed more emotional narratives or simply the choices have different meanings. Not sure if that makes sense to you, but I like lusting for the male leads and going about it as a female beats having a gay alternative thing simply because you're kind of likely to get locked into one specifically tuned gay romantic interests or get a superficially everyone's gay for the main character which is equally stupefying.

We live in a world where, inside of us there exists the capacity to be so much and most of the time we keep that locked away behind a rational exterior when in reality there is a malleable chaos existing out of plain sight. I tend to lean towards exploring the effeminate side of that chaos.

 

[___________________]

No. They both do the same things in terms of gameplay. And you get to look at something slightly different in extra playthroughs.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

In a single player game it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Even in most multiplayer games it doesn't bother me. It does, however, bother me in MMOs and, as such, I always play as male in those.

Not sure why on that last one to be honest. In League of Legends, most of the characters I like are coincidentally female but in that case gender and even character appearance is distant concern after functionality. I don't even have the option to play a male equivalent of Lux or Kayle.

 

[Autotelic]

Given the option, I usually decide to play as a female if I'm given the choice. If I'm playing a game with an element of romance (e.g. Dragon Age) I definitely feel more comfortable as a female character. I just find it easier to be immersed in a game if everyone is talking to me like a girl.

I prioritise it enough that I decided to play as a girl in Mount & Blade, despite knowing that NPCs are sexist. There was something very satisfying about the way they all suddenly shut up about my sex as soon as I gained a shred of wealth, renown and power.

Like the poster above, I also prefer to play as female in an MMO. It used to be a problem in games like Runescape - some people would make uncomfortable advances - but nobody's mentioned it in Guild Wars or Guild Wars 2 so far.

 

[VajraDante]

I don't really think that's awkward at all . When I'm playing as Jill Valentine, Samus or Bayonetta I don't feel "uncomfortable" at all. I see them as what they are, game characters with a story and a personality, not just eye candy.

 

[Grahav]

- Games with sexual or romantic encounters, by choice: I prefer to play male, for obvious reasons (I'm as straight as a laser beam). One single exception would be Mass Effect, where my female Shepard was so damn beautiful I had to turn her into a proper biatch to the drooling guys around me. Couldn't even be a proper lesbian. Sometimes I really envy bisexuals.

I have the same problem, it is awkward as hell to have your avatar dating a guy. And the irrational part my brain starts saying: "Stay away from my woman"!

Yeah, it is stupid. It comes from the irrational part.

But if there is no romance involved it is either way to me. Many stories aren't about specific genders, they are about humans. Some stuff affects everybody.

 

[Schadrach]

I usually play a male character when given the choice with no game play influence, but have no problem with preconstructed female characters (in fact I mostly play Mechromancer on Borderlands 2, in an Ordered Chaos/Best Friends Forever build with a Slayer of Terramorphous and Conference Call -- I may have -1080% accuracy, but I shoot everywhere at once! DODGE THAT!) assuming they're well constructed (bad characters are bad characters, regardless of gender).

Hoping Remember me is as good as it looks, it Watch Dogs, and the Last of Us all have me wishing the days would pass just a bit faster.

 

[Olas]

Shit, wrong thread, ignore this necropost.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Nah. Unless I specifically create the character/the character is a blank slate intended/implied to be the player themselves, I tend not to attach myself to characters. Really, I don't find many fictional characters relatable, mostly because my life is boring and uneventful. No dead parents, medical depression or saving the world for me.

I don't see why I would find it awkward. If anything, I prefer to play as female characters. I suppose I'm just sick of stoic, burly dudes. Stoic, curvy chick it is. (Get it? Because it's like the same thing? *wink wink*)

Or, maybe I'm just a very manly girl. Or a very girly man. Or maybe both.

Mind = blown.

 

[PinkiePyro]

no, not really...
in fact I found it better back when I played maplestory, back then girls would get harassed with random marriage requests...
which got even more annoying when my char. was already married to my friend's char.
(unlike some games married couples got an attack bonus when near each other and we already hung out a lot so *shrugs*)
I ended up making a male secondary to play as when my friend/husband wasn't on so the harassment would stop

it might also be effected by the fact most of my early gaming years were spent with games where you were stuck with a male protagonist like legend of zelda and pokemon r/b

 

[Johnny Impact]

I find playing my own gender in real life to be awkward. I don't feel like a man.

I don't mean I'm gay or trans or whatever. What I mean is a man knows how to install a screen door. A man likes beer and football and motorcycles. A man thinks sex is more important than love and the worth of a man is the number of notches on his bedpost. And so forth. It's not that I have no identity. I know who I am. I simply have no confidence in that person's ability to fit into the space that exists for him.

I can be anything in a game, from a raging barbarian to a blue hedgehog to whatever Gomez is. Always less awkward than being myself.