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

[Quazimofo]

Nope because unlike some people I treat the character as her own person and in RPGs I just shape her personality and ideals.I personally find it weird that people are "uncomfortable" playing as a female game character.

It's a bit immersion breaking, as it is more difficult for me to feel like I'm making a choice or being some version of myself when it is a female character, since one of my core defining features is that I am male (and everything good and bad that comes along with it).
Of course, this is less of a problem when I'm playing a game where dialogue choice isn't an option, and as such the character is more someone else than myself (like saint's row the third or gears of war or something, I'm not playing myself I'm playing someone else with their own history and ideas and personality, and I'm just helping them along and steering them at times).

Still, I may get over this odd feeling as I've recently become the DM for my group of buddies, and so I'll need to play a female at some point to maintain verisimilitude.

 

[Talshere]

snip

I struggle to play female chars in table top RP simply because I struggle to RP it, Ive been told generally they end up as a very stereotypical female merc style, very manly. However, in most PC games where sex is an option, including RPG's like Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect I almost exclusively play female chars. This does not proclude me from the male romance options though I will admit often I find the primary male romance option to be transparent, whiny and shallow (see Alister in DA:O) and usually end up going with one of the female options as a result if they are available.

In hindsight, gained right now, however, this may be a social conditioning thing as apart from the shoe cliché I dont not have the same problem with Leliana from DA:O. Thus the ideal of an emotionally dependant male is inherently unappealing to me while the same is not of a female.

Hmm. Interesting.

All you need to do is look at the the female character ratio of classic and BC WoW raids however to discover that the majority of adult gamers have little issue with playing a female avatar. In a 25 man raid you could expect 23 men playing women with the irony being the 2 male characters we played by women.

So the idea that adult men wont play a female lead is blatantly unfounded, unless of course you marketing your M rated/17+ games at minors who usually only play there own sex...That however is an entirely different problem and ulterior motive.

 

[Auron]

I dislike it, even more if I created the character so I just don't do it. The games that have premade characters with personalities, it depends if it's a really great game I might give it a look but will generally avoid.

As an addendum, I've seem some weird stuff at the VTM table that has made me enforce a "stick to your gender" rule in my RPG. There was also a lesbian sorceress who liked to stop on every brothel in a D&D campaign a long time ago, this certainly helped my decision I guess I'm too traumatized to relay what happened during Vampire... But suffice it to say I have never seem a decent cross-gender character that wasn't a sad stereotype or unintended caricature.

By the way, isn't the "I'd rather stare at a woman's ass" thing a little weird? It's goddamn pixels and I'd rather have my representation in a virtual world be the same gender(and a few other relatable characteristics) as I am than looking at female pixels.

 

[Berithil]

Nope.

I actually have both male and female characters in both the Elder Scrolls games, and the Fallout games. I like to have some variety.

 

[2fish]

Nope. I tend to play women unless the story calls for me to be male or the companions are based on your choice. I will be male in KOTOR 2 as I want a kick ass team of visas and handmaiden. I mean it is still my character so some extension of myself, it just has boobies.

Let?s face it having boobies is not such a big disconnect when most male characters you see have muscles I will never have.


I tend to make my female avatar look like she has been in some fights, not little miss perfect.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

I'm fine with it. If I get to make my own characters my first one is always male but thats because that one is "Me" if you get what i mean.
But even then I always alternate Male, Female, Male, Female, Male, Female until I get bored of the game.

When I have no option then I don't really care. Unless I'm roleplaying all player characters regardless of gender, race, or species are nothing more to me than meat shields and life takers. They exist solely to drive the plot and the game and remove any and all obstacles in my path. And being female doesn't impact that function so I'm fine with being a female character.

 

[TehCookie]

No, if I did I would severely limit my choice of games. When I'm given the choice of gender I play both, however most of the guys I play are exaggerated stereotypical bishounens.

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

I've played games as hedgehogs, magical pink vacuum ball things, cyborgs, a half-human/half-demon badass, goo, dolphins, and many other strange things, and I never felt awkward about it, and I don't see how playing a female character is any more awkward.

 

[DarklordKyo]

I don't really mind actually, I like playing Noel in Blazblue after all.

 

[GeneralFungi]

I don't project myself onto characters unless it is the kind of game where you create your own. I tend to view it the same way as reading a book, when it comes to playing a game. I am not playing as me, I am experiencing somebody else's story through their eyes.

So the gender of the character matters about as much to me as their favourite colour.

I don't think I'd be able to play as any character if their favorite color was green. Green would totally clash with their outfit and I can't play as a protagonist with poor fashion sense. I just CAN'T.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

I don't have a difficult time projecting myself on to a female protagonist despite my macho exterior. Females have their personalities, perspectives, and have just as much capacity to be a bad ass. If you can't identify with a character for their struggles, conflicts and values (among other things) then I think I'd argue that you weren't really identifying with game characters for the right reasons.

When I'm playing as Solid Snake the fact he has male genitalia isn't at the forefront of my mind and doesn't affect how I perceive the character. I don't see why I'd suddenly become uncomfortable because my awesome and well developed protagonist happens to have lady-parts unless it was explicit.

....

Okay maybe I lied about Solid Snake a little bit..

 

[solemnwar]

What I find awkward is guys feeling like they have to "explain" why they play as a girl, as if there's something horrifically wrong with playing as a girl and they need to explain it.

That needs to stop. Nobody with any worthwhile intelligence actually cares what gender you play in a game.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

It depends a little bit on how much that character's gender affects the game.

For example Metroid is my favorite series, and it obviously has a female protagonist, but the fact that Samus is a woman is barely relevant in any of the games. [sub]Other M? What's that? I have no idea what you're talking about.[/sub]

But when it comes to games where you choose gender I always go with male, it just feels more appropriate. Plus I can't think of a non-pervy reason why I'd prefer my character to be female.

Same sentiment exactly.
Even have the same opinion on the Metroid games. Favorite series, have no idea what that "aw-fur em" thing is.
Anyway.
I feel like the only time I would find it awkward is if I was playing one of those damsels in distress or was playing a girl who was really demure. Probably from a combination of both never having played something like that before and the fact that playing a character like that sounds AWFUL.

 

[Bomberman4000]

I actually prefer to play as a female character because I don't fall into the traps of projecting myself onto the character. I feel it allows me to explore options in a game's story (like Mass Effect for example) that I wouldn't have. I could never bring myself to kill the Rachni queen when playing as "me" but when I played Femshep, I'd already established the renegade aspect of her personality and went for it.

I also could never shoot down Wrex, but Femshep thought he crossed a line and was dangerous. It may sound silly, but in most games where my choices have any say in how things turn out, if I'm playing as a male character I have a hard time separating what I'd do vs what the character might. I have an easier time of it with female characters because that visual distinction is jarring enough that I can keep myself from getting too immersed.

I will say though, I'm much more attached to my female character in Saints Row The Third. She's got an undeniable charm about her.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

I don't feel awkward for playing a pirate, or space wizard, or knight, or secret agent, or hired killer, or cowboy, or Delta Force operative, or zombie Apocalypse survivor, or professional football player, or street racer, or pacifist cyborg corporate security officer, or zombie killing space mechanic, or Jedi Knight, or sorcerer, or Mafioso, or gang leader, or a member of a noble order tasked with saving the world from a great evil, despite the fact that I am none of those things.

Why would it be weird to pretend I didn't have a penis for a couple dozen hours?

 

[AwkwardTurtle]

Male here~

I cherish the times when I get to play as a female character. Especially if it's a game with a heavy emphasis on story as opposed to things like an MMO where the gender is usually just an aesthetic choice.

I like playing female characters in (good) story-driven video games simply because it offers to me a unique perspective that I don't often get to experience.

When it comes to things like a create-a-character kind of thing it's usually just a flip of the coin or whatever I happen to feel like when it comes to whether I'll make a male or female character. I suppose I tend to gravitate towards making female characters, but that's just because they often look prettier to me.

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

Considering that I consider myself agender, pretty much every video game character could be of "another gender" than me.

If it were so awkward, I wouldn't be able to enjoy any games. I'd like to play an agender video game characters. Oh, wait, I have Nights. Nights is pretty cool.

Male characters tend to get pretty boring since there's so many of them. I generally prefer to play female characters.

 

[I.Muir]

Not really
Id rather not play with a massive boner though

 

[Talshere]

Male here~

I cherish the times when I get to play as a female character. Especially if it's a game with a heavy emphasis on story as opposed to things like an MMO where the gender is usually just an aesthetic choice.

I like playing female characters in (good) story-driven video games simply because it offers to me a unique perspective that I don't often get to experience.

When it comes to things like a create-a-character kind of thing it's usually just a flip of the coin or whatever I happen to feel like when it comes to whether I'll make a male or female character. I suppose I tend to gravitate towards making female characters, but that's just because they often look prettier to me.

I tend to find male protagonists usually just fall into "the" stereotype. Its one of the reasons I really like female protagonists in books. They tend to be more relatable and be less funnelled into the hero stereotype. There have been some stunning male protaganists, I love Mat Rand and Perin from Wheel of Time, Tavi from Codex Alera and Pug from the Riftwar Universe are probably two of the most compelling characters Ive read (there are others) but generally I feel like on average female chars are better, at least in the books I have read.

 

[Ashadowpie]

if you can choose what gender, i always choose female since im a girl and i like to portray myself in my games. also most males in games are all huge muscled no neck meat puppets and slow. ughk its so distasteful. i prefer little lithe quick moving people and girls in games are sadly only just that. if there were male characters like that, i would gladly choose them.

with games where there is no choice to be male, it doesn't matter me to what so ever, a game is a game and if its fun i'll play it whether the main character is male, female, alien, or wolf