Chairman Miaow said:
Distance yourself from the character.
More or less this one for me, but there's also a storytelling element for me. Basically, female protagonists are more interesting to me if it's a male dominated arena. (As most game environments are.) A gruff male space commando isn't that interesting because everyone
else is, as well. Gears of War might hold more interest for me with a female protagonist simply because it would create a bit of conflict in the storyline. (In this case, as the woman having to work twice as hard to be just as accepted. Also because it would deflate the aggravating testosterone overload in that game series.)
The intriguing thing to me is that simply acknowledging this in the game is enough for me to make it work: Dragon Age's female protagonists were actually treated as women, with people reacting differently than men, and that was really satisfying. Even Tony Hawk Underground worked, since people got pronouns right. By contrast? Skate 3 barely acknowledges female characters, and it feels jarring and awkward.
This tendency extends to other scenarios. Left 4 Dead's most interesting character to me is Louis, followed a bit behind by Zoe. Why? Because Louis is an office worker. Who'd expect him to survive? By contrast, Bill is less interesting (he's a Vietnam vet, so it's unsurprising, but his age is intriguing) while Francis is dead boring.
Basically, female protagonists are less
expected, and that's why I enjoy them more.
