Guys That Play Girls In Games. Why?

[GothmogII]

Objectification? Wait, I don't get it. What's wrong with treating a group of pixels which we created ourselves as an object?

It's not just a "group of pixels". It's a visual representation of an entire gender. That's like painting a picture of a woman being raped and saying "what? Why are people getting offended? It's just a load of paint on canvas! It's not representative AT ALL."

Right?

So basically, my point is that I don't think there's anything wrong with making a female character just to stare at their boobies because they AREN'T REAL. And it's probably better to get it out of your system so you don't go staring at real women all the time.

Once more, just because something ISN'T REAL doesn't suddenly make it non-representative and okay. If there was a game showing a racist scene where a black guy or whatever was being abused, would that make it okay? I mean it's not real, right?

Depends on the context, the problem with what you're arguing, is that very same line of thought is what leads to games, and many other forms of media being banned, even when they -aren't- out-rightly racist or sexist but still manage to cause offence through whatever way they end up expressed.

I don't know that I agree it's an all or nothing deal, that, you can't only have inoffensive media (a rather silly notion really, since anything is capable of offending everyone depending on the person), but at the same time, I do realise that certain creations do go far beyond the realms of good taste. The only question remains as usual, who gets to decide that, why, and is it right to ban such media?

 

[Gralian]

Depends on the context, the problem with what you're arguing, is that very same line of thought is what leads to games, and many other forms of media being banned, even when they -aren't- out-rightly racist or sexist but still manage to cause offence through whatever way they end up expressed.

I don't know that I agree it's an all or nothing deal, that, you can't only have inoffensive media (a rather silly notion really, since anything is capable of offending everyone depending on the person), but at the same time, I do realise that certain creations do go far beyond the realms of good taste. The only question remains as usual, who gets to decide that, why, and is it right to ban such media?

I certainly understand what you're saying, i was merely trying to make an equally straw-man case to use against his own, since hyperbole seems to be the flavour of the day. We can all agree there are some things that are just plain bad taste like rape, and things that should be outright censored - like child abuse. These things are objective. I'm not saying anyone should whip out the banhammer and start censoring anything that might contain sexual or objectifying material. As i've said before, our entire commercialist culture is built around selling sex. But it's simply the degree to which we allow it to dominate our society in its entirety and when i crosses over into what is deemed offensive. My original comment merely stated that seeing all these guys express the desire to play as women merely for sex appeal and objectification can't feel all that great for the ladies. It's like their only place in gaming is to be eye candy. It's just feeding into that male-exclusive culture club that has permeated our culture for a very long time now and leads to games like Dead or Alive Volleyball.

 

[Gill Kaiser]

Why not? It seems awfully backwards to say that you can only play a game as your own assigned gender.

not really. one of the main purposes of games is to become the character in a way. its easier to do that when they are actually LIKE you

Not in RPGs it isn't. In RPGs the main purpose is to become more like the character yourself by roleplaying, not to make the character more like you.

a good majority of RPG's have you playing a character with no voice, and with no name or features until you assign them. naturally, you would expect people to make the character like themselves, since it will be their choices affecting the outcome of the story

...and I disagree. I was indeed talking about such RPGs. The point is to design a concept of a character and to create them in the game. Limiting yourself to remaking yourself alone betrays a lack of imagination.

im sorry but giving yourself a sex change isnt imaginative in the slightest sense of the word.

What an incredibly simplistic way to look at things. Sex is just one aspect of a character concept, and not even a particularly important one. The most obvious effect it has is visual, which is of importance to me because I always try to make my characters' appearances conform to their personality.

For example, for an RPG I might fashion an idea of a character who is a male mage and who acts in a closed-off fashion due to a history of childhood pariahdom, but secretly loves to compose sonnets and loves dogs. In my mind I design what the character might look like, and then I use whatever the game offers by way of character design tools in order to try to make that character. The character is not me, and I don't make the decisions I would make, I make the decisions he would make based upon my notions of his character.

Alternatively I might think of a happy-go-lucky irreverent young woman with an aptitude for short swords, acrobatics, winding up her colleagues and drinking hard liquor without getting particularly drunk. I would probably design her with short hair. When playing that character, I would make completely different decisions than when playing the mage.

 

[Thespian]

Eh... I have blonde hair... Sometimes I play a character with red hair for some diversity... If I want a game that perfectly reflects boring reality, I'll play Call of Duty...
Oh!
Snap!
Yeah...
No. That was lame. Sorry.

But seriously, it goes no deeper than that. Just for the heck of it. It's definitely not to do with aesthetic pleasing, because, a Stephen Fry once said, "I'm not in the Vagina Business"

 

[Olrod]

Female characters generally look better than male characters, I've found.

That's why I play as a female character (usually) when the option presents itself in a game.

Unless the male character is super-sexy, of course.

 

[stormcrow5]

Ehh i dont have a real reason why, if the game is first person i dont care the gender but if its a big mmo that im gonna spend lots of time on i would prefer to look at a girl then a big muscle bulgeing guy. Sure ill pick a chick but i dont Play it im still a guy no matter who asks and dont wanna be hit on just because I look like a girl in the game. Most avatars for games are ment to be a repersentaion of yourself i hear, but to me i say screw that i wouldent want to see myself in the game i see myself more then needed in life why would i want to make a out of shape teen for a charater when i could just make a Voluptious Lady

 

[Nemesis729]

I will play a female in a game where it actually makes a difference, like if I like a female in a fighter I'd use her, But in MMOs and other things Ill just be whatever looks cooler... Usually male lol

 

[tjcross]

Escapism. You could've asked why I play as an Elf or Ork as well.

*puts on smart-ass glasses* well one could argue that elves and orks and the like have different skill sets and stats from a human mich more different from playing a female character (there are exeptions of course but this is my experiance from games i've played) so there is a valid reason for it other than escapism

My reason however is escapism, so what you said is irrelevant because it's simply not my reason for playing elves, orks, what have you.

hence the puts on smart-ass glasses it was a joke about how some people miss the point of a comment and i was hoping a few people would get a laugh though playing a female as escapism is an alien concept since my escapist is imagining me (or me as a different race) being something more than a 70s-80s grade student but to each there own i suppose

 

[the sighing shoe]

Im about 50/50 no make that 75/25 cause im about half in half on normal rpg's and stuff cause of the different aspects on stats and story that rarely to occasionally happen. But i have yet to make a female mmo char cause its mostly the same... except vindictus that the classes are gender locked... then ill admit to haveing a female char on a mmo but that is the one exeption. I suppose the reason is to see if it changes gameplay at all but thats just me

 

[forsinain42]

I'll play what fits. Playing a girl doesn't break immersion for me as I accept that I am more female then a burly military guy.

 

[Shirokurou]

Why not? Technically the same as "for a change"...

But you start doing it only later in life, when a phase ends and you stop saying "who wants to play as some chick?" One may consider it maturing, but that's a pretty long stretch...

 

[Sindaine]

I'm a woman, and I primarily roleplay as men online. Why? Because the following sums up the plot and backstory to every single female character in the entire history of ever:

"Mary McSue was a perfect happy angel of light who loved kissing puppies and feeding orphans chocolate, until her dad raped her/boyfriend beat her/she broke a nail/she got pregnant and she became a cynical tough-talking ***** and moved to *insert game setting here* . Now she still hates and distrusts men but come woo her anyway because she will become a helpless wilting flower and will have your babies!!!'

I'll wait for you to stop puking, go on, get it all up.

Men can have so much more freedom to do more, and be more and have more complex plots.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

Many reasons:
(1) Some games provide different experiences (Mass Effect for instance)
(2) Some games provide different gameplay (thinking of VtMB for instance where seduction is nearly useless as a male vampire)
(3) Some games have downright awful male character models with decent female models (the games where the only male option is to be a hulking 400 pound Space Marine)
(4) As (3), but voice acting.
(5) Games with romance subplots tend to avoid same-sex pairings for me. Since being female invariably opens up male romance subplots, it can make it slightly more appealing.

 

[Artreynne]

I can always answer this with a story that will stay with me until the day I die. I had just started playing World of Warcraft with a group of friends back in (I think) 2006. As I slowly crawled to the level requirement for Ragefire Chasm on my first Orc Warrior, I was extremely excited to partake in my first dungeon. Not knowing what to expect, I met a friend in the portal under Orgrimmar. As the rest of my team of dungeon crawlers began to show up, I noticed one was a female Tauren Druid. Seeing as we were on vent, my (at the time) prepubescent voice cracked into my microphone, "Why are you playing a female character?" The, much more mature, voice on the other side responded, "Well, if I have to stare at an ass all day, it might as well be a girls." Confused, I inquired, "...But, you're a cow?" and to this day I will never forget the words he said to me.

"An ass is an ass."

 

[Andrew_Waltfeld]

Many reasons:
(1) Some games provide different experiences (Mass Effect for instance)
(2) Some games provide different gameplay (thinking of VtMB for instance where seduction is nearly useless as a male vampire)
(3) Some games have downright awful male character models with decent female models (the games where the only male option is to be a hulking 400 pound Space Marine)
(4) As (3), but voice acting.
(5) Games with romance subplots tend to avoid same-sex pairings for me. Since being female invariably opens up male romance subplots, it can make it slightly more appealing.

Same, as others have said voice acting can provide a immersion breaker if the voice doesn't seem to fit the character. I usually end up playing female characters because they just plain look better period. More time is spent on their models and thus they look crisper and cleaner. More often than not, usually females have access to stuff that is useful (Black widow in FO:NV) or in the end, it just fits the story better.

In the end, it's all about the story and envisioning your character correctly - assuming you have a chance to customize. If it means being a girl, then your role-playing a girl, if it's a guy, it's a guy.

 

[Cogwheel]

I'm a woman, and I primarily roleplay as men online. Why? Because the following sums up the plot and backstory to every single female character in the entire history of ever:

"Mary McSue was a perfect happy angel of light who loved kissing puppies and feeding orphans chocolate, until her dad raped her/boyfriend beat her/she broke a nail/she got pregnant and she became a cynical tough-talking ***** and moved to *insert game setting here* . Now she still hates and distrusts men but come woo her anyway because she will become a helpless wilting flower and will have your babies!!!'

I'll wait for you to stop puking, go on, get it all up.

Men can have so much more freedom to do more, and be more and have more complex plots.

Don't mean to be rude, but Iji [http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php] is very, very different from that. And a fantastic game besides. I recommend giving it a try, at least - shouldn't take too long, and it's free/small/runs on any computer.

And then there's Touhou, but that's an exception to, uh...

just about everything, really. It's weird like that.

 

[DSK-]

I didn't play as female characters until a few years back. Not too sure why I didn't, I guess I just liked being a character that I could identify with and have a more immersive experience.

As to why, well it depends on the game. In Mass Effect for example, you get different dialogues than what you would if you were male as well as a different voice actor (actress, in this case) for your player character.