I am a male, but always make a female player-character.

[WildManBill]

In Saints Row 2 I would much rather have to stare at a naked lady when going streaking or flashing than I would a man.
I guess it all boils down to what you would rather be looking at on your screen all day long, a dude or a chick.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

My very first characters are always kind hearted male saints. Pretty much the way I am in rl. But I also like to make joke characters. Which is more often than not, an evil female.

 

[Dr Jones]

I think you're a closet heterosexual.

Im srry what?

 

[The Hairminator]

It depends on the character I have in my head at the moment of creation, actually. It's not like I want to play myself when I play a Roleplaying Game, so I don't always stick to male characters (although my gender is naturally not the only thing that defines me). I usually end up sliding sliders and pressing buttons until the customisation is something I feel I can play with, so the actual sexes of my characters vary.

[snip] I guess it all boils down to what you would rather be looking at on your screen all day long, a dude or a chick.

So by this logic it would be preferable if every playable character in every 3rd person game ever was a girl with a hot ass you could admire throughout the entirety of the game? No offense meant, but porn exist for a reason- and personally I do enjoy some of the non-assy games out there more for it (not for the fact that porn does indeed exist, but because said games perhaps focus more on the actual characters (and not their asses)).

Also, this comment goes to everyone who turned in the "Looking at asses"-argument.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

I usually make my character female based on this quote from Rooster Teeth (they were playing Skate 3)

"Why did you make a Girl?"

"Well, Because I'm going to be looking at the this person's ass for X-hours so....might as well be a girl's"

thats why

Pretty much that. Yes it's pixels, but it's still more aesthetically interesting to look at an animated woman than an animated man. Especially when they usually make the men look completely ridiculous.

Sometimes, though, it actually makes the story much better, particularly Mass Effect and Saints Row 2.

 

[Cavan]

Apart from the creeps who talk about staring at their own character for some mild sexual thrill(These people worry me) or people who abusively try to gain things by convincing people they're women, it's normal as long as you don't assign too much to it.

I don't personally play as alternate genders where I can because it's a little like wearing a mask and expecting to take myself seriously, can adjust to it after a while but I don't really care enough to do that.

Pretty much that. Yes it's pixels, but it's still more aesthetically interesting to look at an animated woman than an animated man. Especially when they usually make the men look completely ridiculous.

Lol, you're so right, women always look 100% serious and practical in games.

 

[Dragunai]

Predictable joke incoming!
"I make chicks in games, cause if I am gonna stare at an ass from 1-85 its gonna be a womans!"

I play male characters when playing macho classes. In mmorpgs my tanks and melee characters tend to be male while my ranged and healers are female. Although I am currently running a female DK on Wow and a Female Captain on Lotro.

I think it also has a lot to do with how the armour looks on female characters. It tends to look more sleek and impressive on women while men just make it look bulky and intimidating. Intimidation works if you're a tank buuuuut I prefer looking groovy over scary.

That and the way I see it. I'm not an elf irl so why should I have to be a guy in game?

 

[Argonian alchemist]

Oh my god! Same here! haha, it's why I only played a female in Skate 3, then it became a trend...

 

[slightly evil]

I think women look better

 

[Cheeseman Muncher]

Generally for the immersion factor I play as a guy on my first playthrough and make them as similar to me as I can (except my ME2 Shepard who I made ginger due to the lack of decent beards) and then play as I would do it myself. After that, I'll mess about with female and other male character designs.

Also on the subject of female characters: if you're playing for 40+ hours, why not spend it looking at a nice arse? Probably one of FFXIII's few redeeming features.

 

[Da Orky Man]

If you always make female characters, it means that deep down, you hold women to be 'superior' in some way to men (for want of a better term). This could be because you see them as more powerful, more fun, more manipulative; any number of reasons.

Likewise someone who always makes male characters believes men to be superior to women.

It's pretty common for one to have the subconcious impression of one gender besting the other.

So, that means that should you make a male character most of the time, you think that men are superior to women. If you make female characters, you think women are superior to men.
So, what option is there for non-sexists?

 

[Da Orky Man]

EDIT:
Also, the character editors never let me make a guy the way I'd like. I can always find SOMETHING acceptable for girl characters, but guys end up being restricted to grisled slabs of meat.

Perfectly said, and I'm a straight male.

 

[Strain42]

After almost 300 posts in this thread, I'm sure someone has already said, but there's nothing wrong with playing a female character. Especially in an MMO. If you're a female character, you can usually get free stuff from idiots, and hey, if you have to spend hours upon hours grinding while staring at an ass, it may as well be a nice ass.

 

[Alon Shechter]

Maybe it sort of calms down your desire to be a woman!
That's why I do it, anyways.

 

[joshuaayt]

Always make a female if I can- I like feeling like I'm picking the option the devs didn't expect (It's always fun when the overseer erroneously refers to you as a male whilst you stand there blatantly waving your ladyparts in front of him.)

And, besides that, I just get bored with male characters. Maybe it's because I'm a guy and want to live a completely different life for a while, maybe I'm less mature than I think and just want boobies. Hard to tell.

(I always loved that the Pokemon Crystal manual recommended that you play as your own gender. Probably started my desire to stick it to the man in the first place)

 

[Harry Mason]

I always play a female character too. Because role-playing is always more fun when the role is something you're not. A ninja, for example. I am not a ninja.

 

[Matthew Valkanov]

Personally I always like to have a character that is based on some facet of my personality. And I just can't identify with a woman. Plus, in way too many games the women just look awkward wearing heavy plate armour

 

[crudus]

I try to justify this all the time, but I'm not really sure why EXACTLY I do this. I won't give out any more personal details about myself because I'm just curious about what you think of this, escapist. So, any psychoanalysts in the house? Also, when you make a customizable player character, what do YOU make?

I actually have noticed I do this a lot. Honestly it is because there are certain archetypes in my head for each class. Rogues and sorcerers are female whereas fighters, rangers, and wizards are male. It just so happens that rogues and sorcerers are my favorite classes to play.

 

[gCrusher]

I play a fairly even number of menfolk and women in both video games and tabletop. I have been openly told me my I cannot pull off a girl in RP. So, my girls are mannish, but I don't hide my gender behind my avatar.

Why choose the opposite sex at all? Not sure. Can't put my finger on it exactly.

Outfit choices are often the case. Dudes usually have 800 lbs of armor, shoulderpads bigger than their heads, codpieces that look like someone punched screws from the inside out. You usually don't get that sort of outrageous Mad Max thing going on with girls. Sure, there are often gross misrepresentations of body armor (exposed midriff, decolletage, rear) but for the most part you can see the person as opposed to a veritable cyborg.

What's the point of a customized burly tattoo if it's going to be covered in wrap-around platemail?