Poll: When Gender Is A Choice, Which Do You Choose?

[Thr33X]

Female. Every time. Pure Lara Croft logic...if I have the choice, I want to stare at a woman's back end and not a man's...and I don't give a shit if she's wearing a chain mail bikini either-but then again if it's me creating said avatar then any wearing of chain mail bikinis is solely my own doing in the first place.

Oh well, I bought the damn game...I'll play it how I want to thank you very much.

 

[Tiamattt]

Probably 2/3 male. Usually go in as the man but I don't mind changing it up for variety's sake. For example if I actually had the motivation to play all of D3's classes it would go like

Barb- Male
Wizard- Female
Witch Doctor- Male
Monk - Male
Demon Hunter - Female
Crusader(expansion) - Coin flip

 

[RJ 17]

Both over multiple playthroughs if the choice makes any difference, otherwise just male probably. Usually combine with different class/build, different romances, alignment, in-game choices, etc.

For example, in Mass Effect, I've got about 9 FemShep's and only 2 MaleSheps. The thought that a woman is the hope of the galaxy, the most bad-ass space marine in history is really appealing. It seems to break the clichés of male protagonists being the badasses of the universe.

A woman isn't the hope of the galaxy. Shepard is the hope of the galaxy, irrespective of gender. The fact that the player can choose either, and controls dialogue, choices and combat means there's nothing about Shepard being female that makes her the hero. Shepard isn't a male hero or a female hero; Shepard is both and neither. The game plays almost identically whichever gender the player chooses, thus FemShep is not a paragon for female protagonists but an Everyman with breasts.

Wow, way to miss the point entirely. Any game that allows for gender choice is obviously written as neutrally as possible. The fact remains, however, that when you're playing as FemShep, Shepard is female...that's kinda what the "Fem" in "FemShep" stands for. As such, when you're playing as FemShep the hope of the galaxy is therefor on the shoulders of a strong, badass woman. Could it just as easily be a badass man? Sure, that's an option...but guess what: when you're playing as FemShep, you're not playing as a man.

This topic has nothing to do with well-written female or male characters. It's about your personal preference and why you prefer it.

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

I like to role-play as myslef in these games so I choose male, looking like me is optional(luckily male shepard looked enough like me.

 

[Angelous Wang]

Depends on the game and the level of character customisation.

In more modern or sic-fi setting games I will go with female just because it more fun to create and stare at a hot girl.

In more Dungeons and Dragons type game I will create something more lore appropriate, male Hero's tend to be more lore appropriate.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

My last two New Vegas Couriers have been female, so I voted that. I like to go both ways though.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

Male playing as female usually, but when the character is voiced I always pick whatever has the best voice over.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

When it's all said and done, I've usually gone through the game from start to finish with both.

But that depends on whether the first play through was any good.

 

[conmag9]

My first character is nigh-universally male. After that, mostly female.

 

[scorptatious]

I'm a guy and I usually play male. Although I do occasionally play female. Especially if I'm doing multiple playthroughs of a game like Fallout New Vegas.

 

[StormShaun]

I usually play as a male for the immersion since I love to put myself in the place of characters.
I don't know, but I really like doing that. :/

Although, when I do play as a female character I have a blast.
And there are the situations where my SR characters becomes a women for the fun.

So basically, I don't mind playing as both, but I play as a male for the immersion.

 

[Evonisia]

I usually play as a female, females tend to make more interesting characters. It's a sad 'fact' but it's the truth, at least in most games I've played.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Is a choice still even a choice when ultimately it doesn't amount to anything important?

I have grown to really quite dislike the current emphasis that Western RPG developers are placing on making each and every main character of their games a empty vessel that the player then uses to engage with the jarringly otherwise well-developed sandbox world that they've created. The best RPG experiences I find are those like Deus Ex : Human Revolution, which give you an already somewhat pre-generated character but then allow you to take that character along a journey of development and transformation from what they were at the start of the game in comparison to how they are at the end of the game. I like a happy medium between the main character being nothing more than the main character acting as your spade in sandbox and being firmly railroaded down a one track narrative.

 

[CelestDaer]

While it all comes down to the same problem I face pretty much hourly, I mostly stick to playing female characters when available. I don't know that I could give any other reason than 'My own gender fluctuates so wildly, and I usually prefer to identify as female, so having a female avatar temporarily focuses me.'

 

[ninjaRiv]

In RPGs I prefer to play as male, simple because I am male. I want to be as immersed as possible. This includes when making decisions. But I like to go back and play as a woman just to see all angles of the story and character interactions. This mostly comes into play with Bioware games, though. For example, when I finally get around to doing a female Mass Effect character, she's essentially going to be Batman with his personality and making the decisions I think her would make. That's simply because, from what I've seen and played of FemShep, this is the sort of style I think would suit her.

In dragon Age Origins, I played a cheeky female dwarf; that was a lot of fun.

 

[trollnystan]

I'll almost always pick female. It's still a rare treat for me to see a woman as the protagonist in a game so when I can I like to play my own gender, at least in the first playthrough - unless the classes are also gender specific, then I might pick whatever class I think sounds most fun. If I feel like a second playthrough I will occasionally make a male one - I had a male Khajiit rogue in Skyrim that got lost in the Great Accidental HDD Formatting of 2013, sigh - although when I tried with Mass Effect I just couldn't do it. That voice wasn't "my" Shepard not to mention I was trying to play him Renegade and I'm terrible at playing bad or mean characters.

I also had a male Blood Elf years back when I played World of Warcraft. Loved that guy and his fabulous blond hair. But then I stopped playing, and when I recently went in to check on him and he and another of my favourites had been deleted by hackers =(

 

[AngloDoom]

Depends on aesthetics and my mood, though I have noticed I sway towards certain trends - like always making tank-class characters petite women with gigantic weapons.

Honestly, I just go for what looks cool - unless I'm in the super original mood to play as a sexed-up version of myself and live out a power-fantasy.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Usually a woman( at first) for three reasons.

1)I like women so if I get to spend a whole game looking at one then awesome

2)It?s rare that games have female leads in your shooters or well anything really so if presented with the choice I am usually more intrigued to go with the opposite gender because it?s just more interesting to me.

3)If I feel it?s better suited to the role or again would make it more interesting
(Shepard works much better as a woman in my opinion)

As I said up top that's now how it always goes of course. In games like Fallout New Vegas I chose a guy and only that because...well I wanted to role play as Carry Grant in a western. Or in Halo Reach, I choose for Noble 6 to be a guy because I really just can't see 6 being a woman... It all just depends on what I want the character to be and how I want to play the game.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Unless this is the same thread I replied in a few weeks back (hah, me, check post dates?) I'll say; it depends on how customisable the characters are, and what opportunities the game provides to play dress-up.

I like to look pretty. I like to look badass. If the female armour is chainmail bikinis and the malefolken get to wear a tank, then there's no way I'm playing female.
Otherwise yeah, bring on the fighting femmes.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Im a guy, and it depends on the game. For instance in SR4 i played as a male and in Skyrim i played as a female.