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

[Skeleon]

I'm male and I prefer to play as a male if possible. When there's the kind of customization that we have in some RPGs, I also give him brown hair and eyes, like mine. Well, except for Skyrim: My mage has those blind white eyes. Anyway, it's just easier to identify with the character if they are male, too. I also tend to follow my moral views when playing, though, so it's not just that I make the appearance like myself.

 

[Collegeboy21]

Male almost always playing as a female. I just find it is easier to care about a female character. Too many male characters in games are characterized by the intensity of the stubble on their face and the volume of their bravado. Female characters have the benefit of actually being interesting, since in a lot of circumstances it would be going against type.

 

[DrOswald]

I am male and what I play depends on the situation. But if the following are all true I will play as female every time:

1. Technically detailed and aesthetically pleasing graphics
2. Extensive character customization
3. Many clothing options that actually change what your avatar is wearing

The reason is simple. Women's fashion is much more interesting than men's fashion. With men at best you get a few interesting variations on suits. With women there are all sorts of interesting clothes, from the many different types of dresses and different tops and shoes and some newer games even have started to include earrings with actual physics. In Final Fantasy XIV I have a straw hat with a flower on it that matches the color of my avatars eyes. You have no idea how much I love that hat.

By the way, the female armor rule is the bane of interesting female clothing in video games. There is so much potential for unique and interesting designs for feminine armor. Take Iron Solari Leona. That armor is so awesome! But what do developers do 95% of the time? "Hur dur, lets put her in a bikini." So boring. And if you really have to make it sexy and revealing "armor" (which I despise on the grounds that women in plate armor are insanely attractive) then you could at least make it interesting. I mean, if metal lingerie is what you are after you can do so much better than a thong. For shame character designers, for shame.

 

[Ashadowpie]

im a girl and i like choosing to be a girl in games. i like making them friendly assassins, cold killers but will help anyone in need at the same time * evil smile *

the main reason is that woman in games are nicer to look at and i mean in a -most video game men have tiny heads and enormous bodies, arms, hands, ugly beards, always rough looking and wearing ugly heavy bulky armor- way.

i like lithe characters, the scrawny ones that use a bow or use daggers and magic. the Thief basically. female game characters are always lithe and scrawny and if their was an option for a male character to be scrawny too i'd choose him finally too.

 

[Chemical123]

I am a guy and I try to play as something as far removed from me in reality so I usually play as lawful good female characters. Plus female characters have the prettiest dresses.

 

[Angelowl]

Girl here, I like variation and try to equal things out. Which means that whenever I got the choice I always go for the girls. Still playing more guys than girls despite being a big RPG-player. It really is that bad.

This was a big dilemma when trying out Aion. First game I saw with actually good-looking male characters, they looked awesome. Still I went with a female one, due to them having the potential to be very very beautiful. Got really attached to the character, a bit sad I stopped playing really.

I am a guy and I try to play as something as far removed from me in reality so I usually play as lawful good female characters. Plus female characters have the prettiest dresses.

Agreed, they really need to add more pretty dresses to the male characters. I'm sick and tired of braindead hyper-buff guys that have steroids in place of blood cells.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

ugly beards

Unbelievable. Come on--beards are not ugly! They're great. I mean, within reason... when it gets to be more than, I'm gonna say 2 inches long, that's where I draw the line. A good rule of thumb: if you could hide a baseball in your beard, cut it.

And what is with all the men in this thread speaking of frilly dresses? You don't see women professing their love of, what was it, UGLY BEARDS?! I am a pilgrim in an unholy land!

(I'm mostly joking.)

Captcha: thunder storm. More like Thunderstruck.

 

[Lightspeaker]

I'm male. I choose what "feels" right to me. I find it hard to explain what I mean, I just get a feeling of what feels right. Like I flat out cannot play Mass Effect as a male Shepard. It feels so, so wrong. (Also Jennifer Hale is awesome.)

Although I find myself becoming more biased towards choosing female characters lately, most likely to balance off the sheer number of male leads.

When it's a case of gender choice, your character is usually supposed to be a representation of yourself or at least, someone you're putting your own shoes in, usually.

You really, really should not use the phrase "supposed to" with regard to how people create their characters you know...its quite a personal thing.


I'm male; I play as both male and female characters. I also RP and write stories. A lot of my characters in all of these things contain aspects of me in them and I empathise with them. Their morality and certain parts of their personalities (on a character by character basis) are based on my own. Each has different aspects of me in them and I have a deep connection and investment in them, despite them not being a direct representation of me. They are PART of me but are NOT me, if you take my meaning.

Captcha: dueling banjos
Quite an apt metaphor for this discussion I feel.

 

[Valdus]

I like playing male. Unless gender becomes something other than aesthetic I doubt I'll play a female.

If the game changed depending on your gender (for example, a sexist medievil setting were playing as a female character requires more stealth since society frowns upon you fighting) then I doubt I will find my playstyle changing.

 

[Lieju]

I'm female and I play female characters.

I'm equally fine playing either, but since in the games where I'm not given a choice I usually have to play as a guy and even when the protagonist is female they aren't usually the kind of character I'm make (not traditionally attractive, scarred, older...), when I can choose I play as female.

In some games, though, I can choose male avatar and then pretend they're female anyway.
Like in Pokemon Black 2, where the girl looked silly and the boy could have easily been a tomboyish girl.


In subsequent playthroughs I usually play as a different character.

 

[Someone Depressing]

If there's a major gameplay difference, then I'll go with whoever is better at not getting shot in the head.

I usually as a male, though. Because I'm male. But if the males have muscles like they'd taken 50lbs of 'roids, then no. And if the girls look like they're smuggling bowling balls, then I'll avoid them. And if they both fall victim to sexualisation, I guess I'll pick one at random.

I'll probably play as the other character on second playthroughs to scout for differences. Like Persona 3 Portable, where pretty much the whole life-simulator aspect was overhauled if you were a girl.

 

[Mistilteinn]

I've probably answered this a few times already, but I go for an even split. I'll make a male character first (being male, myself) then a female, then male, then female, repeat until I get bored making characters, haha. I have no problems playing either, and it's mostly out of an interest to see if the story changes, and if the armor models are different between the two genders.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I was about to say male/male, but as I recall I played RE1 as Jill, and RE2 as Claire, and DKC2 and DKC3 as Dixie Kong. I could tell you I chose Jill because she has bigget pockets than Chris, and Claire because her scenario was supposed to be the "easier one", and Dixie because she can glide and that trumps everything. But yeah, nominally I choose male, even though I have no qualms choosing female because gameplay.

 

[GestaltEsper]

Male playing as female. I can't really give a reason except I tend to prefer female characters.

 

[Kokairi]

Female playing as female.

There are so few chances for me to play my own gender in games, than when I'm given that choice, I make my character resemble me as closely as I possibly can. I have no problem with immersion as I've been playing male characters for the last 25 years, but playing a female is always so much more fulfilling to me.

 

[Headsprouter]

Male as male. It's ages before I even consider playing as a female in an RPG or any game...it just breaks the immersion for me and...yeah.

I don't get all the people playing games like Oblivion and Skyrim with uber-goddess characters in skimpy clothes, especially. I want to be able to take my characters seriously, but this is not decided by gender, I'm talking in terms of dress and appearance, as well as abilities. No Mary-Sues for me.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

You really, really should not use the phrase "supposed to" with regard to how people create their characters you know...its quite a personal thing.

I'm male; I play as both male and female characters. I also RP and write stories. A lot of my characters in all of these things contain aspects of me in them and I empathise with them. Their morality and certain parts of their personalities (on a character by character basis) are based on my own. Each has different aspects of me in them and I have a deep connection and investment in them, despite them not being a direct representation of me. They are PART of me but are NOT me, if you take my meaning.

Captcha: dueling banjos
Quite an apt metaphor for this discussion I feel.

*sigh* ........... You'll also notice I said "usually". I honestly wasn't expecting someone to reply to my comment here, thought it was. Look, I was referring specifically to situation where you're expected to put yourself in the shoes of the PC, games that don't have dialogue choices and you can't shape the character in any way. I don't like being lectured about something I already know, I've played in several RP's before and the characters that were my favorite and that were considered very good by the other people in the group were my female characters. I don't need lecturing.

 

[Raziel]

Male playing as which ever looks cooler. If its a wash female because usually male is the only choice in games.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

Depends on a lot of stuff, but usually male first run, female second.

Sometimes I switch though or refuse to do one side of it if voice acting is bad. Like there no reason to play as a male in SR3 because Laura Bailey does the best VAing by far. Just like sarcastic Hawke in DA2 is a lot better with the female VA.

In MMOs I usually play male unless(eg. Ultima Online) female characters have hard-coded inherent advantages.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I have a strong preferrence for a female character, and am female. Not only are they absurdly rare outside of MMOs, and utterly rare as the sole playable character/in games where the female PoV is different, I relate to them better.

Kinda tired of bland male protagonists. I'd rather have something, someone, different, be they well written guys, or a female, even if they are bland they're different.

I can, have, and will play as the occassional guy. How much I like it varies.

GTAV was pretty neutral, all around. Yeah, I liked trevor being the flawed embodiment of chaos.
I found some mild relation to Franklin having worked on a car lot before.
Mike, I played him as family appreciative, and I can relate to his wants to live a good life.
Still, that's some of the absolute most basic stuff, and barely anything to cling to.

I can't comment on my GTAO character, but I'm aiming for a female, lesbian, asian getaway driver/gun-bunny. GTAO is why I got GTAV, and played it, really.

Red Dead Redemption, BatmanArkham Asylum/city were awesome, but honestly the games feel too far and few in between where the world/protagonist get my attention when you're playing as a guy.