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

[Jenvas1306]

the only reason I could think of that would be an argument for me to play a male character is so that guys online leave me alone. I dont want to give in to male opression so I disregard that one.

Its pretty imteressting how different the ratios are. women seem to play as their gender in games way more often while for guys its almost 50/50. but the sample numbers are low for girls at this point.

but well, try to play apb and you will run into tons of sluty dressed female player models there, like it is in lots of other games. I guess men have more the tendency to project their desires onto the opposite sex in such a visual way when given the chance.(finally you can make a girl bend over with the press of a button and stare at her pixel panties that are flesh colored...)

 

[miketehmage]

I'm a guy and in most games I will chose to play Male, it makes it easier to relate to the character. Though for some reason in WoW alot of my characters are female.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I tend to choose to play as female because I already know what it's like to be a male. Plus females are generally much nicer and much quieter people which is how I always choose to play games with choice, so it makes more sense in my mind.

The burly action hero type just doesn't really appeal to me.

 

[McMarbles]

No preference. I'm a male who will be playing Rune Factory 4 as a male, but the next Pokemon as a female.

 

[Ryotknife]

MMOs, male so to avoid....creepy subjects.

First person games? Don't really care. Comes down to voice acting/aesthetics/flavor.

Skyrim for example ill play as a female because heavy armor looks much better on them. FO New Vegas? Female just to REALLY stick it to the Legion, because seriously F the Legion. Mount and Blade: Warband? Female because they are overpowered. Borderlands 2? Maya because she is overpowered.

Third person? Mostly female for the "if I have to stare at an ass" reason.

 

[New Frontiersman]

I tend to like playing as a guy when I have the choice, only because it's easier to relate to since I'm a guy as well.

I don't mind playing as a girl though and when I'm playing a game that encourages multiple playthroughs (Fire Emblem, Skyrim) I'll usually have a few female characters as well as males.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I always have leaned towards playing the male gender when given a choice and if the game was worth replaying then playing it again with the female counterpart so see the differences.

Very few games that I have played (aside from the ones that force you to play as a female protagonist) where they actually let you choose between a male or a female. In most cases these must be RPG's for me to actually think about which gender I will go for first.

I've slowly started to lean towards choosing female first to get a different experience from the get go...Shadowrun Returns being the most recent game that I've played only once and finished it with a female elf.

 

[white_wolf]

Wait was one of the options suppose to be Fem preferring to play as Fem? Because you've got two Fem preferring to play as Male.

So I guess I'll just type mine out check back and see if that choice is available later.

If given the choice and depending on the story I'm playing I like to choose female however I may also forgo it and pick male first it just depends on the story. I guess 8/10 I'll pick fem if she's available and the world setting makes sense if it doesn't I'll go male first see how the game playsout then give it a try with her.

 

[spartandude]

Il probably do several playthroughs but ive noticed that usually the females have some extra dialogue and more often than not better romance options.

 

[TehCookie]

Female and I play whatever models I think look better. In most games you can't make a JRPG-esque character so I play female more often, but if I could I'd make more bishounens.

 

[Dragonbums]

Wait was one of the options suppose to be Fem preferring to play as Fem? Because you've got two Fem preferring to play as Male.

So I guess I'll just type mine out check back and see if that choice is available later.

If given the choice and depending on the story I'm playing I like to choose female however I may also forgo it and pick male first it just depends on the story. I guess 8/10 I'll pick fem if she's available and the world setting makes sense if it doesn't I'll go male first see how the game playsout then give it a try with her.

Around the second page or so OP stated to have edited the option to fix it, but I guess the Escapist just decided to not make the change universal to anyone but OP.

It worked for some people temporarily though.

I believe it was the very last option.

 

[mysecondlife]

I put no time in customizing character's appearance. So my character is usually male because that tends to be the default.

I have no preference towards either gender whatsoever.

 

[Quadocky]

In character creation/RPG terms I will always play as a man. This is mostly because it helps with provoking familiarity with the character and the ability to step into their skin. Also at the same time its much rarer for men to play as men in online games so I feel special doing so. Something that always bothered me is how the animation is almost always gendered in some fashion. What makes it even more frustrating is that the animation on the 'female' models tend to be much more fluid and natural whereas the 'male' ones are much more robotic and stilted.

Another thing that draws a sort of '...really? eeeuuuughhhh...' kind of feeling is when I see sooo many men playing as big busty women/fetish/kink dolls roleplaying as lesbians or other gender minorities. If I didn't know any better, one could say that the existence of woman inherently implies some kind of instant sexual gratification. Obviously men playing as gay men does not exist, you'd be hard pressed to even find someone playing as a stereotypical flaming homosexual for laughs.

Lastly, I think the only other reason I don't play as women is because while their animations are much cooler, their sheer size or mass is lacking so playing around as some kind anorexic makes me feel sad. That is probably the only thing that the 'male' models typically have going for them is that they are always bigger or allowed to be bigger.

 

[white_wolf]

Wait was one of the options suppose to be Fem preferring to play as Fem? Because you've got two Fem preferring to play as Male.

So I guess I'll just type mine out check back and see if that choice is available later.

If given the choice and depending on the story I'm playing I like to choose female however I may also forgo it and pick male first it just depends on the story. I guess 8/10 I'll pick fem if she's available and the world setting makes sense if it doesn't I'll go male first see how the game playsout then give it a try with her.

Around the second page or so OP stated to have edited the option to fix it, but I guess the Escapist just decided to not make the change universal to anyone but OP.

It worked for some people temporarily though.

I believe it was the very last option.

Thanks, I'll go look for it!

 

[Hugga_Bear]

I put Male preferring to play as female but the truth is I don't particularly care, generally speaking I play as a female character second in a game but that's not so much preference as habit, I have archetypes which I take through every story, they're characters I like to play with and understand and allow me to investigate the entirety of every new game due to differences between them.

As it is though I'm not fussed, playing as a woman not really that different to playing as a man from my POV.

 

[Kyrdra]

Where is the option for I throw a coin?
Because I have no preference in it and I dont care about if I play a female or a male character

 

[aozgolo]

To be honest, depends on whether the game has romance options or not. Generally speaking if given the option I'll always play a female character UNLESS the game has romance options for NPCs in which it is usually more interesting for me to play a male so I can "woo the ladies" though even then I'll often switch this up in other playthroughs where I will try as a female.

The only game where I've been given the option to play as both and NEVER played female was Harvest Moon games, simply because the romance options are the ONLY difference.

 

[go-10]

depends on how much freedom I get. If I get to design the character (Skyrim, Saints Row, Mass Effect, etc.) 90% of the time I'll go female BUT if the characters are pre-made (Pokemon, Tales of Xillia, etc.) I'll pick whoever I think has the better character design. Oddly enough most of the time the girls look way cooler than the guys

 

[Yoshi4102]

Due to being a male, I like to be a male in game. When it comes to companion characters however, I like to have some variety and tend to choose a female in my party, such as a mage or a cleric or something. Makes it feel in character to me.

In Dragon's Dogma I actually had a big buff woman named Helga be my fighter. It was really entertaining and despite the pawns being rather lifeless and dull, I actually grew a bit of a connection to her! By far, that's what made the game for me.

 

[Free Thinker]

Male playing as female most of the time. All started with Mass Effect with Jennifer Hale being a much better voice actor, and it carried on from there. It's a nice change of scenery (not a staring at a female model's butt joke)and just a whole different perspective based on a game's universe.