Your Typical Characters

[nin_ninja]

...In games where you get to "insert" yourself into the world. Bioware, Bethesda, etc. all allow you to do this. I really only play Bioware games, and this is usually how I play the games.

Good/Paragon/Light Side Male and Evil/Renegade/Dark side female characters. I do play all four combinations, but those are typically the two types I play over and over again. I like playing as a good male, and I find it hard to ever play the middle ground or evil because for some reason I care about the silly 0s and 1s in the game, and I'm a guy.

Do you tend to play your gender? Good, evil, middle, or whatever you would do? Do you constantly replay that type of character, or do you mix and match as often as possible?

 

[NeutralDrow]

I tend to switch up between genders (slight preference for female), and almost invariably play heavily good-side.

I'm trying to think of specific examples, though...

 

[Serenegoose]

I usually play as my gender, and I almost always play her as very good aligned. Occasionally, when I feel the dialogue permits it, I'll play as a neutral 'pragmatic' character, but I've never seen dialogue that lets me play evil in a way that feels anything other than dumb. So, good, and a woman, mostly. I also gravitate to intellect focused spellcasting classes with high charisma, so I can unlock all the additional dialogue. I hate it when I can't get dialogue because I don't have high persuade or whatever.

 

[SwimmingRock]

I generally roll male first time and just go with honest "what would I do" reactions. If it's any indication, on both ME1 and 2 I got roughly equal Paragon and Renegade scores. Second playthrough with female is usually to optimize rewards based on what I learned first time around. Good guy one minute and murderer the next, so long as I get sweet loot. I do like to switch up my classes every time, though.

 

[ultrachicken]

I tend to go with good guy, as the evil options tend to be the kind that you'd see spout from the mouth of a cartoon villain.

 

[infohippie]

I usually play as female, and very much take the good/paragon choices. I just don't have any fun with "evil" choices and I'm not sure why but I don't usually find playing a make character appealing. My character in New Vegas, however, is male with a cowboy hat and a huge handlebar moustache.

 

[Distazo]

I am usually male, but I my favorite characters in movies I often find have a neutral to lawful evil alignment (via dungeons and dragons system). However, because I see him having a set code, instead of evil for the sake of being evil, I usually end up classifying as good. In Mass Effect I ended up being a renegade over a paragon.

 

[Haydyn]

Throughout my RPG history, I've almost always went toward the good side, and usually male. I don't get very far playing as females. It's hard for me to identify with the character as much. but going into Dragon Age 2 and picking up Fable 3 again (which I was evil for to get the wings) I am going to be taking a more dark approach.

 

[Dark Knifer]

I usually play as a male, neutral first, depending on the game. In KOTOR for instance, my first instincts were to be the biggest bastard in the entire universe so I could get a red lightsaber, black clothes and force lighting... That was fun..

 

[RatRace123]

I usually play male and I try to play them neutrally.
I don't like going full goody goody peace loving paragon and I don't like going full genocidal unpleasant dick renegade.

 

[Stammer]

I typically play male characters in games, though it changes up whenever a game has female character models that are actually worth looking at (which honestly doesn't happen very often as far as I'm concerned). That is to say: I agree with those people who say "If you're going to play a character for 80+ hours you might as well be staring at a woman's backside the whole time", but if the character model is excruciatingly ugly, then I'd rather not bother with that at all (see all Bethesda, BioWare, and Obsidian games).

As for personality, I honestly can't stray at all from my own real life one-- if I'm an asshole even ONCE in a video game I feel bad. Even in games where I hate the characters or I'm given no reason to believe that these people could be real.

 

[Cheesepower5]

First? Good, male, warrior character. Because he's the main character, of course.
Second, a mage, gender/alignment unimportant. Then whatever I haven't played if I feel like continuing.

 

[Xenetethrae]

Being Good/Neutral/Evil makes a game too linear and predictable... and in my opinion we need fewer games that only reward max good/max evil options.

For example:

via dungeons and dragons system

A much better "morality" system


Don't know if you can tell but I would be chaotic neutral.

EDIT: And almost always a guy

 

[bushwhacker2k]

I switch around genders occasionally, depending on mood. Alignment... I usually just go with what is better for the character, as morality systems are usually disappointingly shallow there's not much reason to go down the middle path. It's a shame though because the morally gray area is the only really interesting one, if you are solidly one side or the other the choices either suck or you are a stereotype.

I really wish they'd put more thought into the things they use in games. I keep hearing "ideas aren't what make games" but when the people saying that are the ones making generic overdone games it doesn't really sink in.

 

[crudus]

Depends on the game. I tend to be a NG or LN (sometimes LE) character. The classes determines my gender except in Mass Effect (where I hate the male voice). I try to play the closest thing to a rogue or sorcerer.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

I play characters of my own gender and make decisions that feel natural to me, decisions which one may describe, in Mass Effect terms, as ruthless Paragon.

 

[Roxas1359]

I usually play as my gender for the first character and usually switch it for the second one. As for how I act, I usually go for a good character because I just can't seem to be constantly evil in games. I can be evil for a time, but being evil constantly just gets boring for me for some reason. But every once and a while I will go back and forth in being good or evil when playing games like Fallout, but in the end I'm good.

 

[FalloutJack]

The character is not so typical of ME, but of a persona of the guy who seems to do what he can in a situation with what he's got. He's a badass looking to impress and a funny guy, also excessively violent towards the wasteland. That's why, for Fallout 1, 2, and 3...my character was Jack.

However, for two reasons, the Courier for New Vegas is "Andrew" and looks different. Reason #1, it was because in terms of timeline, the Lone Wanderer would still be alive while New Vegas is going on. Jack would still be out there. And reason #2, this is your basic wastelander. He's not the Vault Dweller, the Chosen One, or anyone with quite that high-profile a background. He's a guy doing a job. I wanted someone who didn't follow the nature of the Jacks, and so Andy is running through the wasteland all willy-nilly, sometimes running scared and sometimes sniping from afar to avoid detection.

That's how it is for Fallout.

Other cases where I have some control over who I am would be like...Persona. And in P3 and P4, I played the main characters like other characters I invented who seem like them. For kicks.

 

[theonlyblaze2]

I play as a male Talkative-Tank. My characters always will try to talk their way out of a situation, but if the shit hits the proverbial fan, you couldn't have a better Fighter on you team.

 

[The Scythian]

Generally, my characters are mercenary. If they are hired to do something, they do it, unless they get a better offer. Morality is not an issue, but the pay is, essentially.