What gender do you play as in games?

[Dar]

So, being biologically a guy, I often have people questioning or arguing against the fact that I play primarily female characters when given the choice. I'm curious as to whether others here tend to play characters opposite of their gender, and why/why not?

I play as female characters mainly because I find that I can connect to them more. In RPGs, the main games I play that have this option, I want to be immersed, and have a hard time being immersed as a male. Most men in gaming are depicted as burly, tough, etc., meanwhile I can't relate to any of those things. Also, I'm currently debating my gender identity in real life, and I'm not sure if that could have an impact on any of these things.

I do notice that in games where you don't have the option to change gender, it doesn't really effect my experience much.

 

[xxashxx]

I am a guy so I play as a male but a lot of people play mixed genders because they like a certain character. The only way to play that character is to play the desired gender. I would rather pick my gender as male and then have an in game character selection without all the hooray of a gender selection.:)

 

[Autumn]

The only gender-select games I do are Pokémon. In most games (including Ranger and Mystery Dungeon) I choose female, though in White, White 2, and X, I played as the guy. The guy character just looked and felt more fitting to my self-perception than the girl in those games.

 

[Momo(th)]

I'm usually female unless I'm role-playing a character.

 

[Stormecho]

mooostly female, unless I don't like the model, which has happened in mmos where the fanservice got too awful and I switched to a male character

 

[Equinoxe]

It really depends. If there's character customization, I'll usually have several different characters, both male and female. I usually tend to make more male characters though because I like looking at handsome dudes just like playing as males more. The one exception is Mass Effect, because jesus god damn it's nearly impossible to make a decent-looking fella with the character creation, plus female Shepard is satisfyingly badass (unlike some playable female characters) so I don't really have a problem playing as her.

If there's no customization option, it usually depends on what the characters look like. If the female choice is the generic long-haired ladylike girl I'm more likely to pick the guy, since I'm not exactly the pinnacle of femininity myself and it's easier for me to 'connect' with male characters.

 

[Murkrow]

If there's no character customisation, it depends on which I think looks best.

Unless it's Pokémon in which case I pick boy for Ruby/FireRed/Diamond/Heartgold/Black/Black 2/X/OmegaRuby and girl for the other of the pairs and Crystal. I get to pick for myself in Emerald in Platinum.

If there *is* character customisation I honestly don't know because I don't own many games that have it.

 

[M&F]

Funny how people think it's weird to play as l the girl when you're male but have zero problems with making everyone else play as a dude everytime there's no gender options.

Anyways, I just play as the one with the better character design. This means the female like 65% of the time, at least. When it doesn't affect character design (eg PMD), it's pretty much just a random pick. When customization is involved, I go for the one with the better customization options (and if I don't know which one that is I just screech at the heavens forever, which is my usual reaction to uncertainity in customization).

 

[kyeugh]

It really depends on which one looks better, which is almost always the girl (in terms of pokémon, anyway). I'm also the girl in most other games where the appearances are about equal, probably out of habit.

 

[hopeandjoy]

In Pokemon I tend to be the guy outside of Crystal, RSEORAS, and XY because I think they look better. In games with customizable characters, I tend to be a girl. Whether or not the girl becomes me or an OC is pretty 50-50 though.

 

[Flora]

i tend to play as gals just because i heartily approve of girls in video games. like even if fanservice makes it painful i just grit my teeth and bear it.

unless either
a) forced gender (which makes me sad in games where it's not actually relevant? like there's a mobile game i'm playing (i know) where they let you name yourself but then don't???? even let you pick gender???? and you're not even like a physical presence i'm playing a dude named after one of tevye's daughters in Fiddler on the Roof it's awful) (though i am also playing a lesbian girl link in awakening so clearly sometimes i get around it)
or b) there's some reason, like completionary stuff/marriage. like harvest moon or fire emblem awakening where i feel the need to marry all the characters

 

[Byrus]

Well, I want the character to represent me, so I always choose male. I enjoy RPGs with customization like Skyrim and Mass Effect a lot, they're pretty great for shameless power fantasies. :p

 

[Zero Moment]

Nearly all my life I've created male characters. For all up to the last few years they've been variations on my self. In recent years I've been creating established characters, still all male. Now, just about a month or so ago, I've created my first female character. Then I made another. Then another.
This is really fun.

 

[ultraviolet]

always play as women unless I can't, no matter how girly, fanservicey, etc. because women are awesome

 

[Sandstone-Shadow]

Funny how people think it's weird to play as l the girl when you're male but have zero problems with making everyone else play as a dude everytime there's no gender options.

This! It doesn't really make a huge difference to me in particular (I'm not particularly offended by playing as a male character), but it's interesting to think what that might say about society.

I don't have any particular tendencies, just whatever I happen to be feeling that day. I do tend to think slightly differently when I'm playing a different gender? I think no matter how much I try to reject the stereotypes I grew up with, somewhere they're still ingrained in me...

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

When it comes to Pokémon I usually play as the male character on the first playthrough. Sometimes I will play as the female character on subsequent playthroughs.

I can't think of too many other games I've played where I've been given a gender option. I've never played Skyrim or Mass Effect, but if I did, I'm pretty sure I'd pick the female option.

Whenever I have to input a name I usually just type in "Zach" out of habit.

 

[Alxprit]

I go with male pretty much all the time, except in situations where I've been the male many times before.

 

[Butterfree]

I basically always play as the one whose design I like better. If I like them about equally, I lean towards female.

 

[Jolty]

if there are dudes to marry then i'll play as female (assuming it's lol str8 marriage only). if not i'll go with whichever one i like the look of best.

with pokemon, in my main game i always play as the boy and in the game i get to replay over and over i'll usually play as the girl :v

 

[sv_01]

I'll be a girl if I can. Might be partly because none of the games I play are too fanservice-heavy.

I think the reason why a lot of games force you to be a guy is to make it simple. They don't have to sprite a female Link, Mario or Donkey Kong... Or a female Tim (the main guy in Braid). Would she be saving a Princess or a Prince? And there are some even simpler games. If you want to make some kind of flash platformer, it's easier with just one main character sprite. Of course some have uncertain genders. And then are the situation where the gender is forced on you because of heavy sexual dimorphism. Like Angry Hungry Fish, where you're an anglerfish and eat fish to grow bigger, and male anglerfish just aren't supposed to grow huge. And don't look like anglerfish. Perhaps only the males of Zee Tee's species have abilities like him. (The female would be more like Nehema, who I can't quite picture adventuring.)

Me and my family sometimes play Battle for Wesnoth. It's a fantasy strategy game, and your commander is the closest you have to an avatar. Once we tried to play with different species than we usually do. I was supposed to be a dwarf, but my brother decided that my dwarven lord is actually a lady who isn't afraid to admit it. While still being a warrior. (Usually I am an elven enchantress, a magic user who doesn't heal but can use energy attacks.)