Do you find playing a character of the other gender awkward?

[Not Lord Atkin]

I do not if it's a self-contained character created by the dev. I do feel slightly awkward about creating and roleplaying a woman in an RPG. There's a difference in just how much I tend to project myself into the game depending on the genre; as a general rule though, nope. No issues with playable female protagonists.

 

[YOPVoodoo]

Nope. In some of the games I was doing that, you couldn't really tell what gender I was playing at all.

Others I played, you could see, I just didn't pay that much attention until I said, "Let's try a different costume." Five seconds after changing it, my brain went back to seeing it as a blank template that could have been filled with anything.

A giant, melting, Popsicle, for example.

 

[Abomination]

I do not see why it would. I am not my avatar. They are my agent in fulfilling my gameplay objective. Their personality is whatever the writer chose to gave them. If I have some input on that I will make their personality be what I deem most appropriate for the setting and the experiences that character has had so far. That being said I can only think of two game series that have allowed you to have a male-female protagonist option with actual character defining decision making and those are Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

I feel Dragon Age II did this especially well with how many types of responses your character gives eventually changes how they speak in plot choice moments or cinematic moments. I hope the (undeserved) bad reviews Dragon Age II received do not discourage that type of character development.

 

[frizzlebyte]

Nope, I'm actually very comfortable identifying with/playing as either gender. This goes for pretty much all of fiction, too; I often write stories from the female perspective if it fits the story better, rather than shoehorning a male into what should be a female character.

If I have a choice, I usually play a game as male just out of it being my "default" mindset, but I often play as female just for kicks, or if it changes the storyline.

 

[ssgt splatter]

Nope.

I like the idea of a strong, bad-ass, female character/protagonist. Alice and Jill from the Resident Evil films, Ahsoka from SWTCW, and Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.
Yes, I know you don't play as most of them in games and I know it's asking about games but I never played any of the Resident Evil games.

 

[Filiecs]

Only if I have the option to choose. In games where I can choose the gender I choose male because I find that it helps me connect better with the character. This is usually in MMO's or some RPG's and the like.

If you can't choose then usually the character is developed enough that their gender doesn't really have a big effect on how I relate to them. Faith in Mirror's Edge was a great example of a female character that I could really connect with.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Quite the opposite, really. I'm far more likely to play female characters given the opportunity than my own male. Haven't come up with any real reasons, though, not even comparative aesthetics.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

No. Actually, I think I like it better. It feels new and exciting, so I'm more likely to buy games that force me to do it than those that don't.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

I'm a guy and if i'm playing as a game where i can create a male or female character (Mass Effect trilogy,Saint's Row series,Dragon age series, etc.) i always create two separate save files. one where i play as a male character and one where i play as a female character. I've always done this and have no problem with it.. I like to see if the experiences are any different and give both genders a chance. plus as a guy i'd rather look at a female character then a guy in long term game... strangely though... i was playing a female character on DC Universe Online a few months ago and some male character kept following me and hitting on me thinking i was a girl in real life.. i've also gotten called miss in the game when i use a female character.... talk about awkward , lol.

 

[MysticSlayer]

If it is a preset character (ex. Samus, Lara, Lightning, etc.), then I've never had a problem with it. If I create the character, then it used to be sort of awkward, but I eventually got over it. My primary character is still always male, but my alt character is almost always female. However, I rarely play female characters in MMORPGs, more because of the way the community reacts than anything I have against playing a female character.

 

[Raggedstar]

I have over 60 games. Not counting the ones where you have character selection or customization, only 6 of them had female protagonists. So ya, not that bothered, but I will usually play as a female if I have the chance just for the fresh air. But if I'm forced to be a guy, whether it's Sly Cooper, Mario, Link, etc, I'm fine with it. I only feel awkward when the game is obviously going in a way where the developers are going "HEY LOOK! BEWBZ!". It's like I'm opening a gift that isn't meant for me and I'm not allowed to leave x__x.

I know that women have boobs. I know that some men LIKE boobs. I know that some women can have big boobs (either through surgery or naturally). Just to be fair, if I wanted to see boobs that badly I would just strip naked and look in the mirror. Dunno what the fuss is about. Maybe I'm spoiled because I can see them whenever I want?

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

If it's a third person game I usually prefer to play a female character.

I'm not one to stare at another man's ass all day.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I usually go for them first when given a choice.

so no, don't feel weird playing a female, at all.

 

[Sarge034]

As a male I don't have a problem role playing as a female character, BUT I do find that I have a harder time role playing myself if I am playing as a female character. I would routinely play through the mass effect games playing a full paragon and a full renegade so I could see how all the decisions played out. I would then role play myself as Shepard. It didn't matter what gender I was in the test runs, but I had to play my male shep in the final port run.

 

[Olas]

It depends a little bit on how much that character's gender affects the game.

For example Metroid is my favorite series, and it obviously has a female protagonist, but the fact that Samus is a woman is barely relevant in any of the games. [sub]Other M? What's that? I have no idea what you're talking about.[/sub]

But when it comes to games where you choose gender I always go with male, it just feels more appropriate. Plus I can't think of a non-pervy reason why I'd prefer my character to be female.

 

[mrhappy1489]

I use to find it very uncomfortable playing as a female character, but that was mainly due to my own problems and issues with my masculinity. Now that I've grown up a little and am not longer fixated on appeal to some dopey male stereotype, I happily play as female characters. Seriously, I've got absolutely no issue with it now a days, just so long as the characters are good I'm happy as a clam. This isn't based on anything, but I suppose it could be justified that my former position is where a lot of people are at currently in the gaming world, stuck between childhood and manhood, unsure of who they are and where they're going and most importantly, unsure of their masculinity. Just as there are these archetypes that woman are expected to base themselves on (Not particularly in gaming, more in a western society type manner), so too are men and I think there's still a lot of growing up to do. Just look at the way that men are idealised in gaming, you can't tell me that there aren't hundreds of men out there unsure about their masculinity based on that. This is going to be a problem for as long as our medium is stuck in this state and it's going to take some revolutionary developers to really move the medium into maturity.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Nope, I'm fine playing as the Jades, the Faiths, the Liliths of the gaming world, mainly because for most games, I see it as "The Adventures of X" as opposed to "My Adventure"

I will admit in "create your character" games, I mainly go with males, but that's because it then becomes a "My adventure" style game. I'm not averse to playing as a woman in those though, a good example being playing as FemShep in Mass Effect.

 

[Rheinmetall]

More or less we are all playing with male characters all the time. For example I recently started a campaign in Mass Effect 3 as a female Shepard, and it was like a male Shepard with two tennis balls on his chest.