Guys playing as girl character and girls playing as guy characters.

[Aschenkatza]

I don't actually know a lot of females that play male characters. I knew one, waayyyy back when, but that was only because she liked the male dance over the female dance. Not a lot of females play male characters anymore.
Only reason I would play a male character is because there might more better storyline on the male character vs the female or because the male actually looked masculine but not so masculine that I need to have a helmet equipped all the time. Otherwise, just like the guys, I'd rather stare as a chicks ass rather than a guys and female curves are just so gosh dang perty.

 

[Pink_Pirate]

well im a guy and i normally play as girl characters... i dont really know why.. well i've always been a bit gender confused so maybe thats why... but at least in mmo's i normally play with female avatars cuz the models look better... and femshep has a way better voice actor in mass effect...

 

[Daipire]

I always try to make the character look like myself, so I play as a guy, and I get confused when others don't

 

[Necrofudge]

Sigmund Freud's "penis envy" theory but in reverse?
I honestly can't fathom why some people do this.
Then again... Why does anyone do anything?

 

[Canadian Briton]

In WoW my brother's motivation is that the males of the race are either extremely effeminate (Blood elf males) or are extremely ugly (Dranei males).

 

[Meemaimoh]

I'm a female who will happily play both male and female characters. I mostly have female characters in MMOs because my boyfriend gets creeped out by my playing males, but I do have a few males and I thoroughly enjoy playing as them.

It's a different experience, mostly because sadly enough, you do get treated differently. I've found that when I play on male characters, I'm listened to a little more and spoken to a little more readily. Wonder why that is?

 

[LionsFist]

Females have smaller avatars. Make them harder to click on.

But I think anyone that rolls a gnome must obviously have midget psychological issues. Or like children in the wrong way.

EDIT: Ohh, and for those who are confused as to why people do this? I would have to say it's because a lot of people don't really give a crap. It makes no difference truthfully, so why does it bother you? I have NEVER tried to make my in-game avatar resemble myself, because I find taking on a completely different persona much more interesting for myself if I'm RPing than trying to fit myself completely to the game. Maybe you're just control freaks?

Also note, just because I try to take on a completely different persona doesn't mean I always play as female. Sometimes there are other characters in the game that are interesting enough to make.

 

[Dark Prophet]

Female always female, hell even my Rainbow Six:Vegas charachter is female. And why I don't know maybe Freud could answer that. I myself think it's because the female charachter is prettier to watch at. Although in MMOs I had a problem with that, because as soon as I rolled out my sexbomb that I had crafted for hours some guys started hiting on me so I had to scrap the female charachter and make a ugly fat male instead.

 

[lorddraethos]

Because you can make more fake-moneys stripping as a female.

 

[arsenicCatnip]

Well, sometimes I decide to play as a guy, but that tends to be online games, where if I stick to my true gender, people just bug me...
But luckily I can play as my own gender on offline games. And it makes no difference to how much ass I can kick.
So if I play as a male character, I do it for my own convenience >.> Less idiots chasing me around then.

This. Oh god this.

My roommate, god love her, refuses to play as anything but female characters these days. (Which, ridiculously enough, is pretty much the only reason she hasn't played Persona 3 or 4. She says she can't get into a male character who is 'supposed to be me'.)

Gender really doesn't matter to me, but playing as male means less random harassment.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

"Because if I'm going to be staring at someone's ass for hours on end, it might as well be a girls'"

A quote from an insightful guildmate a while back.

This is a Reason for some, sometimes its a case of wanting to use a gender or race specific class