Playing as a Different Gender

[Risingblade]

I've tried playing as a girl before it feels weird in RPG's where you create your own character ruins the immersion for me.

 

[lacktheknack]

I play both, but generally, the female avatars are more pleasant to look at.

Typically, I'll play a "lolwut" build with gender being a factor (female tanks are always fun).

 

[Palademon]

I usually main as a male, then maybe make a female character if I'm going through the game again.

I don't exactly 'roleplay' as a character though.

I have a friend who always given the choice will be female, which me and my other friends found disturbing, not because we have this stigma, but because we are aware of him idealising women, so we even thought he actually wishes he was a woman when he does that in games.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I generally play as my own gender. The only exceptions of late where Skyrim (female nord is the first thing I saw and I figured - yeah, she looks like she could kill a dragon). My choice of gender didn't really seem to matter in any meaningful way since I only played in first person and all. The other exception was Saints Row the Third where I switched to get the achievement and found myself more amused playing as the Russian sidekick to my friends Golden Buddah than as my traditional snappy working class english hooligan.

 

[DeltaEdge]

If it's a game with both genders and the one you choose actually affects the way the story progresses, then I see no weirdness in doing playing as a female character. If you ONLY play as a female character in EVERY game you buy, and never even go near the male option, then I might question that a little bit, but hell, it's still understandable.

If it's a game where the gender has no effect whatsoever on the progression of the story, nor does it even offer any type of gender specific cut-scenes or skits (quite often in MMORPGs) and you only seem to play as the female, then.. Well, I don't know if I like that. Not really my place to judge, but I personally find that to be a bit odd.

Some of my friends do that, and I don't really like it, but hell, it's their choice. When you mentioned that some like to get completely into the role that they are playing... In a regular game that is not an MMO, I guess it won't bother me too much. But in an MMO, that kind of bothers me. To me, it can come off as deceptive. If they are open about their gender, then I don't really have much of a problem with it. If they are asked of their actual gender, and they respond with their role-play gender which is the opposite of their real gender, then they are lying to you and being deceptive and I don't really like that and I don't really like being lied to by random strangers on the internet.

Considering how much society promotes you steer clear of people who pretend because they are probably a 50 year old pedophile man when they say that they are a 17 year old girl, falsifying your age or gender on the internet is bound to get you labeled (sometimes unfairly) as a creepy old fat pedophile. But really, it's not my place to say if some people get their jollies (or just get off) playing as the opposite gender in games. If they wanna do it, then fine. If they lie to me I don't like that, but whatever.

 

[Chemical Alia]

I don't really play games that have custom characters, but I'd probably pick a man just because female characters usually look retarded. Though I would also pick a midget whenever possible. I don't see why it should be weird if a guy wants to play as a female, the whole point of a video game is to have fun.

Really don't understand why people complain about gender, insecurities of their own?

I quite fondly recall getting verbal abuse from other players I'd be smashing in a couple of competitive FPS from yesteryear; rude enquiries into why would I pick a female model? Was I a flaming homosexual? The truth is I quite enjoyed the slightly smaller models but the main reason was preferring to hear a female grunting and moaning in my ear whilst bunny hopping for hours on end and sustaining damage, instead of a male one. Who was the supposed gay one again, not that it really matters?

Never really understood why most recent FPS games only allow male models, and in many cases you don't choose any aspects of how it looks either.

One theory is that most of them revolve around the US military and while females are allowed to serve they ARE NOT permitted to serve as frontline soldiers. Fun fact a lot of people don't know about. Sounds sexist at first glance but I have heard very compelling arguments from men and women why this is actually a good thing. Not sure how I feel about it honestly.

THe only thing you need to think about is POW and youll quickly agree that woman in that situation is going to have a much worse time than a man.

As much as it is hard to imagine how one POW can have a shittier time than others I have to agree with you. Women would definitely be more vulnerable to sexual abuse due to the fact that their captures would likely be >90% male and not bound by international laws regarding torture. [Insert quip about Guantanamo here].

The best argument I have heard is that a female comrade going down in a combat situation would be more damaging to a male soldier's composure than would a male comrade going down. It makes a lot of sense when you think about our (America's) culture. Protecting women/keep them safe and all that. I am not saying its fair, but its impossible to deny that is how our society works here in the US.

Assuming you are as qualified as anyone else, wouldn't you want to be given the freedom of choice, and let to make the decision for yourself, rather than it being made for you by someone else? No one wants to be patronized.

 

[putowtin]

If it's an RPG with romantic options I usually play as female, they tend to have more interesting love interests (Dragon Age- Alistair, Mass Effect 2- Garrus and Thane)

Then again that's not playing as a different gender!

 

[Bvenged]

A family member pesters the crap outta' me when they see me playing as a female character, to the point where it really pisses me off; they're not homophobic (I think) but damn do they not stop relenting when they sees me playing as the opposite gender with some of my characters.

[small]No I'm not gay. Stop continually accusing me, even if it is in jest. I'm not "dressing up to play as a girl to reflect on something", I'm playing as a girl because I find it more of a unique, unorthodox experience. It's called a personal preference. In the case of WoW, it's because I find it more appealing to look at a female blood elf for the hundreds of hours I put into the game than the male orc/undead; and my character list reflects that I play as males too, just not as often. With Mass Effect, it's because the story is more interesting and the voice actress' better. For more modern RPGs the gameplay can be much more different than as the default male and it's just more entertaining for me. For the last time, I'm not gay, bi or transsexual. I'm perfectly straight, so shoo. Here, how about I call a stripper?[footnote]I've used this line the last time I got accused, works like a dream.[/footnote] It's not inappropriate, I'm straight and 19. No? thought not, now shuffle along.[/small]

There's nothing wrong with playing as a different gender, no more so than choosing a different race, species, sentience or hair colour. It's down to entertainment value of the individual as well as personal preference. Besides, the more modern RPGs offer greater game changes based on these options, along with decisions and actions in-game.

 

[KrossBillNye]

When I played NwN I played both male and female avatars on a server I played regularly on. The 'vets' as we called each other who always played on the server knew my real gender but the new folks that would join the server and see my female character would always hit on my female Elf Cleric.

Yet it turned out that they all "aside from the vet" was absolutely certain I was a female in real life and stopped at no end to try to learn more about myself, demanding pics and such.

I can see how female gamers feel when they play MMOs.

It was a laugh though with the vets and I when they found out I was a man all along.

 

[RJ 17]

Immature answer: The reason I often play a female in RPG's where gender is a choice can be summed up in a pvponline comic from wwwwaaaaaaayyyyyy way back. I would have posted it were it not so far back that it would take hours to find. Quite simply, when one character is asked why he's playing a female character, he responds with "Hey, if I'm going to be staring at someone's ass for hours on end, I'd much rather it be a chick's ass!"

True answer: Personally I just like playing a female character when given the choice because it seems to go against the norm. Growing up there's nothing but games filled with macho men performing badass action and taking no prisoners. Personally I like the thought of a woman being able to step into those roles and be a true badass herself. That's why the vast majority of my Mass Effect playthroughs are with FemShep, it's one thing to be a space marine going around punching reporters and shooting terrorists and renegade Krogan and what not...but for some reason if said space marine is female I just think that spices up the story just that much more. Kinda a "Ha-Ha! You got your ass kicked by a girl!" type of thing. So yeah, I just find a game's story to be more exciting if it features a strong female character rather than just another meat-headed male space marine. Well, that and I admit I wanted to see a lesbian scene with Liara in ME 1 :3

But before you start saying that my tastes are based on sexual deviancy (which I'd have to hope you wouldn't given as how most of us seem to agree that playing as a different gender is no big deal ), keep in mind that I even made my Spartan in Halo Reach a female...and in that game the females are almost identical to the males other than being a little bit slimmer.

 

[Frostbite3789]

For most guys? It's because they're pervs.

How is the weather way up there in your ivory tower?

OT: MMO's I tend to do 75% male, 25% female.

Single player RPGs, probably 50/50 depends on the class I'm playing, what type of character I'm going for, and the overall story of the game.

Like in Dragon Age: Origins, a human noble female just felt...off to me. Meanwhile playing the male knight in shining armor male noble fit perfectly.

 

[Yureina]

I overwhelmingly play Female characters in games I play, but sometimes I do male characters. In other words... I don't have any real problems with playing either gender. I've never understood the whole "I only play as my real gender" thing, personally.

 

[regalphantom]

99% of the time I play male characters in games. I don't have anything against players who play characters of other genders, nor do I have anything against playing a game which as a female protagonist. I've just never felt the desire to play a female role.

 

[Necroid_Neko]

I like my rpg characters to be an extension of myself within the game world, and since I'm female I wouldn't want my character to be a guy because that's not who I am...

I'm too lazy to articulate my point further :L

 

[Lunar Templar]

I find the concept of a woman kicking ass so much more appealing than a man kicking ass. Men kick ass (and get their asses kicked) all the time...it is rather boring.

part this

Well, as it was said to me by one guy:

"If I'm going to be staring at a characters ass for hours on end, might as well make it a nice ass"

and part this, but mostly the first one

 

[Launcelot111]

Really don't understand why people complain about gender, insecurities of their own?

I quite fondly recall getting verbal abuse from other players I'd be smashing in a couple of competitive FPS from yesteryear; rude enquiries into why would I pick a female model? Was I a flaming homosexual? The truth is I quite enjoyed the slightly smaller models but the main reason was preferring to hear a female grunting and moaning in my ear whilst bunny hopping for hours on end and sustaining damage, instead of a male one. Who was the supposed gay one again, not that it really matters?

Never really understood why most recent FPS games only allow male models, and in many cases you don't choose any aspects of how it looks either.

One theory is that most of them revolve around the US military and while females are allowed to serve they ARE NOT permitted to serve as frontline soldiers. Fun fact a lot of people don't know about. Sounds sexist at first glance but I have heard very compelling arguments from men and women why this is actually a good thing. Not sure how I feel about it honestly.

THe only thing you need to think about is POW and youll quickly agree that woman in that situation is going to have a much worse time than a man.

As much as it is hard to imagine how one POW can have a shittier time than others I have to agree with you. Women would definitely be more vulnerable to sexual abuse due to the fact that their captures would likely be >90% male and not bound by international laws regarding torture. [Insert quip about Guantanamo here].

The best argument I have heard is that a female comrade going down in a combat situation would be more damaging to a male soldier's composure than would a male comrade going down. It makes a lot of sense when you think about our (America's) culture. Protecting women/keep them safe and all that. I am not saying its fair, but its impossible to deny that is how our society works here in the US.

I don't want to be stating the obvious here, but isn't the reason women aren't frontline soldiers because a fit man will almost always be faster/stronger than a fit woman, and the US army wants to have the most capable soldiers on the frontline? I really don't mean to be sexist, but assuming that all soldiers are roughly equal in terms of firing accuracy and knowledge of what to do in a gunfight and other learned soldiering skills, wouldn't an all male squad be expected to be most successful due to advantages in moving between locations, carrying any extra necessary supplies, or whatever other advantages that would be conferred by better fitness?

If being a pilot or intel officer or whatnot could be done better by one gender, then I'd assume (and for the good of our country expect) that the military would only take that gender for that role. However, those jobs require intelligence or dexterity which are distributed evenly between genders. Male benefits from different body structure are the only differences between genders that matter to the military, and that difference is being exploited where it is most important, which is the frontline.

I don't mean to say that woman POWs would not be treated worse (I wholeheartedly agree with that view) or that male soldiers would not be upset at the death of a female soldier in their troop, but I think women accept all inherent risks of the military when they enlist, and I think the army will put out the most effective unit in any branch of the military without being too emotional on the matter.

 

[Launcelot111]

Really don't understand why people complain about gender, insecurities of their own?

I quite fondly recall getting verbal abuse from other players I'd be smashing in a couple of competitive FPS from yesteryear; rude enquiries into why would I pick a female model? Was I a flaming homosexual? The truth is I quite enjoyed the slightly smaller models but the main reason was preferring to hear a female grunting and moaning in my ear whilst bunny hopping for hours on end and sustaining damage, instead of a male one. Who was the supposed gay one again, not that it really matters?

Never really understood why most recent FPS games only allow male models, and in many cases you don't choose any aspects of how it looks either.

One theory is that most of them revolve around the US military and while females are allowed to serve they ARE NOT permitted to serve as frontline soldiers. Fun fact a lot of people don't know about. Sounds sexist at first glance but I have heard very compelling arguments from men and women why this is actually a good thing. Not sure how I feel about it honestly.

THe only thing you need to think about is POW and youll quickly agree that woman in that situation is going to have a much worse time than a man.

As much as it is hard to imagine how one POW can have a shittier time than others I have to agree with you. Women would definitely be more vulnerable to sexual abuse due to the fact that their captures would likely be >90% male and not bound by international laws regarding torture. [Insert quip about Guantanamo here].

The best argument I have heard is that a female comrade going down in a combat situation would be more damaging to a male soldier's composure than would a male comrade going down. It makes a lot of sense when you think about our (America's) culture. Protecting women/keep them safe and all that. I am not saying its fair, but its impossible to deny that is how our society works here in the US.

I don't want to be stating the obvious here, but isn't the reason women aren't frontline soldiers because a fit man will almost always be faster/stronger than a fit woman, and the US army wants to have the most capable soldiers on the frontline? I really don't mean to be sexist, but assuming that all soldiers are roughly equal in terms of firing accuracy and knowledge of what to do in a gunfight and other learned soldiering skills, wouldn't an all male squad be expected to be most successful due to advantages in moving between locations, carrying any extra necessary supplies, or whatever other advantages that would be conferred by better fitness?

If being a pilot or intel officer or whatnot could be done better by one gender, then I'd assume (and for the good of our country expect) that the military would only take that gender for that role. However, those jobs require intelligence or dexterity which are distributed evenly between genders. Male benefits from different body structure are the only differences between genders that matter to the military, and that difference is being exploited where it is most important, which is the frontline.

I don't mean to say that woman POWs would not be treated worse (I wholeheartedly agree with that view) or that male soldiers would not be upset at the death of a female soldier in their troop, but I think women accept all inherent risks of the military when they enlist, and I think the army will put out the most effective unit possible in any branch of the military without being too emotional on the matter.

 

[Launcelot111]

I apologize for the double post, fellow members of the board