Poll: All else being equal, what do you play as?
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If I have a choice I will pretty much always play as a woman.
I do vary races, though, but I would say I probably play as my own race more.
I like most of the mainstream flashy triple A games and there's not a whole lot of opportunity in those to be a woman, so when there is, I take it.
Though when I'm doing say, a second playthrough where I'm being evil, I tend to pick a man because the sense of distance from the character makes me feel less guilty about being an utter bastard.
I do vary races, though, but I would say I probably play as my own race more.
I like most of the mainstream flashy triple A games and there's not a whole lot of opportunity in those to be a woman, so when there is, I take it.
Though when I'm doing say, a second playthrough where I'm being evil, I tend to pick a man because the sense of distance from the character makes me feel less guilty about being an utter bastard.
I almost always play as a White Male, but it varies from game to game.
In World of Warcraft I would swap gender to suit the class. Female mages, male warriors, etc.
In some games like Skyrim I like to try out other races to see how the game reacts. I do, however, always have one playthrough where I play as the "me" character.
In World of Warcraft I would swap gender to suit the class. Female mages, male warriors, etc.
In some games like Skyrim I like to try out other races to see how the game reacts. I do, however, always have one playthrough where I play as the "me" character.
For some reason, regardless of what character I make, it has to be the tallest possible. I cannot play short and squiggly-like characters. I want a mountain of a man, not a twig.
I go with usually all the possible option if I have the time and depending on the game. I will say that I will likely pick male human as my first option, but after that I will go about other races and genders. If they effect story and dialogue I will definetly try to do all options if time permits. When picking classes I go for certain race or gender types that I feel fit that class as well. Also the color of my characters skin to me is not that important and they only just have to look good to me and color does not equate to how one person looks good to me.
Usually white females because for some reason character design in games sort of make that look the most appealing to me. I made a copy of me in Dragon's Dogma though, the male characters look way better and the male hairstyles were decent for once.
I suppose I prefer more elegant designs in general and if you don't mind me saying, the female body does tend to be pretty elegant, inb4 sexist accusations because this is the fuckin' Escapist. Male bodies are often chunky blocks that couldn't be more boring. Going back to DD, you could make male characters that did NOT look like stupid chunks of power armour wearing Spess Mahreehns and you had an item slot for CAPES. CAPES! We all know real men wear capes, it's on the checklist of manliness.
I suppose I prefer more elegant designs in general and if you don't mind me saying, the female body does tend to be pretty elegant, inb4 sexist accusations because this is the fuckin' Escapist. Male bodies are often chunky blocks that couldn't be more boring. Going back to DD, you could make male characters that did NOT look like stupid chunks of power armour wearing Spess Mahreehns and you had an item slot for CAPES. CAPES! We all know real men wear capes, it's on the checklist of manliness.
Speaking about games where you can create and customize your character. Most of my characters are to some degree based on characters from fiction that I have some level of attachment to, mostly books.
If I play a spell caster I either pick a girl who's usually a hot redhead or a mega wizard bearded elder if it's available.
For heavy warrior/paladin/berzerkerish characters I generally pick men of reasonable physical builds, dark haired, bearded,sometimes long haired, depends on the options.
For sneaky roguish backstabbing characters I usually pick petite raven haired girls and for healers stern looking brown haired girls with braids if possible. My archers are usually attractive blondes while with hunters, druids and so on I usually mix it all up.
If it's not a fantasy setting and I'm playing a medic like class I pick a fat walrus bearded dude if possible.
Make of it what you will but they are all pretty much always white, often pale.
If I play a spell caster I either pick a girl who's usually a hot redhead or a mega wizard bearded elder if it's available.
For heavy warrior/paladin/berzerkerish characters I generally pick men of reasonable physical builds, dark haired, bearded,sometimes long haired, depends on the options.
For sneaky roguish backstabbing characters I usually pick petite raven haired girls and for healers stern looking brown haired girls with braids if possible. My archers are usually attractive blondes while with hunters, druids and so on I usually mix it all up.
If it's not a fantasy setting and I'm playing a medic like class I pick a fat walrus bearded dude if possible.
Make of it what you will but they are all pretty much always white, often pale.
When it comes to my first playthrough, I'll generally be...well, myself (Caucasian Male) unless I can be paper-white (see Pokemon X/Y). If given the option though I end up being a very light-skinned Asian male (my latest Paragon Shepard). Then there's Saint's Row 2 in which I am an incredibly pale, gender-less humanoid with huge eyes (anime character)
As for games that let you actually change your race, I am never a human. Humans are boring and I have to put up with being human in my normal, depressing, stupid, pointless life. In games I strongly prefer being anything other than human and preferably not even humanoid but there are to few games that let me be non-humanoid...
As for games that let you actually change your race, I am never a human. Humans are boring and I have to put up with being human in my normal, depressing, stupid, pointless life. In games I strongly prefer being anything other than human and preferably not even humanoid but there are to few games that let me be non-humanoid...
Why'd I read the options for sex implying gender to be about physical attractiveness? No I want to play as an incredibly ugly woman dammit, wheres the option!
I always play as female Caucasian character, because I find dudes just absolutely fuckin' boring. You best spout something smart or interesting fella or I'm back to looking at her breasts (don't care if that's mildly sexist, it's the truth). Mainly I also find female characters easier to empathize with, as opposed to guys who I think should just suck it up and stop being so pusillanimous.
So in closing, women are more interesting than guys on all levels. Physically, emotionally and mentally, because I'm not a woman and have no idea what it's like being a woman. Except for dealing with breasts, the fatty's know your pain ladies.
I always play as female Caucasian character, because I find dudes just absolutely fuckin' boring. You best spout something smart or interesting fella or I'm back to looking at her breasts (don't care if that's mildly sexist, it's the truth). Mainly I also find female characters easier to empathize with, as opposed to guys who I think should just suck it up and stop being so pusillanimous.
So in closing, women are more interesting than guys on all levels. Physically, emotionally and mentally, because I'm not a woman and have no idea what it's like being a woman. Except for dealing with breasts, the fatty's know your pain ladies.
Games rarely hit a gold on the female models for me, I usually pick the opposite of my gender and make him unrealistically hot so at least I can have the fantasy of admiring them rather than being them (see walking ass and boobs with extremely jarring attention to detail and jigglyness).
Skyrim and probably the Elderscrolls on the whole is a notable exception, one of the few times I've been playing as a female and it felt natural. There was nothing exhibitionist about my movement or unnatural about my reactions to things vs a Male character. It's just...nice.
There are games that do the girl characters well but I just tend not to play them as much, either the game-play itself turns me off or the overall aesthetic is bad... sucks.
Race, I tend to vary my level of melanin depending on what looks good, my WoW female when I used to have one was quite dark, but I am a pasty white, gormless fuck, so I usually go for the whitest of the white, since I don't leave my house often enough to even bronze a little. Representation of myself is rare since human-esque characters are usually only my main choice if the variance in different fantasy races are slim. But on the few occasions when it matters, I'm white, usually so I don't have my african american bestie peering over my shoulder and asking why I'm playing a black person... Since I really don't have a good answer.
WoW I've championed Tauren as the master race taking up 1/3 of my alts and undead, troll and pandaren now taking up the rest. And my main a blood elf only for stat reasons (their racial is extremely conductive to healing) but he's male, so I use him as a starting point, my alts are all varied, some male, some female. The Pandaren female models were great though, just as chubby yet with a bit of curve here, and look like they could bounce around as much as any gummy bear, awesome. So yeah I got one of those in the female variety.
So my answer is a big incongruant, I don't know, I like to spice it up here and there and see how I feel.
Skyrim and probably the Elderscrolls on the whole is a notable exception, one of the few times I've been playing as a female and it felt natural. There was nothing exhibitionist about my movement or unnatural about my reactions to things vs a Male character. It's just...nice.
There are games that do the girl characters well but I just tend not to play them as much, either the game-play itself turns me off or the overall aesthetic is bad... sucks.
Race, I tend to vary my level of melanin depending on what looks good, my WoW female when I used to have one was quite dark, but I am a pasty white, gormless fuck, so I usually go for the whitest of the white, since I don't leave my house often enough to even bronze a little. Representation of myself is rare since human-esque characters are usually only my main choice if the variance in different fantasy races are slim. But on the few occasions when it matters, I'm white, usually so I don't have my african american bestie peering over my shoulder and asking why I'm playing a black person... Since I really don't have a good answer.
WoW I've championed Tauren as the master race taking up 1/3 of my alts and undead, troll and pandaren now taking up the rest. And my main a blood elf only for stat reasons (their racial is extremely conductive to healing) but he's male, so I use him as a starting point, my alts are all varied, some male, some female. The Pandaren female models were great though, just as chubby yet with a bit of curve here, and look like they could bounce around as much as any gummy bear, awesome. So yeah I got one of those in the female variety.
So my answer is a big incongruant, I don't know, I like to spice it up here and there and see how I feel.
I generally play male characters, but I do sometimes dabble with female ones. Usually I like to pick the "underdog" race: Former slaves, refugees, hated, feared, misunderstood or downtrodden in some other way.
I usually play the reluctant hero, who will even save the repentant members of his oppressor's race.
I usually play the reluctant hero, who will even save the repentant members of his oppressor's race.
I always play girl characters where the option is there (I'm a girl IRL). They usually sort of look like me, white, brown hair which is kinda long, and a bit o' cushion (but not too much!). I tend not to pick humans if I can, usually because humans are boring. I go with elves mostly. Though I did play a busty blonde in Skyrim the first time (though she wore so much armour she looked like a dude).
The most radical I went was in Aion, where my Asmo had a flaming pink crew cut/mohawk thing going. But I played with the skiders to give her pointy elf ears.
As for the MMO world, I think I have had the "are you a real girl" maybe only a handful of times in many, many years. Then again, maybe it depends on the character (name, build, behaviour) and the situation. Or people just assumed I was a boy and didn't ask.
The most radical I went was in Aion, where my Asmo had a flaming pink crew cut/mohawk thing going. But I played with the skiders to give her pointy elf ears.
As for the MMO world, I think I have had the "are you a real girl" maybe only a handful of times in many, many years. Then again, maybe it depends on the character (name, build, behaviour) and the situation. Or people just assumed I was a boy and didn't ask.
That seems to be the common refrain in so many games, I wish they would often give the hero more of a voice, to be like "ugh, if I must". But it might be bad form to complain about saving the world from annihilation because you'd rather someone else pull their finger out for once. heh.Chris Moses said:
What I couldn't believe (well I could because it wasn't my first game) was Lara (in the latest TR) being like "ok, well Ima gonna go and do this stuff" after spending all her time alone. If it were me, I'd be like "don't leave me" on Spooky Kabooki island. But you know, she's a bit of an idiot in that game...
In real life, I'm a pale blonde trans woman with blue eyes. I suppose she's more similar to me than she is dissimilar...? Dunno. I have a few specific characters who I like to play.
I tend to create Mareth, my spellsword, in my first playthrough of most every fantasy RPG. Mareth is pale with long black hair and purple eyes. If there are elves in the game, she is an elf, but elves are, aesthetically at least, simply humans with pointy ears. She uses lightning magic and conducts it through her blade, preferably a light fencing blade like a rapier. Her story is much too detailed to go into here.
There's also Mirelle, my rogue who is NOT a thief! She's a treasure hunter, an explorer, like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft or Locke from Final Fantasy VI. She's tan because she spends a lot of time outdoors hiking to different ruins. She has brown hair, which is just a tiny bit too short to touch her shoulders, and looks disheveled and windswept, and green eyes with tiny flecks of hazel. She favors whips and crossbows (but not in D&D because D&D crossbows suck! :>), and she carries a variety of gadgets that help her detect and avoid the various traps that ancient ruins ALWAYS HAVE!
Then there is Mily Marteaux (pronounced MIL-lee mar-TOE. Fun fact: I named her after my favourite mechgun in Phantasy Star Online, the Mille Marteaux), my gunslinger, who I play in settings where guns (at least revolvers, no flintlocks please :x) are a thing. She's a tan redhead, who wears her hair parted in the middle in a chin-length bob cut. She has green eyes and wears long leather duster coats, flowery blouses, deerskin pants with those little fringes on the sides of the legs, cowboy hats, and boots with spurs. She has a Texan accent, and sometimes goes by the alias "Two-Gun" Mily because she likes to use two revolvers.
In settings steeped in Asian culture, I like to play Sekihara Setsumi (Japanese format! Her surname is Sekihara!). She's a very Mulan-like character, except not Chinese, lel. She's the daughter of a daimyo, she has no siblings, and her father is dying of old age. So rather than be married off and see her family name end, just because she's not allowed to be a samurai, she steals her family's heirloom katana and sets off to become ronin, teaching herself the sword and seeking out forward-thinking masters who will take on a female student. In some games she strays to more medieval English lands in her journey of self-improvement. She has an Asian skin tone, dark brown eyes, and waist-length black hair which she wears in a high ponytail, like a feminine version of a topknot. Fun fact: in my Pathfinder game, the Sword of Sekihara was an intelligent item which could speak to Setsumi telepathically, and it turns out the sword had a female personality the whole time :>
I also have Esmerelda Vitteri, a Romany girl whose clan was one of the performing caravans, a travelling circus. Esmerelda was the knife thrower. She's also a rogue, but she IS a thief. She had her fortune told and dreamed of the tarot deck, and spoke to some of the cards, and then started to multiclass as a sorceress (and eventually an Arcane Trickster! Hurray!). I know, I know. My Gypsy gal is a thief and a fortune teller. I like the archetype, so nyeh. Anyway, she's got a dusky brown skin tone and long black hair, and blue eyes, and she likes to wear bracelets and lots of colourful dresses, and play tricks on the party. :>
So, I guess I like to play characters that I can identify with on a basis of gender and ethnicity, but I do like variety too, especially playing characters from cultures that I really like. :>
I tend to create Mareth, my spellsword, in my first playthrough of most every fantasy RPG. Mareth is pale with long black hair and purple eyes. If there are elves in the game, she is an elf, but elves are, aesthetically at least, simply humans with pointy ears. She uses lightning magic and conducts it through her blade, preferably a light fencing blade like a rapier. Her story is much too detailed to go into here.
There's also Mirelle, my rogue who is NOT a thief! She's a treasure hunter, an explorer, like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft or Locke from Final Fantasy VI. She's tan because she spends a lot of time outdoors hiking to different ruins. She has brown hair, which is just a tiny bit too short to touch her shoulders, and looks disheveled and windswept, and green eyes with tiny flecks of hazel. She favors whips and crossbows (but not in D&D because D&D crossbows suck! :>), and she carries a variety of gadgets that help her detect and avoid the various traps that ancient ruins ALWAYS HAVE!
Then there is Mily Marteaux (pronounced MIL-lee mar-TOE. Fun fact: I named her after my favourite mechgun in Phantasy Star Online, the Mille Marteaux), my gunslinger, who I play in settings where guns (at least revolvers, no flintlocks please :x) are a thing. She's a tan redhead, who wears her hair parted in the middle in a chin-length bob cut. She has green eyes and wears long leather duster coats, flowery blouses, deerskin pants with those little fringes on the sides of the legs, cowboy hats, and boots with spurs. She has a Texan accent, and sometimes goes by the alias "Two-Gun" Mily because she likes to use two revolvers.
In settings steeped in Asian culture, I like to play Sekihara Setsumi (Japanese format! Her surname is Sekihara!). She's a very Mulan-like character, except not Chinese, lel. She's the daughter of a daimyo, she has no siblings, and her father is dying of old age. So rather than be married off and see her family name end, just because she's not allowed to be a samurai, she steals her family's heirloom katana and sets off to become ronin, teaching herself the sword and seeking out forward-thinking masters who will take on a female student. In some games she strays to more medieval English lands in her journey of self-improvement. She has an Asian skin tone, dark brown eyes, and waist-length black hair which she wears in a high ponytail, like a feminine version of a topknot. Fun fact: in my Pathfinder game, the Sword of Sekihara was an intelligent item which could speak to Setsumi telepathically, and it turns out the sword had a female personality the whole time :>
I also have Esmerelda Vitteri, a Romany girl whose clan was one of the performing caravans, a travelling circus. Esmerelda was the knife thrower. She's also a rogue, but she IS a thief. She had her fortune told and dreamed of the tarot deck, and spoke to some of the cards, and then started to multiclass as a sorceress (and eventually an Arcane Trickster! Hurray!). I know, I know. My Gypsy gal is a thief and a fortune teller. I like the archetype, so nyeh. Anyway, she's got a dusky brown skin tone and long black hair, and blue eyes, and she likes to wear bracelets and lots of colourful dresses, and play tricks on the party. :>
So, I guess I like to play characters that I can identify with on a basis of gender and ethnicity, but I do like variety too, especially playing characters from cultures that I really like. :>