Poll: Female gamers - do you choose the male default?

[Indignator]

Mess Effect 3 is upon us and with it the new and improved FemShep. Bioware/EA have really pushed the female Shepard with their advertising to the point that now I consider her to be the default Shepard.

Anyway, my question to female gamers is this - in games like the first two Mass Effects, which offer the ability to play as a woman (or female of some non-human species) but in which a male character is clearly the default choice, do you choose the female option or go for the male default?

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

No, never. Most other protagonists of games are male, so most of the time, I'm playing as a male. I'd like to play my own gender as much as possible.

 

[putowtin]

It depends, some times the male default face is better than the female, and visa versa.

For example, I first played a female character in Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins cause the face I could create wasn't totally butt ugly.
However in Fable 2 I had to play as a male character as the females all looked like they were either on steroids or cross dressing... badly!

 

[Beliyal]

Yes. Though, for my first character, if I have the choice, I always choose a female. I played ME three times, two times with a female, once with a male. I mostly changed the gender just to play somehow differently and experience the game in a different way.

 

[Phasmal]

Nope.

If I have a choice, I will always be female.
(Honestly I think FemShep is a much better default, I had one playthrough with MaleShep, and he just seemed like a generic protagonist, really. I just got more attached to my FemShep).

I enjoy playing as a female, as its so often not a choice.

 

[Aris Khandr]

I sometimes play a male character, but only when I want to do a complete asshole run of the game. For some reason, I have an easier time pushing the "set fire to babies and drown a box of kittens" button if the character is not even remotely like me.

Other than that, no. I have even ignored quite a few games that don't offer you any choice in the matter.

 

[MiloP]

I am a male gamer who generally goes for the female default, mainly because any game where the choice is given usually casts a better voice actress than the male counterpart. ESPECIALLY with Mass Effect.

But yeah, I usually opt for the girl for a variety of reasons - Zoey was my favourite from L4D, so I played as her, and I prefered Sheva's stance on the right side of the screen for Resi 5, so I played as her. I think the only time I opt for a male character is L4D2, because Rochelle is boring as hell.

 

[TehCookie]

I play whatever looks better, and most men in games look like they've stopped a speeding truck with their face and no amount of customization can change that. Not to mention with the whole sex sells so devs try to make the women look pretty, while men are steroidbeast powertrips.

 

[Chemical Alia]

I don't play Mass Effect games, but when I have a choice of gender with playable characters and male is the default, I'd go with the character I like best. And it's usually not the female character, unfortunately, because they tend to be boring and retarded.

 

[Screamarie]

I honestly can't answer your poll because I can go back and forth, it just depends on what I'm feeling like at the time. I usually feel more comfortable in a female body than I do a male, but not always.

In Mass effect, since it's been brought up before, I was MUCH more into my femshep than I was the male shep and I know plenty of people disagree with me, but I think that's because of the voice actor.

 

[DementedSheep]

I play whatever I feel like at the time, most of the time that?s female but I do have male characters (tho not in ME because I don't like the male VO and can't make a decent looking guy to save myself). I don?t really give a shit what is the ?default?, not in gender nor in class.

 

[Polarity27]

It's so often that you're forced to be male, I always take the female option if it's given. Sometimes, if the storyline is sufficiently different, I'll try playing a guy on the 4th or 5th playthrough just to see what it's like, but those are games that often languish unfinished (I don't think I ever did manage to get through KOTOR as a man).

I definitely relate better to the female PCs than the male ones, even if there's no actual storyline difference. For example, for me, Noble Six is a woman. The scene where Halsey hands the Cortana shard to Six is so much more powerful to me when she's female. It's like a lineage of the strong female characters in Halo, one entrusted to by another to another. It meant a lot to just have that option, especially in a game with such a rabidly sexist fanbase.