Poll: To Female Players - Does Gender really matter for Single-Player Games with no customization?

[Radelaide]

PS: I don't ever remember anyone complaining about playing as a female in Tomb Raider.

I seem to recall that being a major selling point...

That's because she had TWO major selling points.

OT: Like Susan said, I really think that where appropriate, developers should make more of an effort to make a alternative female protagonist. It does make it easier to imagine myself in the role of the character if she's female. I don't know what I'd do with myself if I was a bloke.

 

[Dr. Paine]

Not in the slightest. If a game is good, I'll play it no matter the gender of the PC. In customizable ones, I do tend to play as female, but that's about it.

 

[badgersprite]

No. Not really. I mean, it only matters in the sense that gender informs the character and the plot, the same way any quality matters in determining a character. I would like it if there were more female protagonists done well in games, but the gender of the protagonist doesn't affect which games I buy or like in anyway.

Besides, having awful female protagonists (case in point, Ayumi from X-Blades) is honestly more offensive to me than a game with no women at all.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

Gender is part a of character. I don't want a role there simply for the sake of appeasement. If it adds nothing to the game, why waste your time?

Take Male Shep and Female Shep - Gender adds nothing to the game other than your choice of romance. It's a useless tack on. The world interacts with you in completely the same way.
It shouldn't.

Well, there are some lines that are dependent on what gender you are in the ME games, but you are quite right, there should be more divergence between the stories of manShep and femShep.

That said, if you immerse yourself in your character, playing a femShep could add an extra layer to things. Unless things change dramatically in the next two hundred years, a female Shepard would've had to work twice as hard to get to the rank she currently holds in the Alliance Navy, and the fact she is a woman gives her a different psyche compared to a male so she would take decisions differently and react differently to situations than a male would. So you can give yourself added layers to the experience depending on the choice of gender. But Bioware could, and indeed should do more with it.

Edit: And yes, I too would like more well written female protagonists in video games, particularly of the variety where you don't make your own character, and in those where you can I'd like to see the female player character be the canonical one more often.

 

[LadyMint]

It depends on what you mean by "matter". Will it prevent me from playing a game that otherwise looks interesting to me? No, of course not - denying myself an enjoyable experience just because of a single design choice would be foolish. And not every character should be female. Take LA Noire, for example. Making the protagonist a woman would have completely ruined the story because it would be an absurd idea - a female police detective in the 40s? Unheard of! Same holds true for God of War, really - that simply wouldn't be the same game with a female main character.

But in those cases when the character could be female without any harm to the cohesion or immersion of the game, then I do wish that more developers decided to have a female lead. I don't think for a moment that male players would turn away from a good game simply because they had to play as a girl, so why not make it happen more often than it does?

You took the words right out of my mouth. I picked "Very Little" but I lean closer to "None" because I'm not that picky. I'll jump at the opportunity to play a female character when it's given, but I'm not going to deny myself a potentially awesome game experience just because the main character's male only. In games where I find myself taking part in an interactive story, I'm too busy getting lost in that character's life journey to stop and wonder why I don't get to play an opposite gender version of them. It's nice to have the option but it's not always necessary in my book.

 

[ZeroMachine]

It depends on what you mean by "matter". Will it prevent me from playing a game that otherwise looks interesting to me? No, of course not - denying myself an enjoyable experience just because of a single design choice would be foolish. And not every character should be female. Take LA Noire, for example. Making the protagonist a woman would have completely ruined the story because it would be an absurd idea - a female police detective in the 40s? Unheard of! Same holds true for God of War, really - that simply wouldn't be the same game with a female main character.

But in those cases when the character could be female without any harm to the cohesion or immersion of the game, then I do wish that more developers decided to have a female lead. I don't think for a moment that male players would turn away from a good game simply because they had to play as a girl, so why not make it happen more often than it does?

This. Definitely this.

And I can attest to being a guy and not having a problem playing as female characters. In Dragon Age 2, my Hawke is usually female. In Tales of Symphonia, I love playing as Sheena.

 

[Cap'n Ninja]

It depends on what you mean by "matter". Will it prevent me from playing a game that otherwise looks interesting to me? No, of course not - denying myself an enjoyable experience just because of a single design choice would be foolish. And not every character should be female. Take LA Noire, for example. Making the protagonist a woman would have completely ruined the story because it would be an absurd idea - a female police detective in the 40s? Unheard of! Same holds true for God of War, really - that simply wouldn't be the same game with a female main character.

But in those cases when the character could be female without any harm to the cohesion or immersion of the game, then I do wish that more developers decided to have a female lead. I don't think for a moment that male players would turn away from a good game simply because they had to play as a girl, so why not make it happen more often than it does?

I have so much to say, but I really don't think that any of it steps outside the boundaries of this.

Yes, it matters if a developer has a female character option, because they've put in the effort to create an entire new model and more in some cases, but it doesn't matter if they haven't, simply because being able to put yourself onto the character physically as well as mentally isn't what they were focusing on.

Brink, while it wasn't going to get a sale from me anyway due to lack of interest, further lost my interest by putting as much emphasis on customisability as they did but not having a female option either. I understand that it would have been more than twice the work, but if you're going to put that emphasis on the customisability, then you should go the whole hog and not leave yourself open for the flak about that.
Anyway, that was just a niche example of when it might have been a deal breaker under some circumstances that came to mind.

In pretty much every other game, having a female player character isn't that big a deal, just a nice little extra.

 

[RatRace123]

Not a female(last I checked), but I can say that the gender of the protagonist does not matter one ounce to me. So long as the game is good, I'm good. Granted, some games have female protagonists only so they can pepper in liberal amounts of TnA, but those games usually suck anyway so screw them.

 

[Aris Khandr]

It depends on the game. If you're playing a game with no other customization, it isn't a big deal. You're playing a set character. Their skills don't change, their name doesn't change, their face doesn't change. But once you start allowing me to change things up, it starts to matter a lot. Once you start giving me choices, I start to expect choices. In an RPG, if I can choose to swing around a sword the size of a small tree or be a sneaky rogue or a mage, and not have it effect the game, why can't I be a girl? It ends up feeling like laziness at best, or an outright attempt to exclude me at worst.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

No, I don?t see why I should, I don?t complain about the gender of the protagonist or main character I?m following in other forms of media. I suppose it?s slightly different being in the first person and playing as them but still, you?re playing as a particular character in a particular narrative.

I suppose a case might be made for an option to switch gender if the gender of the character is unimportant, mostly these blank slate character.

 

[deathbydeath]

Gender is part a of character. I don't want a role there simply for the sake of appeasement. If it adds nothing to the game, why waste your time?

Take Male Shep and Female Shep - Gender adds nothing to the game other than your choice of romance. It's a useless tack on. The world interacts with you in completely the same way.
It shouldn't.

i think one guy calls you a stripper if you pick a girl...

 

[AbstractStream]

Nah, I really don't care about that. As long as the game is good and worth my time, I can't complain.
I enjoyed God of War actually. Well, at least the first two.

 

[Nimcha]

Nope. In games where role-playing is important I do usually pick a female character because it's easier to characterize them for me.

But I also really enjoy blowing shit up in GTA games.

 

[KelsieKatt]

I know I will be called out for bias (since I am a male, and most games the main character is male) but to female players do gender really matter?

I have seen girls skip God of War becuase you couldn't pick a female Kratos, and even for the Gothic series (rpg, but no customization of looks.)

So how much does it matter for Single-Player Games with no customization?

Depends. If the character is premade with their own backstory and personality, it doesn't bother me in the slightest because that character doesn't represent me. Kratos for example doesn't phase me at all and I have no problem playing as him.

If I'm supposed to be playing a game with a semi-blank-slate character and choosing how I want to play them and create their personality, it pisses me off a good bit if I can't pick a female character as I can't relate to playing a male character and it's hard to get myself into the proper mindset, so I just do random stuff because it's there, rather than because I believe my character would act in a certain way.

Although, I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish for more female protagonists. It doesn't effect me playing games though unless I'm supposed to be role-playing that character to some degree.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

Well, I hear a lot of people arguing that if they can't put themselves in the position of the character they have trouble getting into it.

But I think that it's kind of a "what-if" scenario, like "if I was this person in this place, blahblahblah would happen". Say for example you are a ridiculously muscular man who cleaves monsters in two effortlessly, pretty different from most people, right? And yet games along those lines are still being made. I think it's a matter of imagination in general.

I mean, it's not a terrible argument, but at the same time you're gonna be pretty darn limited in your game choices if a character has to have A, B and C before you will even look at a game. I know asking for a female character isn't much, but if you refuse to play a game on that note, then I imagine you're probably picky about other things as well.

On the other hand, if you in fact do have deep customization then I think it's logical to expect some variety (i.e. the choice of whether to be female or not).

 

[AmayaOnnaOtaku]

I prefer a female protagonist, but if the storyline and character are written and developed really well, I can play a male. Though I rather play a well scripted male than a badly made female any day

 

[psicat]

Depends on the game and what type of character is in it, a game in which I'm playing a specific character's story or adventure it doesn't matter to me playing as a male character. But, in a game where the character is supposed to represent the player, even if it's not a customizable avatar but a pre-made character, I want to be able to pick a female avatar to represent me better.

 

[TehCookie]

It matters very little to me. I have no problem playing a guy, but at least make it an attractive guy. I tend to avoid games that feature a steroid abuser with short brown hair and a 5 o'clock shadow. Then again if I saw a game with a female steroid abuser with short brown hair and a 5 o'clock shadow I would avoid it. Even more so because of that last part.

 

[Yureina]

Kind of... It depends on the game for me.

I always end up playing female characters whenever I have a choice, and it has been virtually impossible for me to play a male in any game where there are significant customization options (aka, RPG's). As for games that force me to play a male... it depends on the game and the character i'd be playing. Basically... the more I am forced into "being a male", and especially if I don't really like the character, the more difficult I find it to play. If a game is constantly reminding me "you are a guy", then I get a bit turned off. On the other hand, if the character is more "neutral" in their behaviors, or that the writing and story are good enough to make me ignore this hang-up of mine, then it works out. If the game is bad or rubs the main character's male-ness in my face, I am probably going to be annoyed. My biggest hang-up of all is being forced to play as a male in an RPG, whereas I can ignore it while playing a shooter or other games where my character is essentially non-existent.

Examples... I have absolutely no problem with being forced to play as a male in Half-Life 2 or pretty much all shooter games where you are a personality-less dude in the military. Deus Ex and Assassin's Creed II made me wary at first, but I turned out to like the main characters enough that being forced to be male ended up not bothering me. On the other hand... Duke Nukem, even if some of the one-liners make me giggle, is a no-go for me. Wrongly perhaps, I have also avoided The Witcher 1/2 because I don't like the idea of playing an RPG as a male.

I'll admit... I probably don't make much sense. It is kind of hard for me to explain. I guess... in summary... the more I can forget about the fact that I am playing a male character, or that I can at least -really- like that character, then the less I am bothered about being forced to play as one.

:3

 

[Osaka117]

It matters very little to me. I have no problem playing a guy, but at least make it an attractive guy. I tend to avoid games that feature a steroid abuser with short brown hair and a 5 o'clock shadow. Then again if I saw a game with a female steroid abuser with short brown hair and a 5 o'clock shadow I would avoid it. Even more so because of that last part.

So I take it you didn't play Resident Evil 5?

And I know this topic is directed at females, but since I'm already here I might as well say that it doesn't matter to me what gender I play as.