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

[Korten12]

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?

 

[Who Dares Wins]

I'm male but I don't see why would people complain about that. There's really no reason. I don't care what I play in the game as long as the game is good.

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

 

[chinangel]

I've always preffered playing female characters. For me, it's harder to get into a game if I can't visualize myself in the character's position, having a female avatar helps.

 

[AnkaraTheFallen]

I think it kind of matters.... in many rpg games I try to imagine as if it were me in the game, to add a level of depth to the game, so I'd like to be able to choose a female character. But I wouldn't ignore a good game just because I can't choose a female character.

 

[Mallefunction]

Honestly, I'd rather see games where the main character was female with no way to change it (ala Portal). There are TONS of games where you have no choice but to play as a white straight male, why not a woman?

Ultimately, I don't give a damn about customizing physical attributes, but I do wish there was more diversity. It doesn't affect whether or not I enjoy the game, but it does limit what the game can bring to play through the character.

 

[Susan Arendt]

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?

 

[Snork Maiden]

I'm a guy and I always play as a girl if given the opportunity. I find it unlikely that many people seriously use gender of the main character as a deal breaker when it comes to choosing a game (I certainly don't), but it's just nice to have the option. I always thought the problem was in more open ended games were you make your own character, yet don't have the option to choose a gender.

 

[Tulks]

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...

 

[lobster1077]

Well given that i'm a manly man who busies himself with manly endeavours you must flip the debacle around. And no I don't get irritated at all, being forced to play as a woman in mirrors edge or tomb raider doesn't affect the fun or quality of the game for me.

 

[alittlepepper]

It's not really a deal breaker for me when I play games, but typically I do prefer to play as a female avatar when I'm given the opportunity. It helps me get a little more into the game, even when I'm playing something completely absurd like Saints Row 2. I tend to get annoyed when there's no real reason not to enable female characters in a game where it wouldn't be appropriate...see Susan Arendt's post...and it isn't available, but if a game is fun or looks enjoyable, not being able to play a female wouldn't completely put me off the game.

 

[Trolldor]

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.

 

[Tsunimo]

Sometimes, it can, not in all, but in a few RPG games your characters gender can change the gameplay, like in the Mount and Blade games, for example.
Otherwise, it doesn't take anything away from the gameplay, so what does it matter?

 

[Kopikatsu]

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 remember the merc recruiter in ME2 commenting that 'The dancers go over there' to FemShep or something.

Anyway, gender in video games doesn't matter to me...but if given a choice, I always pick female.

If I'm going to be forced to stare at my character's ass for 90% of the gameplay, it may as well be an attractive ass.

I do get annoyed when genders get different stats, but one is inherently better than the other. For example, in Samurai Warriors 2, female bodyguards have higher speed, musou, and luck while male bodyguards have higher health, attack, and defense.

The thing is...your bodyguard runs as fast as you, only uses their musou when doing a team musou (Which means that it lasts exactly as long as yours), and only the player's luck does anything.

So basically, a female bodyguard would be shitty compared to a male bodyguard of the same class. However, most games make females more powerful (Like Final Fantasy, only females can equip Ribbons in the later games)

 

[AetherWolf]

Not really.

I mean, I was also turned off by God of War because you're playing as a macho man wearing nothing but a loincloth... But otherwise no, it doesn't affect me.

Though I admit I really like female protagonists that aren't just there for fanservice (such as Portal, Mirror's Edge, and Beyond Good & Evil)

 

[trollnystan]

I voted "none". I enjoy playing female characters, and if there's a choice I will. But in games like God of War I don't care.[footnote]For the sake of honesty, I'll admit to not having played GoW. Not because it has a male protagonist, but because I'm poor and it never pulled at me like other games did.[/footnote] One of my favourite games if POP:SoT for example, which has a male protagonist.

Seriously, if a game having a male protagonist chased me off that would limit the games I play by quite a bit.

EDIT: I'll add that if the gender of the character hinders me from connecting with him on a personal level, then that is a badly written character.

 

[Canid117]

Did people really skip God of War because they couldn't pick a female Kratos? I have never heard of such a case.

 

[Korten12]

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?

Good response. Nice to see a Escapist Editor post. Senior editor at that.

 

[Trolldor]

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 remember the merc recruiter in ME2 commenting that 'The dancers go over there' to FemShep or something.

Anyway, gender doesn't matter to me...but if given a choice, I always pick female.

If I'm going to be forced to stare at my character's ass for 90% of the gameplay, it may as well be an attractive ass.

See, I don't get this. How is that arse attractive? It's nothing but rendered data.

That aside, the merc recruit is irrelevant as it doesn't change your interaction with the world. The quest proceeds precisely the same.
In a good game, your gender would provide you with limitations.
Take Baldur's Gate 2, for example. There's a character who simply will not talk to you at all if you're male. If you're female, they have a whole slew of dialogue allowing you to ask questions about the history of the place, and gather some information. A male character locks you out of this interaction.
But a male character too has unique interactions with the world through the story - such as when in the Drow City.
There are some much better examples out there but I can't be fucked remembering them at this point.

 

[Kopikatsu]

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 remember the merc recruiter in ME2 commenting that 'The dancers go over there' to FemShep or something.

Anyway, gender doesn't matter to me...but if given a choice, I always pick female.

If I'm going to be forced to stare at my character's ass for 90% of the gameplay, it may as well be an attractive ass.

See, I don't get this. How is that arse attractive? It's nothing but rendered data.

That aside, the merc recruit is irrelevant as it doesn't change your interaction with the world. The quest proceeds precisely the same.
In a good game, your gender would provide you with limitations.
Take Baldur's Gate 2, for example. There's a character who simply will not talk to you at all if you're male. If you're female, they have a whole slew of dialogue allowing you to ask questions about the history of the place, and gather some information. A male character locks you out of this interaction.
But a male character too has unique interactions with the world through the story - such as when in the Drow City.
There are some much better examples out there but I can't be fucked remembering them at this point.

Why do people feel tension in Amnesia? It's just rendered data.

Why do people become upset by moving scenes in movies? It's just actors reading from lines of a script.

A medium can only give you what you're willing to take out of it, and nothing more. If I want to find a pixel ass to be attractive, then GOD DAMN that ass will be amazing.

Edit: I realize that makes me sound like a weirdo pervert. I don't actually go play games to stare at women's asses, I just mean that I find women more attractive than men, so I may as well find my character attractive if I'm going to be spending the whole game playing as them. That being said, I actually have a BroShep instead of a FemShep because I HATED the FemShep hairstyles, but BroShep had a few nice ones.

Basically, I choose whichever gender I find more attractive within the game. Usually it's female, but sometimes it's male.