Poll: What gender do you choose in RPG's?

[Nopodop]

I always play as a male at first, since I'm male. After that I play as what I feel like.

 

[Random Fella]

I tend to prefer male
My first character will almost always be male
Because I'm just normal like that

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Whatever I feel like at the time for example 7/8 of my Guild Wars characters are women while only 2/10-15 Oblivion character have been female.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I'm female, but I tend to pick male. I may be wrong in this, but I assume that the vast majority of these games are written with a male protagonist in mind, so the best experience of the story will be with the male version of the character.

However, picking female can be great fun to see what hilarious consequences this has for the story. Mount and Blade gives you the option to pick your gender at the start, but makes no allowances whatsoever for choosing to play as a woman. I had a great conversation with a merc who said he was happy to sign on with me because it meant he could "get away from all those abhorrent women".

Another good point was getting told by a noble, "I've heard you're a reliable young man". My battle record thus far made every part of that statement false, meaning I could cheerfully answer the computer screen, "Well, you heard wrong!"

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

In things like Saints Row, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc. I choose my own gender (male) as it serves as an extension of my awesomeness! (AKA: it feeds my narcissistic personality which stems from an underlying need to escape from my often boring average life.)

MMOs I like going for what would look good. For example Old Republic I have a small, submissive looking, attractive, imperial agent. He's perfect for infiltration because who would suspect him.

I also have a female twi'lek bounty hunter because it just different yet somehow matching. (Also the head tails tend to swing around when doing certain abilities, its a nice effect)

 

[BigDeadMushy]

where is the option for people like me who don't 'choose' their gender,but rather let a polyhedral divining object make the call for them?
due to this,I have declined response as I use both on a fairly regular basis.
in all rpg's that I have played,gender makes no difference so I just don't care.
occasionally i even go as far as using said divining-objects for Every aspect of a character creation,just for some pure randumb funs..doesn't always work,but at least I get some laffs.

 

[JediMB]

Male, and I prefer female protagonists, in RPGs or otherwise. (Also in movies, books, etc.)

Playing female tends to be more important in RPGs, though. Not being able to do so in The Witcher bothers me a bit, while being "forced" to play as male protagonists in Mario, Zelda, RAGE, Braid, etc., is just fine.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

I'm a guy and I always play one in online games unless there's a compelling gameplay reason not to (or if robots, dinosaurs, or other, cooler options are available).

In offline RPGs, I often choose to play as a woman if I have the option, mostly just because it's still something of a novelty.

 

[Jessabi]

Female playing as female, on my first playthrough anyway. However I tend to like male protagonists more as a whole, so subsequent playthroughs are more likely to be as a male character.

 

[Vkmies]

I like to ROLE PLAY in my ROLE PLAYING GAMES.

And since I am male, I find male characters the easiest to relate to and to create as a picture of myself in the games world.

If you're basing your "ROLE PLAYING" on ease of relation, you're skipping out on some of the strongest ROLE PLAYING experiences.

When I am given the choice to choose my gender in a video game, I instantly go with Male. I think feeling that you are the actual character and feeling like you are in the game world itself (I think they call that IMMERSION) is pretty much 100% of the time a good thing. I don't mind playing a female character, but obviosly it's harder to relate to them, because I don't know what being a female is like, I don't think like a female and overall, I am non-female in every way. So I feel disconnected from female characters. Not necessarily a bad thing, when playing an actual character like Jade in Beyond Good and Evil, where I watch the stuff happening to Jade and Jade is a character of it's own.
However, when I am asked to create my own character, Gender, looks, charasteristics, hobbies, interests, personality, in games like The Elder Scrolls, I obviosly ( to me at least) make it look, feel and act like I would in the situation. I don't FEEL like the female character, because I am not female. And that is why, good ser, I play as a male when I am given the chance.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Male, and I'll play as either.

I probably play female characters more often, though. In Mass Effect I never liked Mark Meer's voice acting, so I played a female character. In Resident Evil it's easier to speed-run as Jill because of how many times Barry does what Barry does best (be awesome). In Fallout 2 female characters can get extra gear and vendor discounts that male characters don't have access to.

Assuming there were no differences between male and female characters in a game, I'd probably end up playing both equally though.

I just don't see what the big deal is.

 

[snappydog]

I often start a game as male (I'm male) and then find myself eventually stopping and restarting as a female, often just to see what it's like. And then I usually end up sticking as female for that playthrough, but I'll pretty much always be male the first time round, and in games you can carry on for a long time eg. Skyrim I'm still on my first character (he's so buff after so long) so I'm still male.

 

[AdmiralMemo]

I'm a guy who always plays as a guy in my first run-through, because I'm playing the character as close to my actual reactions as possible. Any subsequent run-throughs, I'll mix things up and might play as a woman, or just about anything that's different from my real reactions.

 

[Something Amyss]

When I am given the choice to choose my gender in a video game, I instantly go with Male. I think feeling that you are the actual character and feeling like you are in the game world itself (I think they call that IMMERSION)

That's not immersion. Immersion should be afforded even if you are playing a game where the protagonist is a mandated female (Metroid, Tomb Raider series).

Also, that doesn't make it ROLE PLAYING, whether it's a "good thing" or not.

because I don't know what being a female is like, I don't think like a female and overall, I am non-female in every way.

Do you know what it's like to be an elf? an alien? Hell, do you know what it's like to be an atheist, jew, muslim or any other belief that might not apply to you? Do you know what it's like to be left/right handed (pick whichever one you're not)?

I guess what I'm asking here is: Is your idea of "ROLE PLAYING" and "IMMERSION" only applicable as long as you're only playing a person of your race, gender, sexuality, religion, handedness, ability/disability, etc?

That's not ROLEPLAYING. It's POWER FANTASY and SELF INSERTION. And that's fine, but don't play the "ROLE PLAYING" card.

So I feel disconnected from female characters. Not necessarily a bad thing, when playing an actual character like Jade in Beyond Good and Evil, where I watch the stuff happening to Jade and Jade is a character of it's own.

But you are not immersed by that. If immersion is good, what is lack of immersion?

However, when I am asked to create my own character, Gender, looks, charasteristics, hobbies, interests, personality, in games like The Elder Scrolls, I obviosly ( to me at least) make it look, feel and act like I would in the situation.

Which is fine, but it's just playing yourself.

 

[Johnson McGee]

I usually play both male first then again as female.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Male here, and about the only time I play females is if it's a case where the class is bound to gender (think the Dark Alliance games, you really didn't get to choose too much) I tend to play males because... You know, I'm not even sure why. I guess it's because most of the time I can choose is because I'm playing an MMO and I can't be bothered with people thinking I'm female.

 

[Admiral Stukov]

I almost always play a female character where given the option, for several reasons.
In no particular order:
I get more than enough generic white males with brown hair as protagonist in other games anyway.
Aesthetics. In several of the games I play the female character model looks like a human, while the male one looks like he's eating steroids for breakfast.
I play RPGs to get immersed into another character, going for someone that is as different to me as possible seems logical.