Poll: Which gender in a game do you prefer to play as?

[Thaliur]

I have to admit that I often play female characters, although I'm male myself.
My main reason for this is usually the fact that most male characters just don't look right.
I'm looking, no, staring in the direction of World of Warcraft specifically, but most RPGs do something similar.
Since most of the time I don't play people who could attack a dragon with bare hands, but rather magic users or archers, a thinner, less Hulk-like build just fits the character better. And since most games offer the amazingly diverse options of playing either as a male Hulk or a slightly-more-beautiful-than-average female who doesn't obviously have more muscles than brainpower, I don't have much choice.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Female, although I am a male. Females in gaming just tend to look better, and armor/clothing just seems to fit more aesthetically pleasing on the form of females than on males. Males always look so gruff and stale, unfortunately.

 

[tharglet]

Female, and I'm female.

I have played male characters by choice, but it tends to be the minority of the time. I don't mind playing as a male character if there is no choice, though.

 

[Sprong]

Usually male the first time through (I am male), although it can vary. It often depends on what gender I was in the last major rpg I've played. I was male in Dragon Age and ME, but I played a female on my first playthrough of KOTOR. Good, good game.

I feel the same, but i think the main reason people feel that way is that he does sound like a grizzled generic war soldier, although i think both of them do exceptionally well voice acting for the game.

Indeed. I see Meer get a lot of criticism for "he has no emotion!" but I call BS on that every time. He simply has a different approach. Meer only utilizes emotion when he needs to (see: Tali romance) and remains stoic in most conversation (as a soldier might). Hale uses emotion more frequently, but unfortunately it can be misplaced.

Each has their pros and cons.

I agree - I had no problems with Meer, and I am usually very alert to bad voice acting. Then again, I did play as a stern renegade, so a lack (or perhaps suppression) of emotion kinda fits the character.

 

[Daipire]

Male, I usually try to make my 'dood' look like me.

But with super powers...

 

[minarri]

I have a tendency to play RPGs with the "player character = self" mindset, so I usually play as a female character.

 

[Yingyangathena]

Im a female and I usually pick the male character.
It's just a habit I guess.

 

[klakkat]

Generally female, for a variety of reasons. One big one is that it's too uncomfortable to roleplay female characters in tabletop and multiplayer games, so I like to switch it up when playing single player games to get more perspective and use slight alterations on personality (I hate the moral choice systems when they only allow cartoonishly evil or pointless benevolence, so I focus more on other personality traits rather than playing through once as 'good' and once as 'evil.' In general, in single-player games I'm selfish, though leaning towards benevolent since that has better rewards. I do more complex exploration of 'good' and 'evil' in tabletop roleplaying.)

For the record, while I appreciate a fine-looking member of the opposite sex as my avatar for visual reasons, I'm actually not that prone to abusing it. I chose not to have any romantic partner in Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

 

[Bearjing]

Female .. cause I am one. Though I almost always do a second play through as male .. except on Mass Effect. Compared to femshep, the maleshep's voice-acting was terrible.

This is off the topic, but this always perplexes me. I honestly don't see how Mark Meer is any better or worse than Jennifer Hale in Mass Effect (romance scenes being the exception; Hale wins that).

This is why http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_WGLCnz6zY

Personally I pick the gender that is best for fits the part or is better for the game (like female shep for mass effect). In wow i played casters as female, since a mage that can bench press 350lbs is just wrong, and usually played melee classes as male.

 

[NinjaRabies]

Male. Though I often pick female if I know the game well or just feel very very bored.

 

[EmzOLV]

If there is a choice, usually female on the first run through.
Unless it later develops that the male character has better stats and makes for better game play, then I stick to what I can relate to!

 

[Illithidae]

It honestly depends on what kind of character I'm playing.

 

[Super Toast]

Usually male, as I like to pretend I'm the main character.

 

[smithy_2045]

Male.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

Male because I am male. I find it makes it easier to get into some sort of character.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Whichever I think has the best voice acting.

If playing a silent protagonist then I'll go by aesthetics/abilities (if gender dependent).

 

[Timmehexas]

Depends on the game but sometimes I just rotate through, where-as in the case of Mass Effect I chose a girl because for some reason the male counterpart lacked an option to romance a guy, which I always found a bit odd because there was no lack of blue alien chicks for the women.

 

[Akiada]

I'm male and pick male on the first run - my first run of any game is when I do as I would (mechanics/story permitting, of course).

Never much understood the "what would you rather look at argument" as my view tends to be on the crosshairs/focus of the screen, not my character's rump.

That said I do play female characters on repeat playthroughs. My femShep even accidentally got the kinky blue alien sex despite me not meaning to. I was trying to be rude to the Asari Consort, not sex her! And then Liara... I told her I wasn't interested but apparently blowing up Alenko totally means "I want to bone you" in Asari.

Woops.

 

[Rewrench]

Aim for making male character, but often female has better animation/model and I also typically have to watch the ass of my character for many hours (3rd person camera). So in the end it usually female characters.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

It depends what kind of game it is. In Fallout, I went male, because I thought that made sense. In Dragon Age I started as a female human, but then when I changed race to Dwarf I went as a male. In Saints Row 2 I went female, but changed gender halfway and split off two saves. In Mass Effect 2, I went as male Shephard.

I think I craft "characters", not so much an avatar I can project onto. So it depends which character traits would be more interesting as [whatever gender].

Edit: Also it's easier to come up with funny female names, no-one expects a warrior knight named Ms Bunns to cut them a new rectum in a sword fight...