Poll: Why do you play as opposite gender characters?

[daemon37]

When it comes to roleplaying games... I don't really imagine myself as the character. I see them almost as another NPC, just with a guiding hand of conscience controlled by me So on that basis, women are more... attractive, I guess (in more than just the physical dimension). My RPG choices tend to be governed by what sort of person I'd like to associate with, not who I want to be.

I agree with this sentiment. Most of the time when I'm playing a game, I think of myself as a director. It's like the game is a film and I am telling the actor what to do. But sometimes I am the character. It tends to go back and forth between the two during my gaming sessions, and is highly related to the camera perspective. (which is quite reasonable if you think about it)

1st person perspective = I am the character
3rd person perspective = I am the director

 

[Meggiepants]

I rarely have a choice. But the only reason I would play as a fella in a game is to experience a different part of the story that I might not have been able to as a female.

Fortunately for me, most game developers seem to enjoy lesbian relationships so I don't often have to change to the male character to see the rest of the story.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

I always play as my own gender, mostly because it's more immersive if my avatar is like me.

 

[snave]

As a dude, generally I'll play female in the following scenarios:
* Better character model -- when all the male ones look too rubbish, or conversely too uncanny valley whilst the females may look crummy, but more stylised.
* Upon a hasty reset after discovering a grating Yankee American male voice actor (AAAARGH!)
* Slimmer female model in occasional 3rd person titles, for the "waistline marries up with gun-scope" visual advantage.
* Speed (why is this still a trope?)
* Curiosity about "alternate" gameplay pathways in RPG element games (Bioware titles, upcoming Deus Ex prequel, etc.).

These are basically all cases where I choose female for essentially technical purposes or to mechanically reveal content. However, as I tend to play most characters in games a similar way (or relapse into that style midgame), if I want to try something vastly different, such as an evil character, a gender swap can help provide that mental distancing - I'm now controlling an obvious "NPC". This can be the deciding factor in RPG games as to which gender's content I choose to see.

 

[Antitonic]

I always play as my own gender, mostly because it's more immersive if my avatar is like me.

I have the opposite feeling. It's more involving to play as a female. No idea why...

 

[Serioli]

I often will on my second or third playthrough, generally to see how/if the game handles it. Most RPG's allow slightly different choices and interactions for females but usually quite small.

It usually goes:
1-Male, Good/fluffy (if alignment system)
2-Male, Evil/aggresive (if alignment)
3-female, good or evil depending on how interesting they were.

Some exceptions, E.g. I prefer Femsheps voice so she was 1&2 in ME & ME2 when I found this out.

 

[Aesir23]

Most of the time I do choose to play male characters, simply because I like male characters better than female characters. For two reasons I guess, "They are Pretty" and "I don't like the way my gender is portrayed"

For that second one I'm not talking about the whole "exploitation" thing that people whine about. I'm talking more about the fact that most female lead characters annoy the hell out of me. Lara Croft especially (yet I still play the games, go figure), if she's not a perfect example of an official "Mary Sue" then I don't know what is.

I think the only other games where I've actually played as my gender are Dragon Age, Mass Effect (more for the fact that I can't get a decent looking Male Shep unless I use BioWare's model, grrr) and Tomb Raider (though I haven't played that recently due to having my Indy Jones-esque game craving being satisfied by Uncharted)

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

Well, it's a new experience, and well, what would you pick

The chick, or the emo voiced by Yuri Lowenthal?

 

[Betancore]

Actually, I always play as my own gender when given the option (and it's done well.) The only times I play as the opposite gender is when the way my own gender is portrayed really awfully, or when you don't even get to play as a female in the first place.

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

JIGGLE PHYSICS!

Seriously though it's usually because I get tired of looking at some guys arse (in a 3rd person) and so might want to look at something different for a bit.

 

[Burst6]

Well, it's a new experience, and well, what would you pick

The chick, or the emo voiced by Yuri Lowenthal?

Wow.. and i thought i got the whole gender thing down in anime. They both look like girls.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

Lots of reasons:

Because male night elf priests look ridiculous standing seven foot tall with broad shoulders and a solid build in a pink dress that just happens to have godly healing stats. Lots of games have this same problem where male characters are gorillas that don't really match up with the idea of a lithe rogue or scrawny mage.

A lot of RPGs offer some opportunity to do either more damage or have extra dialog options with the opposite sex. Most of the enemies in games are male. Black Widow in Fallout 3 is far more useful than Lady Killer.

Some games have the mage or rogue given to a chick and I have no choice. In FF the summoner is almost always a girl if its contained to one or two.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

Well, it's a new experience, and well, what would you pick

Wow.. and i thought i got the whole gender thing down in anime. They both look like girls.

Bishounen, Bishojo, what's the difference? They both shoot themselves in the head on a regular basis.

 

[daemon37]

Well, it's a new experience, and well, what would you pick. The chick, or the emo voiced by Yuri Lowenthal?

I see two women, and the one on the right is rather butch, so I'll go with the one on the left. On a similar note, is Snake the only realistic looking man that Japan can come up with? NOTE: beard

 

[Kyman102]

Well, I'm a roleplayer by hobby in both video games and tabletops. I've made a LOT of characters. To me, playing a female is just another experience. There's nothing weird about it, and for the most part I play my female characters in methods similar to my males. In a variety depending on who he or she is.

Plus, I admit that sometimes I fall for a reason I saw in PvP once. To paraphrase: "If I'm going to spend hours watching an ass, it might as well be one I'm attracted to."

 

[Kyman102]

Well, it's a new experience, and well, what would you pick

The chick, or the emo voiced by Yuri Lowenthal?

Wow.. and i thought i got the whole gender thing down in anime. They both look like girls.

Dude, it's easy to tell. Eyelashes. I've noticed this in anime. The females tend to have longer eyelashes, unless you're in something severely shoujo. Then you're probably reading something by CLAMP and should just give up trying to figure it out.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

I tried it in mass effect to see if it affected immersion... it did. I deleted the career and followed from my finished.

 

[Jato Jay]

Yeah, I usually play opposite gender characters if available. For all of those reasons I guess. In some cases, as people have pointed out, females get better stuff. Doesn't anyone remember in Resident Evil when Jill had two more inventory spaces than Chris? She also got more powerful weapons earlier, and TOMGZZZ YOU GOT TO PLAY WITH BARRY!

But yeah. A lot of reasons. For me, not just identifying with but also liking my character is important.

 

[arsenicCatnip]

Most games I play don't seem to have the option to.

Pretty much. I'll play as a guy cause I don't have a choice not to.

In the games that I DO have a choice, I play mostly males but female on occasion. Why? Cause the guys are hot, and they tend to have better moves than their female counterparts in exchange for some speed. I'm okay with this... I used to roleplay as almost exclusively male characters. People could never tell that I was female until I decided to tell them. :33

 

[Zero Arcana]

/shrug

It's fun to be a girl once in a while.