gaming Playing as the opposite gender

[Ano170 162]

It doesn't matter much to me; I don't play that many MMOs, and when I do they usually base gender on class, so I'll play as either a female or male if that particular class is the most suited to me. Given the choice, if it doesn't affect the character's abilities or the storyline I'll just go with whichever character looks the coolest. XD

 

I also don't see what's wrong with other people choosing to play as the opposite gender, so long as they're not deliberately trying to mislead people for nefarious purposes. Sure, it can be a bit confusing sometimes - especially since most people tend to automatically assume everyone online is a guy until proven otherwise - but it's not that big a deal, nor do I think it reflects on a person's gender or sexuality: when I play a game, male or female, I don't really "become" the person necessarily, rather I feel like a third party watching their story unfold.

[Argos 191]

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Edited March 16, 2014 by Argos

[TimeFactor 10]

If the game is more solo-oriented, then I usually make a guy. The only time I pick a girl is if there are party members and the guys outnumber the girls.

 

If the game is something like an MMO or has some story variations depending on the character's gender, then I usually have two files/characters.

[rioichi 22]

Hmm... I have thought this quite a lot... I usually play as a female character and I don't know why. I do have one answer which could be the reason why. I enjoy listening to women more than men. I don't know what is it in me, but also in real life I can talk with girls quite some time but then again conversations with other men tend to bore me pretty quickly. It's pretty funny when you think of it. In games I have one great example of this: Mass Effect. In my oppinion, Mark Meer does a pretty crappy job as a voice of male-Shepard when you compare it to Jennifer Hale's awesome acting as a fem-Shepard.

 

If the game doesn't have voice-acting then it's 50/50... then I go with the flow.

Edited April 10, 2013 by rioichi

[Celtore 2,770]

I usually make male characters, but I made my main character female in Guild Wars 2 because the male voice of my character race really started to annoy me. Both genders of that specific race have the same armor appearance.

 

It doesn't usually bother me, but it is slightly immersion breaking seeing someone wearing really bulky gear and yet it barely covers anything. Other than that, have fun, it's a game! Play the character you feel like playing.

[LightsCameraAction 100]

I play as the opposite gender most of the time just because of my thinking, the question I ask myself when I play a game that is an Open World is: "What is cooler, a badass guy or a badass girl?" Ex. Saints Row III, GTA IV

[ReGen 1,466]

It doesn't really matter to me. Just as long as I can destroy everything.

 

Usually when I play an RPG, I choose a male character just so I can feel like i'm in the game or something.

 

Although I will choose female once in a while.

[Flying Space Badger 84]

Let me pre-face my post with the following: I grew up on Everquest 1 and table top D&D, and have played MMOs ever since.

 

Now, a big reason I personally find myself playing female characters in video games (I am male, by the by) is often in MMOs they seem to have more detailed designs and animations, not to mention better voice acting where applicable. I often feel like an oddity though due to most males are easily distinguished when playing female characters due to making them the stereotypical hourglass figure with gigantic gonzos. And I have never been confused for a female, though my characters have been remarked upon as being more realistic than most. I even go so far as to construct armor/clothing sets that look functional, yet semi-stylish.

 

Then there is the point where my years playing D&D come in. I like to make up back stories for my characters, and find female leads are simply easier to write for. Heck, the book series I am currently working on features numerous women in leading roles.

 

Besides, let's face it. Heroins are badass.

 

This is not to say I dislike playing male characters as well, but it really depends on my head canon at character creation, the aesthetics of each gender of each race, and voice acting.

[Silverstream 51]

When I use to role play a lot,  I got stuck in playing the guy but I also gave them a lot of back story with traits and flaws,  no matter the race in truth which I do with all my OC’s.   Thing is I got stuck playing the male role,  and it burned me out a lot so right now I’m doing girls for now but part of writing and role playing the one is able to put themselves into a different role and place,    gender,  and etc such things.

 

The one thing I’ve come to hate in girls playing in a guy is they also hit the “yaoi”  mood and types and keep their oc/cannons in this mood which just kills me.  Part of making up a oc is putting and breathe life into them,  making them different,  flawed but with  room to grow and grow up in times.  A lot of girls seem not do this…..

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

I play as girls a LOT. For one thing I always seem to like the female characters better. Also if you're playing against other people, some of them will underestimate you. If you're cute and well-designed, they will flock to you and follow you everywhere. The one time I played WOW as Wilhery the female cleric, I had a ragtag party of allies in a few hours. Funny stuff.

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

I'm a big time roleplayer, so I see this a lot. I think it's important that you represent the opposite gender properly and respectfully if you roleplay as them, the same as if you roleplay as a different race or sexuality. In my experience, 9/10 males who play female characters play them as total sluts. For some reason I also see a lot of females who play homosexual male characters, although I'm not sure why. I generally don't feel comfortable doing it in most situations, but I don't mind in video games. I don't mind other people doing it as long as they do it well.

Edited April 11, 2013 by Alex Kennedy

[Jokuc 8,173]

I can't see why it would disturb someone that another person is playing as their opposite gender in a video game. I remember when me and my friend played pokemon, he always wanted to be a girl and I thought it was pretty cool.

[Viscra Maelstrom 3,718]

i tend to play games nowadays with my gender set to female, since it reflects my gender identity a lot more than male. hell, i've even done it on a couple of websites, including this one.

 

i don't suppose it HAS to do with one's gender identity or sexuality, specifically, since just trying out something different can be fun every once in a while. though it can play a factor, as well: if you had the choice to play as whatever gender you wanted, naturally you'd select the one corresponding the best with you, right?

 

reminds me of when i played Knights of the Old Republic ages ago. i played through the game with various male and female characters, making up first- and last-names for each of them. making up characters is pretty fun to do.

[Discount_Flunky 75]

When I make a character in games I tend to (mostly subconsciously) make my characters as much like me as possible.  (Give them the same hairdo, body type etc.)  I happen to be male so nine times out of ten I pick a male character.  It's not really that I don't like females, it's more so that I can't see myself being the character if its a different gender.  And if I can't see myself being the character it breaks the immersion.  

[Evilshy 5,090]

I pretty much always role-play when given the option. I often do an evil, seductive, manipulative female, because I've always liked that archetype. Yeah. it's cliche, but it's fun.

I once had Morrowind character who was this tiny little elf girl who beat the shit out of everything with her hands. I purposely dressed her in the skimpiest armor I could find (regardless of how good it was) to exaggerate her as a harmless, though possibly seductively dangerous girl. I know the NPCs don't react to appearance or anything, but it's fun to imagine them as worried that I might break their heart, but then I break their face. Also, there's just something about seeing a small elf in revealing bonemold armor punching demons to death.

I play plenty of male characters, too.

 

And I'm not going to lie, some of it does come from sex appeal, especially 3rd person games with over shoulder camera. If I'm going be looking at an ass for hours on end, I prefer that ass belong to a female.

[Lostwanderer 367]

When you're playing a game that lets you choose your gender chances are it's an RPG of sorts, the idea of playing an RPG is to ROLE PLAY, you're playing a character, not really a persona, your character is whatever gender, it's not the persona of you intoa  different body, while some people make their characters relateable, i doubt it's ever fully like them, gender shouldn't make a difference to your character really.

[TBB Animal 40]

There are legit reasons why I choose females in video games. For one, in Halo 4 I choose a female because she has less body mass which means shes harder to shoot. Also in Mass Effect 3 ib the multiplayer I use the Quarian females because I prefer their powers over others powers. That is why I use females sometimes more than males

Edited April 12, 2013 by TBB Animal

[GrooveBroove 680]

I'd say 95% of the time I play as a female character. It's mainly for the reason that I like to expierence something differently.

[Thundershock 310]

It depends on what game im playing.In pokemon games,i almost always play as a boy,but in others games most likely a girl,my gender,so...yeah,ya know what i mean.

[Toastie 109]

Ultimately it depends on the models of the genders. For example on WoW I can't stand any of the male models on the Alliance side, on the other hand I hate most of the female models on the horde side. I'll just go with whatever looks cooler, 20% to be exact.

[Justin ZW 396]

I don't really play as the opposite gender for the simple reason that I could never possibly understand how women think. As such, I couldn't rightly say how I would feel in their situation. It's much easier playing as a man because I am one, and I know exactly what I would do in any given situation. Now, when it comes to games like Sword of Mana where the two characters have slightly different stories and such, I'll play as the girl second just to see the story difference.

 

Of course, I assume that the OP assumed we were talking about a scenario like Fallout or Mass Effect.

 

And I'm not going to lie, some of it does come from sex appeal, especially 3rd person games with over shoulder camera. If I'm going be looking at an ass for hours on end, I prefer that ass belong to a female.

I lold.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Justin ZW

[GrimCW 658]

Depends on how i intend to portray the character.

If i'm feeling up to it i might choose the opposite to my own just for the sake of it, or to try to put myself in her boots.

 

In other cases i just do it for fun, such as i do full on renegade femshep in Mass Effect, and a goody too shoes manshep.

 

for some games i just shift it up for balance, such as in The Old Republic, I have 2 females and 2 males per side (republic or Sith Empire)

But i stick to the character i'm in, i don't go around slutty for the sake of being slutty like many sicko's do.

 

One rare case is the Mithra or the Miqo'te from FFXI and FFXIV, where the races only had one gender to play as (female)

Though in the new "Reborn" release the Miqo'te are getting male chars that IMO look awesome.

 

But a few games do this, or lock certain classes to certain genders as well, and depending on my class i may get stuck as one thing or another.

[Flying wub 48]

I don´t really play as a girl if you can choose how your character will look but in some games you can choose if you want to be a boy or a girl and if i think the boy looks bad as a character  then i choose to play as a girl.

[verycreativeusername 1,800]

It's the player's choice if they want to play the opposite gender, so it doesn't bother me at all.

 

However though, in games where it can be chosen to be male or female, I almost always go male for some reason.

Edited July 15, 2013 by ÷Zero

[SasQ 1,356]

 

 

I don't really play as the opposite gender for the simple reason that I could never possibly understand how women think. As such, I couldn't rightly say how I would feel in their situation.

 

Then how could you play as a different race? For example, as an Elf, or an Orc, or aDwarf, or something else? It's pretty much impossible to know how it is like to be one of them.

 

Well, at some point, the same could be said about playing as anything/anyone else than yourself.

 

But that's the whole fun of role playing: it doesn't have to be 100% exact. The fun is more important than exactness. It's supposed to ignite your imagination, that you could at least try to behave as someone else.