For me it’s definitely an RP choice. I don’t always choose one or the other, but in games that give character creation options I tend to go for a quick “non-canon” play test to get a feel for the game and setting and get an idea of how I want to play it. Then I start a new file and create a character to fit that. Sometimes I go for a lithe rogue or a buff fighter, and the gender usually depends on either how I’m feeling or possible story/world stuff that makes it fit better, or sometimes just something interesting. Like in early Cyberpunk there was a glitch where you could start with a male character, then switch some settings and you’d get the female options but it would keep the original genitalia, so I played through as a trans woman because it wasn’t something I’d done before and it was interesting and fit well into the setting. It didn’t change anything in the game and I kept my character clothed so you never saw her hanging dong. But then I hit the story with the trans woman NPC and my V found a friend who they could connect with a little better. It was a fun role-play opportunity and I felt like it helped my connect to the game and the world even better when my avatar wasn’t just a puppet I used to interact with the game. Even in games like the Witcher where you’re given a named character, my Geralt always developed his own personality. I once accidentally sold all my boots and didn’t realize for a few days that he was running around without shoes. When I noticed it immediately became part of his personality that he doesn’t wear shoes. He like feeling the grass when he fights and he’s more connected with nature. It kinda fit with the default personality but I leaned heavy into the more nature-focused choices where possible and it changed how I played.
Though I’m probably not an average case-study. I tend to eschew gender norms while identifying as a straight cis guy. I wear what I want, paint my nails or wear makeup if I’m feeling it. And I do lean heavy into the single player RPG games and avoid MOBAs or shooters. I think I’ve mostly just been playing DnD in all my video games, lol.
Speaking of DnD, my BG3 playthrough started with a female Drow monk because I haven’t played any of that in DnD before, but as I played I knew I wanted a rogue so I restarted and as I built it I started with a human male but ended up with a Gith male rogue because I liked the look a bit more for it and knowing what little I did about the Gith in the opening it would be fun RP. But in my head, he’s not from a creche but was lost as a small Gith and raised in some small village by human parents. So he doesn’t fit in with the Gith he meets but also faces the fear that most people in the world experience when they see him. It just adds so much more depth to the game when they have their own personality.
I choose female characters because their hitboxes are smaller, or if the hitboxes are not smaller they will not match the hitbox and throw off any tracking. Smaller models means they might not be seen around corners by having part of the model sticking out.
Try Overwatch’s Torb: small hitbox, “the floor is lava” ult, and a rivet gun with both a ballistic trajectory mode that can go from side to side of the map (hard to master, but extremely gratifying when you headshot an enemy at their spawn from your own spawn), and a mele mode that can take down the strongest tanks.
I prefer looking at female butts over male butts and I find armor far more pleasing on lithe female figures than on males, even if we completely ignore everything else.
Easier to character create someone who you have more specific preferences over. Can’t really get as invested in how aesthetically pleasing my generic human bloke is, but I play more male non-human races.
with male being the only option for years in most games, i started choosing female characters to get a different experience nowadays it depends on the game, sometimes i like the female voice better, sometimes it’s about the romanceable characters and sometimes about the character design
I got sick of trying to make every avatar I have like me. Even if a game isn’t even an RPG I like to mentally roleplay as somebody very different. Having a female avatar helps with that sometimes.
Idk, might as well ask me why I listen to women pop singers and virtually no men. The only ones I do listen to are wearing wigs, makeup and heels. I see you, Adore Delano. lol
I’m not attracted to masculine characters. You want me to care what a dude looks like? You’re barking up the wrong tree. And if I wanted to look at myself, I’d look in a mirror
My avatar is not me… If I’m going to watch a character for a couple dozen hours, it’s going to be someone I find attractive. Hell, if I’m going to spend more than 5 minutes on a character creation screen, it’s going to be a woman, because it’s hard to get invested in a male character for me
Gamer response: because sometimes I wanna experience what it’s like to have less rights.
On a serious note, for the esthetic. For instance, girls suit the rogue characters better, largely because of how many times women have stabbed me in the fucking heart.
Ok, so it was still somewhat a gamer response…
I dunno, feels right in the moment? Kind of do it randomly.
I wanna experience what it’s like to have less rights
How many games make beings behave differently around females than males?
I've played lots of different games and I don't recall my lady characters having less rights in any of them.
I think it's easier to find different gender behavior towards your characters in tabletop or text roleplaying games, where the player has much more freedom over their characters, NPC's and the world around them than over videogames people have coded to behave in a certain way and a certain way only.
I was being stupid and trollish, as a reference to “gamer moments” outside of using the “gamer word”. He was taking gameplay mechanics into consideration. In essence something good came out of some stupid, which is great, because usually nothing good comes from that form of stupid.
I was a popular troll on this one server and one time I RPed as a girl and WOW my voice changer must have been good because I got SO much mysogyny. Needless to say that experience made me feel not even remotely bad when I ended up getting the place shut down later.
There are a few things I consider when picking gender in a game.
Is the character voice acted? Which voice actor do I think performs better?
is the game third person? Which gender has the better look in armor/clothing in the game?
Does the game feature romance? If so, then I almost always pick my own gender for a first playthrough at least.
Which gender do I think the plot of the game will be more compelling for?
In tabletop D&D, gender tends to be the last thing I choose in a character (as opposed to video games that usually want it to be your first choice), and I basically just look at the made character including personality and backstory and realize that it’s more interesting or fun to play as one gender or the other.
I pretty much agree with everything here except D&D. I just don’t have enough confidence in my voice to play a female character exclusively. I already have some difficulty doing it well enough for DMing, but this is something I hope to change. Maybe that’s because I’ve never played with a premade though.
I don’t generally force a pitch for different genders if that’s what you’re talking about. If I’m doing a voice, it’ll be in the accent and/or volume more and maybe the mannerisms.
If the game has a good enough character creator I’ll play a male. But most games and especially most Western games with character creators don’t allow me to make a male character I’d actually want to look like or at.
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