I don’t always play female characters, but I can think of a few reasons:
With rare exceptions I just prefer how the female characters look, be it prettier or cuter, they usually have way better character customization than the male counterparts.
Female clothing and equipment in games also just look more stylish and flamboyant, especially in Japanese ones.
And honestly I just like playing as someone different from me, if I can’t choose to be an alien or whatever, then the next best thing is a woman.
It depends on the game, character etc. I mean I suppose it adds to the escapism slightly?
I play all sorts of different games though, some where you're not given the choice (Life Is Strange for example) and I don't feel like it's that big a deal
In games that have gender based perks, like Agent of Dibella in Skyrim or LadyKiller/Black Widow in the Fallout games tend to be stronger for female characters because more of the NPC's are male. This is more adding another reason than claiming that it's the main reason. I don't exclusively play either male or female but typically when I play a female character it's because I'm building a character that is less physically aggressive. I know this is playing into stereotypes but sword and board tends to be male while stealth archer tends to be female.
I don’t always, but when I do it’s mostly to do with character customisation. If I’m playing a game where my character is constantly visible I’d rather it was something I wanted to look at, and male clothing is boring. OK, some games don’t restrict clothes but many do. So I tend to create a character which is a female version of me, except in the cases where I prefer a male character (which isn’t often if I have the choice!)
Having a female character and trying out a variety of cool outfits, dresses and make-up is fun. Especially as most games allow you to do a lot of customisation for female characters. Barbie in Night City, Barbie in Skyrim, Barbie in the post-Apocalypse. I can happily spend far too much time getting their outfit and make-up just right, before I even get down to kicking ass.
Female bad-asses are far more interesting than the boring male action hero stereotype.
Games are escapist fun. I'm a man. I'm tall, I do weight lifting. Why would I play as a man who looks like me, when I can play as a woman, something I would otherwise not get to experience?
I think of my characters in games as “stand alone”, and I don’t really care about the gender I’m playing as.
Specific reasons to play women:
Cyberpunk 2077: Judy Alvarez is more appealing to me than Panam Palmer. (Although I have to dig up my first playthrough (male V) since the Kerry Eurodyne questline seems to be good).
When I started playing Fortnite with some others, someone jokingly gave me the Heidi-skin. Except for certain quests, I keep using that skin.
I mix it up and play a wide variety of character genders, races, ethnicities and species. Whatever catches my eye during character creation for the most part, and if I replay a game I actively pick something different on different play throughs as it is a reminder that I'm playing this character instead of a different character.
So I don't actively or exclusively play female characters for a significant reason, just aesthetics of the game.
There’s an absurd gender dimorphism in most games where every guy is a mountain of muscles by default. I don’t enjoy that body type - for myself, as a 5’5 dude, or even romantically - and women are usually on the softer, thinner side, so I tend to pick them at first.
If its a game where I can easily change genders, I’ll flip around to my tastes, depending on which clothing looks better on whatnot. - Aliens:Fireteam Elite and Dragon Quest Builders 2 come to mind as examples that did that. Also games with intricate character creators, like Saint’s Row (RIP) are welcome, but rare.
Eastern games tend to have softer men, so those tend to be exceptions. I recall picking male options in both Genshin and Path To Nowhere, and I usually enjoy the male leads in jRPGs.
I think this is my reason. I like lithe, acrobatic archetypes and will, for instance, usually prefer playing stealthy character classes when given the option. Guy bodies in games are (or at least used to be) blocky rectangles; they look like walking refrigerators. Gals usually have a more dynamic and nimble appearance.
Two more relevant reasons: (1) traditinally, non-customizable main characters are predominately male, so when given a choice I’ll choose the less common option to mix it up and (2) I am a guy in real life and am bored enough of it that I feel incentivized to play the other side in game world.
I don’t mind what sex my character is, my character is not me and I don’t see why I would mind what sex my character is. Like, especially in a video game, the scenario is usually quite fantastic and nothing that my character does (e.g. acrobatics, shooting, running for more than 18 seconds without collapsing out of breath, etc.) gives me a sense that they are a version of me. My character should be random or whatever the writers thought would be most appropriate for the themes or story or whatever.
I never get this type of response. Do you really keep paying attention at whoever ass it is rather than the whole game happening on the rest of the screen?
In this case, “ass” is a funny oversimplification. The player model is on the screen all the time, so having it be attractive adds to the visual appeal of the whole experience
kbin.social
Gorące