What Gender do you play?

What gender do you prefer to play in an RPG?

  • I prefer to play as a male

    Votes: 11 19.0%
  • I prefer to play as a female

    Votes: 7 12.1%
  • I enjoy playing as both a male and a female

    Votes: 38 65.5%
  • I strongly dislike being forced to play a gender I don't enjoy playing

    Votes: 2 3.4%

  • Total voters
    58

Corwin

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In light of the discussions referring to scaring off female posters and whether or not a person's gender is relevant, I thought it might be interesting to see whether all the big burly males prefer to play a male character, or whether they enjoy pretending they are female. Of course the reverse may be true for our female posters as well!! :) Some games force you to play a specific gender. Do you still play them, or is that a game breaker for you?
 
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I don't pretend I'm female, but I have no issues playing female characters and do so all the time, since many games I play have fixed female protagonists. When I create my own character and choose my gender, I go back and forth. With the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, I'm 99% sure I'll play a female V because I like her look and voice actor better.
 
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I usually play male since I'm male. However I've replayed few games with a female character. Kotors, baldur's gates, mass effects, dragon age for instance come to mind. Those games have so much replay value. Even the story changes a bit depending on your character sex, so it is fun to experience the story from a different viewpoint. Also in Morrowind and Skyrim I've had characters which has been females as well.

As for games which force you to play an opposite gender… Well since I'm a male, it is not such a common thing to encounter, but I really don't have anything against female characters if such character is writen well. I just went through Rise of Tomb raider and it was a blast. Resident evil games, Beyond good and evil, Syberia series, longest journey and life is strange come to mind as good games which have had strong female leads as well.
 
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I only play male characters but that is because I prefer to play as myself in a game and connect better. I tend to not play games with a pre-defined protagonist but if I do it would only be if its male. Tried female characters once in DAO and only lasted 3 hours.

Companions, on the other hand, I like to have both genders in my party. Who I hang out with only depends on their personality and character unless it is for romance then I have a specific preference for one I find attractive as well as a nice personality.
 
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Both. Although I'm male, I do enjoy playing Laura Croft in Tomb Raider games, for example.

And in party based games, I enjoy having both male and female characters in my party. For example, currently in Pathfinder Kingmaker, I have 3 females in my party, and my self-generated character is the only male in the party. That said, oddly it seems female companions/party members seem to be much more common than male ones in this game, for whatever reason.

However, if making a character for a rpg, most of the time I will play as a male character.
 
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If I can choose I mostly choose male, but sometimes I'll choose female. I'd say it's a 70/30 split. If it's heavily story-based game I'll choose male for the first playthrough since I like to inject myself in the game, like wolfgrimdark. On subsequent playthroughs (if I do any), I will choose female. I always choose the lore friendly name. It bugs me when I see someone playing Baldur's Gate or Divinity Original Sin and has a character named CoolCat69.

If a game is something gameplay oriented like Grim Dawn, I'll choose whatever looks cool. And no, those female armors that cover less skin than an average bikini are not cool.

In games with predefined characters I don't mind playing any gender. I would like to see more female leads in such games, though.
 
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Usually male, but if it is a game I will replay a lot (Elder Scrolls) I'll have some females. If I can create a party it'll usually be 50/50 split.
 
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I play as both. Admittedly, mostly male when you only get a single character, but in parties I usually mix it up quite a bit.
I don't really mind if I get "forced" into playing a female character, either.
 
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I almost exclusively play as male characters. The only exceptions are games with predefined female characters which are very very rare and party based games where I tend to have a balanced mix of makes and females unless the voices irk me in either direction.

I wouldn't have any issues playing as a female predefined character as long as I can roleplay them in my way.
I have the same problem with males and got example Geralt in the Witcher is so different to me that this aspect alone made it very hard for me to play the game. I then stopped after the combat was boring to me too.

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In 3rd person games where you are forced to look at someones rear end all the time I always choose female cause it´s nicer too look at least for me

And in Wiz 7 & 8 all female party
 
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A bit more seriously the last ten years I have tended to play female characters more often than male I don´t really know why, I usually try to envision a character that would be fun to roleplay and I guess I´m moving away from the big brawny male also it´s usually fun when you find places where lazy developers just assumes that you are male

Anyway it´s not that important for me the big thing is always how much i can play the role I´ve envisioned
 
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@Corwin;

Might I suggest a change in your poll? :)
You list these:
I only play as a male
I only play as a female
I enjoy playing as both a male and a female
I won't play a game where I'm forced to play a gender I don't enjoy playing

The second option and the last one, when being a female prefering to play a female has the consequence you had to skip many many games (including in my opinion, the best evvah). I sincerely doubt there is any female cRPG lover that has the luxury of having the precept/starting-point of ‘I only play as a female’ and ‘I won’t play a game where I am forced to play a gender I don’t enjoy playing’. In reality you can not live by that rule if you enjoy gaming.

My number one all time is Gothic 2. My second best Kingdom Come Deliverance. I also liked playing a mouse, Ghost of a Tale, though that one was a male mouse too (pity, neutral would have been nice for once, I think).

So, in order to assure women have the opportunity in your poll of 4 answers as well, just like the men, maybe change the sentences, Corwin? Something like ‘I prefer to play as a male/female’? And: I would rather not be forced to play a gender I don’t enjoy playing? Or: I strongly dislike having to play a gender etc. Well, something like that? (You speak better English than me :) )

Anyway, I don’t mind, male, female, animal, machine, as long as the looks are normal. I hate arms that look inflated to unnatural proportion (‘athletic’ will do) or getting the idea I’m playing a soft porn. Big turn off, won’t even start playing.

In short: option 3 for me.
 
If a game has a predefined MC, in TW3-male, in Venetica-female, of course I enjoy(ed) both.
But if I'm playing a game for the first time where I can choose gender, I do pick a male. On a replay I'll sometimes go for a female, but never ever picked female in the first playthrough I admit. Never thought why is that so, most probably a sort of subconscious pick.
In games where I pick among heroes, my choice depends on "usefulness" of heroes setup. In LoL when adc, I'm always and I mean always taking Caitlyn who is female. When support, I tend to go for Blitz - a genderless robot. Other roles sure, any males that feel okay will do, just not Yasuo, he's cancer.
In games where I'm combining predefined characters in a party I really can't care less about gender and pick anyone who's fun. I'll take BG2 as example, I had most fun with all evil companions. Gender never matters, their trolling the MC however does. ;)

I will pick "both" in the vote, but it's not really 100% correct. As argued above, in my case depends on the playthrough.
 
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Like many others I'll usually roll a male the first time, playing "myself" so to speak. In a replay I prefer to switch to female. In the same manner I'll usually pick a race close to human the first time, and save the exotic choices for reruns.
 
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Have to add something because @TomRon; mentioned it.
When possible to choose a race or a class:
- I never ever pick human (has to be at least halforc or halfelf or something)
- I never ever pick paladin (unless "fallen" with a not good attribute)

Regardless of how many times I replay a game. :D
 
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Have to add something because @TomRon; mentioned it.
When possible to choose a race or a class:
- I never ever pick human (has to be at least halforc or halfelf or something)
- I never ever pick paladin (unless "fallen" with a not good attribute)

Regardless of how many times I replay a game. :D

Now that you mention it, I said "close to" human for a reason. Like a Half-elf. I'll never play a "pure" human. Humans are boring. And Paladins? Yep, those too, booooring. (I'll usually go Rogueish but that's another discussion).
 
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If there is option , I always play female!
When there is a party, I like the leader to be female and the rest can be mix of genders.

When I was younger, I used to play male characters, but with the age it changed and now I play exclusively female characters. It comes simply because as a man I love opposite sex - i love to look at beautiful women and when she is sexy and badass, even better! And I care for my character times more if she is female.
I never imagine myself as a character when I play games, nor I have some father or lover feelings for female chars, like this stupid waifu thing, I just like to see that character evolve the way i would liked and if there is possibility to see it from the opposite sex view, even better, as being male myself im familiar with male thinking.
Though I guess it is hardly possible, as games rarely try to write different portrait for female heroes - i mean there is one story and "he" is just replaced with "she" in dialogues, but hardly they change anything to female perspective.

But then again I have no problem to play as male whatsoever, it is just he is another male (like Geralt), with his stuff and I found myself more attracted to females than to care about another male;) I guess my need for strong manly hero types, like Conan or Lancelot, has deminished with the age.

PS
When reading similar discussions on other forums (especially MMO ones, where most males play female characters) I found it interesting that female players dont like to play as males! Hmm I wonder why?
 
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