I play female characters all the time, some pre-defined and some in games with character creation. There's really no difference to me as I don't roleplay, but even if I did I don't think playing as a woman would be weird.

Yes I do. It depends on the game and character in question, especially in a game where roleplaying is a strong focus. I have just as many female characters in games as I have male characters. As you are all well aware (You should all know the glory that is Urge) I am a manly man.

As a roleplayer I always consider if the character concept (Especially in RPG's or RP heavy MMO's such as Champions Online.) works better as a man or woman. I also think about which gender looks best for that type of character.

Finally, i always liked Wonder Woman more than Superman.

So short version: Yes I do.

I play both, but I do tend to play as female more than male. Not sure why, maybe it's because they get better outfits. Plus I think there's something much more badass about a waif of a Breton girl single-handedly laying waste to her enemies than a big, burly Nord dude.

It still seems odd to me that people would be unable to not think of the player character as themselves. I hope none of them ever play God of War.

"When I was younger" ... playing as a female was often not a choice given at all. I have no problem with an opposite-gender character. It's just pixels.
If the game gives me a choice however, I'll generally pick my own gender because, even with the giant-boob/bikini armor silliness of most games, I typically I still prefer the aesthetics. Not into staring at some Conan type dude with cartoon hams for forearms & shoulder pads that reach the sky for 100's of hours. But if for some reason I dislike the female art/clothing etc. and like the male's better, I'll happily play as the opposite gender/male. Or if there are different game options for playing either gender that I might want to see/do. Just depends.

On-line games (which I don't play much anymore) I started to play as male more and more often because I got tired of the "Wat? Ur rly a gurl?" "Liar, girls don't play" etc. type stuff from other players. Who cares what gender the player behind the character is? :glare:

Yes, and in fact I am in the process of finding a name for my Female Khajiit in Skyrim, I'm thinking of "Ja'Basi" because Ja' is one of the prefixes for "young advlt" (which my character is) and it rolls well of the tongue and honors the name of my favorite female Khajiit in Morrowind Habasi, but I wonder if "Basi" can be a name and I don't want to be totally unoriginal and just say "Ja'Habasi", so what do you guys think of "Ja'Basi" ?

People view me with a pretty neutral mindset. Then again those people I know that even care to know what I do in my games tend to be people like me.

Hmmm, perhaps Ma'Basi instead, Ma' is also an indication of youth and apprenticeship.

I play as my gender and don't care about what other people do. I have friends who play as females on MMO's and flirt to get free stuff which I always found hilarious.

Depends on the character, some of mine are female, others are not.

I have no opinion on people that play the opposite gender exclusively; their reasons are their own.

EDIT: Just for reference, I am male.

Said it before in other threads. I don't do it, I find it odd, and can't bring myself to play as a female. But if others play as the opposite six, more power to them, it's their 50-60 bucks.

I'll play as either male or female.

I role play a (40 year) man every day, I prefer to game as hot young women. ^_^

Got a problem with that? /facetiousness

I'd play females more often if the female 'grunt' noises from attacking or being attacked weren't so headache inducing.

Nope ever since my friend played the Sims as a girl just to look at her half naked, my mind has thought it was creepy to play as a girl.

If people want to play as a girl, then good for then. I like being a manly man in my video game since I'm not in real life.. :cryvaultboy:

i r tough man i r only play strong pixel man swing hammer unga unga tatanka buffalo

Simple answer: Yes.

Slightly expanded answer:
I do not play any online games, only single player. Character gender does, at times, have some bearing on quests and dialogue. As such, playing as both sixes gives one the full game experience. But roleplaying as the opposite six should have no bearing on real life. Unless, of course, you're unsure of who you are at your base core. In TES, for example, playing as a Khajiit has never made me look longingly at an alley cat in the neighborhood. Nor has it made me want to stomp lizards in the garden.
Myself? I think I'm a decent human being who treats others with due respect and understanding.
I don't judge on gender or orientation, only on actions of which I personally observe.

Full disclosure: I have an exceedingly small circle of exceedingly diverse friends.
I was recently the best man/maid of honor (unclear on that one) at a same-six wedding.
To be fair, I was a bit put off when nobody asked the hetero crip to dance at the reception. :shrug: :dance:

For a long time I only played male characters, then as I got older I only played female characters. Now days it doesn't matter so much anymore, and I play whatever I think of at the time.

The thing is my characters in RPGs are not me. They don't look like me, they don't have skills like me, and they don't act like me. I always see myself as a sort of guiding spirit to someone else's story when I play these games, a companion http://www.disneyfriends.net/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/pictures/Mulan/mushu/mushu02.gif complete with witty banter and one-liners.

Sometimes my characters are connected. My first Guild Wars character was a male Ranger, and when I went back to the game after a two year hiatus I found the Ranger was gone...so I made four female characters with the same last name as him, who I decreed were his daughters set out to make their own adventures.

Edit: Oh and I wouldn't know about the whole deceiving people thing. I don't really interact with people in video games, MMO or not.

I always play female characters. I feel sick staring at male toons. When I want a cool custom, I want it on a woman, not going to admire anything on a man, sorry I just don't enjoy looking at a man's body, no thank you.

When someone mistakened my gender, I proclaim it right in their face, that I am a guy in real life. Always, when some idiot boy tried to flirt at me and obviously not in character.

I put male always in player profile on female characters. One disturbing occurance was on some other MMO, the guy read my profile, then asked if I want to get married. I said no thank then ran away.

I sunk at least a thousand hours into my collection of female Monks in Guild Wars but I stopped making female characters after a couple unfortunate instances of being mistaken for being an actual female player. Rather avoid the awkwardness.

When it comes to single player roleplaying games, like BioWare or Bethesda games, I almost always make male characters.

And cool, they added a spellcheck feature!

I never went out of my way to deceive anyone, but whenever some dimwitted stranger walked up and gave me free stuff because of my character's appearance, well, I wasn't in a rush to correct them.

In real life I'm a man and I play (so far) only single player RGP's. Most of the time I start with a male character, but this time I started Skyrim for the very first time as a female wood elf named her Mina Mangna .

What other gamers do it doesn't matter for me. Gaming = entertaining = free to play a role you like most, opposite gender of not, if you like it, go for it !

Fact is, playing a mage does not mean you can cast a magical fireball and throw it at random person in real life. Why do people even play an orc? Do they think they are orcs? How about trolls? undeads? elves? Khaihit? Werewolves? Come on, the video game is never real. It may give you a certain sense of realism, but it's not real. You are not a knight in shinning armor, you are not a thief that can backstab someone for over 9000 damage. You are not a female elven wizard. You are not an asixual demonic vampire whatever hotness in your fantasy. You are just an ordinary human just like everyone else. Get real.

I recently had my sixuality questioned by a female, despite telling her that the reason I play games as the opposite gender is because girls can be heroes too, and my (now degrading...)high respect for women.

This is a funny thing too. It's like those women who fought against the women's rights movement back before the 19th Amendment.

It's really, really, really easy to get disillusioned and fall into the misogyny pit that our particular internet subculture likes to propagate. Nevermind the fact that it's still considered uncommon for women to play video games or be on the Internet in the first place.

So in the end I find the best way is to subscribe to the Universal Adage for Everything: People are stupid. No exceptions.

I fully endorse this statement.