I mostly play as female character (generally, 3 out of 5 characters) because:

1) I can
2) I feel like it
3) Less moral restrictions (sub-conscious)
4) Male characters tend to be "vanilla", boring and bland
5) I can

No, there is not a Freudian excuse for me preferring female characters. Controlling a virtual character is absurd already so I just play the way I feel like. And no, I don't wish I was a woman in real life. I am very content with my male-ness. It doesn't even fall into eye candy category since my females end up wearing the same bulky unisix armors my male characters wear. That said I don't take games very seriously so I generally just do what I feel like without thinking about it any further.

:rofl: That gets me every time. And if the faces won't, the voice will :lmao:

Though to be fair, the female voice has an annoying tendency to stretch certain words too. But atleast she doesn't sound like a voice synthetizer

Not to leap to Third_Eye's defense here, but are you aware that the original post was edited? Because what was there before nu_clear_day intervened was anything but the start of a "normal thread".


I could never be with a man who considers me secondary to his calibrations.


Jennifer Hale does a great job on voicing FemShep, a much better job than Mark Meer does on MaleShep. Now that is some bland, soulless voice-acting!


As for the original post, the idea of a role-playing game is to be someone who is not you, and play their role. I'm male all the time, so why not play a female character? Plus that way I can spend hours in the character generator getting her face just right, so I can have a completely customized model when drawing her. It's got nothing to do with juvenile horniness or any other Freudian nonsense.

I don't do it often but that's just mostly out of habit. Last Character I had that was a Female was my first Mage in Dragon Age.It provides for a different game than what I am use to.

I don't really role play in games, I just like the variety. Normally play through once as male and once as female. six changeup keeps the game new and interesting. That and some builds just seem geared towards a male / female character.

Hah, I'm completely the opposite. I'm female 24/7, it gets so boring. And in my experience, female characters tend to act all posh and girly (see femHawke in DA2.. what the hell?) and usually look too stereotypically pretty. I just kind of view them as soulless and annoying. In general, I like to make my characters imperfect and rugged-looking because it adds character and realism. I almost exclusively play as a male. The only female character I chose when given the option was Shepard, because Jennifer Hale's voiceacting is badass.



I actually loved Mark Meer as Jethann in DA2. "He wouldn't sleep with me either." :laugh: But his acting in ME really killed maleShep for me. Such a shame, Shepard has some great lines.

Fixed that for you

As some have already said, just to do something different. One of my alts in WoW was a female Rogue and my favorite class in PSO is HUcaseal (female).

Hah, exactly. :laugh:

Exactly.

My characters are not representations of me. They're action figures, playing pieces that I'm moving around on the chessboard, movie characters that I'm watching go through the story. And if I'm going to play with dolls, I'm going to play with one that looks good. I'm a hetero guy - I appreciate women. (And no, that doesn't mean "horny" or "getting off to pixels". Any more than noticing pretty women when you're walking through the mall means you're "getting off" to them. :shrug:)

Additionally, I like the idea of kick-butt female heroes. Big fan of shows like Buffy, Alias, Xena, etc. So when I have the chance to not have to play some generic, crew-cut, scowling, personality-less pile of muscles, I take it. (yeah, not a fan of most of the current trend of "generic brooding male heroes")




But, but.... Jennifer Hale!

Wouldn't say I'm into the "kick-butt female hero" type, but I'm definitely a fan of women being portrayed as having their own strengths and independence, yes. Much like male heroes, females are also portrayed as only needing one quality - in men, it's muscle, in females it's beauty. So it's nice to have characters, both male and female, with more dimension than just that primary requisite.




<3 Jennifer Hale.

I never understood the whole "Don't like looking at a man's ass while I play video games, so I make a female character." Why would you be looking at your character's ass while playing? That doesn't make much sense, you have to focus on what's around you.

Anyways I mostly play male characters always, in MMO's or RPGs. Probably cause I portray my first character to be an offshoot of me, and I'm not female. I do eventually get around to making a female character though and yes, when it comes to ES games it has a lot to do with being able to dress them up and make them look sixy. I've RPed them a few times in Oblivion but I don't generally do that either as it doesn't appeal to me as much.

Sorry if this is answering a question with a question, but my answer is "why not"?

If there is a question as to why males "roll" a female character, it appears that the reason for the question is that there is some implication that you are your character. I guess that is the way some people play these games.

But I don't consider myself to be my character. I'm not a lizard, or a cat, or a green person with bad teeth (well I'm not green).

And playing one doesn't mean that I have a secret urge to be a cat.

If you are your character, then a question might be, why roll an assassin that blindly kills innocent people, if you normally wouldn't do that.

I view my character as someone I'm spending time with, and perhaps writing a story with. It's similar to watching a movie or reading a book with the main character being female - like Resident Evil, or the Wizard of Oz.

I usually do it for roleplaying purposes or whatever but my friend gave a great explanation the other day: for all that time spent levelling would rather be staring at a guy's ass or a girl's?

Its interesting the 'staring at a guys ass/girls ass' theory. Not so much in this discussion as we're talking about all RPGs but when it happens in the ES or FO forums I think...wow, are there really that many people playing TES games in 3rd person? It honestly never occurred to me.

Neither. Play in first person mode.

The staring at the ass theory is ridiculous, since most gamers still play in first person.

Pete Hines (the Bethesda PR guy) commented recently on how when they let game journalists play Skyrim the vast majority of journalists in the US play in first person, while many in Europe seem to play in third person. Too influenced by Gothic perhaps?

Yep.

I'm a female type thingy, and I always play a female if given a choice. And I'll wear the skimpy nowaycoulditpossiblyprotectyou sixy armor, because this is MY fantasy (and I like to pretned it's me) and people make some really awesome outfits/armor. I also always play a mod elf, and have pink hair.

Possible, though I hated the Gothic series.

Now I can't help but imagine real you running around with pointy ears, pink hair, and a chainmail bikini. :laugh:

Heehee, I imagine it all the time.

You can't beat Red Sonja when it comes to chainmail bikini.

The characters I play, even if completely different from me in looks and morality, still are an extension of how I think.
I reality, I am never going to get menstrual cramps in a videogame, become impregnated, nurture life within myself, nurse a child, and feel actual labor pains, as I have done IRL. By Rp'ing as a male, I am never going to write my name in the snow, zip up on it, achieve a morning salute, or engage in coitus as a male. I am not going to think as a male human does. I cannot. Everything I could uniquely experience as a male, -- an RPG cannot offer me. Therefore, I mostly play as a woman. Since as I don't see much gender disparity in game, aside from strength and occasional alternate gender based quest resolution, there really isn't any issue.
I occasionally play as a male when I tire of playing as a female. It's from a purely creative point of view. The mindset of advancing and maturing the character is the same, the planning, the research, the execution of quests are similar. My exterior pixellated form may be male, but the thought processes behind it are uniquely mine, and I am an XX chromosomed female. The only means that offer me complexity in a character are racial bonuses, and combining that with an unlikely class of character makes for interesting roleplay.

I can't really find any sort of perspective on being a male simply from choosing to play as one in a videogame. It discounts the whole "male experience" thing for me.