Heeeey, I liked Frank West.

And yeah, I agree that blandness has more to do with writing than with the gender of the character. Just because you make someone a man or a woman, doesn't make them any more dynamic or interesting. Take Cole from Infamous, who has a lot of criticism for just being a boring character. Change the gender to female, but keep the same writing and...you have largely the same bland character that male-Cole was.

And it's not like men aren't mis-represented in games as well. The muscular, "kick your teeth in" badass that mows down thousands of enemies by himself, with the same stoic, unflinching expression in his face is as much a caricature of gender as any female example.

As said, I can't identify with male, so no matter how well written - very rare for a male lead - a male character is, they are very boring for me. I can't role play with a male lead, I can't think nor feel as would be expected, I don't see things as a male would.

I identify better with a female lead, and more so if I can role play since it adds more depth for me. Something I can't do with a male lead.

You still have a problem only with bad or simply uninteresting character writing, not one with the main characters being male.
Well, then take a look at the opposite gender. It's the same for most people there. So the call really should be for interesting characters, not for supposed equality.

a good male lead is just as rare as a good female lead

Which is why new ideas, imagination, diversty and more is so badly needed to progress the gaming industry and games in general. It's like how movies have so many bad scripts and bad characters, there's more focus on making things fast paced and accessible than there is in making something engaging and immersive.

hands up who-ever is going to do a second play though with a character of the opposite gender?

:wave:

Not really. There have been a lot more good male leads then good female leads, if not for the simple fact that there are just more male leads in general.

I'll play either, the lead doesn't decide anything for me when it comes to buying or playing a game, but if I have the choice, which is always welcome as other people have their own opinions, I'll play as a male most of the time, because that's what I am.

:dmc:
:wave: I like to see the new dialog options and stuff so I tend to play different genders just to see how the game is different.

*throws both hands up in the air* :wave: Hah, I tend to think of characters I want to make before a game like this comes out, which includes deciding on their gender. It's only been a certain few games where I haven't done a run through with both genders. In fact...the only ones I can think of are Jade Empire (where I only did a female character), and Fallout 3 (where I only did a male one).

It seems nowadays i'm only playing female characters given the choice, despite being a man myself. I guess it makes me weird, or just a pig :blush:

Seriously speaking, i do not "identify" with the character, i just play with them, and the story gets an interesting twist when the hero-who-saves-all is a woman Even better if she is a woman of a poorly treated race, such as elves in Dragon Age or beast races in TES. In your face, humans!

dont worry your not alone. i do that as-well