If I play as a female character in Skyrim, it's usually when I'm a thief/assassin. Just feels more like they fit the role. But I tend to stick with male human characters when I can - as I always try to play as myself and make choices I would make.

Yeah, but it does get tiring after a while when a woman being the main character (in games that set one) is so frustratingly rare. Eventually it gets to the point of "Erm, hello? What about us?". Fortunately, the Elder Scrolls series has mostly avoided things like this by giving a choice for the player's character (well, except once... with a man, but Cyrus is awesome enough that I can forgive them that one easily) and including plenty of NPC women in prominent roles.

I do occasionally. I'm a man and nine out of ten times i play a man, play a female character sometimes out of boredom though.

I started using female characters back in the 90s, with tomb raider's Lara Croft, and Resident Evil's Jill Valentine. Since then whenever I get a choice I choose to play as a female, because it's just more fun.

Any straight guy would probably agree that it's much more fun to stare at an attractive girl on screen for hours than a guy. I also like to become a bit emotionally involved with the characters that I use in any game, and for me it's easier to care about a female character than a male. Example: the only loss that really hurt when I played Halo:Reach was when Kat took one in th skull(sniff, sniff). Couldn't give a rats butt when the guys all bit it.

I often take slack from online players while playing competitive online(Halo, GoW) for using a female. I've even been accused of being gay a few times(which I'm not), which is confusing because woudln't a gay person prefer to stare at an attractive male than female? I guess not everyone sees a players conection to thier charcters the same way that I do.

So yeah, Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies, I love tomb Raider, and I love tearing it up in video games using a female character.

btw... Yes my Comander Shepard is female too. Can't wait for Mass Effect 3.... FOUR MORE DAYS!!!!!!!

Mine as well, but the sole reason is the voice actress.

I purely usually play female cause developers put more effort into the female design and female armour versions... or i play female for roles as theifs/assassins... less likely people will know my intentions black widow!

But i'm playin a male nord atm, as i'm roleplaying the Dragonborn in the trailers

The Redguard reference brings up another thought. That game came out when playing a Black protagonist wasn't that common (before Blade, before GTA San Andreas). Cyrus is a 'Redguard', sure, not a 'real world' race exactly, but he breaks that mold of the typical anglocentric/Caucasian hero character. Seems like when I first tried the game out, I thought I was gonna have trouble relating to him at first and was a little annoyed that I couldn't just make up my own character. After I got involved in his story and got to know the character better, I really enjoyed playing that game. Of course, I had played dark elf characters before that, so it wasn't that much of a stretch, just a different skin tone, really.

It interesting to me that I'll play a male of another race (even Khajiit!) before I'll play a female. I guess even in an RPG I just identify strongly with a masculine role. I will play females in games like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance or Tomb Raider (because Laura Croft is a hottie) or even a fighting game like Mortal Combat or Street Fighter 2: AlphaOmegaUmpteenth edition (Chun Li rules!). I've just never tried it in a game where it really matters like an RPG game. Maybe I'll try a female character in Skyrim one day, just for kicks, but she will probably end up a lisbian or just never get married!

For several reasons: one being I am not one, and neither am I an Orc or a cat person or a magician or a thief. I like being something that I am not in games.

Who does the voice for female CMD Shepard, and why do you care?

Jennifer Hale, who also did Bastila in SW:KOTOR. She has a really smooth, easy-to-listen-to voice which suits the character perfectly. Male Shepard, on the other hand, has a really nasal and to some degree annoying voice which puts a lot of people off playing him - myself included. Female Shepard all the way.

I am playing a male, because it is a test-character. I make for the test only opposite gender and for the long run (I think it will last two years as in oblivion) I will create a female one.

This. Jennifer Hale kicks ass.

Meers has more of an action hero voice, so right now I play as ManShep.

What about Jenn Taylor?

voice or Cortana (Halo) and others in other games.

I think it's technically impossible to be a better voice actress than Jennifer Hale.

I asked about this earlier and I don't think anyone responded. Why is it so weird if you're heterosixual yourself to play a hetero female in relationship with a man? I have no problem playing a male PC in a romance with a female, but a lot of guys keep saying they'll make a female character only if she's a lisbian. Just curious.

No. I play female for the majority of the time, simply because in most other games I'm forced into a male character by default. Female leads are few and far between; I take what I can get. Although the fact that Bethesda made a huge deal out of their promotional male Nord kind of annoyed me. Really, Beth? How generic. Be brave for once. It won't kill you, I promise.

That annoyed me too. A fan created a female version of that picture and it looked really great, in my opinion. Bethesda could easily have done the same thing.

I love that picture

I remember that! I've been looking for it recently, actually, wish I'd saved it when it was made.

I don't see why they should. Don't care about seeing token females just for the sake of it.

A change of pace.

I've played females in all these kinds of games, when I can, as well as in World of Warcraft.

One of my main reasons is, being 45 years old, for a long time in video games you never COULD
play a female character; The default character was always male.

I always find it odd that people bring this up, though. Genetically, you are way closer (in real life)
to a human female than you are to a male orc/elf/dwarf. Yet no one ever makes threads here,
or on the World of Warcraft message boards, asking why you play an orc when you are not one.

Don't care about seeing token males just for the sake of it either.

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