I play females about 50% of the time, despite being male. The reasons I do so are usually some mixture of the following.



-I find females sixually attractive

-I think often female heroes look "cooler" than males

-I don't identify particularly strongly with many traditional masculine traits and I do with some feminine traits (Wouldn't say I'm really feminine in personality, more androgynous leaning slightly toward masculine) so I have no desire to play particularly masculine characters most of the time

-I often seem to enjoy playing characters that defy traditionally expected roles

-Sometimes I have a bit of a story in mind and want to roleplay a female character



What are your reasons for playing a character of the opposite six?

Exactly those. Modders also give them more unique armor, which relates to #1

i wish i was a woman sometimes and i crossdress so thats why i play a girl character

except a male orc warrior because he just means business.

I don`t. I like to play as me, so I don`t play females... that way I get more immersed. I supposed if I played in 3rd person where I stare at my character butt all day then I would play female.

And I have no allusions to be female- at all.

In Skyrim or in general?

In general, I play male characters in games where gender has impact on the story - if there are certain encounters, choices and character development decisions only available to one gender. I'm curious about different possibilities, so I roll a male. Of course there's also the romance factor (Morrigan, anyone?)

In Skyrim, there's no reason whatsoever to play a male over a female, so all that's left is my imagination. I invented a story for a male Khajiit mage and created this character, but all my other characters are female.

I do it mostly because I can...and I just don't give a [censored] what people think about my gaming habits. My opinion is one of, "My game, my time, my business."

Because the character on the screen neither is me nor an extension of me. It's an incarnation of my creativity and subject to my imagination; any traits or history the character possesses is not something I connect with, regardless of if I can relate or not. Any events occuring to or around the character affect only the character, and never me (unless I'm fighting a bloody Frost Troll on the Seven Thousand Steps, dear gods).

Thus, I view the character as something entirely apart from myself. I did this during extensive roleplay on World of Warcraft as well, where I played females almost exclusively.

Playing a female provides a change of perspective. The eyes of a woman are not the eyes of a man no matter how equal we try to make our society today. Responses are different and the role you shoulder can be different as well - stereotypically different, that is; picture Xena contra Conan, Athena contra Zeus, Arwen contra Legolas. Overall, it's an opportunity for a wholly different story to wrap your character in, and is something of a way out from the masculinity-dominated ways of Skyrim.

PS: I for one find nothing sixually attractive about a dirty, buff woman in smelly steel/leather and sweat. Do you?

Same reason I play mages, Elves, orientals, psychics : so the character is nothing like me at all.

You play buff women in Skyrim? I didn't know it was even an option. They all seem like a pretty standard non-Olympic female shape to me. Of course I don't actively imagine my characters smelling either, in fact I barely notice smells in real life, it's undoubtedly my least developed sense.

I like to aproach as many aspects of a game as I can, so picking a different six is as uncomplicated as choosing to play a Khajiit over a Dunmer!

I feel exactly the same way. I play games to get out of my 'self' and playing as a female takes it a step further. Of the 10 chars I've created so far, four are female. Here's two of them...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7199/6940401119_ff10bc72b5.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6615750849_81325f5261.jpg

I have no problem playing a character that is an orc or elf, despite being neither of those, so I don't see any problem with playing as a male or female despite not being one.

I'm currently playing a male Dunmer because it just felt... unusual to have all female characters.
I needed a change, and honestly it wasn't a big change. I can play a character of either six or race and still make him/her interesting.

I don't, but I expect they're probably more physically impressive than I can credit myself with. Regardless, trekking through tundras and mountains in a harsh land that barely allows for any rest probably isn't the best way to stay clean and good-looking. Not to mention that I doubt Nords generally wash more than once a week (and that's by viking standards; compare them to different historical cultures and you can make that once a month or once a year).

This is why I don't really understand the point in cosmetic mods (unless they're ONLY for sixual attraction). No man nor woman will retain their smooth, perfect looks in a land that was made for predators and prey.

I guess you consider a lot of details when thinking about your character. I just think "This woman looks fairly attractive" and don't try to imagine her being dirtier or sweatier or more beaten up because of living in Skyrim. Then again I don't see my character that often, so I'm sure there must be some more psychological reasons I'm missing and physical attraction isn't that huge of a reason. I know I listed more reasons in the OP, but I feel there's something missing, I don't entirely know why I like playing them that much.

No, you're quite right; while everyone's entitled to their opinion, opinions may or may not be solid enough to be given words. I'd call it curiosity. We can pretend to be however manly or womanly we wish. We will still remain infinitely curious about the opposite gender.

I will always make my 1st character an image of myself. A male warrior is a must. And there will always be some missing quest i let go intentionally like evil quest or thievery quest.

Then it comes to my 2nd character where just some random images of my friends (usually girls). As those characters are not ME, so i can play all the quest freely.

First, because it can get boring playing the same things over and over again, I like variety. Second, because I like to "roleplay" my characters, so to speak, and sometimes that means going with a male one. I don't tend to play them nearly as much, though.

In Skyrim, I have 7 female characters, and 5 male characters. I play in 3rd person a lot, and for the countless hours I spend playing this game, I'd rather be looking at a female than a male. I have no allusions to ever actually wanting to be a female in real-life(I'm a guy), I simply enjoy the aesthetic of the female form on the screen.

For the challenge. Roleplaying different things is always a good challenge.

After maybe one or two tries as a normal male, and a male representing me I will try a female run.
I do it because I want to see what the game offers people of the opposite six.
And they are better to look at than males - though finding any real attraction to an animation is just

Bouncey boobies. I normaly play online games and there I play male because i am and it saves any confusion. With skyrim as It's single player and the graphics are good I like to make a toon of what my girl friend should look like and then actually get here to as I say for a change.

God help me if she reads this.

I prefer to look like myself, usually, but I ended up playing a female Altmer simply because you can't make a male Altmer look good.

The thing is, if playing a Female was actually DIFFERENT, I might try it. But it isn`t. You just have a female fighting voice and get called `she` or `her`.

In reality it isn`t like that. Same goes for Race. People act differently, even in subtle ways. Y`see interesting games and stories come from pointing out how people can be in certain circumstances with women depending on the period etc. Shyrim is so politically correct, no matter what you play is no event at all. So the only reason for me to play female would be to play 3rd person and stare at her butt and boobs.

For my part what six my character plays is usually based on background story. I often end up with female thief's/assassins where as if I play a warrior type it is usually a male. My current character is a female sneaky mix of thief and assassin, my next is planned to be either a Barbarian using light armor like scale or the barbarian armor from the "lore friendly armours" mod, A warriormage that mixes spells and one handed or a heavy armored sword'n'board person. And that character will be male as it will fit more nicely with the ideas of background story I have.