Male or Female Hero/ine

[WizardOfAtlantis]

My question is this: which sex do you prefer for your Hero or Heroine? And why? Can you relate to heroes/heroines of the opposite sex?

 

I'm wondering what goes on in your Attics because I was just doing some cleaning, and I came up on my mint-in-package Starkiller figurine from the original Ralph McQuarrie concept art for the original Star Wars. For those of you who haven't seen these figurines, go check them out. They are spectacular.

 

The point, though, was that besides the change in the name from Starkiller to Skywalker, the character originally was idealized by the artist as a FEMALE (and this is besides the fact that maybe Han Solo was originated as the hero initially, that's another discussion). So this made me wonder, would Star Wars have been such a runaway hit if the lead role had been in fact given to a girl? Could the masses of little boys (me included) have been able to sufficiently identify with a girl and propel George Lucas into Empirehood as it did with a male role model?

 

Also, for another medium and factoid, I remember recently reading that most fantasy novel readers are in fact female and yet I'm sure most fantasy novels are written for the opposite sex, no? With male heroes, wizards, etc...so what's the deal? What's going on here? And maybe, what should be going on instead?...

[Harbringe]

When I was young it was the Hero , now that I am older it can be either but tend to lean to the Heroine , well because lets face it their hot , just saying.

[brokenergy]

I don't really care as long as they don't push too hard with stereotypes, i.e Man = strong and stoic and Woman = pretty and weak

[DeadMansFist849]

Either is fine by me. Main characters should be well-rounded and not stereotypes, I don't care if they are male, female or other. I'd like to see a male lead who isn't a gruff, sardonic "tough guy" and a female lead who isn't a weak little princess.

[Vindekarr]

Hmmm.

 

Well it really depends on, as BE said, stereotypes. A weak, simpering little cow isnt going to make me want to play again, it will instead tick me off significantly and put it back on the shelf. Likewise if he's trying too hard to be a Space Marine and he so very much isnt, Im going to spend so much time laughing I cant read the text.

 

On the other hand I would say stereotype humor can be absolutely hilarious, a la Duke Nukem, playing as him never gets old, if anything he needs MOAR DIALOGUE!(and fighting!)

[grannywils]

I agree with most who have said as long as they are not the stereotypical cave man males or simpery females (which is unlikely in a heroic female) then I don't really have a preference. When playing RPG games, I change my characters all the time. Sometimes I play a male and sometimes a female. When I like a game I tend to play it more then once, so I will usually change genders each time I play. Doesn't make a lot of difference as long as I can somehow relate to the character from my own personal perspective.

[marharth]

I don't care about gender, I like anti-hero's.

[evilneko]

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is my favorite movie of all time.

 

Make of that what you will.

[juderodney]

For most games I've done it both ways. About the only games I'll play solely as a man is the Fable series. I do tend to be a bit old-fashioned when to comes to gender roles, there. :teehee:

[DeadMansFist849]

I like playing as "myself" sometimes and I find male characters more appealing to look at, which is purely my own preference that I expect nobody else to follow. I have played as female characters, but since I'm not interested in their physical assets, it's not from a stereotypical "fanboy" perspective, it's for the sake of experimentation and a refreshing change in roleplaying.