Male or Female Hero/ine

[Deleted472477User]

All I know is that I like playing female characters in my games when I have the choice, and they generally don't run around in bikinis unless they're going for a swim. :thumbsup:

 

Same for me. I get really tired of the whole 'Fantasy Heroine Dressed like a Stripper' thing. I know some who prefer this not because they enjoy seeing a form that appeals to them in skimpy attire but because on some level the idea of a strong and powerful female offends and frightens them as much as they enjoy the view. So they resort to Bimbofication.

 

I like playing either gender. It depends on my mood, what the character I create is like, and so forth. Sometimes I play one gender or the other of a particular race because it looks better to me than the other.

[rinoaff33]

I really, really want to say "Either" - which is what I voted - but, honestly, I prefer female lead characters. It's a quirk of mine, I suppose. My friends have even gotten annoyed at me for almost exclusively playing female characters now (even had one funny moment on WoW when a friend convinced someone that I was actually a chick..."Wait, you mean you're NOT a hot Korean girl?") It's not just because of the eyecandy (well, okay, usually - Oblivion mods tend to make this a bit difficult to not do for teh hotness, and I really like female Draenei...), but because male characters are reaaaalllllyyyy overdone. Just look at Mass Effect - why is the default character put on the marketing Generic Macho Space Marine #28952 for a story-driven game that takes itself seriously? Another case in point is Halo...the Master Chief has no background, only his overly-masculine testosterone-filled voice and his presumable affection towards Cortana (OK I probably made that last bit up but still). It might also have something to do with exploring the unknown, seeing as I'm male so obviously I have less experience with the female side of the fence, making seeing something from a woman's point of view more interesting (or I could just be using pointless pseudo-psychology here - who knows). Basically, I prefer story-based games that don't just include female characters as "The Chick" as TVTropes eloquently phrases it.

 

For something that's probably hypocritical, I'm also a firm supporter of not putting super-hot women all over the marketing for novels and games just to draw nerds' and frat boys' attention (Evony, I'm looking at you - no really, I am, I can't take my eyes away). It's a bad stereotype of gamers. We need a balance between hot and generic here, peoples!

Edited July 8, 2011 by rinoaff33

[Deleted472477User]

For something that's probably hypocritical, I'm also a firm supporter of not putting super-hot women all over the marketing for novels and games just to draw nerds' and frat boys' attention (Evony, I'm looking at you - no really, I am, I can't take my eyes away). It's a bad stereotype of gamers. We need a balance between hot and generic here, peoples!

 

 

I don't especially think that's hypocritical. Balance is indeed needed. I think about Everquest, and how with each successive release the elf chick on the box is in progressively skimpier attire. Is Sony saying "We know we can't compete with WoW, so MOAR BOOBIES hurr hurr!"? I don't know, but it's funny to think about.

 

There's a funny article out there about the Evony ads. I just about died laughing when they resorted to nothing but breasts in a lacy bra, with 'Evony' in tiny text in the corner. That's as subtle as a Xivilai at a tea party :D

 

Have you seen those recent Caesary ads? Roman orgy indeed. They'll have horny guys playing for years to come trying to unlock that feature :D

 

Oh, gods. Serious thread derailment here. As I said before, i love playing either male or female characters. I find myself more likely to unfold the story through the eyes of a female character. But sometimes, I start thinking of one and he turns out to be male instead, and I end up telling *his* story

 

I also play Wow, and most of my characters are females, though I'm very attached to the lads I have as well. I never play male humans though; they're almost always too goofy looking!

[Deleted472477User]

I've been trying to not post more than once at a time today, but I have to break my own rule for this. It pokes fun at what I said about Caesary/Evony and Everquest in a dead-on way:

 

http://thenoobcomic.com/index.php?pos=186

[DeadMansFist849]

Yep, those MMORPG ads annoy me because they're so objectifying. By that, I mean, those games don't, from what I hear, have females as anything except fanservice. That's objectifying--simply showing a female character in an impractical outfit is not, on its own, objectifying--skimpy outfits as ceremonial garb or part of a game where everybody dresses like that don't bother me, provided that the main characters are more than just cliched Barbie and Ken dolls.