Male or Female PC? How come?

[Signette]

 

Mass effect for example, yes, a lot of females like it (including me). Still, the first part was clearly not intended for females, just look at the romance options. Two girls for males, one boring poorly written guy and a chick for females. And no one try to make me believe that asari are both male and female and thus acceptable for female players too. They have boobs, dammit. The whole race was made for male fanservice. Im not screaming sexism, it is simply very unfair and makes me feel that i don't belong there. It got a bit better with the other two parts, when they figured out that still a lot of females play the game.

 

 

However, i think it is a vicious circle. Games are made for men because females don't play, and they don't play because games are made for men.

And yes, there are genres that females won't be interested in, ever (including me). Like sport games, games about world war and tanks and stuff, and brainless shooters. However, adventure games rpgs and fpses with interesting storyline could have a lot bigger female audience if the creators were more open-minded towards them. Imho.

 

About my males, when i first uploaded an armor mod for fallout nv with him posig for it, i even apologized by jokingly telling that my armor won't make other users male character ugly. But after some more armor mods it seems that some users are more interested in the character than the actual mod, and i'm like WTF he's supposed to be creepy. He was even called a "cutie" once. :D

 

I don't get it to be honest... Why females aren't interested in certain genres, which are most likely rather neutral towards gender and has incredibly interesting gameplay, let's say Total War or Civilization strategy series, it doesn't anyhow directed towards males, you are ruler of civilization or some nation, there have been numerous women who led great countries, why it may not be interesting for many of you? Same can go, for example, about racing sims and probably arcades too, I swear, there are more women behind a wheel in the streets than men nowadays, and driver's concept is neutral at it's core, it doesn't display square jaw or scream "Ima man!" while driving, right? But it seems like ratio of males to females for these types of games would be like 100:1 at best, which is terrifing. Seriously, we are not that different, it feels like fem audience not playing these games because they think it not for them or some other stereotypical bs... Sad. I never even heard any opinions about what types of games would please specific fem audience, so I suspect those should be the same as for male pop, cause let's face it, SIMS, ME and etc is still has more players guys than girls... Awkward =/

 

On your character, considering "beauty" and "prettyness" are probably most subjective terms in the universe, I wouldn't be so surprised by reactions from others, I'm actually more surprised by people, who still think, there are some beauty standerds both for men and women. :turned:

[PNBlack]

In my many years of gaming, I have only ever played male characters if possible. I have simply always felt more comfortable with playing the same gender as myself, and never saw any reason to play a female character.. Sure, you get something pretty to look at that you control, but I get enough satisfaction from my surroundings in games. (Skyrim can be incredibly stunning with the right mods)

 

I have nothing against people who do play the opposite gender in video games. Whatever immerses or pleases you the most is obviously what you should pick, since you bought/chose to invest time in the game.. I have never enjoyed playing females over males, and since I have made my characters decent to look at in most games, I do not really see any reason to change this now.

[hagyjalbeken]

 

 

Mass effect for example, yes, a lot of females like it (including me). Still, the first part was clearly not intended for females, just look at the romance options. Two girls for males, one boring poorly written guy and a chick for females. And no one try to make me believe that asari are both male and female and thus acceptable for female players too. They have boobs, dammit. The whole race was made for male fanservice. Im not screaming sexism, it is simply very unfair and makes me feel that i don't belong there. It got a bit better with the other two parts, when they figured out that still a lot of females play the game.

 

 

However, i think it is a vicious circle. Games are made for men because females don't play, and they don't play because games are made for men.

And yes, there are genres that females won't be interested in, ever (including me). Like sport games, games about world war and tanks and stuff, and brainless shooters. However, adventure games rpgs and fpses with interesting storyline could have a lot bigger female audience if the creators were more open-minded towards them. Imho.

 

About my males, when i first uploaded an armor mod for fallout nv with him posig for it, i even apologized by jokingly telling that my armor won't make other users male character ugly. But after some more armor mods it seems that some users are more interested in the character than the actual mod, and i'm like WTF he's supposed to be creepy. He was even called a "cutie" once. :D

 

I don't get it to be honest... Why females aren't interested in certain genres, which are most likely rather neutral towards gender and has incredibly interesting gameplay, let's say Total War or Civilization strategy series, it doesn't anyhow directed towards males, you are ruler of civilization or some nation, there have been numerous women who led great countries, why it may not be interesting for many of you? Same can go, for example, about racing sims and probably arcades too, I swear, there are more women behind a wheel in the streets than men nowadays, and driver's concept is neutral at it's core, it doesn't display square jaw or scream "Ima man!" while driving, right? But it seems like ratio of males to females for these types of games would be like 100:1 at best, which is terrifing. Seriously, we are not that different, it feels like fem audience not playing these games because they think it not for them or some other stereotypical bs... Sad. I never even heard any opinions about what types of games would please specific fem audience, so I suspect those should be the same as for male pop, cause let's face it, SIMS, ME and etc is still has more players guys than girls... Awkward =/

 

On your character, considering "beauty" and "prettyness" are probably most subjective terms in the universe, I wouldn't be so surprised by reactions from others, I'm actually more surprised by people, who still think, there are some beauty standerds both for men and women. :turned:

 

In this case, its the "fault" of society and the concept of what is considered being feminine and acceptable female behaviour. So yes, it is mostly stereotypical bs.

About strategy games, most females i know avoid them because they are about war and conquering, and the mere thought of that alienates them, because that is not "feminine". It is sad that they can't look past that, and i can't think about a marketing strategy that could change it, it is the whole society that should change in this case. Because being a leader and a war strategist is depicted as masculine everywhere, and although i see a change, it is slow.

About racing games, getting from a to b comfortably and being in a car race are two completely different things. Have you ever seen a female formula1 driver? This is usually considered as "male territory" everywhere, it is almost impossible for a woman to get a place in their "wroom-wroom gasoline man" world.

So when ordering your military and car racing itself is considered to be "for men only" by society, no matter how you make the game, it will be mostly guys who play it.

However, story driven action games, adventure games, and also some strategy games that are not about how to order your military could gain a huge female audience by being less male oriented.

For exaple by not putting a bully-faced macho man on the cover of the next mass effect dvd.

 

About characters, to be less off-topic: The reaction was a posiive surprise, mostly because i thought that only flawless machos or animeboy characters would get any positive attention :) Being less standard beauty in looks and having a flawed but interesting personality what makes my characters being more close to an actual person and so making the roleplaying more fun.

Also one of the reasons i tend to pick males, because as a female i usually i end up correcting their flaws (especially in looks) later, probably because of my own irl flaws that i want to get rid of but can't. But then the character becomes boring.

[repusDude]

Depending on the games I play, really..... on skyrim, I use female character. On Dark Souls series, killing floor, or dead island, I play as male character. Games like league of legends, dawn of war last stand, I play whatever .

[Rick9]

Hello all !

 

Well....my take on this from what I do!

 

First I am a middle aged guy, happily married with kids etc.....yet I Play Skyrim as a woman....always have.

 

Now the fun bit....and it gets a bit crazy, but bear with me.

 

I started on release day 11.11.11. And very quickly decided on the "I Like females so thats what I Want to see on my screen" kinda mentality. I generally switched a lot from first to third person views. I created a blond pony tailed Nord as striking as vanilla would allow. Not cute you understand, but proud strong womanly and radiating raw man melting female power...that type!

 

In time without aiming to....I established things my char always liked to do and liked to avoid....so I was in fact role playing her.....without a backstory or preset idea.

 

Importantly....I really liked the look of my char a lot and despite playing the "Dead is Dead" game style I kept bringing her back for square one, restart after restart. Soon it just felt natural to be with her and I needed no change of char...in fact I would miss her.

 

Now....hang on for this bit ok. Many of you will know how a long term RP (role play) character kinda creates that "feeling" in the player of what the char feels comfortable with...(eg maybe not wearing helmets or certain armours). This is because you get so used to making certain decisions for them...it feels like you already know what they want for any eventuality. Those feelings are a way your character kind of communicates with you.

 

Now....a little jump.....where is your char? Well the build and skills and appearance are in your computer....but.....the personality of them can only reside in the player. In your mind!

 

So....my long play girl has this kinda personality brewing in my head. When I see her on screen the bag of feelings that pertain to her associates with the screen likeness that resembles her.

 

Then a realisation hits me......all the things she likes and wants and does and avoids.....have grown without a 'backstory' and fed from the only source available in my head.....me! Yet....oddly....upon self analysis.....all her traits are totally dead opposite to my own.

 

So I have this very long term female "Alter ego" ( female now cos its opposite to me...see) as a game character. Her desires often...not surprisingly...conflict with mine. We are Holmes and Moriarty both matched, both locked in conflict yet needing each other.

An example of our opposite natures....apart from obvious gender....I am a gentle guy...she is a hard warrior. I am by most accounts a kind person...she can be very cruel to bandits! I am long winded and verbose....she always comes over as pithy and concise. I am a regular working guy....she expresses as cultured and refined (the occaisional fine cigar and very expensive wines kinda lady).

 

She, her character, underwent an odd change last december and after an uncertain period of weakening she returned evolved, far stronger in all traits....good and bad!

 

So where does that leave me? Well I honestly don't feel ok about playing any other char now....period. And....I don't even play her now as much as 'facilitate' her. She knows what she wants to do in Skyrim now....I just twiddle the analogue sticks for her.

 

Her name is Contessa Adella Di nascosta-mente.

Or just Adella to friends :)

 

She is waaaay above my station in life and I am honoured to host her acquaintance.

[TerraMcCloud]

For the one game I am playing at the moment that has character customization. I like to balance out my number of male and female characters in playthroughs.

 

At the moment I am playing a female breton tribal shaman, level 47 atm(Currently being worked on), my previous character was a breton female heavy armor spellsword, level 53(who sadly was abandoned due to an issue where her saves were leaking memory like mad, making them have memory crashes a lot despite having everything possible to stablize it, new saves like my shaman don't have this problem and run really stable.).

 

I even like to give my characters DND style alignments, Current characters and planned characters are below, In the order they were played (or will be played).

 

Male Nord Jack of all Trades - Neutral Good - (My first ever character - Level 93)

Female Breton Heavy Armor Spellsword - Chaotic Good - (Abandoned - See reason above - Level 54)

Female Breton Tribal Shaman - True Neutral - (Current - Level 57)

Male Nord Barbarian - Chaotic Good - (Planned)

Male Orc Blackguard - Lawful Evil - (Planned)

Male Breton Tourist - True Neutral - (Planned, think something similar to nethack touist)

Female Nord Paladin - Lawful Good - (Planned)

 

So yeah all the planned characters shows I still have a lot of skyrim ahead of me, and I am trying to keep it balanced as much as possible, chances are another female character will be played after the paladin, so that way I will have 4 male characters and 4 female characters, keeping it an even 50-50.

 

So yeah, I have a 50-50 preference for Player Characters.

Edited May 24, 2016 by welchdrew

[Signette]

 

In this case, its the "fault" of society and the concept of what is considered being feminine and acceptable female behaviour. So yes, it is mostly stereotypical bs.

About strategy games, most females i know avoid them because they are about war and conquering, and the mere thought of that alienates them, because that is not "feminine". It is sad that they can't look past that, and i can't think about a marketing strategy that could change it, it is the whole society that should change in this case. Because being a leader and a war strategist is depicted as masculine everywhere, and although i see a change, it is slow.

About racing games, getting from a to b comfortably and being in a car race are two completely different things. Have you ever seen a female formula1 driver? This is usually considered as "male territory" everywhere, it is almost impossible for a woman to get a place in their "wroom-wroom gasoline man" world.

So when ordering your military and car racing itself is considered to be "for men only" by society, no matter how you make the game, it will be mostly guys who play it.

However, story driven action games, adventure games, and also some strategy games that are not about how to order your military could gain a huge female audience by being less male oriented.

For exaple by not putting a bully-faced macho man on the cover of the next mass effect dvd.

But what about thinking outside the box? On the cover you can see some troops marching or posing their brute force, sure, but in reality you can play it as a peacemaker, joining nations around you with very rare and occasional wars or completely leave it to your allies and focus on social, non-agressive aspects. Stiil, you gotta admit that most games, especially popular ones among female audience revolves around killing, in heaps, like Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Skyrim. Yes, those are story driven games, but isn't killing and fighting considered "masculine" territory females shouldn't cross? But they do and quite enjoy it from what I can say, so what's wrong doing it in strategy for example?

 

Regarding racing, I usually prefer Rally and biggest enjoyment I get is by admiring scenery while driving at speed, not just boring trip from A to B. It shouldn't always be about competition and circular racing track, and as far as I know, most ppl do enjoy things like that no matter the gender. But most incomprehensible fact for me is that playing games is very private business, noone is usually interefering with it, it's just a hobby you do for pleasure, so how do these social shackels work on female individual, stopping from exploring other genres and experiencing something new is the great mystery for me...

 

 

About characters, to be less off-topic: The reaction was a posiive surprise, mostly because i thought that only flawless machos or animeboy characters would get any positive attention :smile: Being less standard beauty in looks and having a flawed but interesting personality what makes my characters being more close to an actual person and so making the roleplaying more fun.

Also one of the reasons i tend to pick males, because as a female i usually i end up correcting their flaws (especially in looks) later, probably because of my own irl flaws that i want to get rid of but can't. But then the character becomes boring.

Huh, interesting, can't say I understand this way of thinking, because nothing like that ever crossed my mind. Imperfection is what we are and there's certain beauty in it, what makes individual or even inanimate object unique in its own way IMHO. But I can certainly see why flawless character becomes boring. :wink:

 

@Rick9

Huh, curious post here, but you missed the main part, what does your wife think about this? Is she aware of this alter-ego of yours? :D

Edited May 21, 2016 by Signette

[hagyjalbeken]

 

But what about thinking outside the box? On the cover you can see some troops marching or posing their brute force, sure, but in reality you can play it as a peacemaker, joining nations around you with very rare and occasional wars or completely leave it to your allies and focus on social, non-agressive aspects. Stiil, you gotta admit that most games, especially popular ones among female audience revolves around killing, in heaps, like Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Skyrim. Yes, those are story driven games, but isn't killing and fighting considered "masculine" territory females shouldn't cross? But they do and quite enjoy it from what I can say, so what's wrong doing it in strategy for example?

 

Regarding racing, I usually prefer Rally and biggest enjoyment I get is by admiring scenery while driving at speed, not just boring trip from A to B. It shouldn't always be about competition and circular racing track, and as far as I know, most ppl do enjoy things like that no matter the gender. But most incomprehensible fact for me is that playing games is very private business, noone is usually interefering with it, it's just a hobby you do for pleasure, so how do these social shackels work on female individual, stopping from exploring other genres and experiencing something new is the great mystery for me...

 

Well, maybe because people on average don't really think outside the box? Being cute nice caring compassione tidy and beautiful is what society expects females to be (i am not saying it is easier for males, it isn't), and being an adventurous hero in a fantasy land fits this role more than a miltary leader or a race car driver. They won't even try those games. It's like irl hobbies and activities, why would a female rarely pick a hobby like building new furniture, woodworking, or tinkering with cars, and why would males almost never do sewing, knitting, or decorating? They are both creative stuff but one is considered "manly", the other "girly". I've never found any better explanation for this than humanitys constant urge to fit in a society built on screwed up stereotypes.

Even sadder, that there are many games that could easily gain a huge female audience without magically removing all the stereotypes from peoples heads, but they do not gain any because they are clearly written for and marketed towards males.

But we are getting a bit off-topic here :)

[Kanori24]

Oh my goodness the quotes are outta control here :P

 

Okay, so again I won't quote anyone, I'll just reply to the ones I read that got my interest.

Yes, I find it very strange indeed to behold one of super-cute girls taking down a group of bandits, raiders, dragons, deathclaws, etc. I always come up with silly commentary to further humiliate the situation. "And thus the bandits were slain by the petite blonde Ashlyn whom they underestimated"

 

Aesthetics is extremely important to me, as I am an artist and visionaire and anything has to look right for me to like it. Such as, I don't care how fast the Bugatti Veyron is... it's still ugly to me :P SO of course my Skyrim is modded and tweaked to suit my taste in visuals. Pretty summer environment, high res textures everywhere, and beautiful, BEAUTIFUL girls :)

 

I like men, too... if definitely makes more sense that the legendary Dragonborne would resemble the dude in the trailer. But... I don't like men that are... hulking... like.... huge the way Skyrim makes them. Believe it or else, I prefer the more average male. Hey, I don't like to be smothered, okay :P So if there is a mod or a way to make the guys in Skyrim smaller and less muscular, someone please let me know! (AVA as a player?)

[Signette]

 

Well, maybe because people on average don't really think outside the box? Being cute nice caring compassione tidy and beautiful is what society expects females to be (i am not saying it is easier for males, it isn't), and being an adventurous hero in a fantasy land fits this role more than a miltary leader or a race car driver. They won't even try those games. It's like irl hobbies and activities, why would a female rarely pick a hobby like building new furniture, woodworking, or tinkering with cars, and why would males almost never do sewing, knitting, or decorating? They are both creative stuff but one is considered "manly", the other "girly". I've never found any better explanation for this than humanitys constant urge to fit in a society built on screwed up stereotypes.

 

Even sadder, that there are many games that could easily gain a huge female audience without magically removing all the stereotypes from peoples heads, but they do not gain any because they are clearly written for and marketed towards males.

But we are getting a bit off-topic here :smile:

It doesn't sit well with me to tie irl hobby with video games... For example, I did several playthroughs of Transistor and Life is Strange. I love both of this games and specifically Transistor is one of best games I have ever seen in my life. I know lots of dudes who loved both of these games just like I did, but those games easily can be defined as "for girls" or something like that. We even have few dudes here, who confessed their love of dressing up/customozation, playing as fem characters and SIMS! To me it looks like males suffer from stereotypes towards games much less than females do, I wonder why?... Gotta agree on "screwed up stereotypes" tho, because irl ppl are more busy fitting in their gender roles, as you mentioned, than revealing their real passions. I wouldn't be surprised by huge, pumped up dude being secretly sewing fan at heart.

 

@Kanori24

Aww, you broke my heart and my stereotypes too...

Firstly Bugatti Veyron is the worldwide recognized masterpiece, both in design and engineering.

Secondly, I haven't yet seen any females who aren't swooning over some Conan The Barbarian male arhetype, which Skyrim is brimming with. I honestly thought that was the reason why it got so popular with gamer-girl audience in a first place. :wink:

Edited May 25, 2016 by Signette