Guys who play girl characters

[GnatGoSplat]

I played Skyrim with a male character in 1st person. He is what you would expect: a big, manly, muscle-bound lug with a neck as thick as his head, goatee, and greasy-looking hair. He wears heavy armor and he's just... well... stereotypical and boring.

 

Every other game, I have played with a female character and loved it. I don't see the character as myself, but as a character in a story. Male characters usually bore me. So this big brute of a man is good at fighting and also climbs the hierarchical ladder in whatever institution he is a part of. BORING. Same stereotypical leading male story that is repeated over and over in games and Hollywood, even often in real life. I prefer the story of the underdog; the unlikely hero. The hero that emerges, who looks nothing like you'd expect. For me, that hero is a female, preferably meek and small, who may not have brutish strength, but is able to use her wits and cunning to rise above the pack. Someone who looks at societal gender roles, and gives it the middle finger.

 

Awhile back, I had made some attractive female followers, mainly as eye candy, to accompany my boring muscle-y male character. No sex mods, no hentai armors, just pretty faces and bad-ass abilities. So here I am, over 300-hours into my boring, stereotypical male character. He's at level 67 and I've done all known quests. His life is really boring me. So just a few days ago, I decided to play one of the female followers I made. As a follower, I made up a back-story for her... high-ranking member of the Thieves Guild, prefers dual-wielding, favors the curved scimitars like Redguard assassins carry. So my mission for her is to turn her playable character into the same as the follower. I started to work her way up through the Thieves Guild and obtained a couple scimitars. I would have to say I am enjoying playing with her MUCH more than my boring male character! She is such an underdog. She is the custom Ashen race, so she is much prettier, as well as much more petite and diminutive in size. A very unlikely hero, which is why she looks like so much more of a bad-ass carving up the enemies. I love watching her fight so much, that I actually decided to learn to play in 3rd person - which unlike Oblivion, is actually not bad in Skyrim. I love watching her in the kill-shot cut-scenes as well. It's not for any pervy reason either, as I just have her dressed in standard Thieves Guild armor (although I think there's nothing wrong with pervy, haha). Where normally with my male character, radiant quests bore me so much because it's always in the same dungeons I've been in a million times before. It's different with my female character, even old places and old enemies feel very fresh and new. I think it's because I just enjoy watching her so much.

 

Personally, I think a female character is just so much more enjoyable and interesting from a storyline point of view, that I wish I'd started Skyrim with a female character from the beginning. I like it so much more that I won't even bother with a game if there's no option of a female character.

[StayFrosty05]

@ GnatGoSplat.....Reading your post does make something stand out rather glaringly to me....Your reaction and my reaction to playing a same sex Protagonist....I am currently in fact playing a miniscule Breton female...(true Race Heights Mod) as opposed to my usual Nord male....and I have trouble keeping an interest in my Breton girl, finding I just don't really care about her or her story like I care about my dude....she is a rather beautiful girl, etc....with a detailed back story and defined personality almost as heavily detailed as my male (I'm an RP demon), but I just can't feel her or get into her....total dis-connect....I find her 'Boring'.

 

Your mention of Stereotype could be an issue I am having with her too, I don't know....my boy is a big, bulky muscle bound Nord (though mod hair and skin...no thanks to the oiliness and wrinkled dirtiness)...but he is not stereotypical...I love paradox, what you see is not what you get...his big/muscle bound but stays hidden in the shadows with his trusty Bow and Poisons, opting for carefully planned tactics over brute strength....But my Breton girl, well she is primarily a Magic user....uses stealth and tactics too, though her disposition isn't quite as patient as his.

[chrisinnyshotgun]

I can only speak for myself personally - but I wouldn't be surprised if others feel the same. And please keep in mind I only read the first post - so I'm answering ONLY the question, not anyone else's commentary.

 

I'm 32, male, US Merchant Marine, not a zit covered preteen or teenage kid who's just coming into puberty and starting to realize why I'm staring at those cute gals across the room from me LOL. I'm also a bit of a sci fi/fantasy fan, and for some reason playing the role of a strong female character has a wierd sort of appeal to me. Look at most of your "hero" type of fiction - at least 90% of the time, it's the muscle bound guy who rescues the frail, defenseless female, and after 20+ years of gaming I sometimes go looking for the "role reversal" that some games, like Fallout, Oblivion/Skyrim and a few others will allow.

 

I do NOT play MMOs, so I'm only commenting on games where it's single player - when I play games online(either PC or PS3) where I'm given a gender choice, I'll play as a male just to avoid the endless crap of young kids saying things like "you're hot" or "lets get married!".

 

Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I think all of us have a varying amount of desire to see the strong yet sexy heroic female type defy the odds AND sterotypes and save the day.

 

Can it feel wierd? Sure, most definetly. But when you sit there and think of other games where you HAVE to play a female - Tomb Raider, Bloodrayne and Heavenly Blade, to name a few - you realize that it's not as wierd as you'd think. Better than 50% of the gaming community is male, so sometimes you'd be surprised as hell who's really behind the avatar :P

[EnigManic]

In these types of games, I always stick to 1st-person view. It feels more immersing that way. I'm a man but I often like to use female characters to mix it up. It's fun trying to think of things from a woman's perspective.

[GnatGoSplat]

@ GnatGoSplat.....Reading your post does make something stand out rather glaringly to me....Your reaction and my reaction to playing a same sex Protagonist....I am currently in fact playing a miniscule Breton female...(true Race Heights Mod) as opposed to my usual Nord male....and I have trouble keeping an interest in my Breton girl, finding I just don't really care about her or her story like I care about my dude....she is a rather beautiful girl, etc....with a detailed back story and defined personality almost as heavily detailed as my male (I'm an RP demon), but I just can't feel her or get into her....total dis-connect....I find her 'Boring'.

 

I'm no psychologist so this is just my guess, but I think at least for straight people, they usually have an easier time forming a deeper attachment to the opposite sex, even in a non-sexual way. After all, the phrases "daddy's girl" and "mama's boy" had to come from somewhere.

 

I'm like you, I like to come up with a detailed back story and defined personality. I don't think of my character as myself, but as her own character. I make decisions based on the personality I've imagined for her, always thinking, "what would she do?" I prefer playing this way, I think it's the reason I get attached to the characters, because in my mind, they have distinct personalities. It may also be why I don't have any attachment to my muscle-bound male character. I played him in 1st person, he felt more like an extension of myself and not so much a character with a colorful personality. Since I don't think of female characters as myself, but their own distinct personalities, that may be why I don't find any weirdness or awkwardness in it whatsoever. I don't find it any more uncomfortable than watching a movie with a female protagonist or listening to a song with a female singer.

[Derok]

I'm a guy, I love argonians and I would like to play as a cute lizard, but sadly female argonians are quite ugly, plus I can't identify myself on a female. Edited January 24, 2013 by Derok

[Alpr]

Reasons for me:

 

1. I'm male, so its always fun playing the other sex. (Although I play in first-person about 85% of the time. The 15% in 3rd person is when I'm outfitting my character or seeing an effect)

2. There are a lot more mods for females than for males

3. I am unsatisfied with Male enhancement mods, such as beards. I have trouble finding a male character I like (I use a better males mod and have the two most popular hair mods) because most of the hair looks stupid on males (compared to most looking good on females)

4. I like sneak/archery characters the most, and I can't role-play a male archer sneak type at all; just does not feel right.

5. I prefer only the human races because the 90% of the hairstyles look incredibly stupid or ugly on elves/orcs and I can't get a feel for argonian/khajit, so I feel when I play a male character, I need to be a warrior while mage/archer be female. Plus, being a female vampire is way more badass.

 

Edit: Gnat sums my reason up nicely in his first sentence.

[Derok]

Lot of armor mods are male only.

[Kayyyleb]

lol, at the title, i think most young American kids who haven't lost their virginity yet, and play in 3rd person view so they can watch butt wiggle and tits jiggle, then realize they have to marry a man ROFL.

 

EDIT: 2 mins later im still laughing.

Except 2 women can get married and I have no idea what being American has to do with it.

[Mycoturge]

Not aimed at the OP, but I think saying stuff like "only preteen socially awkward boys play female characters" is really unfair and disrespecting to well...... everyone. Not that there's anything wrong with being a socially awkward preteen boy, but those phrases are thrown around in such negative contexts that it's disheartening. Men and women of all ages play skyrim and their characters don't always match up with them gender and age-wise. Nevertheless, that doesn't make them any less relevant. These are characters that they've poured hours of their minds and hearts into and it really shows if you take the time to read some of the RP stories people have set up for their characters. Isn't that the point of roleplaying? Having a choice to do something you normally wouldn't irl. And yes, sometimes the people that make strong female characters that can hold their own happen to be preteen socially awkward boys. Nothing wrong with that, I wish people would stop regarding it as something negative. Although I do play mostly female characters, I don't completely limit myself to it, it's always nice knowing I have a choice in it. tl;dr people like to have choices and do/be stuff that they normally can't/are not. Self-inserts get old pretty quick. Edited January 24, 2013 by regnbagar