So, Do you play FO4 as a male or female?

[robhartman9]

I always play as a man regardless of the sex of my character. Catwoman is right about apparel and the girls. I spend more time making the girls look good. Male characters ignore apparel items for the most part but females are like Veronica in FNV "A dress. For me? Really? Squeee..."

[llamaRCA]

I'm a girl and almost exclusively play female characters. I don't feel constrained by gender roles in any way and my female characters do whatever I can imagine. I don't think women are more naturally compassionate, nor men more naturally unempathetic. The kindest person I know irl is a man who can't bring himself to even pretend to be evil in a video game and I hear similar sentiments from male players frequently. I don't take strength issues into consideration (men naturally stronger than women) because this is a video game where every protag does stuff that is completely unrealistic because most games are complete fantasy in that regard.

 

My favorite characters have backstories that make them a bit crazy, something like a character out of Fight Club (say Marla Singer or Tyler Durden) and usually travel wtih fairly "dependable" companions who can handle any messes that character gets into. Gender doesn't affect that too much except in the choice of appropriate companions to handle the fallout of questionable gameplay choices. So big, male badass companion (Danse better than Deacon for example) is always helpful. Combat competent females also better than pretty ones along merely to carry stuff, etc.

 

My biggest complaint about FO4 specifically is that I find the voice acted protag ruins my ability to roleplay the character my way. I always feel like I'm playing Nate or Nora no matter what because the character always says the same thing in exactly the same tone of voice. So I usually play Nora because I like the female character design more, but Nate is just as good, imo. He has a great voice even if his delivery is a little uninspired at times.

[Fkemman11]

I always play as a man regardless of the sex of my character. Catwoman is right about apparel and the girls. I spend more time making the girls look good. Male characters ignore apparel items for the most part but females are like Veronica in FNV "A dress. For me? Really? Squeee..."

 

I heard my Ellen follower say "I know I look great in this outfit, but, it's not going to help against bullets!" after I gave her some new clothes. :laugh:

 

To llamaRCA; Fight Club is one my favorite movies of all time! I think that movie is a great idea for a mod!! :wub:

[Moraelin]

TBH, I don't think even strength advantage is

 

A) as universal as some people think. Yes, on the AVERAGE and given the same amount of workout, guys tend to be stronger. BUT you're not constrained to play the exact centre of the gauss curve for either. And the curve goes a long way, both ways, for both. I can guarantee that you can find men who are weak and/or severely out of shape, and conversely women who are naturally strong and/or exercise a lot. If someone wants to play either extreme, there's nothing unrealistic that a character could exist that's male and weak or female and physically strong.

 

B) as important as some people think. Frankly, the bullet isn't coming any faster out of a gun if you pull the trigger harder. And even with melee weapons, just ask any HEMA guy if strength is actually the dominant factor with, say, a logsword. Just about anyone can use one, and technique and skill count for FAR more than raw strength.

 

C) not the only factor. While everyone goes on about strength, a lesser known fact is that women (again on the AVERAGE) tend to have significantly higher muscle endurance. Which means they won't get tired nearly as fast when doing stuff that requires only mediocre strength, but do it for extended periods of time. And that can be useful for combat too.

 

E.g., let's return at the stereotype of melee requiring primarily strength. You know what else it really needs? Endurance. Take a weapon like the rapier, which is both very long and needs you to keep your arm extended the whole time. Unless you've trained a lot, it gets tiresome relatively fast. Faster than with a longsword, for example. If you actually had to fight your way through the whole wossname hospital to save Kent with a rapier, I'll say that muscle endurance will serve you far better than strength does.

 

(So I guess what I'm saying is, don't listen to Matt Easton telling you otherwise; the rapier IS a girly weapon. In a positive way;))

[Perraine]

All this pontificating and philosophizing is all well and good, but I'll be the first to tell it like it is ...I play primarily female characters because A) I don't want to look at a male a$$ when in 3rd person view (that new female walk animation mod is veeeery goooood) ... B) When in dialogue and the camera switches to the PC, I want to see tiddies! and C) Chicks with guns! ...'Nuff said!

 

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:ohmy: :dry: :laugh:

[Crimsomrider]

All this pontificating and philosophizing is all well and good, but I'll be the first to tell it like it is ...I play primarily female characters because A) I don't want to look at a male a$$ when in 3rd person view (that new female walk animation mod is veeeery goooood) ... B) When in dialogue and the camera switches to the PC, I want to see tiddies! and C) Chicks with guns! ...'Nuff said!

 

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:ohmy: :dry: :laugh:

 

And there's nothing wrong with that, amen.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

I'm a male but prefer to play women in games. Due to past events in my life, I don't like men, trust them or prefer their company. The female aesthetic is much more appealing imo in all things and prefer even in my own appearance. Makeup, long hair, and form fitting clothes are both something I adopt in real life and the virtual world. I accept who I am but if I could have had a choice, I probably would have wanted to be born a woman.

 

That said, I believe gender is only in your head and genitalia does not decide your gender. If someone wants to play a character of the opposite sex, there's nothing strange about it. What is strange are many works of fiction, such as The Hobbit, which do not have a single female character. Now THAT is strange.

[StarMystyk]

In FO4 I play both, because it's an option. It doesn't bother me if a game only has one.

A few years ago I read a comment by someone, somewhere, who was most annoyed that a game they wanted didn't have the option of playing as female so they had a tantrum and vowed never to buy their games again :/

 

In FO4 the female protag's voice used to be nice, then irritated me so I got a mod to make it higher. Got tired of that and reverted to normal. The female has 1000's of mods for her, better wardrobe and whatnot. But I don't need to play with all that. That's not what makes me start a new game as a female. I don't RP as it's too hard, compared to Skyrim. I just choose female for something different, not for any reason.

I'm playing a male at the moment. I've a mod to make his voice deeper as the vanilla one is too wussy, IMO. That's really the only thing that annoys me about him.

With both I use a body mod, and hair and eye mods. Can't have one vanilla and one modded. It must be even.

 

If I had the patience that I had in Oblivion to learn again how to make and convert male clothing and armor I'd join the few who do male armor and clothing as there's not a whole lot right now.

If an armor mod screams in all caps "female only" I don't bother with it. I *do* look at how I could comvert it...if I had the patience to do it.

For now The Mercenary has everything I like for both and pretty much use that for all saves.

 

:( Sorry for the long post

 

tl:dr - both, but prefer male just a bit more, especially if there were more clothes for them.

[ShinKungFuMan]

I always play a female character when it comes to Fallout: frankly, I like strong women and strong female characters. Honestly playing this one with a voiced companion has been a bit of a new experience, and I do dislike at times Bethesda has made up their minds on how the character should be; more than a few times it almost feels like they originally planned instead for the character to be played by a male character more. Probably reading into it wrong but that's been the vibe I got from some aspects.

 

Still, as far as 'Nora' goes, she's fine, and with the right modifications I can make her feel like a badass...even though as my wife put it she ends up looking less interested in her son and more like she's about to invade Poland.

 

Hey, Black BOS Uniform and Kells' hat make for a good look. Don't judge!

[Bernt]

I've played - and play- both genders. But when I started writing fanfic I had to come up with - in New Vegas- an old courier to get in the right mindset. In FO4 I also play a man - though somewhat younger to fit in the story. Also - I think that Piper and Cait are great companions. Though McCready fits a female character well. I like his - and Caits- cynicism.

But - outfits and CBBE being as they are- I like to have a woman on the move too. If nothing else then to keep the red blood flowing in my veins :tongue:

Style of play......... I invariably end up with a high powered sniper rifle no matter what I do. Not much good in Far Harbor though :D