Playing cross-gender

[ElricOfGrans]

When I was younger, I would never play female characters. Princess Peach in Mario 3? Chun-Li in Street Fighter II? In my opinion back then (and please forgive my immature, teenage self), it was pretty `gay' to play a female character. They where included purely for girls to play as! Where was the option to play as Mr T?

 

This changed with Diablo. In Fantasy RPGs, I traditionally prefer to play the archer-specialist, and in Diablo that meant playing the Rogue. I was essentially `forced' to play a female character. I started using the handle `Elric' then, to make it perfectly clear to everyone I was male (heaven forbid anyone thought I was a girl!), but gradually got used to playing her and no longer cared. At around this time, I switched to Sakura as my Street Fighter Alpha 2 main. Suddenly, it was `alright' to play female characters. Diablo II came around, the Amazon was the archer, and I never gave it a moment's thought.

 

Today, I have completely changed. In RPGs (eg Bethesda or Bioware games), I pretty well always make female characters. There is no (meaningful) mechanical difference, but somehow it seems to matter. In Fighting Games, I no longer consider male characters as potential mains. This gives me a mechanical *disadvantage*, as I am significantly limiting my options. Somehow, the male characters no longer interest me, even if they where a Pirate-Ninja Android from Space with a command grab, beam attack and Anti-Air Winged-Monkey Underlings! If Civilization V gave the option to play the same civilization, but with a gender-swapped leader, I would likely pick the female (eg Cleopatra rather than Ramesses II for Egypt).

 

I have no idea why this would be the case. It cannot be for `eyecandy', as I do it in first person games. It cannot be for `dressing up dolls'/character generation options, because I do it in fighting games. It just seems to be the way I play, and nothing more than that. Are there any other players here who play the same way? Play cross-gender for no reason other than it being what they always do?

[scrivener07]

I play the opposite way. I like playing my own gender because its easier to associate to the character. Really I love anything that contributes to a solid RP play and a matching gender is a huge plus for me. Very interesting insight though as Ive always wondered why so many people called the other side of that coin.

 

edit: I tend to severely limit my options before a playthough anyway

[Iv000]

It's the exact opposite for me.

When I can choose, I always play male characters and I honestly do not know why. (I'm male myself)

First person / third person, it doesn't matter, I always end up choosing males. I absolutely ignore the female choices.

 

I assume it's because I try to recreate myself in the game. Even if I consciously want to create someone with a totally different personality then mine, it seems that my subconscious always tries to to tell me to create myself or something I want to be. (And since I'm male, it doesn't let me choose females. I loose interest in them.)

So I end up with different male characters, but they usually share some similarities.

 

My mind is complicated. :tongue:

[Naktis]

My main characters are usually females (I'm a female myself) but I always try male characters too to see how NPC's will react to male character and stuff like that. And for eyecandy of course. :laugh: I don't really know why I chose female first but it doesn't really matter to me if my character is a male or a female. :smile:

[grannywils]

I play as either male or female characters depending on the type of game I think I am going to be playing. I am female, and if I want to play a stealth, fast type of character who frequently uses a bow I tend to play females. If I want more of a brutish, warrior type, I will go for the male. That being said however, I have played some pretty tough females and some pretty stealth males. It just depends on the mood I am in and the game I am playing. I don't really have a preference.

 

I will say though that so far Skyrim does not give you much of a choice when it comes to males. Most of them are just plain butt ugly. So I have pretty much stuck with female characters up until now. If anyone can give me some recommendations for mods that actually work to make males look a bit better, please let me know. :biggrin: :thumbsup:

 

[Dragonspyre]

I think it's just a little odd playing the opposite gender. It just feels... weird.

[62firelight]

(I'm a male.)

 

Only if I have to or when I actually feel like it, sometimes in co-op games like Left 4 Dead I'm forced to play as a female character and that kind of distracts me from playing the game, especially if I don't like the character's personality. I also realized that I haven't played a female in Skyrim, I'll get around to it sometime. So.. That means I usually play males, only play females if I want to or I'm forced to.

[BlackRampage]

I will say though that so far Skyrim does not give you much of a choice when it comes to males. Most of them are just plain butt ugly.

Agreed. That said, I personally use High Res Face Maps for Men to make them just a little less ugly. It's not much, but it sure is a welcome improvement over faces which might as well be backsides.

 

On-topic:

As a male I've never played any female characters in any RPG's. Mainly because I have a tendency to create them in my own image. Not only their appearance, but their personality too.

I can think of only 1 game in which I played as female, but that was just a FPS style game (sort of).

 

I am thinking about replaying ME2 (and possibly ME3) as a female though. Especially because the female Shepard is voiced by the extremely talented Jennifer Hale. :tongue: That, and some of her "renegade" monologues are just hilarious to hear.

[HellsMaster]

When I play females it's mostly screenshots and editing. However I mainly play a male characters in games. I am a bit disapointed with the mod selection for males here... feminine-like faces and hairs is not what I have in mind to be honest,

[saadus]

It fighting games (and I am talking about the Soul Calibur series and Mortal Kombat) it didn't mean anything to me. In fact, I played Taki more often then not (not happy with Soul Calibur V, btw)

 

However, in an RPG, I prefer to play my own gender.