Why do many males play as female characters?

And for women, depending on the game community, you do have the harassment factor too.

When I MMO'd I tended to make a character stock mix of 50/50 male/female. Nothing really stands out for a reason why. I think any of the reasons (3rd person pixellated butt, costume variety, character concept) are equally valid. For the most part my warrior/melee characters were male and support were female, but that was not 100% true. Ranged damage were 50/50.

a reply to: pcgamer11

This is something I brought up with my best friend recently as he creates some female characters whereas I create only male characters.

What was interesting was that his female character was styled very similarly to the look of his wife.

a reply to: Lysergic

Haha no doubt. Just stand by the Kelethin noob lift and rake in the free loot. Some people take it really far. I played with a guy for about 3 years and we(regular group) were under the impression his wife played with him (wood elf druid btw lol) but it turned out he was just boxing a group of three and would pretend to be his own wife.

a reply to: ketsuko

Funny you mention that because in my experience the people who are actually female would tend to play as male characters to avoid harassment from people looking to "cyb0rz plz thx la.". I honestly always play as a male though unless like in some single player games female is the only option e.g. Samus from Metroid.

a reply to: NihilistSanta

The only two communities I ever really played in were Old Republic and City of Heroes, so I never really ran into the problem of either being favored because of my gender or being harassed for it.

I don't tend to play online multiplayer FPS, so I don't know what the mood is there for women, whether it's different or not. I know the community if CoH was a somewhat different animal than it is in a lot of MMOs. There was a higher proportion of female players and they represented as some of the stronger players in the base, so no one thought we needed special treatment on there.

In destiny many pvp players chose female hunters as they have a smaller hit box than the male versions,so have an advantage in pvp :-/

a reply to: pcgamer11

Some games feature character classes represented by female protagonist characters. In Borderlands 2 for example, the Siren and Mechromancer character classes are both female lead. Other games offer female and male characters slightly different perks and skills, and so if one wishes to experience all the ways a game might be played, one has to swap around after playing through the game, in order to get ones money's worth.

Some games, like Diablo 3 and others, feature the ability to make your character any gender you want, and apply the skills for that character the same way regardless of the gender you choose. At that point, its a matter of pure choice. Now, some people might play as a lady if they simply need to get out more, others might play as a lady because they really appreciate the elegance of the the character model. Ladies tend to have more flowing attire in some games, and so there may be a thematic preference happening there. I happen to know at least one person who always used to choose female characters, because they simply felt more comfortable that way, and wound up making a few changes to ensure that they would be comfortable all of the time.

However, it really does not matter what the reason is. The fact of the matter is, that we all game the way we want. Me personally? I prefer to get as close as possible to making my character look like me, so that my in game avatar feels comfortable for me. The best character creation I have ever found, was in Saints Row 4, in which I had all the clobber I usually have. Trench coat, gloves, sunshades worn in the darkness, and long hair. Epic.

My main problem with some of the shooter games that have come out in recent years, is that the character model for "dude" has a buzz cut, or as I like to call it, a complete lack of imagination. Needs to be more respect for the long hairs in modern gaming if you ask me. All the cookie cutter boot polishers can have their fun, but someone needs to represent for the Velcro avengers amongst us!

originally posted by: WhiteWingedMonolith
Ask youself why you have to be someone else and not you and shoot.

Snipping the long-winded "I have no imagination, so I don't understand why other people use theirs" and getting to the crux here.

I'm a Star Trek fan and rather enjoy captaining my 25th century ship in STO with my Andorian, Aenar, Kobali, Breen & Jem'Hadar bridge officers, among others of my bridge crew. That's just my human captain. I have several others, Federation captains, Klingons & Romulans. The game's storyline is good, and overall, it's a nice tide-over for fans for the Trek void of between when Enterprise went off-air, and the new one coming up in a year or so.

I have an Imperial-turned Volkihar-Vampire and a normal Redguard in Skyrim because so far, I like them. The game tweaks just so to react to each playable race differently in dialogue, it's never an identical run through it. It's one huge choose-your-own-ending story, in a nutshell. it has one hell of a rich story, it tickles the imagination. Seriously, I generally hate fantasy anything, but Skyrim is the sh#.

I also play Myst. Enough of a fan that I hop the fan-run MOULA-based shards, some have fan-made Ages that are epic. Why take my character through them? Play it, and you'll understand. It's the ultimate in puzzle games. You really have to think hard to progress, and that's no bad deal. That kind of problem-solving is good for the brain (really, it is)

My avatars (characters) are just the vehicles around the storylines. Their gender is ultimately secondary, though I still prefer the extensive tailoring available for females. You should see the Daedric corset armor on my Imperial, thanks to a player-made mod. Wish the guys had better armor to compete with it.

originally posted by: MDpvc
a reply to: pcgamer11

Do you by chance play destiny?
I notice it there more than anywhere else combined.

If not, there's 3 main classes. Titan, Hunter, AMD Warlock. I see lady hunters almost exclusively. The first time I saw a male I said, "WTF is that?!" Not realizing EVERYONE uses the female version. I see a LOT of she Titans lately too.

I have no idea why, everyone just seems to say, "Idk I just felt like making a girl". In a game where not once do you see more than the face. Your character is always in their armor.

But, at any rate, you're definitely not the only person that's noticed. Maybe they are all brainwashed.

All my characters have always been male.

LMFAO!!!

When I play as a female character, it usually just boils down to the fact that I like variety, they offer different skill sets etc I never really put much deep thought into it honestly

a reply to: pcgamer11

Why do women play Male characters ?

You realize, women play video games as male characters just as well as men play female characters. It's part of many of the games that allow player customization's entire reason for allowing you to choose.

Video games allow us to be something, or someone else. To create a more personalized story, this may not necessarily mean that the player wants to be a man or woman, it's just the way they choose to experience the story.

Have you ever noticed how so many people play video games and try to kill everyone, steal, murder and cause general chaos in games where they have the choice?

Does this mean they are going to go mow down a school full of children? I don't think so.

Men and women both play characters of the opposite sex in video games. Video games are just stories where they player directly effects it's telling.

a reply to: pcgamer11

I went off on a tangent, so I'll shorten this drastically. lol

My question for you is why does it matter if a guy plays a female character?? You mention it's like boys playing with barbie in the 80's. I look at it more like when I grew up in the 80's-90's playing GI Joe, because I had quite a few of the female Joe's that were available. Baroness was awesome!!! XD

I just don't get why some guys hate the fact that other guys play females, unless in the end they're all pervy guys who can't help but flirt with everything they think is female.

All I know is it makes more sense to play a female in a fantasy game where you can play creatures of all species, than it does to question why someone plays something they're not in a fantasy game.....

a reply to: pcgamer11

Is there something psychological behind it?

I think this question could be turned around on you and everything you said in your OP.

I'm one of those male gamers that always chooses a female character. They are prettier to look at. Usually sound less annoying. Armor is sexier. Sometimes they have gender-locked classes, and the female characters in those games tend to be casters, which I always play as. Plenty of reasons and none of them are from some bizarre radical liberal agenda.

If picking a "super soldier looking guy" in a game makes you feel more masculine and rough in real life then I think you need to reevaluate how you treat gaming, not us female-playing male gamers.

like others, i play female characters a lot with the same idea that if i'm going to be staring at someone's butt its going to be female. also, again like others the customization is more interesting for female characters. try to make them look as sexy as hell. i like hot babes. yeah ima perv.

there are times i do feel a little uncomfortable playing a female toon. people can be EXTRA nice when they think your female. im not playing a female for the EXTRAs.

some i do think do though.

i also look at it a little differently. im not playing as a girl im playing WITH a girl. i tend to think of it as a team.
started doing then when i played EverQuest. my characters had their own character.

no brainwashing, twisting or manipulation.

I don't play video games often, the last game I played was Skyrim, and I always make a male character for some reason, despite being female. Every role playing game, Elder Scrolls and Fallout (as I said I don't play many games), I design a male character, whom I of course make as good-looking as possible - even though I play with first-person view so I tend not to actually see much of my character in action. I don't know why, I'm certainly not transgender or anything.

I guess it's just fun designing a member of the opposite sex. I wouldn't read into it too much.

a reply to: DeepThoughtCriminal

Yeah, Flare was sort of my answer to that, too, before he became one of my actual favorites to play. He was my beefcake the same way a lot of guys would call their 'toons a nice piece of @ss to stare at. I did always find it harder to design a nice looking outfit for him than my ladies though. Male options always seemed tougher to really put together in interesting ways.

a reply to: pcgamer11

I've played a male character a few times and it comes with advantages.

When playing a male character:
- I never get asked "are you really a boy?"
- I never get those "white knight" types who follow me around to try to help me.
- I never get asked to share pics or for my personal info.

a reply to: pcgamer11

I have a female blood elf character on World of Warcraft for a couple of reasons. 1. I wanted a blood elf toon and 2. The male blood elves spend more time on their looks rather than kicking ass AND looking good. LOL!!

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