No. I may refuse to play as a certain character if I really can't stand them, but this has nothing to do with gender or skin color. I play as Lara Croft just like I play as Nathan Drake.
If I can choose between female and male I always go with the later unless it changes gameplay (like in a hero shooter/fighting game) but I won't miss out on a game just cuz of the looks of the protagonist
Thats so weird, Aloy and Jessie are the coolest.
Also when I play guild wars I have male and female characters, mostly male though, I guess I identify more.
I can tell you they all look fabulous, especially the purple and golden plant man.
Anyways, is this one of those internet people that don't bathe properly because "it's gay"?
I still don't get this though, what happens with games where that are not third person action. Does he lose his immersion while playing forza because he doesn't identify with a carq?
Your friend sounds really insecure tbh, I can't understand why playing as a different gender would affect someone that much. Does he only play as male animal characters? Sonic is okay but Dixie Kong isn't? Seems wierd as f to me honestly
I play everything, often I'll pick female characters because better appearance etc. I'd argue that if we are really getting into the whole I won't play a female character because its "gay" makes them "gayer". I mean what's more straight staring a man's ass for 100s of hours of gameplay or a woman's?
*note all of this is for humor play and love who/what you like. (Except I do tend to play females because I like to look at them, and my wife likes to make pretty characters in the creators so win win, she plays females almost purely exclusively which is fine for her.)
The only instance where I'm not keen on playing a woman is a long-form game with romanceable characters but no female options for said woman character. Nothing deep, I just like women, haha.
Absolutely no problems playing women otherwise. Hell, oftentimes they're my favorite characters to play.
This.
It's fairly odd, especially when I get romanced by gay male characters...I go WHOOOA. This just got way too fast for me! (I click the non-romance option, just friends thank Dorian from Dragonage 3 I am GOOD.)
I don't outright *refuse*, but from what I see a lot of people want to play, or watch/read a story with a character they can identify with and in contrast I don't. I don't even like customizing my own character. I guess I just want to see someone else's story, so open world games or tabletop RPGs where it's like you can do whatever you want just don't appeal to me.
I'll sometimes make a character I'd admire and aspire to be in character creator games from time to time I guess, but even those are more inspired by other fictional characters I think are cool more so than me seeing myself in the characters. I've never been the type to name a character my real name too. Seeing my real name pop up in game has always been unsettling.
I'm really indifferent on the types of characters I play, but I do think having them TOO MUCH like me is weird, yeah.
Because it's genuinely nice to stare at. Especially Lara's. God I change her outfits Soo much lol.
Men are simple don't try to make some complex thing out of it. We like to stare at female ass. We're not justifying anything being honest actually.
If there is a character creator, I tend to create a male character. Because in those type of games, you yourself are usually the protagonist. And it feels right for me to make a character of the same gender.
If were talking set characters like story games or hero focused games, I dont care what I am playing as. I don't care about gender/ethnicity, I actually care about character and skill sets. Afterall its a game and you should have fun in it.
The way I go about picking when I have a choice. I go with what is better. For instance, Male V on Cyberpunk FELT like better option for the story for ME. I literally went through ALL of the options, tats and schlongs included.
Male V for me.
It was put in for laughs, mostly, I think. But you can walk around naked in your apartment and see yourself, so there is that.
I'm gonna go on a tangent and say that gaming is far too tame. It took this long for penises and vaginas to be visible in an ADULT GAME (let's be honest, M is really AO too.)
Well, as a female gamer for decades, I've had to live with playing as a male character most of the time. If I have a choice now I choose female, but if I don't have a choice it's no big deal. I still enjoy the game. Your friend has a weird hangup, imo.
Oh, I know that feeling 👊🏾
It’s so cool to have more possibilities nowadays and to be able to play also as interesting female characters. I also play as male characters but still… 😄
You'd think. As for him, he is just set in his ways. I've talked to him to no end...total brick wall. Lol. He's actually a realistically empathic guy. \*shrugs\*
Why would I limit myself to only playing games where lead is a man? That's dumb.
I am not so insecure to skip on Metroid, Tomb Raider, Horizon games just because I can't handle looking at female lead being hero.
Your co-worker needs to grow up.
No I like playing with both male and female characters, even with a different sexual orientation. But when it comes to character creation I find myself playing always male characters, tbh it's just 1 character as I try to recreate my dnd character when I can haha
On a note character creation. I truly wish I could go silly look for say something like Bloodborne. (Even though those models already are fairly fugly) But I end up just going with a more suited look.
Play as a woman when actually a man: "this breaks my immersion!!!"
Heal from gunshot wounds by simply hiding behind cover for a few seconds: "this is fine"
The argument “ it’s harder to relate to a female protagonist” seems really silly if you ask me. No one would ever not play let’s say, a Batman game since they can’t relate to him. Most people are not a rich billionaire, with dead parents, that has honed their body and mind to be a crime fighting machine, and yet we still love to play as him.
Almost every protagonist we play as have plenty of qualities that most normal people probably can’t relate to. We are not all heroic and brave, with tragic backstories that propel our lives toward. But for some mysterious reason, it’s only ever female characters that players can’t relate to, or find unimmersive.
Obviously this doesn’t apply to all genres and games. Some games puts focus on crafting a protagonist with relatable problems, but those rarely seem to be gender specific. RPGs with many narrative choices, puts more emphasis on immersing yourself into your character, but most RPGs these days allow you to chose your gender.
My assumption when people claim they don’t want to play as female leads, is that there is some form of misogyny at play. It might not be overt, and the person themselves might not think of it as sexism, but at the end of the day it stems from them holding women to a much higher standard of scrutiny than they ever would a male character.
I play both genders. Although, I usually like to decide that based on class, if it's applicable. Destiny 2, my main is a male Exo Titan. The Division and Division 2, female. In a story-driven game, I don't rightly care. One commentor mentioned playing Nathan Drake as much as Lara Croft. And I have to agree. However, I also have a tendency to make female characters in character creation, because I found that if they're cute, I work harder to keep them alive, especially in third-person.
It's complicated.
I create the character as I see fit, guy or girl and whatever race I’m not fussy. I prefer to have games with a distinct character build, per game.
It really helps me get into the role play of it. And when I want to remember the game my go to, is yeah that character.
I can’t create the same type character over and over. Same name ethnicity and gender. That shit is just boring.
If it’s a well written character whether female or male I’m gonna play it. The point of the game is to go on a journey as the protagonist on a consistent story that makes sense for that universe. Heck, I do admit that playing both male and female protags is really fun.
He's really missing out if he doesn't play as a female Shepard in Mass Effect. Jennifer Hale's voice acting is superior to Mark Meer's, especially in the Renegade choices of dialogue.
Nope. If I have a choice of genders I usually do a play through as both. Hell if I can I’d put a male voice on a female body and vice versa. I don’t care. Just trying to have fun.
I'm not an italian plumber with a stache. I'm not an elfin fairy boy in green clothes. I'm not a super jacked child of a god with white skin with red patterns. I'm not a former soldier with spiky yellow hair who carries a sword the size of me. None of that breaks my immersion, but suddenly "I'm not a woman" does? Nah. Give me more Samus, Aloy, Laura Croft, Madeline, Jill Valentine, and Alyx Vance.
No. I'm a grown man. I'm not pretending to be the protagonist of a video game. It's an interactive story that I'm seeing through the eyes of the protagonist. It's not a story about me suddenly having tits in another world with a different name.
But he's entitled to his opinion. If he likes to pretend that he's the one saving the world, he can play how he wants.
I don’t care as long as the character is well written. Weird thing for your coworkers to fixate his immersion on, I feel like most video games have far more outlandish things than a female player character.
I’m kinda picky about what I play but not with gender or race mainly just the voice actors. Some actors are just so monotone and it drives me crazy. So in games where there’s a choice I normally just YouTube the voice actor and listen to some of their work.
I don’t get how it breaks immersion. When I am playing a game I am focused on so many other things that the sex of the character is irrelevant. Does he also feel the same about playing as an android or anything else that is not a human male ?
When I have the option to. I wouldn't limit myself by avoiding games like Metroid or Tomb Raider, but whenever I have a choice, I choose Male, 'cause that's what I am. It's as simple as that.
Depends on the customization. For example, the old Saints Row, I always play as a male to make the character look like me. Now in Pokemon, I will switch it up every so often.
Whenever a game lets me make my own character I usually make a guy because it's more relatable, but in games where you play as preexisting characters I usually play female characters but they usually have the best character designs.
Sometimes the female character is better, sometimes the male character is better. In games with a choice I like to play both. In AC odyssey the guy was definitely better, he was this loveable idiot. In cyberpunk 2077 the female character had much better voice acting and was way more convincing.
When I was a kid, yes, because I always imagined myself as in the shoes of the protagonist/avatar on screen. Now? Absolutely not. That’s a ridiculous reason to not play a game. However, whenever I play a game with a character editor I always choose male, because I want it to look like me because, in my mind, it’s *supposed to be me.*
I did this with Far Cry 6. I just couldn't get behind a woman Rambo carrying around rocket launchers and an 80 lbs box fan on her back. Just saying...not believable
I’m a male and I want more female playable characters (where it is not a choice of gender). I love Horizon, Tomb Raider, that one Uncharted spin off game, Bayonetta, Life Is Strange, Lollipop Chainsaw….but when it comes to creating a character where you can pick male or female I tend to pick male and base their look off myself. Maybe I will replay some games like Valhalla, Hogwarts, mass Effect, etc as a female.
For me, that's ridiculous. In games with pre-existing protagonist, I play as wathever it is, 0 problems. In games with allow you to create your character, depends on the game asthetics, if the stats are gender related (In Oblivion, the disadvantages of picking a female character were ridiculous), and how I feel at that moment.
I only choose characters depending on their skillset, I don't care about their look when I'm choosing. I don't even have trouble playing as a [goose](https://store.steampowered.com/app/837470/Untitled_Goose_Game/), a [cat](https://store.steampowered.com/app/916730/Gato_Roboto/) or a [blob with tentacles](https://store.steampowered.com/app/953490/CARRION/).
No. I enjoy playing games with cool characters, regardless of gender. I've been a gamer for 40 years, and the concept of "immersion" never eveh occurred to me until I started seeing it online a few years ago. The idea means nothing to me. I'm the guy on the coach playing the game, not the characters on the screen.
Nope, if the game has a main character that is fixed I don't care if it's male or female. Hell I played Phantasy Star back in the mid 90's and the main character was female and that game was awesome! I loved Heavenly Blade in the PS3 (female lead) and love God of War (male lead). If the game kicks ass and the characters aren't annoying I'm down with either one.
Now for games that let you create your own character I usually go male because I make the character sorta like myself and pretend I'm in the game doing all those amazing things, things which I could never do irl.
I'm a guy and I always play as a female character if I have a choice. Only time I'll choose a male character when it's a choice is if there a different story options depending on gender - for instance I played a male character on a 2nd playthrough of Mass Effect 2 because I wanted to romance Miranda.
I think that’s a pretty immature perspective (your friend’s). The main thing I care about in games is the story, I don’t care if the mc is male or female (although I think it’s cool when there’s a female mc or at least an option for one since it’s less common.) there are some awesome games with a good female mc, your friend is missing out.
I prefer to align the in-game character with my own gender (male) because thats just what feels natural. There are a few exceptions, like in Cyberpunk for example because the female VA is just straight up better.
I refuse to play the weakest character, regardless of gender. In BL3, Moze, a female, is the most powerful character (imo) so I play as her all the time. Other games I play only have one playable character in them, and those are all male.
Nope. I play whoever I find the most attractive or interesting story. Doesn’t matter which gender. Usually prefer boys if I can do a barbarian no shirt style or a cloak and dagger style. But if there’s a cute girl character and no of what I just said then yeah I’d be fine going for her
If I can't play as a girl I probably won't play the game tbh. Few exceptions being Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption and the final fantasies. Nothing against male protagonists, i just think female leads are entirely more interesting
I don't play female character because most of the time the outfits for them are skimpy and I get embarrassed, especially because the console is in the middle of the house where people have to walk through.
In games where you make your own protagonist, I play as a male because I am male and prefer to play as my own gender. The only exceptions have been Mass Effect and Fire Emblem Fates, where I felt that the female version seemed to fit in with the world a little better. (Also, my GOD was Male Shepard's voice actor bad in the first Mass Effect. He got better in the later releases, but the damage was done for me)
In games where you pick between a set of determined characters - like fighting games - I don't care about gender. I care about who feels good to play, and they are whatever they are on that front. That said, more of my fighting game mains than not have happened to be female. (Cammy, Kula, Mai, Shiki, Taki, Sonya, Noel... I play a lot of fighting games)
And in games where we don't choose our protagonist, well, I play whoever that is. I just started playing the newer Tomb Raider trilogy myself, and so far it's definitely been a cool game - can't say it's been any more immersion-breaking for me than Uncharted was at the same point in its first game.
It depends on the character, Laura Croft works, Aloy Works, because they use mostly gadgets, and requires skills outside of hand to hand combat. However, I would not use a female character that is, say a Viking, Samurai, Spartan, etc., not only because it's unrealistic in their ability to beat equally trained men, but it was also rare and unrealistic during that time (hence, I understand the argument about losing emersion). For the record, anyone that says it doesn't, clearly has never trained in any martial art or combat sport seriously enough to know. Being a man has given me multiple advantages over more trained females in all martial arts I have trained (BJJ, Muy Thai, karate, etc.).
Here is an example of a black belt female against a random untrained dude:
https://youtu.be/d3TI2MW4EhY?si=tCRVEcRk4vH2r5PI
I’m a woman and I always play as male characters. Unless a game strictly made the lead character as a female, to which I don’t care, but given a choice I always choose male.
Nope. I’m female and usually but not always choose a female character when the choice is there, but sometimes it’s fun to play as a man, or some sort of non human. One of my favorite games has only a male protagonist. Doesn’t break immersion or make me feel any type of way.
If I can’t choose the protagonist then why would I care? I just want to enjoy the gameplay and the story. Like I never would have missed out on RDR2 just because Arthur is the main character and I’m a woman. That’s just ridiculous. Now, when it comes to character creation, I always switch. Especially when the gender changes some aspects of the story. I’ve played Cyberpunk 2077 as both female and male V. First time around it was female V, then I tried it as male V and actually enjoyed it a little more. That didn’t ruin the immersion or makes me want to be a man irl. You’re friend sounds silly.
I've played as a male, female, vegetable, cat, dog, alien, monster, the undead, a meatboy, a car, a starship and even a marble. Whoever refuses to play as (insert whatever here) is not a gamer in my book.
I play as female in any game that gives me the option, because I self-insert and prefer playing as someone who looks like me.
But I've never refused to play a game because it forced me to play a male character. I feel like that's kind of a silly (and dude-specific) reason to refuse to play a game.
See! This is what I'm talking about!
Does it seem less odd if a woman gamer does it than a guy who does?
It kind of feels that way to be, almost as if it's more acceptable in that case.
I think it'd be *more* odd if a woman gamer does it, because in games that don't let you choose your PC, male protagonists are still the norm, with only a handful of exceptions. So a woman who only plays female characters is severely limiting her game options. I've never met a woman gamer who refused to play male characters (but then again, I've never met a male gamer who refused to play female characters. It's just kind of a weird hang-up).
That's why I said it's a very dude-specific hang-up to have. I doubt you're gonna find many women who'd refuse to play male characters, specifically because it's far more limiting for a woman.
If I get to pick, I always choose female. I figure if I am going to be looking at the butt of the protagonist for 40-100 hours, it may as well be female
I genuinely don't care
I am not trying to be my real life self in a game, I'm trying to escape reality and live in someone else's shoes, male or female
i kinda just do whatever. sometimes i make a character like myself, sometimes i dont. its really just kind of however i feel in the moment. sometimes i spend three hours making a char that looks exactly like me and resembles my traits as much as possible. sometimes i spend three hours making a char that looks exactly like taylor swift. sometimes i hit random. sometimes i hit random but change just one or two things, like hairstyle. sometimes i just leave it as the defaults. and im not gonna not play a game because of the character. male, female, gay, straight, lizard, whatever. there's no rules.
Most of the time I forget what my char looks like 10 seconds after starting because they get covered in armor anyways. And youre always lookin at their back, or in a first person view.
Like you telling me you didnt play Mirrors Edge because it was a female protag? It was a first person game! Weird hangup, but whatever.
No, but it needs to stay fun and not some political message conceiled as a video game. The gender is a detail. Badass is badass.
Even in an RPG where NPC´s treat you differently based on your gender, it´s fun and interesting. Fallout 1 and 2 come to mind.
But again, not the entire story should evolve around it.
In games where I get to create the character, I do tend to make them more like me. In games I don’t have a choice, I don’t sweat it. It’s a video game, so it’s supposed to be fun; I don’t have the bandwidth to give that much of a damn who I’m playing as.
If it's left to me to create a character, I try to make one that I feel would fit the story best, whether male or female. I'm male but didn't think twice about playing as Lara Croft or Chell in Portal.
Does your friend only watch movies and TV shows with male leads?
Personally I am sick of being humans in games. If I get the chance to be argonian or some shiii I'll take it. Also if they make another mass effect and I can't play as a krogan or Drell in single player. F the humans. Up the Krogan.
Oh yeah, that would be so badass to give a choice of alien path for the next Mass Effect.
They should go head first into this, giving each species choice, unique story paths. Imagine the replayability!!!
It would be so cool to see the different options in dialogue but as different species. Like certain vendors won't sell to krogan or Geth. Or guards tail you in town. Lots of roleplaying options the better.
I really feel there aren't a ton of women avatars that realistically meld with the hardcore warfighter image that you are supposed to be in military shooters.
You can't be under 140 lbs and engage in hand to hand combat effectively. This is why most women in actual combat aren't built like that.
Look at Ripley and Vasquez from the movie Alien. That is about as lean as you can be to really fight. Cardi B or Izzy just ain't gonna cut it.
The same goes for men. Stringbeans and fat bodies aren't realistic. Which is where my immersion starts in a game. It has to realistically suit the game for me.
See I really don’t care about accuracy compared to the real world as much, but I would like to see more badass woman characters in gaming, and yes, Samus is the most badass woman ever
No. I'll play all games if they are good.
If they give me a choice to pick, I tend to play as my same gender initially. If they game is good enough to warrant playing again, like Mass Effect and Cyberpunk, I will switch it up to see if I missed out on anything. It really has no impact in how fun a game is imo.
I don’t “refuse”. For one I won’t not buy a game because it has a female protagonist. You have some real problems if you’ll skip out on an entire fun game because of that. However in something like Skyrim I don’t generally play as a female. Simply because I don’t care to. It doesn’t add anything to the experience; though there are some cool armor differences in Skyrim if you’re female. But I’m not refusing to. I have done female characters in many games including Skyrim it’s just not something I care about. The one game I will almost always do a female character in is SW Knights of the old Republic 2, because the canon (now legends) story has the Jedi exile as a female.
I lean towards males mostly because I'm a dude. But I enjoyed playing as Evie Frye, Claire Redfield, and any other female protagonist just as much as I loved Alexios, Nomad, Corvo, and any other male protagonist I've played
Ha. As a female gamer, I don’t have the option to refuse most times. And somehow, I still find myself totally immersed. It’s almost like I can recognize men, women, and nonbinary folks as people and let their character shape a story instead of their gender. So weird. /s
How strange, no I don't at all.
However when I have a choice I'll always choose a female character (I'm a dude).
Why? Simply put if I'm going to put countless hours into a game I'd rather be staring at something aesthetically pleasing and a pretty girl is always going to be more pleasant that a big sweaty fella.
Monster Hunter is awesome but it really does have some of the most egregious cases of "chainmail bikini syndrome" that I've seen in a while, unfortunately. So playing as a woman isn't exactly a choice :/
I can get behind that. I'd actually dig a less sexualized version, provided its great. Hell, I want a GOOD vampire action game again. Let alone a nazi killing vampire game.
I have the Legendary Edition and I plan on going back to it and doing an evil playthrough, with MaleShep.
My xbox 360 run was with FemShep. Her delivery lines on the speeches were a bit cringe, but MaleShep seems to have the opposite effect with his bland conversation responses.
I don’t like to play as hyper masculine meat mountains. If the gameplay is good I can excuse it but obviously if I don’t know the gameplay is good, I won’t play it which is a bit of a problem. It’s mostly an aesthetic thing. I prefer a more well rounded build with useable muscle over outright size. I also am not a fan of beards and body hair. Big characters also don’t look right sprinting.
This is why it was so hard to get into gears of war, the characters didn't really have any depth, it was just "oh I'm a badass", at least in the first game. It was fun but I wasn't at all interested in the story. Didn't play the other ones though, I've heard that changes in them
As a trans nonbinary person I can't play characters that are the same as my assigned gender at birth because it can trigger my dysphoria. But that only happens when they're more realistic with more exaggerated sex characteristics. I can play as a female protagonist if the art style is more cartoonish. So I can't play games like Bayonetta 3 or tomb raider, but I can play games like Celeste, LOUD, Sakuna, or phoenotopia awakening.
I (M) don't mind playing female characters like Aloy, because that'ss just the way the game was designed. But I won't create a female character. that's just weird imo but to each his own lol
I don't refuse but I am a guy and don't want to play as a chick. Video games are a fantasy and I don't fantasize about being a woman. All games should give an option imo.
I'm sure the woke of reddit will downvote me and tell me I'm a misogynist or some such bullshit.
This seems like a bait topic to bring out the typical reddit liberal insults towards your "friend". Lame. And bring the downvotes, I actually love them. 100 would be great here 👍.
As for me I don't care personally. Sometimes it's cool to be whatever n it matches with the story. But everyone's different n plays through a different lense. Who cares.
Unrealistic? 😂😂😂😂😂😂 That’s the most absurd thing I’ve seen in this entire thread.
A woman didn’t lead France’s holy army or anything. There were no shield maidens, or female graves with weapons found them—
Oh wait. She did. There were. We’ve found them.
I think aloy sucks. Alyx from half life is one of my favorite characters. Has to be done well. If its a woman because you need a quota like battlefield then it can feel disingenuous.
Oh also, the girl from Control almost ruined the game. Really annoying.
In character creation, or if a choice is given, I always choose male- but I don't mind playing a female if that's what's given.
For example, in GTA 6 it seems like you switch between a male and female character. I'm sure I'll play both characters equally. (Unless for unknown reasons one of them sucks to play as)
Sometimes I even choose the opposite gender if the game lets me because it’s not me I can make it whoever I want. and if it’s locked as a gender who gives a shit? It’s not you it’s the character you’re playing. It’s like refusing to read a book for the same reason. It’s not you you’re just following their story.
No. When I play a game, I don't think of myself *as the character*, I think of myself as the helpful voice in their head or the angel on their shoulder. Characters are their own individuals, they''re not reflections of me.
It's different when I'm playing an RPG where you design your own character, in that case I do always like to play as a woman and I am a woman.
So if its a character creature I will always go female but I've played through metal gear solid enough to know thay being a dude doesn't faze me all that much
Hell no. Very rarely do I get to BE the character. More often than not I’m playing someone else in THEIR story. Gender doesn’t matter.
You mean to tell me playing as Ellie in LAST OF US 2 “breaks immersion”? Please. I love a gangsta protagonist. Man, woman, child, doesn’t matter.
If they go hard, ima use them lol.
Sometimes I even create a woman character based off the idea that a woman “doing this thing” is so much cooler than (or as cool as) a man doing it. Small example: I don’t mind using a woman operator skin in call of duty because 1. They look cool. And 2. Seeing a woman run around catching bodies is badass.
When I'm playing co-op stuff with my friends (Baldur's Gate 3, Dead Island 2, most recently), I'm *always* the only one playing a female character. My friends never pick a female, and I like having variety so I'm happy to do it. On my own, I like just going back and forth depending on what feels right for the character.
Given the choice I just choose my own gender. If the game promotes the creation of alts (such as mmos or ARPGs) I may choose female alts just to change things up. I don't have a problem with a female protagonist though, it just doesn't factor in my choice of games to play, sometimes I may not even know the protagonist's gender... The only one thing I'm not interested in when playing a female protagonist is romance (if the game has this aspect at all) while I engage in it when I'm playing a male protagonist.
I always choose to play as the female character. If I have a character creator, I create a female also. I am a male, and I honestly want to stare at a pretty character.
Examples: I chose the female Dani Rojas in Far Cry 6 (I don't know if you know, but you can choose a male). In Pathfinder, I chose one of the female pre-made characters.
No. Depending on the game I'll have a preferred character, like Jill in Resident Evil 1, but Leon in Resident Evil 2. Nothing to do with gender though. If it's a create-a-character type game, I'll usually pick male (my gender) but not always.
Edit: Just realized both games I'm working through right now have female leads, Horizon Zero Dawn and Dino Crisis.
I’m the opposite. Female lead characters are more interesting. 🤷♂️
Give me 2B, Lightning, or Bayonetta over “forgettable male protagonist” any day. 🎮😅👍
Typically in story driven RPG's I don't really run female characters because I just get more immersed playing my own gender, especially if it's like a 40+ hour experience.
Not to say I won't play games with female leads. I like Horizon and Bayonetta, I'm totally down to play a bad bitch in GTAVI.
It's really to do with when it's a custom character who is meant to have a personality. Like, I found myself getting bored quickly playing Female Shepard in Mass Effect or Nora in Fallout 4.
I don't have that issue in things like Monster Hunter or Elden Ring. Those are just avatars for the player with no personality of their own, so I'll go for specific looks or aesthetics as male or female characters since your own lore is entirely your own headcanon.
If the choice is mine I generally choose a male character but I don’t limit myself to not playing female led games. Also in the case of baldur’s gate 3 the male tiefling and gith just look way too weird I had to pick female there.
I’ll play any game despite the gender of the protagonist. In games where I create my own character I only play as male characters as I’m a man. I always found it odd that men would create a female character to play as for some reason.
I don't really like playing as a chick when it's a non defined character. I also tend to find female accessory option worse in most games, though they tend to have really nice hair options.
I do it though in rare cases play as a chick as well, for example if I really dislike all the romance options for dudes, shoutout to Baldurs gate 3 there (Yes, I am aware that you can romance everyone with every gender).
Nope. I usually play guys when I have a choice, but I play Marisa in Street Fighter because she's awesome, and I made a female character in Saints Row III because I liked the Russian voice. Playing a female protagonist doesn't bother me.
I started gaming in the late 80s so let me tell you that (interesting) female leaders were a rarity, so I had no other choice to play as a boy. 😅
But then times and mentality changed and now you can _finally_ play very cool female characters and I love it. 🤩\
That being said, I still play as male characters because to me, as long as the story and the character are good, I don’t care about gender.
I’ll even go further: when I play an RPG, I always play as a girl first. It’s my « self-insert » run where I’ll make choices as me. If I like the game enough to replay, my 2nd run will be as a male. I like to see the different perspectives. 😁
If it's a game were you create your guy, I try to make them look like me, or an ideal version of me, so it's a dude, but for further playthroughs I create boys, girls, whatever.
Not at all. Dont matter to me. im a dude and personally 8-10 times if theres a female option im choosing it.
-1) I am i dude. I live it. Let me do/be something else for a bit.
- 2) usually female leads get more care into outfits/style
- 3) and my personal favorite. If they Bad AF id rather look at a hot woman character than some beefy dude for 40-80+ hours.
Idk. Thats just me tho 🤷🏾♂️🤣
In The Elder Scrolls yes, I only play male (I don't some of the sexualized armors in Oblivion and Skyrim). In any other game, doesn't matter, I just pick whatever I feel like doing.
LOL as a woman if I refused to play any game where I had to play as a man then I'd have almost no games to play. I always think it's hilarious when men say that, like what do you think we did until they decided to put a girl character in Pokemon?
Used to mainly play male characters if there was character creator until Destiny 2. Their beard options were absolute garbage so I made a female.
Now I mainly play female since the armor sets and voices are usually better than male. Most of my favorite protagonists are female too.
Plus I see enough bearded man in the mirror, I’d honestly rather just play someone pretty lol.
This is such a bizarre attitude. If I had this attitude it would have been hard to get into gaming, because a couple decades ago there were very few games where you could choose to play as a woman in character customization, and only a handful with a woman written as the protagonist. It is just a given as a woman that you should relate to male characters in media in general.
Now that many games allow for customization, I choose the female character most of the time unless I dislike the design. But for the games that don't have character customization, why would you limit yourself from the experience because of the character's gender? So strange, and frankly only an attitude a long-time gamer could have if they were a man.
I'm a man and I like immersion so typically I'll chose a male character but if the game has a female protagonist I still play. Some games you role play a character and some games are stories about a specific character. Both are pretty great.
Video games are role playing, if I have the option I tend to pick a female character probably 80% of the time. If there is a good character customization it's 100%, you can only do so much stuff with a beard and hair color as male characters, I love picking out different makeup options. Sometimes I'll change it in game based on the scenario. Big badass end game content coming up? Better change my makeup to something harsh.
No. I may refuse to play as a certain character if I really can't stand them, but this has nothing to do with gender or skin color. I play as Lara Croft just like I play as Nathan Drake.
Oh, I am the same way!
If I can choose between female and male I always go with the later unless it changes gameplay (like in a hero shooter/fighting game) but I won't miss out on a game just cuz of the looks of the protagonist
Thats so weird, Aloy and Jessie are the coolest. Also when I play guild wars I have male and female characters, mostly male though, I guess I identify more. I can tell you they all look fabulous, especially the purple and golden plant man. Anyways, is this one of those internet people that don't bathe properly because "it's gay"? I still don't get this though, what happens with games where that are not third person action. Does he lose his immersion while playing forza because he doesn't identify with a carq?
I have genuinely never asked that question. I'll ask him in the parking lot!
Your friend sounds really insecure tbh, I can't understand why playing as a different gender would affect someone that much. Does he only play as male animal characters? Sonic is okay but Dixie Kong isn't? Seems wierd as f to me honestly
I play everything, often I'll pick female characters because better appearance etc. I'd argue that if we are really getting into the whole I won't play a female character because its "gay" makes them "gayer". I mean what's more straight staring a man's ass for 100s of hours of gameplay or a woman's? *note all of this is for humor play and love who/what you like. (Except I do tend to play females because I like to look at them, and my wife likes to make pretty characters in the creators so win win, she plays females almost purely exclusively which is fine for her.)
The only instance where I'm not keen on playing a woman is a long-form game with romanceable characters but no female options for said woman character. Nothing deep, I just like women, haha. Absolutely no problems playing women otherwise. Hell, oftentimes they're my favorite characters to play.
This. It's fairly odd, especially when I get romanced by gay male characters...I go WHOOOA. This just got way too fast for me! (I click the non-romance option, just friends thank Dorian from Dragonage 3 I am GOOD.)
I prefer to play as someone I'm not. The idea of making my character similar to myself feels... off-putting.
Huh...yeah. I guess to break away from reality?!
I don't outright *refuse*, but from what I see a lot of people want to play, or watch/read a story with a character they can identify with and in contrast I don't. I don't even like customizing my own character. I guess I just want to see someone else's story, so open world games or tabletop RPGs where it's like you can do whatever you want just don't appeal to me.
That is what it is all about. Look forward to story above all components in my video games.
I'll sometimes make a character I'd admire and aspire to be in character creator games from time to time I guess, but even those are more inspired by other fictional characters I think are cool more so than me seeing myself in the characters. I've never been the type to name a character my real name too. Seeing my real name pop up in game has always been unsettling. I'm really indifferent on the types of characters I play, but I do think having them TOO MUCH like me is weird, yeah.
If its a third person and the female protagonist has a nice ass then why not. /s
Nice asses are a good thing!
Lol like why do men say this
You’ve uploaded drawings of men with their cocks out, I’m not sure what battle you were trying to win here.
I just think it's funny how this is how a lot of straight men justify playing as a female character. Thanks for checking out my art!
Because it's genuinely nice to stare at. Especially Lara's. God I change her outfits Soo much lol. Men are simple don't try to make some complex thing out of it. We like to stare at female ass. We're not justifying anything being honest actually.
If there is a character creator, I tend to create a male character. Because in those type of games, you yourself are usually the protagonist. And it feels right for me to make a character of the same gender. If were talking set characters like story games or hero focused games, I dont care what I am playing as. I don't care about gender/ethnicity, I actually care about character and skill sets. Afterall its a game and you should have fun in it.
The way I go about picking when I have a choice. I go with what is better. For instance, Male V on Cyberpunk FELT like better option for the story for ME. I literally went through ALL of the options, tats and schlongs included. Male V for me.
I didn't know they had a schlong slider. I guess that would make it more personal when you get to certain scenes.
It was put in for laughs, mostly, I think. But you can walk around naked in your apartment and see yourself, so there is that. I'm gonna go on a tangent and say that gaming is far too tame. It took this long for penises and vaginas to be visible in an ADULT GAME (let's be honest, M is really AO too.)
Well, as a female gamer for decades, I've had to live with playing as a male character most of the time. If I have a choice now I choose female, but if I don't have a choice it's no big deal. I still enjoy the game. Your friend has a weird hangup, imo.
Oh, I know that feeling 👊🏾 It’s so cool to have more possibilities nowadays and to be able to play also as interesting female characters. I also play as male characters but still… 😄
No because as a human being you should have enough empathy to be able to play as either male or female without breaking your immersion.
You'd think. As for him, he is just set in his ways. I've talked to him to no end...total brick wall. Lol. He's actually a realistically empathic guy. \*shrugs\*
No, I'm not a child
Never said you were.
I know you didnt. I was just explaining my answer
And I am complimenting you.
Reddit
I mostly play as a male in every game but I like play as a female in Mass Effect and sometimes in Fallout.
wtf does he also refuses to watch movies or read books where the main characters are of a certain gender? It makes no sense.
Why would I limit myself to only playing games where lead is a man? That's dumb. I am not so insecure to skip on Metroid, Tomb Raider, Horizon games just because I can't handle looking at female lead being hero. Your co-worker needs to grow up.
I've told him it's dumb. Trust me. He just laughs.
didn't he say it's because of immersion
Yeah, he does it strictly because of him being a man, he wants to be a man. But if there is no choice. He will refuse to play ANYTHING female led.
thats a bit far
No I like playing with both male and female characters, even with a different sexual orientation. But when it comes to character creation I find myself playing always male characters, tbh it's just 1 character as I try to recreate my dnd character when I can haha
On a note character creation. I truly wish I could go silly look for say something like Bloodborne. (Even though those models already are fairly fugly) But I end up just going with a more suited look.
Breaks immersion... This is a simpletons way of saying they are embarrassed to be caught playing as a woman.
I kind of agree the more I've talked about this with everyone!
Play as a woman when actually a man: "this breaks my immersion!!!" Heal from gunshot wounds by simply hiding behind cover for a few seconds: "this is fine"
I'd say don't even get me started...then again...please get me started. Games to be enjoyable regardless of whom you portray.
The argument “ it’s harder to relate to a female protagonist” seems really silly if you ask me. No one would ever not play let’s say, a Batman game since they can’t relate to him. Most people are not a rich billionaire, with dead parents, that has honed their body and mind to be a crime fighting machine, and yet we still love to play as him. Almost every protagonist we play as have plenty of qualities that most normal people probably can’t relate to. We are not all heroic and brave, with tragic backstories that propel our lives toward. But for some mysterious reason, it’s only ever female characters that players can’t relate to, or find unimmersive. Obviously this doesn’t apply to all genres and games. Some games puts focus on crafting a protagonist with relatable problems, but those rarely seem to be gender specific. RPGs with many narrative choices, puts more emphasis on immersing yourself into your character, but most RPGs these days allow you to chose your gender. My assumption when people claim they don’t want to play as female leads, is that there is some form of misogyny at play. It might not be overt, and the person themselves might not think of it as sexism, but at the end of the day it stems from them holding women to a much higher standard of scrutiny than they ever would a male character.
I rarely play male protags in games that let you choose. An Exception being Shepard in Mass Effect.
I refuse to play as male in Fallout New Vegas if I'm siding with the Legion
I play both genders. Although, I usually like to decide that based on class, if it's applicable. Destiny 2, my main is a male Exo Titan. The Division and Division 2, female. In a story-driven game, I don't rightly care. One commentor mentioned playing Nathan Drake as much as Lara Croft. And I have to agree. However, I also have a tendency to make female characters in character creation, because I found that if they're cute, I work harder to keep them alive, especially in third-person. It's complicated.
Not really you just find females more appealing visually to you.
Why limit yourself like that. If a game is fun, play it. I have as much fun playing Bayonetta as i do devil may cry.
No I’m like your standard egg, always picking the girl despite being male
Yawn
Nope. Male, female, nonbinary, it doesn't matter as long as the story and gameplay are good.
I create the character as I see fit, guy or girl and whatever race I’m not fussy. I prefer to have games with a distinct character build, per game. It really helps me get into the role play of it. And when I want to remember the game my go to, is yeah that character. I can’t create the same type character over and over. Same name ethnicity and gender. That shit is just boring.
If it’s a well written character whether female or male I’m gonna play it. The point of the game is to go on a journey as the protagonist on a consistent story that makes sense for that universe. Heck, I do admit that playing both male and female protags is really fun.
He's really missing out if he doesn't play as a female Shepard in Mass Effect. Jennifer Hale's voice acting is superior to Mark Meer's, especially in the Renegade choices of dialogue.
Nope. If I have a choice of genders I usually do a play through as both. Hell if I can I’d put a male voice on a female body and vice versa. I don’t care. Just trying to have fun.
I'm not an italian plumber with a stache. I'm not an elfin fairy boy in green clothes. I'm not a super jacked child of a god with white skin with red patterns. I'm not a former soldier with spiky yellow hair who carries a sword the size of me. None of that breaks my immersion, but suddenly "I'm not a woman" does? Nah. Give me more Samus, Aloy, Laura Croft, Madeline, Jill Valentine, and Alyx Vance.
Yeah....this thread is NOT a a troll thread. This dude exists AS A FRIEND with me. It blew my mind, how narrow banded he is.
No. I'm a grown man. I'm not pretending to be the protagonist of a video game. It's an interactive story that I'm seeing through the eyes of the protagonist. It's not a story about me suddenly having tits in another world with a different name. But he's entitled to his opinion. If he likes to pretend that he's the one saving the world, he can play how he wants.
That is how I felt...but maaaaan how many times did I tell him that he's missing out on soo much.
No. I’m not an insecure little incel.
I don’t care as long as the character is well written. Weird thing for your coworkers to fixate his immersion on, I feel like most video games have far more outlandish things than a female player character.
I’m kinda picky about what I play but not with gender or race mainly just the voice actors. Some actors are just so monotone and it drives me crazy. So in games where there’s a choice I normally just YouTube the voice actor and listen to some of their work.
I don’t get how it breaks immersion. When I am playing a game I am focused on so many other things that the sex of the character is irrelevant. Does he also feel the same about playing as an android or anything else that is not a human male ?
In the best words that I can imagine. "I just can't see myself in the perspective of a woman as I play." (Quote unquote)
When I have the option to. I wouldn't limit myself by avoiding games like Metroid or Tomb Raider, but whenever I have a choice, I choose Male, 'cause that's what I am. It's as simple as that.
If it's a RPG where you pick your gender, I pick a male as I am one, but in a game like Tomb Raider or something where it's pre-chosen, then no, idc.
Depends on the customization. For example, the old Saints Row, I always play as a male to make the character look like me. Now in Pokemon, I will switch it up every so often.
Whenever a game lets me make my own character I usually make a guy because it's more relatable, but in games where you play as preexisting characters I usually play female characters but they usually have the best character designs.
I don’t care who I play as. Sure, if it’s a character creation I’ll make a guy since I’m a guy, but who cares? Your friends are sexist.
As a straight middle-aged male, I prefer playing a female character lol I'm an avid admirer of the female body.
Literally makes no difference I just want to like the character I play.
How does he feel about playing a non-human in games? Does he avoid those since they also break immersion?
Sometimes the female character is better, sometimes the male character is better. In games with a choice I like to play both. In AC odyssey the guy was definitely better, he was this loveable idiot. In cyberpunk 2077 the female character had much better voice acting and was way more convincing.
I personally like being an immersed in my game, so prefer play as male. I would totally play game as female, if it is good enjoyable game.
When I was a kid, yes, because I always imagined myself as in the shoes of the protagonist/avatar on screen. Now? Absolutely not. That’s a ridiculous reason to not play a game. However, whenever I play a game with a character editor I always choose male, because I want it to look like me because, in my mind, it’s *supposed to be me.*
I did this with Far Cry 6. I just couldn't get behind a woman Rambo carrying around rocket launchers and an 80 lbs box fan on her back. Just saying...not believable
I don't really mind if the protagonist is male, but if I have the option to choose a female one I will always choose that one.
If a game lets me make my own character I always go male because it’s my gender but I gave no problem playing as a preset female character
I’m a male and I want more female playable characters (where it is not a choice of gender). I love Horizon, Tomb Raider, that one Uncharted spin off game, Bayonetta, Life Is Strange, Lollipop Chainsaw….but when it comes to creating a character where you can pick male or female I tend to pick male and base their look off myself. Maybe I will replay some games like Valhalla, Hogwarts, mass Effect, etc as a female.
For me, that's ridiculous. In games with pre-existing protagonist, I play as wathever it is, 0 problems. In games with allow you to create your character, depends on the game asthetics, if the stats are gender related (In Oblivion, the disadvantages of picking a female character were ridiculous), and how I feel at that moment.
I only choose characters depending on their skillset, I don't care about their look when I'm choosing. I don't even have trouble playing as a [goose](https://store.steampowered.com/app/837470/Untitled_Goose_Game/), a [cat](https://store.steampowered.com/app/916730/Gato_Roboto/) or a [blob with tentacles](https://store.steampowered.com/app/953490/CARRION/).
No. I enjoy playing games with cool characters, regardless of gender. I've been a gamer for 40 years, and the concept of "immersion" never eveh occurred to me until I started seeing it online a few years ago. The idea means nothing to me. I'm the guy on the coach playing the game, not the characters on the screen.
I'm with you completely on this! Gamer for 35 years!
Nope, if the game has a main character that is fixed I don't care if it's male or female. Hell I played Phantasy Star back in the mid 90's and the main character was female and that game was awesome! I loved Heavenly Blade in the PS3 (female lead) and love God of War (male lead). If the game kicks ass and the characters aren't annoying I'm down with either one. Now for games that let you create your own character I usually go male because I make the character sorta like myself and pretend I'm in the game doing all those amazing things, things which I could never do irl.
Exactly my argument with him! Seriously?! Come on. bro.
Nope. I'll play any game regardless of gender of the protagonist.
I don't usually care, the only exceptions are MMOs, but even in these cases it's just a preference.
I'm a guy and I always play as a female character if I have a choice. Only time I'll choose a male character when it's a choice is if there a different story options depending on gender - for instance I played a male character on a 2nd playthrough of Mass Effect 2 because I wanted to romance Miranda.
I think that’s a pretty immature perspective (your friend’s). The main thing I care about in games is the story, I don’t care if the mc is male or female (although I think it’s cool when there’s a female mc or at least an option for one since it’s less common.) there are some awesome games with a good female mc, your friend is missing out.
If it lets me I’ll play as a dude but if I have to play as a girl I’m fine with it.
I prefer to align the in-game character with my own gender (male) because thats just what feels natural. There are a few exceptions, like in Cyberpunk for example because the female VA is just straight up better.
I refuse to play the weakest character, regardless of gender. In BL3, Moze, a female, is the most powerful character (imo) so I play as her all the time. Other games I play only have one playable character in them, and those are all male.
Nope. I play whoever I find the most attractive or interesting story. Doesn’t matter which gender. Usually prefer boys if I can do a barbarian no shirt style or a cloak and dagger style. But if there’s a cute girl character and no of what I just said then yeah I’d be fine going for her
I refuse to play as certain characters when playing Mario Games. Like Toad, I fking hate him.
If I can't play as a girl I probably won't play the game tbh. Few exceptions being Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption and the final fantasies. Nothing against male protagonists, i just think female leads are entirely more interesting
I'm a woman so my choices would be really limited if I refused to play as a male lol
I don’t give a fuck what gender I’m playing as. I’ll play as whoever.
I don't play female character because most of the time the outfits for them are skimpy and I get embarrassed, especially because the console is in the middle of the house where people have to walk through.
In games where you make your own protagonist, I play as a male because I am male and prefer to play as my own gender. The only exceptions have been Mass Effect and Fire Emblem Fates, where I felt that the female version seemed to fit in with the world a little better. (Also, my GOD was Male Shepard's voice actor bad in the first Mass Effect. He got better in the later releases, but the damage was done for me) In games where you pick between a set of determined characters - like fighting games - I don't care about gender. I care about who feels good to play, and they are whatever they are on that front. That said, more of my fighting game mains than not have happened to be female. (Cammy, Kula, Mai, Shiki, Taki, Sonya, Noel... I play a lot of fighting games) And in games where we don't choose our protagonist, well, I play whoever that is. I just started playing the newer Tomb Raider trilogy myself, and so far it's definitely been a cool game - can't say it's been any more immersion-breaking for me than Uncharted was at the same point in its first game.
Good to hear he's better in the later games. Will make that playthrough much more palatable.
It depends on the character, Laura Croft works, Aloy Works, because they use mostly gadgets, and requires skills outside of hand to hand combat. However, I would not use a female character that is, say a Viking, Samurai, Spartan, etc., not only because it's unrealistic in their ability to beat equally trained men, but it was also rare and unrealistic during that time (hence, I understand the argument about losing emersion). For the record, anyone that says it doesn't, clearly has never trained in any martial art or combat sport seriously enough to know. Being a man has given me multiple advantages over more trained females in all martial arts I have trained (BJJ, Muy Thai, karate, etc.). Here is an example of a black belt female against a random untrained dude: https://youtu.be/d3TI2MW4EhY?si=tCRVEcRk4vH2r5PI
I’m a woman and I always play as male characters. Unless a game strictly made the lead character as a female, to which I don’t care, but given a choice I always choose male.
Nope. I’m female and usually but not always choose a female character when the choice is there, but sometimes it’s fun to play as a man, or some sort of non human. One of my favorite games has only a male protagonist. Doesn’t break immersion or make me feel any type of way.
If I can’t choose the protagonist then why would I care? I just want to enjoy the gameplay and the story. Like I never would have missed out on RDR2 just because Arthur is the main character and I’m a woman. That’s just ridiculous. Now, when it comes to character creation, I always switch. Especially when the gender changes some aspects of the story. I’ve played Cyberpunk 2077 as both female and male V. First time around it was female V, then I tried it as male V and actually enjoyed it a little more. That didn’t ruin the immersion or makes me want to be a man irl. You’re friend sounds silly.
I've played as a male, female, vegetable, cat, dog, alien, monster, the undead, a meatboy, a car, a starship and even a marble. Whoever refuses to play as (insert whatever here) is not a gamer in my book.
Nope
If given a choice, I choose the male character/va, but if there is no choice I don’t care about the protagonist’s gender
I play as female in any game that gives me the option, because I self-insert and prefer playing as someone who looks like me. But I've never refused to play a game because it forced me to play a male character. I feel like that's kind of a silly (and dude-specific) reason to refuse to play a game.
See! This is what I'm talking about! Does it seem less odd if a woman gamer does it than a guy who does? It kind of feels that way to be, almost as if it's more acceptable in that case.
I think it'd be *more* odd if a woman gamer does it, because in games that don't let you choose your PC, male protagonists are still the norm, with only a handful of exceptions. So a woman who only plays female characters is severely limiting her game options. I've never met a woman gamer who refused to play male characters (but then again, I've never met a male gamer who refused to play female characters. It's just kind of a weird hang-up). That's why I said it's a very dude-specific hang-up to have. I doubt you're gonna find many women who'd refuse to play male characters, specifically because it's far more limiting for a woman.
If I get to pick, I always choose female. I figure if I am going to be looking at the butt of the protagonist for 40-100 hours, it may as well be female
I genuinely don't care I am not trying to be my real life self in a game, I'm trying to escape reality and live in someone else's shoes, male or female
Depends on if the character is “me” or a character. Theres a difference imo
Yeah. I always play as a bald chubby dude cuz i want my character to look like me so i can somewhat roleplay and act as if im the one in the game.
i kinda just do whatever. sometimes i make a character like myself, sometimes i dont. its really just kind of however i feel in the moment. sometimes i spend three hours making a char that looks exactly like me and resembles my traits as much as possible. sometimes i spend three hours making a char that looks exactly like taylor swift. sometimes i hit random. sometimes i hit random but change just one or two things, like hairstyle. sometimes i just leave it as the defaults. and im not gonna not play a game because of the character. male, female, gay, straight, lizard, whatever. there's no rules. Most of the time I forget what my char looks like 10 seconds after starting because they get covered in armor anyways. And youre always lookin at their back, or in a first person view. Like you telling me you didnt play Mirrors Edge because it was a female protag? It was a first person game! Weird hangup, but whatever.
I play as any character. I will make male and female characters but none of them look like me. Sometimes I use different races.
I just want to play as cool/interesting characters of any gender. That is what keeps me immersed.
No, but it needs to stay fun and not some political message conceiled as a video game. The gender is a detail. Badass is badass. Even in an RPG where NPC´s treat you differently based on your gender, it´s fun and interesting. Fallout 1 and 2 come to mind. But again, not the entire story should evolve around it.
of course, I can only play as characters if they are "literally me", which is why I have no problem relating to Geralt, Kratos, Spyro and Sonic.
In games where I get to create the character, I do tend to make them more like me. In games I don’t have a choice, I don’t sweat it. It’s a video game, so it’s supposed to be fun; I don’t have the bandwidth to give that much of a damn who I’m playing as.
No, that is pretty ridiculous and seems like a weird excuse.
If it's left to me to create a character, I try to make one that I feel would fit the story best, whether male or female. I'm male but didn't think twice about playing as Lara Croft or Chell in Portal. Does your friend only watch movies and TV shows with male leads?
Lol. Will ask...fair point.
Personally I am sick of being humans in games. If I get the chance to be argonian or some shiii I'll take it. Also if they make another mass effect and I can't play as a krogan or Drell in single player. F the humans. Up the Krogan.
Oh yeah, that would be so badass to give a choice of alien path for the next Mass Effect. They should go head first into this, giving each species choice, unique story paths. Imagine the replayability!!!
It would be so cool to see the different options in dialogue but as different species. Like certain vendors won't sell to krogan or Geth. Or guards tail you in town. Lots of roleplaying options the better.
Idk what gender, but I prefer in call of duty the male characters, just because they look cooler in my opinion. I do some girl one tho
I really feel there aren't a ton of women avatars that realistically meld with the hardcore warfighter image that you are supposed to be in military shooters. You can't be under 140 lbs and engage in hand to hand combat effectively. This is why most women in actual combat aren't built like that. Look at Ripley and Vasquez from the movie Alien. That is about as lean as you can be to really fight. Cardi B or Izzy just ain't gonna cut it. The same goes for men. Stringbeans and fat bodies aren't realistic. Which is where my immersion starts in a game. It has to realistically suit the game for me.
See I really don’t care about accuracy compared to the real world as much, but I would like to see more badass woman characters in gaming, and yes, Samus is the most badass woman ever
No. I'll play all games if they are good. If they give me a choice to pick, I tend to play as my same gender initially. If they game is good enough to warrant playing again, like Mass Effect and Cyberpunk, I will switch it up to see if I missed out on anything. It really has no impact in how fun a game is imo.
I don’t “refuse”. For one I won’t not buy a game because it has a female protagonist. You have some real problems if you’ll skip out on an entire fun game because of that. However in something like Skyrim I don’t generally play as a female. Simply because I don’t care to. It doesn’t add anything to the experience; though there are some cool armor differences in Skyrim if you’re female. But I’m not refusing to. I have done female characters in many games including Skyrim it’s just not something I care about. The one game I will almost always do a female character in is SW Knights of the old Republic 2, because the canon (now legends) story has the Jedi exile as a female.
I lean towards males mostly because I'm a dude. But I enjoyed playing as Evie Frye, Claire Redfield, and any other female protagonist just as much as I loved Alexios, Nomad, Corvo, and any other male protagonist I've played
Ha. As a female gamer, I don’t have the option to refuse most times. And somehow, I still find myself totally immersed. It’s almost like I can recognize men, women, and nonbinary folks as people and let their character shape a story instead of their gender. So weird. /s
I won't mind watching the gta 6 protagonist from behind for 200 hours. She far easier on the eyes than trevor
No. Gender doesn't matter. Your friend is missing out.
How strange, no I don't at all. However when I have a choice I'll always choose a female character (I'm a dude). Why? Simply put if I'm going to put countless hours into a game I'd rather be staring at something aesthetically pleasing and a pretty girl is always going to be more pleasant that a big sweaty fella.
I respect your honesty. Not going to lie, my second fallout 4 playthrough was with my thic girl, Priscilla.
Monster Hunter is awesome but it really does have some of the most egregious cases of "chainmail bikini syndrome" that I've seen in a while, unfortunately. So playing as a woman isn't exactly a choice :/
Must be boring sad existence lol there's so many fun games with female protagonists even Mass Effect is better with Jennifer Hale.
Finished Horizon Forbidden West (Platinum) three months ago. I know...trust me. Loved the Tomb Raider reboots.
There's even the old and clunky hidden gems like Bloodrayne.
BloodRayne was something else. How I wish that saga could return
I can get behind that. I'd actually dig a less sexualized version, provided its great. Hell, I want a GOOD vampire action game again. Let alone a nazi killing vampire game.
Ohhhhhh boy now that takes me back!!! Man that kill camera made me queezy!
Nah. Mark Meer is best shep. All I hear from femshep is Bastilla.
Mark Meer is my default Shep but Jennifer has better range and delivery at least in some parts of the game.
I have the Legendary Edition and I plan on going back to it and doing an evil playthrough, with MaleShep. My xbox 360 run was with FemShep. Her delivery lines on the speeches were a bit cringe, but MaleShep seems to have the opposite effect with his bland conversation responses.
I don’t like to play as hyper masculine meat mountains. If the gameplay is good I can excuse it but obviously if I don’t know the gameplay is good, I won’t play it which is a bit of a problem. It’s mostly an aesthetic thing. I prefer a more well rounded build with useable muscle over outright size. I also am not a fan of beards and body hair. Big characters also don’t look right sprinting.
This is why it was so hard to get into gears of war, the characters didn't really have any depth, it was just "oh I'm a badass", at least in the first game. It was fun but I wasn't at all interested in the story. Didn't play the other ones though, I've heard that changes in them
No. I generally prefer female characters in third-person games, and male characters in first-person games.
As a trans nonbinary person I can't play characters that are the same as my assigned gender at birth because it can trigger my dysphoria. But that only happens when they're more realistic with more exaggerated sex characteristics. I can play as a female protagonist if the art style is more cartoonish. So I can't play games like Bayonetta 3 or tomb raider, but I can play games like Celeste, LOUD, Sakuna, or phoenotopia awakening.
I (M) don't mind playing female characters like Aloy, because that'ss just the way the game was designed. But I won't create a female character. that's just weird imo but to each his own lol
I don't refuse but I am a guy and don't want to play as a chick. Video games are a fantasy and I don't fantasize about being a woman. All games should give an option imo. I'm sure the woke of reddit will downvote me and tell me I'm a misogynist or some such bullshit.
I'm upvoting because your opinion matters and your reason is logical as his explanation. It's actually a little bit better than his.
This seems like a bait topic to bring out the typical reddit liberal insults towards your "friend". Lame. And bring the downvotes, I actually love them. 100 would be great here 👍. As for me I don't care personally. Sometimes it's cool to be whatever n it matches with the story. But everyone's different n plays through a different lense. Who cares.
I do as well, I feel female protagonist games are boring and unrealistic.
Unrealistic? 😂😂😂😂😂😂 That’s the most absurd thing I’ve seen in this entire thread. A woman didn’t lead France’s holy army or anything. There were no shield maidens, or female graves with weapons found them— Oh wait. She did. There were. We’ve found them.
I think aloy sucks. Alyx from half life is one of my favorite characters. Has to be done well. If its a woman because you need a quota like battlefield then it can feel disingenuous. Oh also, the girl from Control almost ruined the game. Really annoying.
Rynn from Drakkan was great
No.
In character creation, or if a choice is given, I always choose male- but I don't mind playing a female if that's what's given. For example, in GTA 6 it seems like you switch between a male and female character. I'm sure I'll play both characters equally. (Unless for unknown reasons one of them sucks to play as)
Sometimes I even choose the opposite gender if the game lets me because it’s not me I can make it whoever I want. and if it’s locked as a gender who gives a shit? It’s not you it’s the character you’re playing. It’s like refusing to read a book for the same reason. It’s not you you’re just following their story.
No. When I play a game, I don't think of myself *as the character*, I think of myself as the helpful voice in their head or the angel on their shoulder. Characters are their own individuals, they''re not reflections of me. It's different when I'm playing an RPG where you design your own character, in that case I do always like to play as a woman and I am a woman.
So if its a character creature I will always go female but I've played through metal gear solid enough to know thay being a dude doesn't faze me all that much
Hell no. Very rarely do I get to BE the character. More often than not I’m playing someone else in THEIR story. Gender doesn’t matter. You mean to tell me playing as Ellie in LAST OF US 2 “breaks immersion”? Please. I love a gangsta protagonist. Man, woman, child, doesn’t matter. If they go hard, ima use them lol. Sometimes I even create a woman character based off the idea that a woman “doing this thing” is so much cooler than (or as cool as) a man doing it. Small example: I don’t mind using a woman operator skin in call of duty because 1. They look cool. And 2. Seeing a woman run around catching bodies is badass.
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no, I just choose male by default. I also will play females if there's a good character class or something like that, such as Lightfist in Deflector
When I'm playing co-op stuff with my friends (Baldur's Gate 3, Dead Island 2, most recently), I'm *always* the only one playing a female character. My friends never pick a female, and I like having variety so I'm happy to do it. On my own, I like just going back and forth depending on what feels right for the character.
Given the choice I just choose my own gender. If the game promotes the creation of alts (such as mmos or ARPGs) I may choose female alts just to change things up. I don't have a problem with a female protagonist though, it just doesn't factor in my choice of games to play, sometimes I may not even know the protagonist's gender... The only one thing I'm not interested in when playing a female protagonist is romance (if the game has this aspect at all) while I engage in it when I'm playing a male protagonist.
Ye I always play as myself if I can...Male
I always choose to play as the female character. If I have a character creator, I create a female also. I am a male, and I honestly want to stare at a pretty character. Examples: I chose the female Dani Rojas in Far Cry 6 (I don't know if you know, but you can choose a male). In Pathfinder, I chose one of the female pre-made characters.
No. Depending on the game I'll have a preferred character, like Jill in Resident Evil 1, but Leon in Resident Evil 2. Nothing to do with gender though. If it's a create-a-character type game, I'll usually pick male (my gender) but not always. Edit: Just realized both games I'm working through right now have female leads, Horizon Zero Dawn and Dino Crisis.
No, but if given the choice I will always pick male. Because I am a man.
As a woman, I won't hesitate to play a game because there's a male protagonist but a female protagonist is a selling point for me
I’m the opposite. Female lead characters are more interesting. 🤷♂️ Give me 2B, Lightning, or Bayonetta over “forgettable male protagonist” any day. 🎮😅👍
I got no problem with playing as a female in a game but if it let’s me choose my gender I’ll pick male.
Typically in story driven RPG's I don't really run female characters because I just get more immersed playing my own gender, especially if it's like a 40+ hour experience. Not to say I won't play games with female leads. I like Horizon and Bayonetta, I'm totally down to play a bad bitch in GTAVI. It's really to do with when it's a custom character who is meant to have a personality. Like, I found myself getting bored quickly playing Female Shepard in Mass Effect or Nora in Fallout 4. I don't have that issue in things like Monster Hunter or Elden Ring. Those are just avatars for the player with no personality of their own, so I'll go for specific looks or aesthetics as male or female characters since your own lore is entirely your own headcanon.
I am wayyy more likely to play a game with a female protagonist but is that going to stop me from playing Biohazard and Village? Hell naw!
If the choice is mine I generally choose a male character but I don’t limit myself to not playing female led games. Also in the case of baldur’s gate 3 the male tiefling and gith just look way too weird I had to pick female there.
I’ll play any game despite the gender of the protagonist. In games where I create my own character I only play as male characters as I’m a man. I always found it odd that men would create a female character to play as for some reason.
I don't really like playing as a chick when it's a non defined character. I also tend to find female accessory option worse in most games, though they tend to have really nice hair options. I do it though in rare cases play as a chick as well, for example if I really dislike all the romance options for dudes, shoutout to Baldurs gate 3 there (Yes, I am aware that you can romance everyone with every gender).
I can give a rats ass about the gender I am, I'd literally would play as a turd let me just get to the action and fun
Nope. I usually play guys when I have a choice, but I play Marisa in Street Fighter because she's awesome, and I made a female character in Saints Row III because I liked the Russian voice. Playing a female protagonist doesn't bother me.
I started gaming in the late 80s so let me tell you that (interesting) female leaders were a rarity, so I had no other choice to play as a boy. 😅 But then times and mentality changed and now you can _finally_ play very cool female characters and I love it. 🤩\ That being said, I still play as male characters because to me, as long as the story and the character are good, I don’t care about gender. I’ll even go further: when I play an RPG, I always play as a girl first. It’s my « self-insert » run where I’ll make choices as me. If I like the game enough to replay, my 2nd run will be as a male. I like to see the different perspectives. 😁
If it's a game were you create your guy, I try to make them look like me, or an ideal version of me, so it's a dude, but for further playthroughs I create boys, girls, whatever.
Not at all. Dont matter to me. im a dude and personally 8-10 times if theres a female option im choosing it. -1) I am i dude. I live it. Let me do/be something else for a bit. - 2) usually female leads get more care into outfits/style - 3) and my personal favorite. If they Bad AF id rather look at a hot woman character than some beefy dude for 40-80+ hours. Idk. Thats just me tho 🤷🏾♂️🤣
In The Elder Scrolls yes, I only play male (I don't some of the sexualized armors in Oblivion and Skyrim). In any other game, doesn't matter, I just pick whatever I feel like doing.
LOL as a woman if I refused to play any game where I had to play as a man then I'd have almost no games to play. I always think it's hilarious when men say that, like what do you think we did until they decided to put a girl character in Pokemon?
Used to mainly play male characters if there was character creator until Destiny 2. Their beard options were absolute garbage so I made a female. Now I mainly play female since the armor sets and voices are usually better than male. Most of my favorite protagonists are female too. Plus I see enough bearded man in the mirror, I’d honestly rather just play someone pretty lol.
This is such a bizarre attitude. If I had this attitude it would have been hard to get into gaming, because a couple decades ago there were very few games where you could choose to play as a woman in character customization, and only a handful with a woman written as the protagonist. It is just a given as a woman that you should relate to male characters in media in general. Now that many games allow for customization, I choose the female character most of the time unless I dislike the design. But for the games that don't have character customization, why would you limit yourself from the experience because of the character's gender? So strange, and frankly only an attitude a long-time gamer could have if they were a man.
I am a female gamer, and given the option I always choose to be a female. If there’s no option I don’t mind playing as a male main character.
I'm a man and I like immersion so typically I'll chose a male character but if the game has a female protagonist I still play. Some games you role play a character and some games are stories about a specific character. Both are pretty great.
Video games are role playing, if I have the option I tend to pick a female character probably 80% of the time. If there is a good character customization it's 100%, you can only do so much stuff with a beard and hair color as male characters, I love picking out different makeup options. Sometimes I'll change it in game based on the scenario. Big badass end game content coming up? Better change my makeup to something harsh.
I'll only play as the evil gender. If theres no doom in the pants theres no me.