Do you care about (your characters) gender when you play a game?

[Executive Petrel]

I'm actually playing through UM currently, who's Lurantis?

Oh you sweet innocent child

 

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

If the game offers me a choice, all other things being equal, always male, if it's specific characters with specific powersets I enjoy, I don't care. I've never played the inferior FemShep in Mass Effect, because it doesn't matter, but I main Wisp in Warframe because I like the powerset. Not like those degenerate Heirloom Ember Prime or Mesa Prime mains.

 

[The Repeated Meme]

I just can't get properly immersed in a game unless I'm playing as a women with huge tits.

 

[PetiteFeet]

Generally no but I will default to female characters on a first playthrough of a video game, say like in Mass Effect. Depending on trophies or gender-locked NPC interactions, I'll replay a game as the opposite option.
I don't care if a game asks me to play as Dudebro McLargemuscles, I'll happily get into his character and accept the story from that perspective. I enjoy getting into the mind of an established character regardless of the gender. Gerald from The Witcher has an established personality (somewhat, ignoring the amnesia thing the Witcher games have him suffering from)
I will however default to a female character in games like WoW because oftentimes the males look like barrel chested fuckboys that have broomhandles so far up their ass that they can't walk proper. A female Draenei is simply much more aesthetically pleasing to me than the male equivalent, but that's 100% an artstyle choice from Blizzard's hand.
I have a hard time playing as an outright UGLY character. Think Concord or Diablo 4's female druid. Severely obese characters that can sprint like the skinny waif characters without going out of breath really breaks my immersion.

And NO. I'm not a troon, just an ugly woman and I will never play as a tranny in a video game. You can't make me. I'll at most put a flaccid donger on my female V if/when I replay Cyberpunk 2077 in a few years. I'm mature enough to admit I'm immature and enjoy hilarious jiggle physics in games. I'm looking at you, Code Vein, with your honkabadonkadonks.

ETA: oh, and the performance of a voice actor has a lot to say in my pick of a voice/gender in games like Cyberpunk 2077 or even Mass Effect (again). In Cyberpunk I vastly prefer female V over male V, he just sounds like an unserious fuckboy that's putting on a voice. Female V sounds more believable to me, it's hard to explain, but it's just a better performance for me. Now, FemShep or MaleShep I can't decide whose performance I like better. Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale both have outstanding performances as Commander Shepard and I've played Mass Effect 1-3 so many times that I can't pick. They're just two unique experiences at that point, solely because of voice acting differences and ignoring gender-locked choices like romances completely.

 

[Punning in the 90's]

not really? I mean, my KoL character's changed gender so much I got a trophy for it.

Spoiler: context

in KoL (Kingdom of Loathing) there's a random encounter in one of the super low-level areas that lets you pay a relatively small fee to change your character to the opposite sex, which mostly just changes the effects of a handful of items and encounters, and the trophies are purely cosmetic items that get displayed on your profile like a form of proto-achievements

 

[TenMilesWide]

For open world and rpg games with enough clothing choice to justify calling the equip screen a dress up minigame, I'll pick a female character. Ken dress up is boring, Barbie gets the best accessories.

 

[Seija Kijin]

Not really, but I do like games that have an actual mechanical difference between the sexes though, M&B: Warband has a really fun mode that if play a woman you basically suffer from the fact nobody will take you seriously useless you really apply yourself.

 

[DumbDude43]

generally don't care much
i don't do the whole self insert thing when i play games, and i avoid most romance/sex stuff in games cause i think that shit is awkward and weird

usually i pick character sex based on which looks cooler. for example in wow i liked the female undeads more than the male undeads because their combat and spellcasting animations look better, but i liked the male orcs much more than the female orcs because the male orcs look like orcs while the female orcs look like weird green humans.

 

[Ah ha']

I like to make cool characters. Sometimes I want to be a cool dude or cool gal, I also dont mind strange humanoids too much either. Though I’d prefer to be say more of a monster if Im going to be a werewolf in a game, and not a cutesy furry (looking at you WoW Worgen)

I think its more fun when a character stands out on their own as something like that, sometimes I like to make an old lady thats a kindly crone, or a young man or lass thats a strike out footpad. As mentioned in the d&d thread it can even be fun to pretend to be a nigger.

Im of the opinion that someone who can do what I just described has healthy self esteem, and can appreciate diversity in a fantastically racist way as well. ( the best way)

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

I care, but not in the sense, "Oh, I can only play dudes/chicks!".

Each game is different. In modern games, in particular, the voice actor can have a lot to do with it - Jennifer Hale as Shepard was way better than whoever the dude was, for example. I've tried to play a guyshep playthrough, and his voice just doesn't work for me. Cyberpunk2077, on the other hand, I'd say both VAs are pretty close to equally good. They each have some strengths and weaknesses the other doesn't, but it's a good balance.

Sometimes it's just art choices. I can't bring myself to play male night elves in WoW... The gorilla arms just weird me out, for some reason.

In games where there's no choice, like Witcher 3 or Tomb Raider, I don't really care. Play the hand you're dealt, and all.

 

[Yukako]

I usually pick whoever has the better design or customization options.

 

[NSA]

It dont matter. None of dis matters. As long as they white an shieet.

I am not a magical creature.

 

[R00k]

If its a game with a set character it doesn't matter to me, I can appreciate a good game or a good story no matter the perspective. But if I have the choice, I always pick a male I usually try to make a character that embodies my ideals, or at least how I imagine myself to be, but I'll do an evil playthrough afterwards or something different just to explore more of the game. But I always play a male. Playing a character of a different gender doesn't interest me in the same way as playing a character who has different values or motivations.

I see it like this, as a male, I can understand why a man might be kind or cruel, choose to wield magic or swords, be blunt or subversive, etc. But my understanding of women's motivations will always be an outsiders perspective. So if I made my character a woman, I'd still be acting like a man, but pretending i had a vagina and some tits, and that sounds like a tranny to me.

Plus, a friend of mine used to play female characters all the time and he would throw out every excuse, "I'd rather stare at a girls butt", "better clothing options", "better voice acting" and he's a tranny now.

 

[Poop Shoot]

I’ll pick female if available but if not it‘s no big deal.

 

[Deep Noise]

Maximum melanin male with afro, wearing a suit if possible.

 

[Señora Airi]

Whichever one helps me score babes.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

ETA: oh, and the performance of a voice actor has a lot to say in my pick of a voice/gender in games like Cyberpunk 2077 or even Mass Effect (again). In Cyberpunk I vastly prefer female V over male V, he just sounds like an unserious fuckboy that's putting on a voice.

So, I have this theory that to the extent there's meant to be a "canon" version of V, despite the fact that the female V gets a lot of play in the cutscenes, it's meant to be male corpo V.

Warning, minor nerdsperging:

I base this on a few things. The symbolism works a lot better that way. Corpo V is narratively connected to Arasaka, the other two just kind of wind up in involved. There's approximately twice as much special dialog for corpo V as there is for the other lifepaths. And of the three lifepath's mid-game quests the corpo path is the most directly connected to your actual opening.

And I think it was supposed to be a male V, because the two male V romance options "work better", story wise - Panam and the Aldecaldos are tightly woven into the main story, and although Kerry isn't as tightly woven into Vs story, he's directly connected to Johnny's story. Judy is nice and she's involved a lot in the early story, but once she gets revenge for Evelyn, she just kind of... Fucks off to sit in her apartment and she's all but wrote out of the story other than showing up to do dates. River, kind of the same thing. Hell, notably, of all of the romance options? River is the only one that is entirely optional. You don't ever have to meet him. All three others you do.

Aaaaanyway, that's a long, roundabout way of getting at my point - I think the "fuckboy trying to act tougher than he is" thing is actually intentional. Male V is also much more of a snarky asshole in his delivery than female V, while female V actually seems to display more genuine emotion beyond "vaguely annoyed or vaguely amused".

 

[Am I Very Wrong]

I will always pick a male character if given the choice because i'm a male and female characters never look cool; they can be eye candy at best.
However i don't mind if it's forced, especially in horror games

 

[PetiteFeet]

So, I have this theory that to the extent there's meant to be a "canon" version of V, despite the fact that the female V gets a lot of play in the cutscenes, it's meant to be male corpo V.

Warning, minor nerdsperging:

I base this on a few things. The symbolism works a lot better that way. Corpo V is narratively connected to Arasaka, the other two just kind of wind up in involved. There's approximately twice as much special dialog for corpo V as there is for the other lifepaths. And of the three lifepath's mid-game quests the corpo path is the most directly connected to your actual opening.

And I think it was supposed to be a male V, because the two male V romance options "work better", story wise - Panam and the Aldecaldos are tightly woven into the main story, and although Kerry isn't as tightly woven into Vs story, he's directly connected to Johnny's story. Judy is nice and she's involved a lot in the early story, but once she gets revenge for Evelyn, she just kind of... Fucks off to sit in her apartment and she's all but wrote out of the story other than showing up to do dates. River, kind of the same thing. Hell, notably, of all of the romance options? River is the only one that is entirely optional. You don't ever have to meet him. All three others you do.

Aaaaanyway, that's a long, roundabout way of getting at my point - I think the "fuckboy trying to act tougher than he is" thing is actually intentional. Male V is also much more of a snarky asshole in his delivery than female V, while female V actually seems to display more genuine emotion beyond "vaguely annoyed or vaguely amused".

Good point on the Arasaka/Corpo part and yeah Panam as a whole felt more canon than my romance with Judy (as much as I loved it, the whole Evelyn thing soured it because I felt like I was stepping on her corpse by macking on Judy.) Though I have to say the diving mission with Judy where Corpo V opens up about sushi and eating real raw fish as opposed to shitty synthetic/bug paste fish was kino.
River Ward is absolutely the most dog shit tier romance option in the entire game and I felt SNUBBED. His questline was great, I'm still traumatised from it because of how dark it was even compared to the rest of the game. And then you have Kerry fucking Eurodyne who you can't mack on as a female V despite him being bisexual? Come the fuck on, in anno domini where EVERY FUCKING "DIVERSE" GAME HAS PLAYER-SEXUAL NPCs! I'm just mad because the OG Illidan Stormrage voice actor is Kerry
And let's be real, point me to a game where the intended player experience is the female when you're given the option of either gender because I can't think of one. It's understandably the default when gaming is still by and largely a straight male oriented form of escapism/hobby.

 

[Xavier Renegade Angel]

In most games no. In gta if I'm a women it's not gta