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

[Dysnomia]

For the most part no. If there 's character creation or several characters to choose from I will usually pick a female character first. I'm female and enjoy playing as females. But it's not a deal breaker if there's only a male character. I will also go back and replay some games as a male character. I'll usually pick a different class or race if possible too.

I like to make the female characters cute. At least have a decent face if I can customize. It can be funny to play as an uggo or genetic abomination sometimes. But I'd rather be attractive.

There's a DS game called From The Abyss. It's similar to Shining Soul. The sprite you chose doesn't matter in terms of class or gameplay. It's purely cosmetic. Two are female and two are male. But even if you pick a female sprite you can still get the waifu. I found this interesting because my first playthrough was with a female sprite. I guess that's neat for female players who like romancing other females.

 

[A Deer In Headlights]

Only if the character is trans (which hardly happens since I avoid that slop). I've been having a hard time trying to finish Celeste after I found out the developer retconned the main character to be trans. It's both stupid and ironic when they need to have a man be the "strong female". Other than that I'm pretty indifferent but usually lean towards what would make things more interesting.

 

[JamusActimus]

I would rather play a dude for my vanilla run and then play a woman to spice things up a tiny bit.

If I have a choice, I don't see myself picking the woman first unless there's something ultra cool gameplay,design or customization wise.

 

[Dunkin DoNUT]

Whichever is more optimal for my gameplay. For example, with Pokemon Emerald, I choose the female pokemon trainer because the male rival talks less and wastes less of my time.

 

[Lurkerish Kandor]

As an adult, I don't really care about 'Literally Me!" in my videogames anymore. I've come to appreciate character customization choices when they influence mechanics or create emergent story. If that's not a thing, it's a cointoss if I just make 'myself' to save time or if I do something random for shiggles.

Spoiler: short sperging about games where it matters

Dragon's Dogma 1 had many very specific reasons to choose gender/height/weight stuff, because all of it factors into gameplay in some way. One day, when I'm more familiar with the games, I'll do a playthrough of Mount & Blade as a woman to see how it affects things.
I honestly yearn for a doubling-down in RPGs on things like the casual racism in Morrowind, because stuff like that creates interesting interactions and gives me reason to replay.

I logged into the Kiwi SS13 server one or twice when no one was online, to avoid bothering anyone, just to try and wrap my head around the controls and find out some of the shit you can do. I played as a long-haired beaner janitor for shiggles and I'll fukken' do it again, unless races start having gameplay differences, and then I'll put thought into it.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

I usually go for the "cannon" choice but i dont mind playing either gender. depends on the game and its setting really.

I remember one time playing vampire the masquerade bloodlines as a female toreador just to see how much of a slut i could be. When i played Monster Hunter Wilds, i made a self-intrest character but 20 years older (bold, gray hair, wrinkles etc). just a tired veteran going on his last hunt to show the zommies how its done. Now im playing dragon age the veilguard and i decided to make the "whites" character as possible (blond, blue eyes straight etc) just to show in a sea full of mystery meats and trannis, they still need the white man to save the day.

 

[Daddy's Angry Juice]

I don't care, but I always make my OC donut steal waifu. Some would call me an "egg" but to those people I quote the old and wise Bubba Sparxxx "BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY ROCKIN EVERYWHERE!"

 

[Michael Wade]

Personally I always prefer playing as a dude, but if the story/gameplay is good I wouldn't mind playing tomb raider or what have you.

 

[Chapalapachapa]

Everyone who plays as a woman is a faggot in denial and i'm fucking over female protagonist in games

 

[Ducks Sorted in a Row]

I don't really care as long as they're not fat and ugly. Given the choice I'll pick a dude most of the time, unless it's an RPG and there are female-only options like NV.

 

[Silly Corgan]

If I'm going stare at someone's ass for 20+ hours I'll choose to play a woman.

I see, almost verbatim, this exact explanation whenever this discussion pops up no matter where it is. I've seen it so much that now I'm starting to wonder where it originated from and what people think they're actually telling others.
What is this visual pull straight to people's asses you have? Is there nothing happening in the games you're playing to draw the eye AWAY from the ass? I'm genuinely curious. What is it about the butt in general that is so magnetic you can never play as a man? It doesn't make sense. I don't find myself often staring at video game cheeks, how could you get distracted by virtual booty like that?

 

[The Pierrot]

What is it about the butt in general that is so magnetic you can never play as a man? It doesn't make sense. I don't find myself often staring at video game cheeks, how could you get distracted by virtual booty like that?

I'm pretty sure a part of it is just a simplification of the fact that playing a woman in those kinds of games means that the player, as the one controlling them, can do whatever they like with the character. Nothing deeper than that.

As for me, I don't really care as long as the character isn't incredibly annoying and, in the case of ones where customization is possible, I can actually make them look good. Both of those are really big asks in modern gaming now, apparently.

 

[Male Idiot]

I generally don't care. If you have both options and it has a replay value, I'll try out both sexes.

If it doesn't matter, whichever looks cooler. I generally don't need to see myself in a character to enjoy the game.

It can however ruin a game for me if you have a pre-made protagonist and he or she is shit.

A good example is Geralt, he is cool, Lara Croft used to be cool too. Titus is fine for , even being an Ultramarine.. A bad example is the woman Solo from the SW Outlaws. Ugly and lame.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I see, almost verbatim, this exact explanation whenever this discussion pops up no matter where it is. I've seen it so much that now I'm starting to wonder where it originated from and what people think they're actually telling others.
What is this visual pull straight to people's asses you have? Is there nothing happening in the games you're playing to draw the eye AWAY from the ass? I'm genuinely curious. What is it about the butt in general that is so magnetic you can never play as a man? It doesn't make sense. I don't find myself often staring at video game cheeks, how could you get distracted by virtual booty like that?

You are really asking for it

More seriously, pretty much the entire runtime of the game you will have the main character occupy a good chunk of the screen, usually with game systems designed around equipping costume/armor sets. So having a female on screen is preferable, same as having a female voice on apps. The only reason I'd play a male is if it has romance since it's either romancing lesbians or males, both disgusting in their own right.

I never had the "PC is literally me" feeling in a game where it would make sense to play as a man unless you have AGP.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

I'm always into roleplay, so choosing a male is a must.
The customization options came later.

 

[Kid Named Rocket]

If it's a game with a simple "boy or girl" system like Pokémon, I immediately pivot towards the male - it just seems more right, more "canonical" in a sense.
If the game has a character creator, then I don't really care about gender as much, I just try to recreate a character from some other piece of media to the best of my ability, regardless of whether they're male or female.

 

[Nitro!]

Picking the opposite sex in a character creator means nigga U gay.

 

[Pierre D'Olnique]

No. If I'm given a choice, it's always a gray, grizzled veteran dwarf/human male. If I can't make that, I'll pick/make the hottest chick.

 

[DumbDude43]

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.

the player character in knights of the old republic 2 (the jedi exile) is canonically a human female named meetra surik
but it's not something the game ever tells you, the only way you'd even know this is if you read about the games lore on wookieepedia

also at some point in the game some of the characters argue about whether revan (the player character from the first game) was actually a woman or a man, they don't really know because revan was almost always hooded and masked, but canonically revan was male

 

[The Ugly One]

I always pick a male character unless I can choose to be a hermaphroditic furry latex inflatacon.