What's your view on men playing as women in videogames?

Whether it be the main character from games like Heavenly Sword, Tomb Raider, the upcoming Final Fantasy, or choosing female characters in fighting games like Tekken, Soul Calibur, or creating female characters in MMOs like World of Warcraft -- all when the person playing is actually male.

What's your take on it?

Obviously a lot of games with female leads can be very popular among the male gaming audience, but a lot of people are still iffy about it.

Personally I don't care, infact -- I sometimes prefer to play as a women. For example, one of my characters on WoW is a female blood elf paladin. My friends always make fun of me for it, calling it stupid or gay , linking it to my current lack of a girlfriend, and always asking why I have a chick character. Other players I've met have actually told me to step out of the closet etc... because I guess playing as a women in a videogame means you want to be a women in real life 0_o.

So why did I? Well, the blood elf chicks are hot, and I thought making one with plate armor and a giant 2-handed sword would make them that much hotter. There's something about the innocence and beauty of a women combined with deadly force that strikes me as totally badass.

But maybe that's just me..

I enjoy playing as male characters as well, but throughout my gaming experiences I've realized I've always strayed away from the typical male hardass characters to more stylish characters.

Discuss

I dont know why but I do that a lot. Maybe its the fact that im a male and I like to see females whoop some a$$. My female chars are also usually pretty slutty, soooo...... I would call it a male tendency.

male or female never really mattered to me. I guess some people are so insecure about seeing other males play as females that they can't handle it?

Which is rather silly, online there exists no such thing as a sex, only friend or foe (in my twisted world) so if people play as male or female doessnt really matter to me, only that the people are nice.

Besides... who hassnt been playing a female character at some point? I do it from time to time in rpgs, just to mix things up, and because I like to make complicated characters.

On fighting games however I feel that the sex of the person is pointless as it is thier fightingstyles you are interrested in (I tend to prefer faster styles over slow and hard hitting, which usualy mean female for some reason)

I have asked this same question to some people and this is the response they give me. Well if im gonna look at the back side of a character I would rather look at female character then a male character.

Of course this was messed around with some, but you get the general idea.

You either pretend you are the character in which case you make it the same sex as you or you just want your character to be visually appealing as you kill and mame stuff. I do both, usually male character first.

I don't see what the problem is. As a female gamer almost all of the games I play focus on the male character.

i like charismatic male characters more but i'm fine with female leads also.

about your wow example, i think people who have girlfirends or have no problem with girls can make female characters easily, so others are just either losers or jealous or something else. personally in wow i made many different chars, my first was undead male mage but i had a female gnome with pink hair too because i find it funny. gay comments are just childish, because they cant just get over with their ego.

First of all, as what was said, there is indeed a lot of women in video games.

Although there is a game nobody mentioned, a woman does have a role in the game. Max Payne 2: Fall of Max Payne.

Mona Sax.

Behind that tender face and gorgeous body lies a woman with a bullet in her head. A woman who is, well, as strong and efficient as a man.

You can't complete Max Payne unless you play Mona's role. So even if you don't like playing woman roles, you're gonna be forced to do so because of the awesome game.

Throughout the twentieth century.. videogames have been known to include males. Well, the most of them I think, but I have only small information about them. I think that the woman in a videogame is good. I mean most of the videogames have men in them.

You don't see Winning Eleven with female soccer players, right? You don't play as a chick in Need For Speed.

The audience has had enough of men in videogames. Let there be a little change. The gaming inustry wanted to change from men all the time. Let there be some women.

Besides, seeing a woman in a two top with leather pants and a gun with amazing graphics is pretty damn cool! Don't you think?

I almost always play a woman when I have a chance...always have. I guess my thought is I am kind of role playing, and I might as well go all the way with it and role play something very different from me.

People who make fun of you for playing a different sex than your own (men as women and vice-versa) I think are pretty insecure about their own sexuality and need to take an inventory of themselves.

I enjoy playing female characters. When I play as a male character, I try to identify with the character and imagine myself in that role.

Playing a female character can be entertaining for the sex appeal and it also breaks up the monotony. There are far too many games which center around male characters. It seems a bit gender-biased. I like the crossover and empowerment that is to be had by placing a woman at the center of the action.

I enjoy playing female characters. When I play as a male character, I try to identify with the character and imagine myself in that role.

Playing a female character can be entertaining for the sex appeal and it also breaks up the monotony. There are far too many games which center around male characters. It seems a bit gender-biased. I like the crossover and empowerment that is to be had by placing a woman at the center of the action.

EnigManic

That was very well put! *claps*

I choose the girl whenever I can, simply because they're prettier to look at than tough sweaty marines or barbarians. In some games they also get better voice acting than male characters.

I just want to point out that no one has even tried to associate my name and the words stupid and gay because of this habit.

I think if you are playing a game for a long time it is easier to look at female behind than male behind. Also most male characters in the games are space marines of some sort. They look the same anyway. Make you feel like you are always playing the same game. This becomes boring. Females have more different shapes. Not so boring. I think it only becomes a problem when people like to dress up their characters like dolls. This is strange unless you are a girl.

I really don't get the issue. In single player games, it's not like you really have a choice. In fighting games, it's usually the tactics that matter. In MMOs, you get to create so many characters some of them are bound to be female, just for the variety.nopalversion

Actually, I have a friend who has all female characters in World of Warcraft. He never uses any voice chat with his guild and swears that letting everybody think he is a girl gets him better treatment. Seriously, they mail him awesome stuff for free in the game, and my male character in the same guild got nothing for the same amount of work.

[QUOTE="nopalversion"]I really don't get the issue. In single player games, it's not like you really have a choice. In fighting games, it's usually the tactics that matter. In MMOs, you get to create so many characters some of them are bound to be female, just for the variety.AtomicTangerine

Actually, I have a friend who has all female characters in World of Warcraft. He never uses any voice chat with his guild and swears that letting everybody think he is a girl gets him better treatment. Seriously, they mail him awesome stuff for free in the game, and my male character in the same guild got nothing for the same amount of work.

Hmm, there's some truth to that, even though you really do have to use voice chat in the end game. That's when you really want to be treated preferrentially, and I doubt that his stunt will win any guildmates over.

There was this report a while back that said that there was a lot of gender bending in WoW. Personally I don't see the problem since some people (including myself) get tired of playing a guy all the time. And if you're going going to be looking at a characters *** for hours on end you might as well enjoy it.

It's when your talking into the mic like a girl, etc. then maybe you've got some issues.

It's when your talking into the mic like a girl, etc. then maybe you've got some issues.

capthavic

:shock:

Oh, in that case...

*walks away whistling*

:P

[QUOTE="nopalversion"]I really don't get the issue. In single player games, it's not like you really have a choice. In fighting games, it's usually the tactics that matter. In MMOs, you get to create so many characters some of them are bound to be female, just for the variety.AtomicTangerine

Actually, I have a friend who has all female characters in World of Warcraft. He never uses any voice chat with his guild and swears that letting everybody think he is a girl gets him better treatment. Seriously, they mail him awesome stuff for free in the game, and my male character in the same guild got nothing for the same amount of work.

roflmao... your friend is wise, he is treating those pervs what they deserve :lol: miserable guys :lol:

I like to like the main character as much as possible, and I like women better than dudes so if I'm playing a game where it gives me the choice to play as a woman or a man, I'll often times play a woman unless it's something like Mass Effect where I felt like even though it gave you the option to play as a woman, there's kind of an indirect intention for the main character to be a man. Really though once the game gets underway and I get caught up in the story and action, I usually don't notice.

With MMOs I don't know, I guess it depends on the intention. My main in WoW was a male and it was annoying at times to discover that someone you thought was a woman was a man, and vice versa (it's not as common but there are women playing as men too). If a guy is rolling a female character because he thinks it will get him treated differently and help him get phat lewtz, that's pretty damn lame. Otherwise I don't have too much of a problem with it. There was a guy in my guild who had something like seven or eight alts and they were all female, and he was open about the fact that he did it because he's horny and likes to look at boobs. I just thought it was funny because that's the type of personality he had; he was a funny guy and had a wife who thought it was funny too.

If nothing else, it can lead to some interesting encounters. I had a female hunter that I messed around on from time to time, and one time I told someone in a pick-up group that I was quitting the game in a couple weeks. His response was "Why? Are you pregnant?" I got a kick out of that one.

to tell u guys the truth i have never chosen a female as a carecter and i have played almost every type of game in the market.

im also a very open minded gamer, and am not sexest in life, though some of my friends are.

but also i find that idont even think before i choose a carecters sex.

so, i dont see the problem in being female when u are male, unless u r a rapist or pedophile.