Why do some male gamers play as female characters or toons? Plus Poll

Hey so I just wanted to hear why some of you do that. lol not going to attack or anything I just wanted to hear the logic. Whats the draw? I just see that sort of thing a lot and wanted to ask.

Hey so I just wanted to hear why some of you do that. lol not going to attack or anything I just wanted to hear the logic. Whats the draw? I just see that sort of thing a lot and wanted to ask.

Gamesterpheonix

inb4 I prefer to look a female butt than a male butt.

Ok, for me, well, I can say from WoW that I hated some male models so that's why I used female for some races. I really disliked the male models of humans, draenei and blood elves so if I rolled as any of those races I would use a female toon.

But, in the end, it doesn't matter. It is just an avatar in a virtual world so anyone should enjoy the game, regardless if you are using a character opposite of your real gender.

inb4 I prefer to look a female butt than a male butt. Miroku32

[QUOTE="Miroku32"]inb4 I prefer to look a female butt than a male butt. Cataclism

For some reason, whenever I create a mage character in rpg's or w/e I always pick a female. I go male with all other classes

[QUOTE="Gamesterpheonix"]

Hey so I just wanted to hear why some of you do that. lol not going to attack or anything I just wanted to hear the logic. Whats the draw? I just see that sort of thing a lot and wanted to ask.

Cataclism

When I began my gaming career -- at City of Heroes -- two things on the mountain of stuff-I-don't-know:

1.) WASD is forward backward left or right. I didn't know that.

2.) That most females are going to be males.

When I posted about it, people got upset with some of my assumptions and my confusion as to why would you play as a girl. Now that I've been gamin' for six years though.... Yeah, some times you get an idea for a female character. Just the other day my roommate, an older lady, caused me a little embarrassment when I just happened to fire up the ol' ME2 and she saw. She said, "So, you're playing as a female?"

"Well, yeah... But.... But... That's only because I already played through the game as John Shepherd, then Richard Shepherd. Now, I'm Apache Shepherd: a bad-ass, who happens to be female," I brustled.

Yeah. But to each their own. Not every superhero is going to be an American white-dude I guess. Then I was painting a bedroom with my exgirlfriend with a thiiiiiiiick Asian accent, she kept saying "burgundy red" so much that I eventually made a katana / super reflexes Japanese chick codenamed.... You guessed it, BURGUNDY RED! And she became my first female character ever.

Man, she was fun. Burgundy Red that is. Not so much at PvP though.

depends on game, player class, armor sets available, etc.

[QUOTE="Cataclism"][QUOTE="Gamesterpheonix"]

Hey so I just wanted to hear why some of you do that. lol not going to attack or anything I just wanted to hear the logic. Whats the draw? I just see that sort of thing a lot and wanted to ask.

Gamesterpheonix

i've done it a few times because i may not like the male models for some races on WoW and rift. blood elves, draenei, humans, kelari (rift) and high elves (rift) come to mind. i don't do it just to be a female, i do it so that i can play that race and not completely dislike how my character looks in endgame gear.

Yes, I do play with female characters - but that only refers to MMORPGs and the reason why I play a FEMALE instead of a MALE character is simple - the design and style/body of the male is beyond terrible. GW2 is an example ... I don't like the male human design regardless of how much time I spend in the custumization - it still looks bad to me ...

I never play as female characters. If a game comes out which has only a female protagonist my possibility of buying the game decreases dramatically. I think the last game I bought which had a female character as the protagonist was Tomb Raider 2.

I believe males who play as female characters (especially in MMOs) do so because they identify better as being a female. The truth is 90% of these male players (especially in MMOS) never come across as being very butch and don't act very much like males, their vocabulary seems to be somewhere a long the lines of "Hihi ^^ how much for that epic great sword, I have 500g :)) plz send me tell kthx". And then I'm like "See you later". I have always thought a good majority of the males playing as female characters have some form of transgender abnormalities with in their stem cells.

Depends on the game and the character. In MMORPGs, my main is usually a male and my alts almost always female.

I'll give a visual example: as a straight male, which would you rather stare at for 100+ hours? If you look at necromancer, the choice is even clearer, as male necros tend to slouch over and look hunchbacked.

I never play as female characters. If a game comes out which has only a female protagonist my possibility of buying the game decreases dramatically. I think the last game I bought which had a female character as the protagonist was Tomb Raider 2.

I believe males who play as female characters (especially in MMOs) do so because they identify better as being a female. The truth is 90% of these male players (especially in MMOS) never come across as being very butch and don't act very much like males, their vocabulary seems to be somewhere a long the lines of "Hihi ^^ how much for that epic great sword, I have 500g :)) plz send me tell kthx". And then I'm like "See you later". I have always thought a good majority of the males playing as female characters have some form of transgender abnormalities with in their stem cells.

ShimmerMan

I prefer watching a female over a male, pretty natural eh? I don't do that "immerse myself into the character" stuff.

I mostly play as male characters 70/30, not sure why really. I guess I always liked having the biggest char (Tauren) in WoW as you stand out. I don't see in-game female chars as eye candy either.

Not sure, I mostly play as male characters, although it doesn't really matter in the long run. For GW2 though.. especially after those screens, I'd only play as a male character.. because the female armour is seriously ridiculous.

I don't mind playing as a girl in these games where the protagonist is usually a she:

[QUOTE="Cataclism"] This has been discusted countless times before but the gist of it is this: Males that play female "Toons" do not see the toons as a representation of themselves but rather as what they actually are: characters. Basically like when a male writer writes a book with female characters. I, for example, play both female and male characters. Now tell me, why is this weird but seeing a character as a representation of yourself is not?ShadowDeathX

[QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"][QUOTE="Cataclism"] This has been discusted countless times before but the gist of it is this: Males that play female "Toons" do not see the toons as a representation of themselves but rather as what they actually are: characters. Basically like when a male writer writes a book with female characters. I, for example, play both female and male characters. Now tell me, why is this weird but seeing a character as a representation of yourself is not?wis3boi

I don't do it, to me the character in the game is a virtual representation of myself, or how I imagine myself if I was some great mighty warrior, rogue, assassin, etc etc. I never play a female character.

You get more immersed into the game if you chose the gender you are; from my expierence anyway. The same goes for movies; males can get lost in action packed movies like, "Transporter" and not movies like, "Salt."

It's a matter of preference, some people like to imagine themselves in the situation and its easier to do if they are the same gender. We all percieve things differently

I prefer watching a female over a male, pretty natural eh? I don't do that "immerse myself into the character" stuff.

spittis

me too.

but I do have to play as male in games with romance role-playing (almost all Bioware stuff since BG2, and some Obsidian games)

I'd like to address the "character immersion" posts (no, I'm not going to quote them all):

That may have been important in PnP RPGs, where you sat at a table with a bunch of fellow nerds, gulping Mountain Dew and chomping down bags of Doritos, calling out your actions and acting the part of your character. The better your acting, the more XP you earned (depending on the DM/GM), so you immersed yourself as deeply into your character as you could.

Hell, my best characters had back-stories that were deeper than A Game Of Thrones. I got into it big-time, because I knew that I could level up faster than my gaming group by playing it to the hilt and beyond.

It matters a lot less in PC RPGs. Name one ARPG or MMO that awards you for sitting at the keyboard and immersing yourself in your characters back-story.

It matters even less in PvP, where "character immersion" is matters on the level of "what's the current temperature at the base of Mons Olympus?" or "how long would it take me to walk to the Andromeda galaxy if I started now?" in terms of match results.

It may matter to you... and I'm not putting you down for it. It doesn't matter to everyone, however, and it rarely changes the result of the game in any meaningful way.

I do, I usually play a female character when the male characters just aren't that interesting which for some reason seems to be most male characters these days. Case in point...just about every MMO male character model ever, the only recent game I can remember playing a male was the original Borderlands (big fan of Mordecai) and Saints Row the Third (love the look and voice of the default male character). I really could care less about roleplaying or picking female characters for some kind of physical advantage, as long as they look and sound stylish it doesn't matter if they are male or female.

There is only one character that will forever be female to me though....Commander Shepard. That character is and always will be female in my eyes so other then that I am game for whatever character appeals to me.

I do, I usually play a female character when the male characters just aren't that interesting which for some reason seems to be most male characters these days. Case in point...just about every MMO male character model ever, the only recent game I can remember playing a male was the original Borderlands (big fan of Mordecai) and Saints Row the Third (love the look and voice of the default male character). I really could care less about roleplaying or picking female characters for some kind of physical advantage, as long as they look and sound stylish it doesn't matter if they are male or female.

There is only one character that will forever be female to me though....Commander Shepard. That character is and always will be female in my eyes so other then that I am game for whatever character appeals to me.

Cordliss

because, in some games (like Skyrim), we get to look at this, instead of some guys backside...

because, in some games (like Skyrim), we get to look at this, instead of some guys backside...

Chogyam

because, in some games (like Skyrim), we get to look at this, instead of some guys backside...

Chogyam

I play as females in certain games like the first Torchlight the girl was the cIass I wanted to play as. But when I started Diablo III I was a male monk. If I like the character model I'll play the female.

It's not a big deal for me. Boy or girl, I just choose what I think looks coolest (for the guy) or the most attractive (for the girl).

I tend to do a lot of roleplaying in video games, and occasionally I just get an idea for a character that sounds fun to play, and that character happens to be female. I don't give enough of a carp about being "manly" to not play a female character, so I play the character.

If I'm not doing the roleplay stuff, usually it's just for some variety. I tend to make a LOT of characters when I play MMOs and such, and I don't want them all to be the same, so I try to mix things up a bit.

I pick male/female based on my toon's concept.

I lol at anyone who gets offended over teh fact that I roll a female toon despite being male irl.

Preferences mainly. Some dudes like looking/staring at pixels that represent "Females." There are probably other reasons...

...But what would I know. I always avoid playing as females.

Why do mages and wizards wear robes? masterdrat

I do if the game has a certain class that only is available if I play as a female character. To be honest I never care that much about my characters, even in games that have lot of customization options. Frankly I'd prefer premade characters that develop as the game progresses according to my playing style and choices.