Reality Check - Why Do We Change Gender? Character Creation Psychology! (Part.2)

I always play a male character cause it´s an RPG game and I´m a guy. There still plenty of girls to look at in games so it´s not a problem.

The only games that I would ever create myself in are fifa but in any other game that you create your own character its always completely different to myself

I always go with male. I guess it is sexist but they just look more badass in massive imposing armor.

I never make female characters because I'm a male myself. Simple as that. I like to see myself thriving in a virtual world, and not a shemale version of me :(

Female creater mainly because im tired of the bulky look aromr tends to give males sometimes slim is nice now if the game offers options to make the male slim that'd be my choice but even then i'd still make both because there are often minor visual differences in the way the equipment looks and i feel it just looks unique.

I will always choose to play as a female character given the choice, but that is largely because so many games are male focused narratives. If I play Gears of War or Grand Theft Auto I have no choice, but to offset that in the games that do offer me choice I will always choose a female character.

Confession time - I didn't watch the videos. But I wanted to comment anyway. If there's an option to create a girl, I do so. Simply because I'd rather look at a sexy girl throughout the games than a guy.

No psychology for me lol. The only times I've created guys is when there's no option to create a girl or, at least until like Smackdown 2008 maybe, I wanted to create a "me" character for the game. But that's not very likely

But I'm sure there are psychological reasons for other people.

<shrug> Male and female I create them. I tend toward female more just because so many other games force me to be a male. You never know what race will get picked, either. Sometimes my class choice forces it. (Oh, you want to be an archer? Well you better be an elf then or you'll miss out on a bonus... ugh, I hate that.) Other times, though, it will be more about how interesting the character looks.

I've got one character I make fairly often that's my opposite. White turns to black, male turns to female, hairy turns to bald, dumb turns to... well, never mind about that. The point is that I found her pretty fun to play; especially in MMOs where so many people create themselves that you end up with a world of dweeby white guys.

Hmm, I wonder if anyone has made their character to looks like Owen Wilson.

I'm a guy and I've rarely ever played as a female character when given the choice.

For me it depends on the tools, so for games that have a set hero like Geralt, Shepard... I will not tweak it because I want to experience the game the devs meant for us to play and also all promotional campaigns, articles and the great majority of players will play with the same character which creates a connection. Likewise in JRPGs I never change the name.

However when you get to create whatever I think I base a lot of it on books I've read, movies I've watched and stuff like that. I often like to make a rogue/assassin/thief/archer type so I often tend to make elves. In BG I was a helf elf, in Divine Divinty I think I was a wood elf, in Oblivion.... I don't remember

In MMOs it's big mix depending on class. In WoW I have a dwarf and orc DK, a NE Druid, Draenei Priest, Worgen rogue..

I try to make my character look as similar to me as possible but i usually fail miserably. And they end up looking nothing like me. However I try to put my psyche into my character and act as much as I would.

I'm a guy and I always choose females (at least on first play through) because it's way cooler to see a girl kick @ss in games....also I play more cautiously with female characters because I don't want them to die. I never create myself in a game, I don't see the point.

Well I mostly play male characters but I do have female characters where choice is available for curiosity reasons. However, if the main protagonist is only male or only female then it doesn't matter to me - it matter they bring good personality and story. However, in some games, it is utterly irrelevant to me - for example in MOBA games where I care only if their skill set is good for me or not.

I'm surprised they didn't suggest that part of the reason why a large percentage of girl gamers make/play female characters when given the chance has to do with there just not being very many female protagonists compared to the # of male protagonists on average. So when a female gamer gets the chance to play a female protagonist, they are more eager to do so.

The want for a male to have an attractive female avatar is self-explanatory, but is by no means where it stops for a lot of gamers. Personally, I've always been someone who's preferred faster, smaller characters (essentially the thief/rogue type), the ones with a surprising amount of power in a tiny frame, and often in games when one couldn't actually choose the appearance those characters have been female. I just love having that avatar that looks like the person that no one will see coming, the one that can devastates but looks like they couldn't take a house cat in a fight. Also I'm an older gamer, having started way back with Atari, and one of my favorite series ever began on the NES - Metroid. Up until "Other M" I've absolutely loved the character of Samus and have always enjoyed seeing a strong female lead, which is why I can't stand characters like Princess Peach or (depending on the incarnation) Princess Zelda. I'll take a Lara Croft or Elena Fisher over those old archetypes and vicitmized whiners any day.

Those are my reasons from a gaming perspective. On a much more personal note I was raised by a single mom who was loving overall and terrifying if crossed. She could keep up with any man and put many to shame, so having a strong female taking the lead in a game just seems normal to me. It's also probably the main reason why I do get so annoyed with weak women in video games.

Guys will play as a female so they can make a hot chick to jerk off to - lol. You wanted it in writing? There! Glad someone said it...

I get maximum satisfaction out of RPGs when my character is psychologically "me." But this is "me" transported into some unreal setting, so my character might be wearing different physical "clothes," up to and including a different body. I always pick my own gender because that has a psychological impact, but I don't worry about making my character match my appearance. A character who's a foot taller than I am and has red hair can still feel like me, but a male character doesn't feel like me.

I also show a strong preference for playing magic users (especially the scholarly wizard type, in a setting that has different types of casters). This class just seems to suit my personality, in the same way that engineering suits my personality in the real world. In settings that allow it, I often get even closer to real me by playing an artificer (aka magic engineer).

I always try to make the stupidest looking character I can make, whether that be male, female, alien, whatever. In Skyrim for example, I always choose the Argonian (lizard man) and make him really bright neon colors with overly exaggerated features. I do this solely because they look hilarious and I always get a good laugh when I see them.

Basically everything that was mentioned plays a factor in what gender I choose in a game, although I will say that if i am playing a game with a desire for full immersion (I vs. "my character"), I tend to play males, because I am one, and this is especially true if there are going to be romantic scenes that force a heterosexual bonding. Like most guys, I'm not opposed to seeing two women engaged in amorous activities. ;) Being a big, strapping guy, I get all the masculinity I need from just living my life, so if I am playing the role of observer rather than participant, I certainly enjoy seeing how women are portrayed in a game of any depth (like DA:I). That's why, if I decide to play through it again, I will likely play as a female, but this is largely because there are some significant gender boundaries that could have some impact on how certain interactions play out. To me, gender isn't really that big of a deal. A person is comprised of a great many different qualities, with gender and race posing some unique biological and cultural considerations, to be sure, but when it comes right down to it, neither of those qualities is going to impact what I think of that person overall, once I get to know them better, unless they are superficial enough to let them play an unhealthily large role in defining their identity.

I just like to switch it up. Sometimes I like to play as a female, just because of the fact a male has broader shoulders, being a female allows me to see more of the screen.

I usually play as a female (because I am one), however, in games like DA and ME where it makes a difference, I try to do at least one playthrough as a male as well. Often I make my male playthrough my 'evil' playthrough (I suck at being evil in certain games, just feel so bad being mean to all the poor little fictional people :p ), so I can do everything differently to how I normally would.
My female characters look nothing like me (nor do the males, obviously). I tend to try and decide their personality and choose their appearance based on that.

I usually play as a female, because I am one. In games where it makes a difference, like DA and ME, I tend to do at least one playthrough as a guy, too. Generally I make that my 'evil' playthrough (I suck at being evil in certain games, I feel bad for being mean to the poor little fictional characters), just so I can do everything differently to how I normally do.

The first female character I ever played was Lara Croft. I learned that watching the female form was more enjoyable for me than the male form as a child and that experience carried over into gaming. It wasn't until we had the option to play both sexes that I could experience the different range of emotions for female and male characters. Now I usually play through one of each. However, after ME1 I decided to advance my femshep onto ME2 and then ME3: she was better to look at.

I do identify as a feminist now compared to the old days of the original Tomb Raider when I called feminists by another derogatory name. That change may have been at least partially attributed to my ability (and preference) to play female characters. But I doubt it.

Since this is based on RPGs (the most common place for character creation), let me just say personally, I don't really think about it all that much when making my decisions. I don't create characters that resemble myself; I see them as their own unique identity and personality. When there are decisions to make in the game, the majority of the time I don't think "What would I do?" I think "What would MY CHARACTER do?".

Oddly enough, in games where you have a pre-selected character, let's say any Telltale game for example, I DO end up making decisions that are based on myself moreso than what I think the character would do. There may be some psychological reason for this. Maybe when creating my characters I feel like I've given them a personality, whereas one that has been given to me, I end up projecting my thoughts onto theirs because I can't tell what they'd actually do. Who knows?

All that being said, I would say a good 95% of the time when creating characters in RPGs, I mostly choose a guy only because... I'm a guy too. Without generalizing too much, I think that's just how our human nature is. Males usually associate themselves with other males, and females associate themselves with other females. The times in games when I HAVE indeed created a female character, it's mostly due to the fact there's only two options: Male, or female? My thoughts are usually along the lines of "Well I'm usually males in games, so why not be a female this time?". Whether I'm not seeing the reason behind it, I cannot say, but to me it seems a lot more simple.

Going back to games that have pre-selected characters for a second, let me also add, when there's a choice between male or female, the odds of me picking female are a lot higher than when I create a character. Probably around 35% instead of 5%. Come to think of it, maybe I just believe I'm bad at creating a good female character myself.

I just chose women chars cuz a love to watch butts :)

I chose a woman for DA:I to have lesbian sex with Leliana, then I found out Leliana is not a romance choice. I'm disappointed, I want my money back!

Psychology is a pseudoscience like astrology.

I changed gender in a videogame once to get an achievement in SR3...
Otherwise I am not confused or sad. I only play games where the character does or can resemble me.

The 'looking at the rear-end of the character' excuse is so lame, imo. If I wanted to perv, I have pornography. I don't play video games so I can be sexually aroused.

Sometimes for third person games I'll choose a female character so I can look at her behind and jugs, simple as that. The rest of the time I like to be a man on a mission of killing and slaughter.

Generally most stories use the same archetypes, so when given a choice many go in a different direction.

Women different from the stories there always told.

Men different from the stories they already know.

I am going to state the obvious...If I am going to play 30 plus hours in a game and have an option I would rather stare at the back end of a female character.

However here is my real reason:

I have a very awesome part time gig working at a comic book shop. And let me tell you all, that there are lot more strong and interesting female protagonists that in my opinion destroy most of the male protagonists that we all grew up with and wanted to be more like.

Well I am not a "big guy". I am just a normal guy. The characters I play in a game do not affect my sleeping soundly at night, because they are not me, they are simply characters in a game.

As I said its just a game. Do some growing up, small guy, will ya?

P.S. Maybe you should do some pen and paper roleplaying once, where you really try to roleplay some other guy or woman yourself and not have it roleplayed by a computer game for you, where you anyway can only pick between pre-determined lines instead making them up yourself.

Maybe you will then see how ridicilous it is to overintpret the character model you can pick in a computer game, because it does not even have real consequences in the game itself, let alone in the real world.

For me, the largest appeal of roleplaying games has always been the feeling of assuming another identity. I enjoyed theatre for the same reason. I was never serious about the craft, I just liked pretending to be another person. So when I approach these games, it's not from a perspective of trying to see myself in a fantasy setting, it's more about creating a cool character concept and putting it into the game world. Sometimes the characters are male, sometimes they're female.

But they're never me. Only I am me.

I'm probably in the minority on this, but it's really the biggest reason I enjoy RPGs of any variety.

Fable 3 as a female character was an eye opening experience. Getting "propositioned" about half the time when I jumped into a game was awkward but most people accepted the first no. There was the guy that kept asking which was mildly creepy and then the guy that started trying to give me gifts.

I have this image of Ozzy in concert yelling out the next song: Gender Bender!!!

I play with both women and men characters. In group RPG games I like there to be 1/2 male 1/2 female like IWD or BG2 or NWN 2. Dragon Age I ran with a male mage once and a female warrior. Guild Wars 2 I have male and female.. Rift male and female. Both genders have value.