Neofelis Nebulosa wrote...
No, it's not weird, in fact there are several good reason as to why play the opposite sex.
1.) Aesthetics:
A.) For males: Most games have a tendency to overdraw certain characteristica of their character's appearences to match the game's premise. That for example usually leads to male characters being overly muscular to facilitate the look of someone being "badass" or simply strong with an imposing figure. That however is often almost comical over the top to the point it might looks just silly, very much like extreme bodybuilders don't look much like your iso male dream come true. Some people just don't like that look. In the same notion, female characters are still mostly shaped for sex appeal. That usually results in smoother, more symmetrical character design that not only looks appealing to most people, but is generally closer to natural proportions or the differences aren't that gleaming.
Another reason is, for example in RPGs, most of the time you look at your character from behind when playing and a basic thought is, if I am going to look at an ass all the time, why not make it an appealing ass for convinience.
B.) For females: Basically the same reasons. Female characters are often oversexualized (just think of what most people think of female armor, or lack thereof), so even a stereotypical male muscle mountain may be more appealing than looking into a copy of the Playboy magazine each time you play the game.
Definately makes sense. Sometimes males are more acceptant of oversexualization of women because they are attracted to that gender. Wonder what would happen if there was a choice between a good looking male and a subaverage woman?
2.) Psychological:
A.) For males: It is easier to accomodate most players when you appear female. Why? Because it is simply male instinct to protect females, aswell as it comes easier to accommodate female characters by view of female players. People can extort that natural mechanic for example to get others to do what they want, in the worst case by pretending to be a female and flirting with them, or by simply using their blessed ignorance and profiting from subconsciously induced forthcoming behaviour. A female mage for example is more like to be protected simply because of ancient instincts prodding them to as a male mage for example, "who's male and should handle himself well enough".
B.) For females: Two things. First, even though female gamers are hardly a minority anymore, people still act differently in their presence. For example might male players start flirting with others if their give off enough "female energy" so to speak. An easy way of preventing that from happening is to play a male character.
Secondly, same as with the male example of protector instincts is still the chauvinist idea that women aren't suited for harmful environments. Whom are you going to trust doing the job of rampaging through enemy hordes better? A male knight, or a female one? That particular point is deeply tied to how stereotypical characters are designed, the more flimsy and oversexualized a character may appear, the less credit are they likely to take for being hardass warriors in first glance. Avoiding that is another valid reason for female gamers to play male characters.
Good reasons. I remember back in the days of Halo 2 when people would start freaking out and attempting to sound
sexy whenever they were match with a girl in a lobby. I can totally see how playing as a female can bring many benefits, as that is one the only few times when someone can get others to do anything, such as working as a team, or even persuading them to hand over their items. I should try this in an MMO.
3.) Ingame mechanics:
Some games do allocate certain advantages and disadvantages to different sexes. Those can range from vastly different skills in RPGs for example, or simply smaller hitframes for smaller characters (as females are usually smaller than males in games, compare 1.). Those differences are independent of sex preferences or gender predispositions as they are actively chosen to accomodate playstyles.
To add to this point, some games have content that is gender specific. Meaning that some of what the game has to offer is available only if one plays as male, while other content is available only if someone plas as a female.
4.) RPG'ing:
Self explanatory.
Yes. Sometimes people would like to take a break from their male/female lives and roleplay in a game to experience a world as a different person, both gender and personality wise.
Since you were saddened that no one would acknowledge your well-thoughtout post, I decided to step in and analyze it. Now turn that frown upside down.
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male figure
