340 réponses à ce sujet

[NUM13ER]

Personally I don't see the PC as an avatar of myself but rather a character I've made to inhabit the world. So I can quite happily be male, female, a paragon of virtue or a diabolical fiend. 

For me it's just offers a different perspective on the game's world in repeat playthroughs. I also enjoy a voiced protagonist so I'll usually want to hear both genders voice actors. Adds a little something new on top of different gameplay choices next time around for me.

The announcement of 2 voice actors for each gender is very welcomed indeed in that regard. 

[n7stormrunner]

I'd argue that the rationale for playing a female character in a MMO is because other people (generally) treat females better than males, and everyone likes being treated well.

then I'm strange for not playing females in mmos? I'll play 'em in single player games but I only play male charaters in mmos, which gets annoying when the game has gender locked classes. 

[CybAnt1]

I'd argue that the rationale for playing a female character in a MMO is because other people (generally) treat females better than males, and everyone likes being treated well.

 

I have personal, anecdotal experience that verifies your assertion. BTW, I didn't create my female alts in order to get better treatment, but I did notice it happening. Although I had one experience that bordered on stalking my character ... 

[Faerlyte]

I don't mind playing as a male character. I always start out with a female character because then I can pretend that I'm living vicariously through that character. And all my subsequent play throughs usually involve the same character because I have to fix something, such as game transferals as with my first DA:II game. It didn't carry over my data properly so I had to do it over and I don't feel the desire to play through it again just for a male character. Especially when none of the female companions really interested me. 

 

But not so long ago one didn't have the liberty of choosing the outcome of things, let alone what gender to play with. Playing as a male character then wasn't a big deal. It isn't now either. 

 

EDIT: I almost always play as a male character in Mass Effect multiplayer. 

[CENIC]

then I'm strange for not playing females in mmos? I'll play 'em in single player games but I only play male charaters in mmos, which gets annoying when the game has gender locked classes. 

Strange? Not at all. You aren't strange for playing a MMO as a character of the opposite gender, either.

 

...but if you don't play as a female character, you're less likely to get free stuff.

[Azure]

I've actually never played a male warden, Shepard, or Hawke. It's not that I can't, it's just never interested me honestly. I've always meant to have at least one character be male but it's kind of nice to just be a lady all the time.

[Ryzaki]

then I'm strange for not playing females in mmos? I'll play 'em in single player games but I only play male charaters in mmos, which gets annoying when the game has gender locked classes. 

 

eh I play both. I get harassed a lot less on my male characters though so they tend to be my "mains". I swear if I got one more whisper about someone wanting me to be their "slave" *eyetwitch*

 

But I usually pick a character based off voice acting. I tend to play males because I'm extremely picky when it comes to female VAs. My wardens were 9/10 female, my Hawkes are all males (I tried to make a femHawke but her being Brynn ruined it completely), my Sheps are all males and if I don't like the female Inq voice options my Inqs'll most likely be all male too.

[n7stormrunner]

Strange? Not at all. You aren't strange for playing a MMO as a character of the opposite gender, either.

 

...but if you don't play as a female character, you're less likely to get free stuff.

 

 

bah, who wants charity, I want to earn it like a real gamer 

 

eh I play both. I get harassed a lot less on my male characters though so they tend to be my "mains". I swear if I got one more whisper about someone wanting me to be their "slave" *eyetwitch*

 

But I usually pick a character based off voice acting. I tend to play males because I'm extremely picky when it comes to female VAs. My wardens were 9/10 female, my Hawkes are all males (I tried to make a femHawke but her being Brynn ruined it completely), my Sheps are all males and if I don't like the female Inq voice options my Inqs'll most likely be all male too.

 

... I hope you reported them.

[Maria Caliban]

So I'm curious as to why some people don't like it. I find it strange that they choose to miss out on content on purpose, but maybe that's just me.

Because the majority of games will make me play a dude. Likewise, most action, adventure, fantasy, and science fiction books and films will have a dude as the viewpoint character.

[Ryzaki]

... I hope you reported them.

 

I couldn't even be bothered honestly. They knocked it off once I went no and that's all I really cared about. That and /ignore

 

It's just creepy though.

[Truffle]

I can't stand female Hawke. Her voice is too soft compared to female Shepard. That's why I've only done one female playthrough. Male Hawke's authoritative voice is perfect so I always go male.

 

In DAO I play both genders pretty evenly. I guess it depends on the game and whether or not the voice grates on my nerves. I know a guy who finds M/M disgusting so he plays as women to go F/F. Go figure.

[In Exile]

At least in my case, I identify very differently with male and female protagonists. I have a very hard time playing a set male protagonist that's unlike me, because for whatever reason my brain wants to identify with their POV as if it mine and unless there's just nothing shared between us.

In contrast I have a much, much easier time identifying with set female protagonists. They're just cool characters, totally separate from me. All my female chars in ME1-3 were basically default femshep. Same with DA2.

[badboy64]

I am a male and I player females 99% of the time. Only played 1 male in DA:o and DA:2 of all of the time I have played both games.

[ME_Fan]

I'll always go for the 'default' in any game, such as John Shepard. I originally played DAO as a male human noble, but now that the default canon for origins is a female Dalish, if I ever play it again I'll do that. I'm a guy and frankly I don't care, I do enjoy playing as females in games that aren't RPGs simply because it's a refreshing change. Faith in Mirrors edge and Chell in Portal, for instance. I feel as though if those games had male leads they'd be kind of dull. But I never consider the gender of the protagonist that important. To me, story takes priority, some stories are written in a way that only a male or a female would work, not both genders. Deus Ex 3, for instance, would not work as a female lead, the story would have to be completely different.

@Blackrising I can understand where you're coming from, but every now and then you do get very interesting characters. Edward Kenway, I thought was a great character simply because he was something different from the clichéd male leads you've described.

[GVulture]

I PREFER playing as my own gender. Because there aren't many games that let me do that.

 

However, I do usually have at least one PT where I play a dude to access options that aren't available to me other wise. At least... I did in Mass Effect. I had one Shepard per romance option. Dragon Age is actually 1000% better at being more inclusive when it comes to not denying me choice like Mass Effect has. With DA:O I had to make ONE male to romance Morrigan. I didn't have to make a male at all for DA2. I still haven't.

 

((forever bitter that a canonically bisexual Jack wasn't available for a FemShep and that Ash's and Miri's f/f romances were cut. Thank goodness that ME4 isn't the same team. I hoping that a team including someone like Manveer Heir will be a little more... aware of when they're being too... jerk facey about females in their game))

 

When your gender is considered the "default" it is easier to stretch out and explore. When your options are limited... it makes you more likely to wallow and celebrate when you are given the freedom to be something you more closely identify with.

[Nocte ad Mortem]

Bioware games are some of the only games, the only media generally, where you can experience same sex relationships. I'm a gay male and that makes the content pretty important to me. I don't really want to play a hetero relationship AGAIN when I finally have the chance not to. That's already 99% of media.

[TKavatar]

Thanks for the responses guys, it's really interesting to see so many varied opinions.

[BronzTrooper]

I've played as either gender multiple times.  Hell, my current Hawke, Warden, and Shepard are all women.  In DA:O and ME the gender balance leans toward male because I'm a guy, but so far in DA2, most of my Hawkes have been women.  I guess it has to do with the playersexual mentality of the romances (I don't do guy-on-guy romances.  I'm not anti-gay, it's just... awkward).

 

Honestly, I think that the women have better options for romances (Garrus in ME and Alistair in DA:O) when compared to the men.  I like to experience my games to the fullest, and if that means I have to play as a woman to do so, I'll do it.

 

The only time I have problems is when I'm roleplaying a Hawke/Warden/Shepard that's a polar opposite from me.  The most difficult one is my current Hawke, who I want to choose to side with the Templars with.  I usually side with the mages, so this playthrough is really difficult for me, especially since I'm in Act III.  I like RPing a Warden/Hawke/Shepard that's a complete a-hole to everyone (take my human-hating city elf, for example), but I don't like having to choose choices that I'm morally against.  They tend to make me grind my teeth.  

[Mockingword]

Bioware games are some of the only games, the only media generally, where you can experience same sex relationships. I'm a gay male and that makes the content pretty important to me. I don't really want to play a hetero relationship AGAIN when I finally have the chance not to. That's already 99% of media.

Pretty much this.

 

I'll happily play or create female characters in games that have little to no roleplaying aspect. Heck, I'm playing Final Fantasy X-2 as I write this.

 

You think that people should want to play characters that are unlike themselves, but I am already doing that with every non-Bioware game I buy. For me, the opportunity to play as myself comes extremely rarely. 

[CuriousArtemis]

I'm a very strange person in that I don't really have a gender. That means that I don't really feel like a girl or a boy on the inside. For a few years I read up about what it meant to be transgender, but I realized that wasn't the feeling I had; I didn't have an overwhelming desire to be male on the outside (although I would like it very much... for a little while, lol!). 

 

Anyway, all that leads up to me enjoying playing both genders because to me I am both genders. I enjoy mostly playing fem guys and Amazon-type women. I like characters that play on the gender spectrum. When it comes to romance, I almost always play same sex romance, whether my character is male or female. Of the three RPGs I've played (I'm an RPG noob, as of 3 years ago ), I've never played a m/f romance.

 

However, I'm also a writer, and when I play an RPG and create a main character, that character isn't me; it's my character. I do have to identify with him or her on some level, but gender doesn't factor into my ability to identify with that person. I like playing as a guy the most because it's very freeing; I do get so very tired of being in this female body. And when I'm a guy, I romance guys because I like guys in real life. But sometimes I want to play a female character. It's just more fun and interesting for me to romance a female instead of a male in that scenario.

 

I know this isn't about romances, but that just sort of led naturally from what I was talking about earlier.

 

 

I don't really want to play a hetero relationship AGAIN when I finally have the chance not to. That's already 99% of media.

 

And there's this! *nods*

[Mummy22kids]

I've played as either gender multiple times.  Hell, my current Hawke, Warden, and Shepard are all women.  In DA:O and ME the gender balance leans toward male because I'm a guy, but so far in DA2, most of my Hawkes have been women.  I guess it has to do with the playersexual mentality of the romances (I don't do guy-on-guy romances.  I'm not anti-gay, it's just... awkward).

 

Honestly, I think that the women have better options for romances (Garrus in ME and Alistair in DA:O) when compared to the men.  I like to experience my games to the fullest, and if that means I have to play as a woman to do so, I'll do it.

 

The only time I have problems is when I'm roleplaying a Hawke/Warden/Shepard that's a polar opposite from me.  The most difficult one is my current Hawke, who I want to choose to side with the Templars with.  I usually side with the mages, so this playthrough is really difficult for me, especially since I'm in Act III.  I like RPing a Warden/Hawke/Shepard that's a complete a-hole to everyone (take my human-hating city elf, for example), but I don't like having to choose choices that I'm morally against.  They tend to make me grind my teeth.  

 

I feel the same way.  There's some decisions I almost never make (like killing Connor, abandoning Redcliffe, Siding with Petrice) because it completely goes against what I think is "right".  I used to agree that women had the best romances in DA and ME games until I played the Steve Cortez romance and now that's my favorite- though I still really like Alistair and Garrus (and Thane and Samantha Traynor (oops)).

[GVulture]

I've played as either gender multiple times.  Hell, my current Hawke, Warden, and Shepard are all women.  In DA:O and ME the gender balance leans toward male because I'm a guy, but so far in DA2, most of my Hawkes have been women.  I guess it has to do with the playersexual mentality of the romances (I don't do guy-on-guy romances.  I'm not anti-gay, it's just... awkward).

 

Honestly, I think that the women have better options for romances (Garrus in ME and Alistair in DA:O) when compared to the men.  I like to experience my games to the fullest, and if that means I have to play as a woman to do so, I'll do it.

 

The only time I have problems is when I'm roleplaying a Hawke/Warden/Shepard that's a polar opposite from me.  The most difficult one is my current Hawke, who I want to choose to side with the Templars with.  I usually side with the mages, so this playthrough is really difficult for me, especially since I'm in Act III.  I like RPing a Warden/Hawke/Shepard that's a complete a-hole to everyone (take my human-hating city elf, for example), but I don't like having to choose choices that I'm morally against.  They tend to make me grind my teeth.  

I dunno. I was always jealous of M!Shep. Garrus was cute and all but he just didn't do anything for me. Mass Effect 2 was a dark time for most of my many MANY FemSheps. All they wanted was to be space pirates with Jack and take down Cerberus with Miri... but the priiiiize. They always ended up with Thane and/or flying solo. With my BroShep. I actually COULD not decide between Miri and Jack. It was so bad I went through the suicide mission without romancing either one.

 

Of course, if they had ever given the Virmire Survivor a DLC that continued the romance like Liara's LotSB, I would've romanced Kaidan every single time. Still mad that they weren't in Arrival.

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

I'm trying to, believe me.

 

Thanks so much for sharing your POV! As a person who can play both genders with ease (though I default to female for preference), like the OP I've been curious about those who claim it's difficult or impossible for them to play a different gender than what's usual. People can of course play however they like, but I think it's just great to see some other perspectives of the different 'why's.

[Lebanese Dude]

Gender is one of the harder elements or me to roleplay, because I am not a woman nor can I imagine myself being one.

I end up playing women how I would play my men, which essentially means I don't roleplay gender at all.