I mostly play as a guy because, well, I am one. I guess it helps me connect to a character I made if they have something in common with me. It allows me to think more like that character when I play. Also, beards.
Now that being said, if I do multiple playthroughs of a game where what sex you play as changes the available content, I'll probably play as a female during second or third run.
Out of curiosity, why do you only play one gender? I play both, always have (since BG in fact) and never thought twice about it. What motivates you to limit yourself to only one?
because its just what i do.
Typically I do play as a male character, but always make a point of doing a female character at least once or twice per game.
The majority of the time though, I play as male characters.
I'm a man, and can more readily identify with and immerse myself into the setting as a male character.
Because I am a guy? I mean, why would I want to play as a girl anyway. lol
The way I see it, as an overweight dude who wears glasses, there is no video game hero who can represent me, save for a Saint's Row character.
That made me lol , anyways im going to say this one last time since people seem to not get it , when i said that play only characters that represent me in these type of RPG i just meant gender and personality wise , my toon doesnt have to match me physically ( although i try to make my character look like me but i digress ).
back when i used to play only mmos, i almost always played as female characters because i preferred the skimpy armour >___> and in most of the ones i player, the male armours were ugly.
that changed when i got my hands on DA2 (i played DA2 before DAO). now i pick my gender depending on who i intend to romance. if the character is bi, i'd usually romance them as both genders in separate playthroughs, but more often that not, i'd play as male. i have abolutely no problems playing characters of either gender.
my canon playthroughs are f!cousland x alistair in DAO, m!hawke x anders in DA2 and f!shep x kaidan in ME, but if alistair had been bi, or kaidan bi in ME1, i would've rolled male characters. still, i have no regrets. i currently have the goal of romancing dorian (done), solas (current), iron bull, cullen, sera (if i can bring myself to LIKE her) and possibly cassandra, but i plan to do a second solas romance after all that and have that be my canon DAI romance.
For me... it's... I don't know for sure in fact. I never quite thought about why I mostly (not only) play female characters. And I'm not talking about BioWare games specifically, but ANY game that allows me to choose the gender (even if I don't get to customize the appearance).
What I DO know, however, is that as far as the Mass Effect trilogy is concerned I did create two Shepards (in ME1) the first time I played it. I played with both characters for about two or three hours each (reaching the Citadel, basically) and then determined if whether or not I liked the specific combination of my character's appearance with the voice actor's performance. Specifically for ME1 I did not "choose a gender" but rather "chose a combination of preferences". So I decided to go with a female Shepard because I loved Jennifer Hale's performance and it also happened to fit to perfection with the appearance I gave to my FemShep (I mean Hale is definitely more on the "dramatic" side in many lines she delivers, and my FemShep had that sort of expression on her face that would fit such scenes perfectly).
But that's just for ME1 specifically.
For ME2 I just merely imported my FemShep to continue with her (my 'canon' playthrough) and not because "I wanted to play as a female" (simply because my FemShep from ME1 was my 'canon' playthrough). In fact I created an alternate (non-canon) MaleShep in ME2 as well (he died at the end of that playthrough though... * sniff *). For ME2 I actually enjoyed my whole playthrough with that male Shepard I made (and much preferred Mark Meer's performance in ME2 especially as a Renegade Shep, which is the path I took with my BroShep). For ME3, again, I merely continued with my canon FemShep from ME1 and ME2 (and also because I thought that generally-speaking I like to see a female romance with Liara; sure I liked Traynor too but I just 'feel' in my gut somehow that if there's "a girl out there" for a FemShep it's Liara and no one else, oh well).
Now comes DAO and the reasons changed when compared to ME1. The thing is the Warden is NOT voiced in DAO, which for me was quite a big deal. So what I did instead for DAO was to go with a gender that would "fit a specific Origin AND a specific class". For some unknown reasons even to myself I merely "thought" (out of the big blue) that for example a female Warden would mysteriously "fit" better with a Rogue Dalish Elf Origin, while a male Warden would find himself at home coming from a Warrior Dwarven Noble Origin. I KNOW... it doesn't necessarily make sense (a male Warden could totally fit with a Rogue Dalish Elf Origin for some people but... strangely in my book it was just a big no no, and I don't quite know why myself; it just felt "natural" I guess). I had three Wardens total for Origins (and two for Awakening), two of which were male Wardens... but... my 'canon' Warden was * drum rolls ......................... * a female Rogue Dalish. I simply "clicked" and connected with her RIGHT AWAY, it was almost magical. I also "clicked" with my male Human Noble Warden but not "enough" to turn that one into my canon playthrough.
Then comes DA2, the first DA game with a voiced protagonist, so I was happy. But the way I did it with DA2 was slightly different in comparison with my method for ME1. I went with a combination of voice actor performance + appearance again BUT... that time around I also considered the whole "Diplomatic" / "Sarcastic" / "Harsh/Douchebag" personality differentiation. So I went with a sarcastic female Mage Hawke first, and then a 'harsh' male Warrior Hawke after. I ended up 'canonizing' BOTH playthroughs because I role-played them very differently and took significantly-different decisions as well (not to mention romancing Isabella for one, and Merril for the other).
And because I enjoyed both genders from DA2 I decided to create two canon World States for Inquisition. So for Inquisition I "decided to play male and female" simply because I ended up enjoying both playthroughs I had in DA2 with both Hawkes. But then again as far as my Inquisitors are concerned.... well, the method this time changed very little from DA2's. I considered the voice actors and actresses' performances, along with my Inquisitor's appearance and the "type" of Inquisitor I wanted to play (the personality variants). So because I have two World States to consider I went with a male and a female Inquisitor again, so no "gender preference" this time around.
Now, why did I say at the beginning that I mostly play females? Well that's because I skipped ALL other games I play outside of BioWare's library. In pretty much 9 times out of 10 in most MMORPGs I've played (or still play today) I mostly have female characters (be it "main" characters or even "mules"). For example, the only male character I have in Diablo 3 is the Barbarian because I just can't imagine a female Barb for the life of me (I know they're there, they exist; I see them occasionally but... it's just... nope, sorry, can't), while ALL my other toons are females (I SHOULD have gone with a male Monk though, because the female Monk's voice actress is just horrendous). In TERA I have 7 female toons, 1 only male (mule). In RIFT I made 5 female toons, no males. In Guild Wars 2 I made 4 females, 1 male. In Allods Online (which I do not play anymore; quit that one like 2 years ago) I had 4 female toons, no males. When I tried Wildstar recently (about two months ago) I made two female toons (one for each faction), no male. I also made 6 female toons (and just 1 male) for Champions Online. And it goes on like this forever... and I'm not exactly sure why. I mean I know why when it comes to BioWare games, but the rest... just can't put my finger on it.
Now, of course, I could limit myself saying "because b00bs". It's really more complicated than that in my mind. And, really, in some MMOs male characters can look absolutely handsome; to the point where one would go gay for them, like... really. So the whole "because they're girls and have fancy feminine curves" argument and reasoning to me is pretty moot. Sometimes I just don't even ask myself "Male or Female?", I just click on female and that's it (and I don't even ask myself why later... I just go on with it and start leveling up as if the male option wasn't even there at all).
With voiced Protagonists, I will almost always go for a female character first. Why, you might ask? I mean, Opag Zirsk is a paragon of masculinity! I like creating the strong female protagonist that I think need to be in more fiction. I find a bad*** woman a whole heck of a lot more interesting than a man of the same nature (I got bored of it once I reached 12, ha HA!). That said, I do play all kinds. Perspective and all that. And in origins (and my Keep Import) my main was a Male, because that game made it the easiest to be me.
But that's just Opag Zirsk's view on the dealio.
Because I don't feel connected to the character I am playing. I have tried several times to play as a male and it never works for me, I lose interest quickly in the game. I guess with RPGs I look for a way to immerse myself into that character a little bit and usually that means at least playing the same gender.
I play as a female for two primary reasons. The first is because I tend to play mentally first-person. As in, I become my character, the character IS me, and I feel really awkward gender bending in games where I am intended to develop my character's personality (such as in RPGs), since my first playthrough (at the very least) is almost always 'me playing some aspect of myself' within the game world.
The second is that because over the years I have gotten so damn tired of playing males. I love me some Thief, and some Assassin's Creed, and some Witcher, and some Deus Ex, and some Batman, and some Gothic, and.... well, you get the picture. I guess I could throw some Tomb Raider and Beyond Good and Evil in there, for the female protagonist list, but still, the overwhelming majority of gender-locked protagonists are male. With these games, though, the protagonist already has a personality and you're playing through a particular aspect of their own personal story, so my brain switches to mentally-third-person, if that makes any sense.
But in RPGs, where I'm given the chance, 99% of the time I play female, because I'm more comfortable that way, and I can easily slip into the character, and because in these games I'm actually given the ability to choose, when so often I'm not given the choice to play female at all.
I will, however, occasionally play as a male to see how things play out, and in BioWare games, to see how the companions react differently, because I'm always interested in them. This is going to be one of the few games I will do that with, pretty much for the sole reason of Dorian, who is awesome.
While i have nothing against playing both genders:
I simply cant relate when i play the opposite gender. I try, but eventually i lose interest.
I play as a female for two primary reasons. The first is because I tend to play mentally first-person. As in, I become my character, the character IS me, and I feel really awkward gender bending in games where I am intended to develop my character's personality (such as in RPGs), since my first playthrough (at the very least) is almost always 'me playing some aspect of myself' within the game world.
The second is that because over the years I have gotten so damn tired of playing males. I love me some Thief, and some Assassin's Creed, and some Witcher, and some Deus Ex, and some Batman, and some Gothic, and.... well, you get the picture. I guess I could throw some Tomb Raider and Beyond Good and Evil in there, for the female protagonist list, but still, the overwhelming majority of gender-locked protagonists are male. With these games, though, the protagonist already has a personality and you're playing through a particular aspect of their own personal story, so my brain switches to mentally-third-person, if that makes any sense.
These are pretty much my exact thoughts on the topic. I guess since I grew up playing games where the protagonist was always 100% without exception a guy, it still feels SO COOL to me when a game gives me a choice. So I'll pretty much always play a female character first if given the chance.
I almost always replay with a male character as well, though. I try to give each character I play their own personality, so I end up getting a bit attached to all of them regardless of gender.
What gender i play as means fuckall :D
Few games let you play as a female protagonists so I appreciate that I can play as my own gender in Bioware games. Also playing as my own gender lets me relate to my character, like I own the character/am her. It helps with immersion. Another reason is because I only ever romance male characters, since I'm heterosexual.
While i have nothing against playing both genders:
I simply cant relate when i play the opposite gender. I try, but eventually i lose interest.
I suppose it's weird, but the exact opposite is true for me. When I play a male character in these games, I tend to "insert" myself, insofar that it's me messing with the game as much as I can for amusement. This is pretty much what my male city elf in Origins is. He's doing all that he can to screw with the people of Thedas, for the lulz. He doesn't care what Wynne has to say, or about Alistair's amulet. Leliana thought she was going to win against my armed elf in nothing but her small clothes and feeble bard fists in the Temple? Madness, I tell you. Ser Jory didn't die from Duncan's blade. He died from the indignity of chickening out in his tighty whities.
I've occasionally wondered this in the past too, but everybody is different and I didn't really delve.
Personally I love to mix it up and play both genders almost equally. I don't identify my characters as myself however, to me they are like characters in a book. I give each distinct personalities and motivations, goals and desires. Sometimes they are gay, straight or somewhere inbetween.
I like to mix it up, but I've noticed a lot of others don't. Reading this thread has been interesting, I didn't realise so many people create their characters as a direct representation of themselves.
Because I'm a woman and I like experiencing the world around me as a woman. Dorian made me go for a guy as my second play through, but if he was bi I wouldn't have. Simply put I like to play from my own point of view.
Hm...I only stick to playing one gender if the other is unbearable to me for some reason (bad VA, ugly body type).
Sadly DAI is suffering from ugly body type for females for me. I can make my females mages...but any other class and I can't. Those damn twig arms man. Can't even make em archers.
It's kinda hard to role play with a fully voiced male character. I didn't mind in the Kotor games because they were silent. That being said, I also didn't mind playing male Shepard in the Mass Effect series. Maybe because femshep is quite butch . . .might as well go all the way and play a guy. It did help that I managed to make an exceptionally handsome Shepard.
I play a female when I can and guess what
I play and identify with both comfortably. No issues here.
Also, I don't believe those who only restrict themselves to one gender are 'limiting' themselves. It's purely a preference.
It's kinda hard to role play with a fully voiced male character. I didn't mind in the Kotor games because they were silent. That being said, I also didn't mind playing male Shepard in the Mass Effect series. Maybe because femshep is quite butch . . .might as well go all the way and play a guy. It did help that I managed to make an exceptionally handsome Shepard.
LOLZ butch? You don't know what a butch is that's what I gotta say. I can't believe you insulted my femshep. All kinds of nope. Wrong. End of the line. Male shep sounds like a dudebro. Seriously his voice actor was god ****** awful.
...Meer's action is actually good in ME2 and better than Hale's in ME3.
So yeah...opinions.
I thought Hale was the godawful one. She got worse from game to game.
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