Questions in the title, really. When I first started playing the TES games, I always crafted a male character for the simple reason that I'm a male, and slaying monsters and bandits is "Men's Work". Indeed, it took me a while to roll a female character that was anything other than a joke to be played with for 20 minutes, and abandoned.

This eventually changed when I started playing Oblivion, and facegen became a major component of character creation. Sure, I could whip up a gruff male face in five minutes and call it done, but, as I explored Oblivion's facegen, I began to realize that I enjoyed creating female faces much more than male ones. I invested alot more time and thought into female faces, which in turn led me to investing more into the characters themselves. This trend has since spread to games like Dragon Age or Demon's Souls, and replays of Daggerfall and Morrowind.

So, how many of you guys play almost exclusively as females? How many girls play as males? How do you justify this decision? Is it purely aesthetic?

I always play as the gender I am in real life.

In TES games I mostly play females. They tend to suit the characters I prefer to play more. I'm not sure why, I can never get into male characters anymore.

However in Fallout and in any other game for that matter I play males. Why? Not a clue.

I play males and I am a male. Much easier for me to put me into the game, especially when its characters who worships chaos (specifically Nurgle and Khorne). Same deal with FO3

I have tried females... But I just feel... off with them.

I always play as a woman purely because it's nice to be given the chance So many games seem to be directly aimed at men (core market and all that) and I love that female characters are cropping up more and more in the gaming world. While you can obviously play as a man if you are in fact a woman, it is good to feel that your gender is being catered for, as it were, rather than the (no disrespect!) narrowminded view that dungeon diving (and as an extension, playing games which allow for such activities) are purely male endeavours. I've played many games where I have to play as a member of the opposite six because there was no other option, so I'm glad I am increasingly given a choice. :thumbsup:

My main is a chick (like me), but most of my alts (primarily testing characters) are male. Not sure why, really, though it is a lot easier to make a decent dude than it is to make a decent chick.

It depends. If it affects the game, I'll play as whichever gender is more beneficial. For example, in Oblivion I was a male because it didn't make a difference. In Fallout 3, I was a female because females could receive the Black Widow perk. Seeing as 80% of the characters in Fallout 3 were males, I thought it would be beneficial to be able to do extra damage to them.

Generally, if it doesn't make a difference, I'll be a male.

Yeah, cuz when I'm looting while naked, I'd rather be staring at the opposite six.

I always made mostly males. Would roleplay a female every now and then, before I became bitter.

Now I can't even stand them enough to play as them.

Not sure why anything needs to be justified. Generally it's just whichever the character I materialized in my head before playing turned out to be. Usually about a 50/50 ratio.

I play male characters in every game, because I'm a man, and not a female, and I'm also not a creeper.

No, I am a man.


I had my nipbles removed, because I am not a girl.

I play video games to escape from reality for a short while. By playing as the opposite gender I can create further distance between myself and my character, and thus further separate myself from reality. At least, in theory; a lot of times, even after years of playing exclusivelyas female characters in Morrowind, WoW, Oblivion, Fallout 3, and even Portal (:D) I do sometimes run across something in the game that makes me stop and think "oh yeah, my character's female" - as if I had ever made any other kind.

Some of you are likely to jump on the WoW thing; let me just say that I never let anyone on WoW think I was female in real life. Most people assume you're male anyway, and if anyone asked I'd let them know I was a guy.

And you know what? The women in those games are sixy to varying degrees who wouldn't want to see that ALL THE TIME?

I'd say probably 60-40 for male to female characters. Any game I play allot I will play both genders, sooner or later. In Mass Effect 1 and 2 my 'main' run through was with a renegade lady Shepard, but I also took a male paragon through. In Oblivion I have played many characters, but I have five 'main' characters, and two are female. Two out of four principle Fallout 3 characters were female. And so on.

I have character concepts, and some of them are more male, and others more female. And I like to see everything a game has on offer. It has never seemed odd to me.

What annoys me is when guys justify it as "I don't want to stare at some guy's butt for hours." Well, I got a few objections
1) If a guy really doesn't want to stare at their male character's butt for hours, why are they looking at it in the first place? You ask me, they don't want to really admit they're may actually like guys.
2) If I wanted to stare at a women's butt and boobs for an extended period of time, I'd go to other mediums than a game.

Almost

My last character in Oblivion was a guy though

I'm with you on the furthering degrees of seperation - when I make male characters, they inevitably end up being representations of myself, over and over again. Granted, this is also the case with many of the female characters that I make, but I suppose it can't be helped.

Though, it certainly can't be denied that looking at a female character for extended periods of time is easier on the eyes than looking at a male Orc.

i always play male characters. i tried a female twice but it was just to weird to me...

I'm a guy and I almost always play male characters. I find it easier to put myself in their shoes and role-play, and also, in a sense, I see my characters as extensions of myself (i.e. I don't say my character just did something, I say I just did something, etc.) so obviously I would choose my own gender. I have played as female characters before, but very rarely. Interesting, when I do play a female character, there is none of the seeing said character as an extension of myself, like when I play male characters (i.e. I don't say I just did something, I say my character just did something, etc.).

I play females because I'm sick and tired of male characters. All the tropes and archetypes bore me to death. But if you take them and simply switch the gender, suddenly they're fresh again.

This. Male barbarian is old news. Female barbarian just comes out of left field.

i'm a male, always play as males. mostly warriors too

call me gay if you want for always playing buff muscular men, i don't care. the truth is i grew up idolizing powerful heroic characters such as batman, the terminator, conan, john mcclane, ect. i love the feeling of playing a character that everybody wants to be stood next to when something bad goes down

the 'i'd rather spend all day staring at a girls ass than a guys' is stupid, and i've heard it used IRL. maybe i game differently to most but i spend most of my time looking at whats ahead of me and my surroundings, not my characters ass

My characters tend to be male, just like me. It's likely just because it's the default gender. I'd probably play more females if it was the default :shrug:

I occasionally play a female, but I need to actually want to make a female specifically for it to happen.

Not if you know anything about the history of the Germanic people.

Women were often warriors... and leaders.

They liked to run at their enemy, naked and screeching, wielding a big axe. The males, too, actually. Often painted blue.

Hence the naked Nords...