Some do, you'd be surprised.

I've asked before how do male gamers immerse in female characters or if they do; everyone beated around the bush.

Some people like looking at a virtual ass; some people get off by it.

I think it's an interesting fact that many question guys who play as females, but you rarely see someone wondering why the heck a girl plays as a male.

(I have some theories, but then we soon might get caught up in a gender role discussion I'm not sure I want to have here.)

I am male. Age 47. Been gaming since the 1970s starting on amusemant park arcade racing car and sink the battleship style games. Then I got to play my first video game at home which was a 3d tic tac toe game sort of like the 3d chess set in one of the episodes of Star Trek. At the same time I also got to play a video game version of Ping Pong also at home.

Its always great to see other players getting together whether male or female. Brings plenty of fun diversity and one sees the pure personality of a person without any physical distractions. The Bethesda Forums is the best place I have seen next to the old Might And Magic Forums where people always have a good time winding down talking about their favorite games and everything else under the sun except for a few topics that will cause headaches which aren't allowed.

Great community that always makes one feel they belong with differences being a strength instead of a hindrance.

I like the view.
If I play as a male (non beast) then I can't help putting part of me in the character. I don't want to put part of me in the characters. Playing as a female stops this.
I like making good looking characters.

I like playing female characters because I don't immerse with them. It gives me more moral freedom when I'm a bit detached from my character. All my male characters regardless of the game in question tend to be Lawful Evil characters who assist the villains if given the chance and always act with the philosophy of "the ends justify the means". Playing a female character allows me to have some change to my play style. I can't play a purely good male character. I suppose that says something about my personality, though I must emphasize that even on my most evil characters I can't bring myself into committing war crimes or other super nasty stuff (killing innocent civilians, animals etc.)

Double standards I say. Same reason why some aren't as weirded out by lisbians as they are gay men, if at all. Society now doesn't see much strange about women taking man roles, but vice versa isn't all there yet.

Most females I ask come right out & tell me.

"I like feeling masculine" or "It makes me feel tougher" and some even stated that it helps them avoid thirsty weirdos/perverts.

You don't want to put part of yourself in characters? That's a first.

I don't mind putting myself in my characters which is what I do most of the time. Playing a female though I usually play the opposite of what I do or just completely different. They will have a more real world view of things with a practical sense on what needs to be done to survive in a brutal world like Skyrim instead of trying to be extremely noble and good like my male characters. I would give money to the beggars while my female character would say, "Don't give him that gold we need it for dinner! You na?ve fool!"

I'm talking about part of my personality.

I hear you but for me there's no way around that.

RPer, huh?

Something like that, yeah. Also, note that no one gives little girls wearing "boys' clothing" strange looks, but a little boy wearing a dress? He will get to hear it. Not from everyone, but from some, and that's enough. Which is a shame, really. Most little boys I've known (which is quite a few, considering most of my friends have kids) have loved to try on those pretty pink princess dresses, or have clips in their hair, or try mama's nail polish.

(My son, 6 years old, is very much aware of what colors and clothes are "for boys" and "for girls" by now. But he loves Tinkerbell. And he loves playing games. He's gonna grow up and play computer games where he can have a pretty female avatar, right? )

Yep. I also try to play as realistic as possible. My characters react to the situations depending on who they are.
I'm currently playing as Lara Croft.

Haha, that takes a fair amount of perception & discipline.

Hehe, who knows. That stuff I think has been proven to be in our dna, so its not like you can influence his sixuality or anything. I think. I won't pretend like I'd be okay with allowing that with my son if I have one. I wouldn't, as I feel like I'd be making his life in society much harder if I don't show him his "gender role" as far as dress at a young age. If he decides to say screw that later in life when he's older though then that's his decision and I'm fine with it if he is.

But I won't hold it against anyone who's okay with allowing their sons to dress up like that as kids. Who am I to judge?

Male - 50 (just turned last week). Usually play male, but started playing female characters a few years ago. Probably seems old-fashioned to some, but I feel much more protective and attached to my female characters.

Were the hell are all these awesome older gamers in my frikkin town?

We used to live in your frikkin town. But we moved to a different town in the dead of night while you were fast asleep.

Hey -- that did happen to me. I ended up in central Florida out in the boonies. Who even knew Florida had boonies?

This does crack me up though .. the males playing females. Nothing wrong with it, that's not what I am saying! However, anyone remember Neverwinter Nights where you could play online and roleplay and stuff? There'd be dedicated worlds you could sign into, make a character and explore/roleplay. It got to where you could spot a male playing as a female within about 5 sentences of RP. Most of the time, they could not pull it off at all.

I have no issues playing an female characters and no issues with female gamers. I used to be a multi-player game (Cod/UO/Cod4 and COH) clan and they had four female players. Two teenagers and two thirty something. With Cod/UO we used mostly rifles, The thirty something are good in good day but the teenagers they were http://www.thefreedictionary.com/crack+shot That was back 2007-2010. One of them have to leave because of school and the other moved on much later.

51-year-old female here, as well. Apparently we're a force to be reckoned with.

For some people (like me) it just seems too good to be true, I haven't really met them and I have a wife who doesn't get gaming at all and isn't very "cool" about my desire to play games all the time. I can't imagine being with a girl who is just cool about it and even wants to play as well (although perhaps new problems could arise there, lol). Those of you with partners who also like gaming, don't take it for granted, you're very lucky.

How do you do it?

I don't. I live in a household with five female gamers (a mother and four daughters) and they're all far more hardcoe about gaming than I am. One of the daughters runs a World of Warcraft guild. My Significant Other is not only a gamer she's a veteran modder of Morowind and Oblivion. She also created the World of Warcraft website Petopia.

My experience is the exact opposite of most guys in this thread. I have never met any male gamers in real life. In addition to the five who live in this house, the only other gamer I've met in real life, Shelly Mars, (who has posted in this thread) is female too. Female gamers are definitely out there.

Lol this flashes me back to my spazzy days, back when my mom talked me into my sisters frilly red dress. Wouldn't be all that bad other then the fact that she took a pic. Couldn't bring a girl home for more the 2 minutes before that damn pic got busted out. And you know what.....I can't wait for the day when I get to do the very same thing to one OR both of my boys

Still, I'm not ashamed of that pic. Not one bit

Or even better my brother at 23 years of age went shopping with our mom at a Thrift store and as a joke, while in trying on clothes, he walked out in this little yellow polka dot dress that was meant for a 7 year old. So here's my mom embarrassed beyond belief while my 6'2 160lb 23 year old brother did a little homage to Swan Lake. Classic, simply classic