I'm Female and so far have only played female characters (very boring, I know).

I am a male, identify as a male, but nearly always play as a female character. I like to play as a silent "assassin" type character, and I believe that the female characters fill this role out better.

Male, always play male. I've tried playing female characters before, and the whole time I thought " I'm playing a video game..". There's just no immersion to it. At the same time, I always play Imperial. Playing as an elf, or beast race, etc. breaks the immersion for me just as easily. Just can't connect to those characters.

I am a male and i usually play as males in a video game, but in left 4 dead i loved playing as zoey so i could stay at her (why must girls in games be so hot?), i have no problem playing as a girl in a game though i just don't prefer to a majority of the time.

Male and I play as Males.
I would like to play as females more often, but just can't. As others have said, I find it harder to get into their mindset.
I think I'd play as a female only if I had a nvde mod, but I frown upon those, so its going to be males for my TES life.

Male, I play a blend..

I'll play as male because I am male and most character's I create are a extension of my personality.
Mike the Argonian - My childhood fantasies
Glaudius Arcadia - My good side
Kills-Silently - My evil side
Thetri - My intelligent side
J'baana - Myself on Drugs

A female character would not make sense. I do not know how to think like a female and it would feel awkward to play as one. Plus most guys who play as females are often labeled as perverted. Not saying all are but its what most people think.

Your feminine side?

Don't let others dictate what you do. Just because some close-minded people would think a man who plays as a woman in a video game is "perverted" doesn't mean that their opinions have any validity at all, nor should you allow them to determine your actions. Decide what you think and let that determine your actions.

I identify as both, most of the time anyway. I lean.
Anyway, I almost always play female characters, but the one and only male I made on Morrowind was the one I probably enjoyed the most. In Daggerfall and Oblivion, I more or less made females exclusively..
Though, all my female characters are decidedly masculine(here's a drawing I did of my female Dunmer: http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l340/Avaeccus/nelezavra.jpg?t=1297724153). And usually my males tend to be either androgynous or feminine.
It's all a little confusing.

I made pretty much exclusively female characters up until about 2 years ago when I made a shift to pretty much exclusively of my own gender. It was a sudden thing that I really only noticed in retrospect. I still play old female characters just haven't made any new ones in a while.

My female characters tend to be really elegant like Audry Hepburn impersonators and such. And my men tend to be slightly feminine.

I'm a man, and i play non-human female characters if possible. The world doesn't have enough strong female leads that kick ass and look good doing it

I don't have a feminine side. By the videos I've seen of guys playing as woman with all those mods I'd say there is some truth to them being perverted.

When it comes to games where you can create a character, I tend to go for the ones that are easier for me to make attractive. In the case of Oblivion, it's female. Also, I don't identify with either gender.

Hey, don't let that stop you! Personally, I don't know how to think like a male or female, but I'll play as whichever one I feel like!

If you say so. But maybe you're just not in touch with it.


Be open-minded! Obviously some men will play as women just to make them naked and dance around, just like some women will play as men for the same reasons. That certainly doesn't mean all of them do, nor does it mean the majority do, nor does it mean that's what you have to do. Don't limit your ability to have fun with a game for silly reasons like that. If you don't want to play as a female that's cool, but don't not play as one just because you're afraid that someone might consider you a pervert for completely irrational reasons.

We all have a masculine and a feminine side to our personalities. You may not like to recognize that fact but ignoring it will not make it go away.

Another point. "Perversion" is in the eye of the beholder. What is "perverted" to you may not be "perverted" to anyone else. What is "perverted" in one culture may not be "perverted" in another culture.

I'm probably not in touch with it if I have one. I certainly still can't get into playing as females in games where I can choose my gender because I am the one playing the game and I am male so I think like a male and it wouldn't make sense for me to play as a female it ruins the immersion for me.

So... like, here's the deal.


I'm a dude. I'm totally a guy... like... right now, big bushy beard and scruffy hair... I probably look, feel, and smell a lot like a Nord.

Dude. Or awesome beaded dwarf-lady???

No, dude.



Anyhow, I'm like... this guy. But you see... because I study people... and I've got like... this insight into humans... which I use to manipulate them to my will, usually unknowingly... it means that I can do this awesome thing. When I play a character... I'm no longer me. I'm outside of me. Instead... I'm my character. Like... I'm... in character. It's a very handy trick I learned, while acting in school plays and the like.

It really helps me to do well, I find.


But so like... even though I'm this dude...

... my characters can be these ladies... girls... and sometimes sleazy harlets... just as easily as they can be any kind of a guy.


It's because I love characters. I design them, in fact. It's totally what I'd love to do as a job, if I could find someplace that NEEDED a character designer. Like, not one with any artistic skill though. Cause I can't draw. It's all done in my head, though. I can 'envision'.


But anyways: Dude. Who plays both dudes... and dude-ettes... with equal ability to remain in character.

This. Honestly who really cares if you play a male or female characters? I'm a long time D&D Campaigner, roughly half my characters are or have been female (depending on character concept) and I played the same female character on FFxi (an mmorpg, vastly inferior to old fashioned PnP RPGs imho) for over five years.

It's just a game, play as you want to play and get over it already.

I've said this before in threads like these, but there seems to be a POV difference between some players.

Some players play as the character, the character is themselves in a sense, so it makes sense it would be awkward for them to play a character of opposing gender.

People like me however play with the character. I don't think i am the character, i'm an outsider affecting how the game proceeds, a "director" if you will. As such i have no problem playing a character of opposing gender. (Also the reason why arguments involving the i-word are lost to me )

Personally i find playing as myself more awkaward, mostly because of what i would do isn't usually an option, it's easier in those situations to play with a character that is very unlike me.

This is how I play, too. It's my belief that 'playing as yourself' is not roleplaying. True roleplaying, to me, is assuming a role, playing as someone else.

I tend to see myself as a kind of guide who accompanies my characters on their adventures. My character and I are like a party of two. I will suggest that we visit a certain city, loot a certain dungeon or do a certain quest, but my suggestions are not always followed, or even appreciated.

I do this also, but I still like to get into the mind of the character, so I can form a personality and suchwhat, however I struggle to do that - and I consider myslef to be in touch with my feminine side (i'm definitely not a manly man(or boy)), but I still struggle to craft a whole person from it.

See... when I play a character, I find that I'm less like the director... and more like the ACTOR.

That's really what it is. I'm an actor. In this character... I'm an old, bitter Dunmer soldier who still holds a grudge about allowing Lord Symmachus to fall during the uprising. In the next, I'm a young Redguard healer who, while serving the Nine as a Priestess, struggles to understand why the people must pay for services which a priestess like herself receives for free. After that, I'm a Nordic pirate... scourge of the seas and notorious womanizing bastard.

It's all an act. And because I'm not limited by my -physical- existence... I can play any role just as effectively as I could act out any role in a movie or on TV.

Minus stagefright.

I'm a woman, and although I do play both genders, the characters I've used to complete the main quests from Daggerfall to Oblivion are all female. I started playing when I was very young, and I think my choice was partly to do with the fact that there was such a pitiful lack of strong and interesting female leads in gaming at that point. Still is, come to that. So I thought "bugger that", and set out to make my own.

Just goes to show that one can't categorize people into two groups :hehe: I simply don't see myself in the game in any role, i am completely on the outside.

I'm a male. I play both genders, though since I mostly get inspired for male characters, I tend to play more males. Also, I would like to note that my few females are more than just a walking pair of giant boobs attached to a pretty face. Which makes finding appropriate clothing or armor harder. :rofl: