Something I have been seeing in ESO in youtube is that some play as the opposite gender, I have seen it with others game ofcourse but I always wonder why people do that and didn't decided to ask until now. I would like to understand the reasons. Please do understand I am not insulting or anything negative you can think of, I am simply curious since when I play, I make a male character cause I feel as if he was me in the game so we can have a connection. So I wonder how people who do the opposite feels.

It's simple. Many people who play these games don't feel their character is them. I don't think of my character as me. I think of my character as someone I'm sort of reading about in a book or watching in a movie. If I want to read about a red-headed wood elf girl kicking ass and taking names, then that's how I'll make my character. If I want to read about a big burly orc man, then I'll do that.

I mostly make male characters, but I do make a couple of female characters for roleplaying purposes

I don't get to play a girl in real life, so mmos give me a chance

I play whichever seems to suit the character, same in a tabletop game.

I assume all female avatars are male players. It's safer .. socially.

Agreed. I am an Argonian in real life so sometimes I like to create an Imperial to get a chance to be human.

Why? Do you treat female gamers differently than male gamers? Just play the damn game. Meet girls in real life.

It's also probably an accurate assumption

The gender of my character is what is because of the role that character has, nothing more, nothing less. Some of my characters are male (most of mine are male) and some are female. I don't play games to flirt, and quite frankly, the psychotic nature of most of my game characters are not someone I would want to be around in the real world.

For some people, it's about playing a role, someone you don't normally get to be. I'm not very mobile IRL due to a genetic condition that causes early osteo-arthritis, when I play a game I'm not playing as me (never seen a game yet where you could play a character hobbling with walking sticks), I'm playing as someone who can run and jump and fight, who has their own character and story. That character is not me, and could be either gender, regardless of my own six. I do find I have to identify with my character's motivations on some level, but gender doesn't really come into it. My main will probably be female (as am I), but I will probably have some male alts, for different roleplay reasons.

well .. i would swear less .. not make .. as much .. sixual jokes .. have some decorum ..

The gender of my characters always depends on what suits the class and race better. For example I usually have a female archer and male tank as I feel it suits more. My main character I loosely base on myself.

I play female because I rather NOT look at a dudes ass or hear a dudes voice for the countless hours I play the game...

Perhaps a good start to harmonious social interaction would be to do that anyway, regardless of who you are talking to?

Personally crossing the gender lines for my characters has always weirded me out, I can't say that I don't judge people who choose to, because I do, not something I'd openly call you on though. Roleplayers are the exception.

Seems like there is different reasons and opinions but thanks, also did some research online and find out other reasons too as looking at the opposite gender body and having control over women, playing as someone you feel you are in the inside (like a guy who feels or would like to be a girl) all of this helped me understand now. Thanks for all the opinions, anybody is still free to comment more if you want.

My character is not a projection of me. I don't view my male characters as me, and I don't view my female characters as me. I'm just playing a character, and like variety.

I'll be making both male and female characters, based on race/class/order that they're made, to keep my play throughs as unique as possible. I get the occasional neckbeard/fedora m'lady who strikes up a conversation and attempts to flirt, and I enjoy making them awkward when I tell them I'm a man with a fiance lol.

i have always made the six of my characters based on my vision of class/race i am making. race is the main factor the class. for example i will never make a female dwarf and i never make male elves. humans are based on class. archers and mages i tend to go female any everyone else male.

Mostly my characters are an interpretation of myself, as such I almost never play a female.

I am a male. In six and gender.

I play male characters in Fantasy games, just because it feels "right" (I could explain more, but it's nothing interesting).
I play female characters in Post-Apocalyptic games because the character feels more badass.

Fallout 2 is a very good example for me, for the latter. A lot of the game involves interaction with characters who make assumptions. To [censored] all over those assumptions in style is far more impressive when playing a character that is female (again, I can go into this more, or you could just read The Second six).

I imagine MMOs get males playing female characters and females playing male characters for reasons similar to this, but with an actual human audience, not a scripted audience.

This is the one reason that always confuses and, to some extent, creeps me out.

I mean I like dudes and play male characters, but not because I want to stare at a dude's ass when playing. So I really don't get "I like girls and play female characters because I want to stare at a girl's ass when playing".

You can't let the idiots define what the rest of us do. Just like there are people in the real world that are of a controlling nature to their partners, they do not define all people who are in relationships.

However, we all are controlling our characters, no matter what gender they are. And, as much as I would sometimes love to whip out a broadsword and cleave my way through a crowd of people at a store on a busy Saturday, I don't do those things. But, in a game, I can do things with my characters that I could never do in the real world, even if I could get away with it. Gender has no affect on this.

i never got this reason either. if you are looking at your characters ass, male or female, while playing you are doing something wrong.

ESO will be different for me as all my characters will be male. i will be grouping with my wife and if she plays a game with me she wont let me make female characters lol

I play most of my characters male, but occasionally I will make a female alt. As a good friend of mine who typically plays female avatars once told me: "If I'm going to stare at a digital ass for several hours a day, I'd rather it not be male."

*edit* For the people who said they didn't understand why you'd be staring at your character's ass. It's not that you do so on purpose, but as most people play in 3rd person camera mode for situational awareness you ARE going to be starting at your character a lot. I think it's also typically more a "I'd rather stare at a female avatar" overall than 'ass' specifically, pointing to a classically sixualized features is just a way of getting the point across I think.

Oh come on, it isn't that difficult to understand. There is a market for games and a market for images of women. For some, it is just streamlining the process, hence the number of Skyrim mods oriented around turning your female character into a pin-up.