Why do most people choose female characters?

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:21 pm

Been playing Bethesda games since Daggerfall. I have never made a female character.


Exactly the same here. I never made a female char, not even once. I have to endure enough women in my private life :biggrin:
User avatar
Chelsea Head
 
Posts: 3433
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:38 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:28 pm

This brings up another point. I find it a bit odd that Skyrim society is so completely without common gender roles, even to the extent of guards seeming to have a high percentage of women, if not actually 50% women. Yes, I know this isn't medieval Earth, it's fantasy, but as I said elsewhere, it's a fantasy world that draws from the mythology and folklore of ancient and medieval Earth - so the very idea that the soldiery will be as much female as male is a bit absurd. Ditto with work that has traditionally been extremely male-dominated, like blacksmithing. In Tamriel it's all gender-neutral, and that's just odd. In a world without artificial powered machinery that relies on animal and human power to do work, heavier work will be done by the men. That started all the way millennia ago when all of mankind were hunter-gatherers. The women gathered wild fruits and vegetables and nuts and I suppose sometimes found things like honey and birds' eggs, while the men went off to spear some honking big mammoth or wild horse or boar or buffalo for food, because the men are on average considerably stronger than the women, and going to kill a one-ton animal with a pointy stick is something that might well require some brute strength. It continued with the spread of agriculture; women do tons and tons of work on farms, but in a day where you had to hitch a heavy plow to a (possibly stubborn) draft animal like a horse or donkey or ox, the man's strength would be an advantage, causing some division of labor.



STANDING OVATION my friend. Exactly!

One of my favorite parts in ME2 was when a Mercenary said to Femshep "strippers quarters are that way honey".

I couldn't agree with you more.



How strange. :confused:
User avatar
Lawrence Armijo
 
Posts: 3446
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:12 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:25 pm

Woooow, some of you are REALLY looking way too in to this. A lot... like, a whole damn ton too much in to it.

So what if a guy wants to play a female? Big deal.

My mage is a female Breton. Wanna know why? Cause the one I saw in one of the loading screens looked really cool, so I based my mage off her.


Some people...
User avatar
Nice one
 
Posts: 3473
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:30 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:34 pm

Well, I'm not saying the game needs to be inundated with misogyny any more than it should be saturated with in-your-face racism on the parts of the characters - I'm just saying that even people who aren't misogynist would consider a woman with a sword and armor to be a bit of an anomaly, for the same reasons it was an anomaly in our own past.

Yes, of course. By misogynistic, I meant mostly that maybe Bethesda is perhaps afraid that the game should be perceived as such, and ends up making games gender-neutral, or close, everytime.

Anyway, it'd add some interesting variations. Joining a Fighter's guild as a woman should be more difficult, getting you some sneers or at least patronizing glances until you prove yourself ; Mages wouldn't raise an eyebrow ; whereas a Thieves or Assassin guild would value your lighter built, and recognize instinctively females can be twice as vicious with the ole knive. :P A random gruff NPC might provoke a male character to a fight, while as a female, you could wheedle more info with a smile. And vice-versa : he might offer burly camaraderie to another male fighter, while answer "go home and marry" to the female equivalent.

The point for me is having as much diverse scenarios as possible according to the gender, race, faction of your char ; and, of course, realistic reactions.
User avatar
Bigze Stacks
 
Posts: 3309
Joined: Sun May 20, 2007 5:07 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:29 am

Woooow, some of you are REALLY looking way too in to this. A lot... like, a whole damn ton too much in to it.


It's the internet, where everyone has a degree in psychology :teehee:
User avatar
Sammi Jones
 
Posts: 3407
Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 7:59 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:53 am

hm mabye we are over thinking this a bit idk :shrug:....then again its simple human curiosity which i dont mind
User avatar
R.I.p MOmmy
 
Posts: 3463
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:40 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:52 pm

It's the internet, where everyone has a degree in psychology :teehee:


Hahaha that reminds me of a funny quote I read once.

"The internet, where men are men, women are men and children are the FBI"

hm mabye we are over thinking this a bit idk :shrug:....then again its simple human curiosity which i dont mind


Curiosity is one thing, some of the talk here goes far beyond that if you ask me. :shrug:
User avatar
Luis Longoria
 
Posts: 3323
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:21 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:18 pm

I don't know , I picked male for 2 out of 2 characters so far

I am thinking a chick mage for the 3rd to change things up though , if you gonna wear dresses you may as well be a girl right?
User avatar
Alberto Aguilera
 
Posts: 3472
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:42 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:37 am

In Oblivion I think I made 2 female characters out of 15 or so total. Once in a while I think it'd be interesting to roleplay a female character, or because a certain sort of appearance I'm aiming for would work better on a female.
User avatar
anna ley
 
Posts: 3382
Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:04 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:38 am

All male cast here. I don't understand the allure of women--on any level. Color me Sheldon Cooper, but I just don't get it. =P
User avatar
Kevan Olson
 
Posts: 3402
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:09 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:25 pm

Bull****. I can RP with my character just fine, and so can thousands of other players of this series.

Now, Bethesda could do a much better job giving us better tools for role-play, yes, but to say that it's impossible simply because you don't do it is, again, bull****.


sigh

What, may I ask, are you role-playing, given that there is no other person around to role-play with? Are you trying to role-play a relationship solo? What? As I said, I understand the concept of some sort of minimal role-playing, like:

-- "My character is an aggressive warrior."
-- "My character is a thief with few morals, but isn't a murderer."
-- "My character is a mage-scholar, primarily interested in learning."
-- "My character is a Nord partisan, and wants to join the Stormcloaks."
-- "My character is a war-weary Imperial veteran, who might or might not get drawn back into the war on the Imperial side."

I can understand that sort of roleplaying, even in a computer game with no other ACTUAL, REAL-WORLD PEOPLE AROUND to role-play with. But beyond that, what do you roleplay? Do you add random quirks, like:

-- "My aggressive warrior character is an arachnophobe who screams like a little and runs whenever he sees those giant spiders."
-- "My thief character had a crappy dad who beat his mother, and so he can't ever steal from women."
-- "My mage-scholar character is an OCD neat freak and must have a broom in every room, and always travels with an iron in order to iron his clothes every morning when he wakes up at precisely 6:42 AM."
-- "My Nord partisan character has a compulsion that he MUST eat every single cabbage he can get his hands on, legally or not."
-- "My war-weary Imperial veteran character collects wooden plates, with an eye to quantity, not quality."

What's left? Once you've essentially described your character with the first class of minimal role-playing decisions, and declined to bother with the second class of bizarre, pointless, quirks, and realized that the third class of relationship role-playing simply doesn't exist in almost any computer game, what is there left to role-play?

Congratulations, you remembered some Latin, no doubt from other Internet arguments where that term was leveled at you. In spite of your attempt to distract us from the muck you crawled out of, however, the substance of your statements still reveal you as nothing but a troglodyte.


Ah, now we have a recursive ad hominem post about use of the term ad hominem. If this continues does the universe collapse into a black hole or what? Also, how am I trogolodytic? Or troglodytish, or troglodytian, or whatever the appropriate adjective is? Calling me a "caveman" isn't an argument, it's an evasion of argument by means of name-calling.

Your argument against my statements that you are claiming other people can't role-play simply because you can't role-play are proven true by your statements.


No, I stated why I think role-playing exists and can only exist at a very low level in a computer RPG, and it has nothing to do with some supposed inability on my part to role-play. I used to play pen-and-paper role-playing games, remember? That's actual role-playing, and I don't say that in some attempt to knock computer RPGs. I say it in order to be clear: the appeal of Skyrim isn't in role-playing, because the role-playing is and can only be minimal; the appeal of Skyrim is the world, the lore describing that world's history, the open-ness of the world, the epic feel of running around fighting giants and dragons, and so forth.

Your argument is still nothing but that nobody can see women as anything but a six object simply because you see women only as a six object.


No, I explicitly said the opposite, but you go on believing what you need to believe in order to evade the debate.

What really sets you apart, though, is you use a comic strip drawn as a joke as an expression of "what you really feel" completely without irony. That's Poe's Law material, right there. Yes, that's really what we need in the game community: Someone who calls people who enjoy playing as argonians or can say they are "hot" is a freak to be shunned.


I use the strip because the strip made a valid point through humor. Is the point to be dismissed because it was expressed humorously?

And I have no problem at all with anybody playing Argonians. I thought about rolling one for my first character. But yes, anybody that says "boy, that lizard-woman sure is hot" - YES, THAT'S ABSOLUTELY @&$*%# BIZARRE. IT'S A LIZARD THAT WALKS UPRIGHT AND HAS SCALES AND A TAIL AND A REPTILIAN HEAD BUT ALSO HAS BOOBS. THAT IS NOT sixY TO NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS.
User avatar
+++CAZZY
 
Posts: 3403
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2006 1:04 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:57 pm

I play females, because I'm uncomfortable gender-swapping. I play 'first person' style, and I don't mean that in a 'camera PoV' way. I mean it as in I become the character, and I just can't get into a guy's head, so I never get comfortable with it.

I'm at least grateful certain games allow me to choose my gender, because as much as I've enjoyed and even loved Geralt and Adam Jensen and Garrett and Altair/Ezio (and on, and on and on) I am just so damn tired of the whole 'protagonist = male' thing. So very tired.
User avatar
aisha jamil
 
Posts: 3436
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:54 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:54 am

I'm a guy...my main is a female Khajiit assassin.

My wife sat with me for about 20 minutes in Helgen and together we created her.

If my wife doesn't have an issue with it...why would any of you?
User avatar
chirsty aggas
 
Posts: 3396
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:23 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:58 am

alright i just want to say leave the female argonains alone their scally tail and skin is just sixy nuf said.
User avatar
Alexxxxxx
 
Posts: 3417
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:55 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:58 am


No, I stated why I think role-playing exists and can only exist at a very low level in a computer RPG, and it has nothing to do with some supposed inability on my part to role-play. I used to play pen-and-paper role-playing games, remember? That's actual role-playing, and I don't say that in some attempt to knock computer RPGs. I say it in order to be clear: the appeal of Skyrim isn't in role-playing, because the role-playing is and can only be minimal; the appeal of Skyrim is the world, the lore describing that world's history, the open-ness of the world, the epic feel of running around fighting giants and dragons, and so forth.



Hey, everyone has their own ways of role-playing. Just because you can't or don't understand it, doesn't mean that others can't as well or have to feel the same way.
User avatar
Steven Nicholson
 
Posts: 3468
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:24 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:51 pm

I'm a guy...my main is a female Khajiit assassin.

My wife sat with me for about 20 minutes in Helgen and together we created her.

If my wife doesn't have an issue with it...why would any of you?


It's the internet.

'Nuff said.

So, I just accidentally overwrote one of my female characters. Luckily she was only level eight, and had about five hours of playtime. But now I feel like an idiot. But, on the bright side, I have the opportunity to remake her as an Argonian, to piss everybody off.
User avatar
Kirsty Collins
 
Posts: 3441
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:54 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:59 am

sigh

What, may I ask, are you role-playing, given that there is no other person around to role-play with? Are you trying to role-play a relationship solo? What? As I said, I understand the concept of some sort of minimal role-playing, like:




Dude...just because you can't grasp or understand how others might RP in this game doesn't mean that it can't happen.
I RP in this game....and I'm not going to explain it to you because you won't get it. And that's okay.

Just don't get all bent just because some others do get it.
User avatar
Svenja Hedrich
 
Posts: 3496
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:18 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:56 am

This is news to me.
User avatar
how solid
 
Posts: 3434
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:27 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:40 am

I usually play females because I'm better at making them look good (probably because I know what I like with regards to females) But I can't make an attractive female in Skyrim (they all look like they're 40+!) so i'm sticking with guys for now.
User avatar
Nicole Mark
 
Posts: 3384
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:33 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:44 am

How strange. :confused:


Look at it this way: We aren't saying people should make their characters in conformity with these attitudes, we're saying it's more plausible to recognize that these attitudes would likely exist. I find the varying attitude toward the Dunmer in Skyrim to be entirely realistic and believable. Same thing with the reluctance to let the Khajiit in the city walls. There's no reason at all you can't or shouldn't make a female warrior, it just makes more sense if the society around you finds it a bit unusual.


Woooow, some of you are REALLY looking way too in to this. A lot... like, a whole damn ton too much in to it.

So what if a guy wants to play a female? Big deal.

My mage is a female Breton. Wanna know why? Cause the one I saw in one of the loading screens looked really cool, so I based my mage off her.


Some people...


And that's cool. I'm not saying every dude that plays a female character is doing so one-handed, I'm just saying that seems to be driving at least some of it...not least because quite a number of people have posted in here saying that yeah, they made their character a chick because they looked hot.

Yes, of course. By misogynistic, I meant mostly that maybe Bethesda is perhaps afraid that the game should be perceived as such, and ends up making games gender-neutral, or close, everytime.

Anyway, it'd add some interesting variations. Joining a Fighter's guild as a woman should be more difficult, getting you some sneers or at least patronizing glances until you prove yourself ; Mages wouldn't raise an eyebrow ; whereas a Thieves or Assassin guild would value your lighter built, and recognize instinctively females can be twice as vicious with the ole knive. :P A random gruff NPC might provoke a male character to a fight, while as a female, you could wheedle more info with a smile. And vice-versa : he might offer burly camaraderie to another male fighter, while answer "go home and marry" to the female equivalent.

The point for me is having as much diverse scenarios as possible according to the gender, race, faction of your char ; and, of course, realistic reactions.


I agree. Even if the more unusual groups like the Companions, who are by definition somewhat outside normal society and pursuing an unusual profession, decided that they weren't all that surprised by a female warrior-adventurer, it just seems odd that the salt-of-the-Earth, every-day NPCs like the merchants and guards - especially the guards - are so gender-neutral. It just applies modern attitudes to a (fictional, of course) pre-modern society in a way that defies plausibility.
User avatar
Cathrine Jack
 
Posts: 3329
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:29 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:51 pm

I agree. Even if the more unusual groups like the Companions, who are by definition somewhat outside normal society and pursuing an unusual profession, decided that they weren't all that surprised by a female warrior-adventurer, it just seems odd that the salt-of-the-Earth, every-day NPCs like the merchants and guards - especially the guards - are so gender-neutral. It just applies modern attitudes to a (fictional, of course) pre-modern society in a way that defies plausibility.

And even then, modern attitudes... *cough* I very much doubt that most females in professions like cops or army didn't have at some point have to fight harder to get recognized.

I mean, even for our society, that much gender neutrality isn't all that realistic.
User avatar
Adrian Powers
 
Posts: 3368
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:44 pm

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:24 pm

Hey, everyone has their own ways of role-playing. Just because you can't or don't understand it, doesn't mean that others can't as well or have to feel the same way.



Dude...just because you can't grasp or understand how others might RP in this game doesn't mean that it can't happen.
I RP in this game....and I'm not going to explain it to you because you won't get it. And that's okay.

Just don't get all bent just because some others do get it.


Okay, here's the thing: I don't actually get irritated or "bent out of shape" or knock anybody because of role-playing a character. I just don't get what anybody is roleplaying, at least beyond those minimal sorts of basic-level character descriptors I described. A basic morality (or lack of it) and preference for certain goals? Yeah, I get that. I'm playing a Nord Warrior who's out there to roam the world and see what he can see, and have adventures, with no strings tying him to anything. Hence, no joining the Imperials or Stormcloaks. He isn't a bandit, so no finding random people in the wilderness and gutting them for their handful of wealth. He isn't a creepy Daedra-worshipper, so no going on Daedric quests - he wouldn't trust them at all. He prefers the direct approach, although he can use a bow reasonably well, and has little interest in or need of magic beyond healing.

So yes, there is some role-playing there. But what else, I ask, is there to role-play? Some pretend relationship with a woman, even though there isn't any sort of actual person on the other end like there is with pen-and-paper role-playing? Or should I add in some of those oddball quirks I mentioned earlier, and maybe insist on always being gloved, or diving into the minutia of the fun-for-thirty-seconds-and-no-more cooking system, scouring Skyrim for different ingredients so I can see more options on my cooking list?

This is what I'm asking you: Apart from that minimal, initial bit that I agree can be role-played, what more can be role-played? I'm not asking to ridicule, I'm asking out of curiosity.
User avatar
katsomaya Sanchez
 
Posts: 3368
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:03 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:57 pm


And that's cool. I'm not saying every dude that plays a female character is doing so one-handed, I'm just saying that seems to be driving at least some of it...not least because quite a number of people have posted in here saying that yeah, they made their character a chick because they looked hot.



Haha, that was more a general response to the thread but I agree. I find it a little immature or whatever that a lot of guys play cause "dem pixels" :tongue:

Okay, here's the thing: I don't actually get irritated or "bent out of shape" or knock anybody because of role-playing a character. I just don't get what anybody is roleplaying, at least beyond those minimal sorts of basic-level character descriptors I described. A basic morality (or lack of it) and preference for certain goals? Yeah, I get that. I'm playing a Nord Warrior who's out there to roam the world and see what he can see, and have adventures, with no strings tying him to anything. Hence, no joining the Imperials or Stormcloaks. He isn't a bandit, so no finding random people in the wilderness and gutting them for their handful of wealth. He isn't a creepy Daedra-worshipper, so no going on Daedric quests - he wouldn't trust them at all. He prefers the direct approach, although he can use a bow reasonably well, and has little interest in or need of magic beyond healing.

So yes, there is some role-playing there. But what else, I ask, is there to role-play? Some pretend relationship with a woman, even though there isn't any sort of actual person on the other end like there is with pen-and-paper role-playing? Or should I add in some of those oddball quirks I mentioned earlier, and maybe insist on always being gloved, or diving into the minutia of the fun-for-thirty-seconds-and-no-more cooking system, scouring Skyrim for different ingredients so I can see more options on my cooking list?

This is what I'm asking you: Apart from that minimal, initial bit that I agree can be role-played, what more can be role-played? I'm not asking to ridicule, I'm asking out of curiosity.


Honestly, if that's what floats their boat, all the more power to them. I couldn't explain it to you because, personally, I don't get REALLY in to role-playing my character. I do some things like having apprentice robes for when I'm not actively adventuring as I like how they look better than my archmage robes. There's a few more things as well, but they are along the same lines as my example.

If people get way in to their character, good for them. It's a game, that's how they have fun, I wouldn't put any more thought into it than that.
User avatar
April
 
Posts: 3479
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 1:33 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:55 am

I've never chosen a female character in any game. Odd.
User avatar
Sami Blackburn
 
Posts: 3306
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:56 am

Post » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:28 pm

I agree. Even if the more unusual groups like the Companions, who are by definition somewhat outside normal society and pursuing an unusual profession, decided that they weren't all that surprised by a female warrior-adventurer, it just seems odd that the salt-of-the-Earth, every-day NPCs like the merchants and guards - especially the guards - are so gender-neutral. It just applies modern attitudes to a (fictional, of course) pre-modern society in a way that defies plausibility.


I guess my suspension of disbelief is just more developed than yours. I don't even notice stuff like that.

Look, female guards and adventurers! Yeah, and? :shrug:
User avatar
john page
 
Posts: 3401
Joined: Thu May 31, 2007 10:52 pm

PreviousNext

Return to V - Skyrim