How many females are on these boards? now with poll

[dragonbird]

It's not because the loudest female voices demand female protagonists that they are necessarily speaking for all of us.
Just look at exactly that number, now go on ME related topics where people are screaming that femShep is the best and still it's only 18%. If a majority of people who write comments say the female character is the best then why is it only 18% ?

Easy because the ones like me don't post about it. I'm a female hardcore gamer and I don't like playing female characters.
Even more so since voice acting for protagonists became a thing.
My nails cringe when I hear femsheps voice, I wanted to pull my own hair out after hearing female Hawkes voice.

and maybe it's even a bit sexualized, I just prefer staring at a males ass for hours of game-play...

But yeah there are still less female hardcore gamers then males. But that was the same if you take a peak towards D&D back in the day.

I don't know if I qualify as "hardcore" or not. Probably not, although I spend a lot of hours gaming. But I agree with all of these comments.

I'll happily play either a male or a female protagonist. As far as relating to the character is concerned, I don't find it any harder to role-play a male than to role-play a female whose life experiences and personality are nothing like my own, and I'd find it totally pointless to role-play a female who *IS* like me - I could just go outside and do that.

As far as sex scenes are concerned, they're cut-scenes, not interactive. If it's THAT immersive, one could just as easily imagine oneself in the female partner's role as in the protagonist's. So it isn't an issue. I tend to avoid the optional and casual encounters - I've never collected the sex cards and I've probably killed the succubus more times than I've sided with her.

And Geralt or Iorveth? Both, please, but not at the same time.

 

[tasir]

Reminds me of my ex. That makes me wonder how many female witcher players choose to let geralt have intimacy with other women in the game and how often. I am almost sure there's a variation on choices made between male and female players if you would look at it statistically.

Well, as for me: I played TW2 first on Xbox 360, though I had wanted to play TW1 since 2008 but my PC was a piece of crap… Anyway, last year I finally got to play the first game as well.

So back to TW2:
At first I didn’t know who that naked redheaded woman was at the beginning of the game, but I was like “Hmm, whatever, this scene is tasteful, I have no problem with nudity in video games, and this chick is probably Geralt’s girlfriend”. Basically on my first play-through I didn’t know anything about the characters, story etc. but the game was amazing and I enjoyed every minute of it and also Triss was a likeable character thus I was loyal to her till the end of the game. After my second play-through I started to read the books and I could finally put the pieces together and understood the characters’ motivation.
BUT I always let Geralt take a bath with Triss and give her the rose because 1) I seem to be in the minority here but I still like her. XD 2) there are no other romance options for me, I mean most of the encounters are meaningless sex.

- Triss and Ves are the only romance options. To be honest, on my third play-through my Geralt had sex with Ves but I got disappointed when realized that there was no time to develop the relationship with her, thus for me this sex scene has lost its meaning, unfortunately.

- Cynthia: Even though I like her, my Geralt always refuses to have sex with her, because 1) just another meaningless sex scene 2) she was the one who turned a friend into a statue and my Geralt didn't forget it. So usually I am harsh towards her although I agree that she had good chemistry with Geralt. And yeah, I want to see her in TW3.

- Succubus: I won’t lie, once I tried her just out of curiosity because didn’t know what would happen. But right after that scene I loaded a previous save so actually it’s like the sex scene never happened. XD

- Brothel: No, never. I don't support prostitution either.

- Mottle: I pitied her and somehow felt bad when she offered Geralt a "reward"… So no, it’s just not acceptable in my book.

Hmm, I guess that’s all, and the same goes for TW1, my Geralt chose Triss (though, I didn’t like her personality in the first game). But I don’t know… Maybe If I would have played TW1 before TW2 than I would have chosen Shani, because she was a likeable character and I liked her. In that case, I guess the Triss & Geralt scene would piss me off in TW2, so I understand the Shani Fans’ frustration and I hope there will be more romance options in TW3.

As for playing male character: I don't know why, but I also prefer playing as a male character. XD

(Sorry for my English…)

 

[Mihura]

Actual I never understood that kinda of question, I mean the sex scene why would that be even a problem? Unless you have a really bad case of self insert I really do not understand, so wait, guys do not play with female characters and romance guys too?

Well for me having the option to play a female character can be crucial in my decision to buy the game now, in the past I really did not mind. Now I am bore out of my mind with the same cool straight white guy and I decided to vote with my wallet.
The only way for me to buy a game with a male protagonist, is the games to be really good with an "unsual" male protagonist like TW or Assassin Creed, which means I have no interest on buying Black Flag and Watch Dogs for exemple. Like there are some people that only play with male protagonists, I am the opposite most of the time

 

[username_2093396]

Actual I never understood that kinda of question, I mean the sex scene why would that be even a problem? Unless you have a really bad case of self insert I really do not understand, so wait, guys do not play with female characters and romance guys too?

When I'm playing a game, I usually feel like I'm the main character unless I find the main character really unlikeable (like Kratos). But that's mostly during gameplay or dialogue that I get to choose (or if the character happens to say exactly what I was expecting anyway despite the lack of dialogue choices). When it comes to extended cutscenes then my mind switches into movie mode

But anyhow, I think the question was referring to how the sex scenes are kind of one-sided where the woman is fully naked and posing for the camera while Geralt always has pants on at all times I think that looks a little silly, but it's definitely not going to ruin the game for me.

Well for me having the option to play a female character can be crucial in my decision to buy the game now, in the past I really did not mind. Now I am bore out of my mind with the same cool straight white guy and I decided to vote with my wallet.
The only way for me to buy a game with a male protagonist, is the games to be really good with an "unsual" male protagonist like TW or Assassin Creed, which means I have no interest on buying Black Flag and Watch Dogs for exemple. Like there are some people that only play with male protagonists, I am the opposite most of the time

I mainly make my decision about whether to get a game based on what the gameplay is like and/or how strong the story is supposed to be (depending on what type of game it is). I don't mind playing as any type of character as long as I like that character's personality. And sometimes I even play as characters I hate just because I'm ignoring the story and focusing on the gameplay (like God of War).

I can see your point though about there not being too many good games with a female protagonist. I'm trying to think of all of the games (or series) I've played which were very story-driven and now that I think about it they all had male protagonists (or a choice of protagonist which resulted in much less characterization). I can't think of too many story-driven games with a female protagonist, and of the ones I can think of I found the stories kind of weak and was only playing for the gameplay.

 

[Mihura]

When I'm playing a game, I usually feel like I'm the main character unless I find the main character really unlikeable (like Kratos). But that's mostly during gameplay or dialogue that I get to choose (or if the character happens to say exactly what I was expecting anyway despite the lack of dialogue choices). When it comes to extended cutscenes then my mind switches into movie mode

But anyhow, I think the question was referring to how the sex scenes are kind of one-sided where the woman is fully naked and posing for the camera while Geralt always has pants on at all times

I think that looks a little silly, but it's definitely not going to ruin the game for me.



I mainly make my decision about whether to get a game based on what the gameplay is like and/or how strong the story is supposed to be (depending on what type of game it is). I don't mind playing as any type of character as long as I like that character's personality. And sometimes I even play as characters I hate just because I'm ignoring the story and focusing on the gameplay (like God of War).

I can see your point though about there not being too many good games with a female protagonist. I'm trying to think of all of the games (or series) I've played which were very story-driven and now that I think about it they all had male protagonists (or a choice of protagonist which resulted in much less characterization). I can't think of too many story-driven games with a female protagonist, and of the ones I can think of I found the stories kind of weak and was only playing for the gameplay.

Oh yes the male gaze was atrocious, I always skip the sex scenes and Phillipa and Dethmold too now, one time was enough. My main problem with that is that even with gay and lesbian characters and situations, the scenes were made to the straight male audience.

I have to say that I was a really general player, I almost played everything. Now days I play a lot of indies,retro, RPG, MMOs or things like War of The Roses. As for games well the last ones I played were Guild Wars 2, Tomb Raider, Remenber Me, Saint Row and King of Dragon Pass. Oh wait I did play the hangar for Star Citizen that had a male avatar but the game is in development and you can choice two genders so...

I support good games that have something different, talking only goes so far.