With which gender do you prefer to play videogames in general? [Poll] [Spoilers]

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With which gender do you prefer to play videogames in general?

  • Male

  • Female


Results are only viewable after voting.
See a lot of players seemingly playing a female V in threads like Share Your V! (Keep it Classy), and Share your screenshots, NPCS, World, or your Character. Got me a little curious as to how that percentage lies. Hench this poll. Think playing with females has the upper-hand.

I myself always play with female characters because, (a) am hetero, (b) love how game-developers make females animate in games, how they look, how they perform, what they wear, how they move, their personality, how they fight, how they wield weapons, how they operate, how they solve issues and obstacles.

Games of old practically always had male protagonists, so playing with a male was common. Was actually, for myself at least, the arrival of Tomb Raider on the first PlayStation, when playing with a female became apparent.

Since then, some games were male only, some female only, and some you could choose. So which do you prefer?

(1 unchangeable unanimous vote).
 

Guest 3847602

Guest
I've played almost all RPGs I own with both genders, but when it comes to preference, it depends on the setting:
- for futuristic (Cyberpunk, Mass Effect, KotOR, classic Fallout) - female
- for medieval fantasy: male for swordsmen, female for mages, both genders for rogues
 
I prefer to play as the same gender as I am in real life when I play a game for the first time, simply because it's easier to "be one" with my character when they're not completely different from me.

But I like playing as both genders, in general, and even prefer the opposite in some games. It depends.
 

Guest 4412420

Guest
Can we get a "no preference" option for the poll? I pick whatever gender I feel like playing at the time.
 
Can we get a "no preference" option for the poll? I pick whatever gender I feel like playing at the time.
Sorry, no. It's one of the two. If you don't want to have to choose, simply don't vote. I'm interested as to where the gender usage percentage lies overall.
 
I am little bit biased, but I tend to prefer female leads as some of the best games I played either had great female main characters or great female characters in general. Even though they are my opposite gender. My avatar pic pretty much shows one of those characters.
 
In cRPGs I more often RP dudes, but am comfortable with both. In cRPG my preference for a particular games depends a lot on who the voice actors are and how the NPCs interact with the PC. In my table top groups I sometimes like to pick last and balance out the party one way or the other. It's more interesting with characters from varying genders.
 
I'm happy playing both too. I don't mind a female only protagonist, I don't mind a male only one. Don't mind neither. Something which did stick out as something which I'd noticed in my playing through RPGs is that the female voice actor is so frequently the one I prefer when given a choice. Fem Shep, female V, and so on.
 
If I'm playing some kind of RPG, I'll always chose the male "version" of the character. Otherwise - platform, shooter, action, bla bla bla - I don't really care.

In any case, on these matters, the web is kinda... deceptive: reading reddit, for example, it would seem that everyone has played the Mass Effect trilogy as a woman, while the statistics provided by Bioware itself tell us that 68% of players have chosen man. @_@ Looks like the "female character player base" is more... "vocal", so to say, more involved.

To each his own, however. It's good that nowdays everyone can choose what they prefer. :3
 
If I'm playing some kind of RPG, I'll always chose the male "version" of the character. Otherwise - platform, shooter, action, bla bla bla - I don't really care.

In any case, on these matters, the web is kinda... deceptive: reading reddit, for example, it would seem that everyone has played the Mass Effect trilogy as a woman, while the statistics provided by Bioware itself tell us that 68% of players have chosen man. @_@ Looks like the "female character player base" is more... "vocal", so to say, more involved.

To each his own, however. It's good that nowdays everyone can choose what they prefer. :3
Interesting. Coincidently, played Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 with a female Shepard too, but always had the feature that sends play-statistics the EA off, even if it was only to safe bandwidth, and that it was off by default. Begs the question how accurate those statistics are.
 
I'll play either, typically depending on how many romanceable characters there are in a game and their preferences. And the character creator. There's a lot of factors lmao. My "canon" characters tend to be female (Shepard, Ryder, any DA protag). I start as a female character, because that's what I am, and then it's a crapshoot from there. My favorite V to play is male.
 
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Interesting. Coincidently, played Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 with a female Shepard too, but always had the feature that sends play-statistics the EA off, even if it was only to safe bandwidth, and that it was off by default. Begs the question how accurate those statistics are.

Hard to say, to be honest, but "statistically speaking", the same thing that happened to you probably happened to some "male" player. @_@

Maybe (but it's mere speculation) the difference isn't that wide - 32/68 -, but I believe that still today most of the players are men and that this (at least in RPGs) ends up inevitably affecting certain statistics.

Luckily, in the end, all this does not matter at all: today almost all RPGs leave you free choice in this regard and the resulting differences are minor - Panam still best girl, though. :p
 
I used to play male only all the time in my teens, but gradually began favouring female player characters. Often this was due to limitations with character creators (or portraits) but eventually I found myself enjoying roleplaying the complete opposite of me as opposed to an avatar of myself like I would imagine in old Ultima, AD&D/Baldur's Gate games, etc. etc.

I find that often I prefer female VAs too, Cherami Leigh as V of course, but also Jennifer Hale in Mass Effect and Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
I will usually play female characters if given the choice, for a few reasons:

- to "balance the scales", after playing mostly with male protagonists on the PS1/2 era, and still today, they are still skewed towards male protagonists.

- from a gameplay perspective, female characters tend to be faster and more agile, which is my style, whether its in a fighting game or a class-based RPG.

- more recently (at least for me), romance options became a thing in games, and female characters seem to me get the best options (i stand by Judy as Cyberpunk's best girl), like devs put in extra effort to avoid any possible backlash or accusations.
 
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