Do you actually care what race/sex a main character is?

Nope, doesn't matter. Geralt, Adéwalé, Snake, Bayonetta, Neptune, Altair, Niko, Toki, Fei, Ayesha, Totori, Kirito, Delsin, etc etc etc. I'll play any race or sex and I don't even think about it at all with games with set protagonists.

With games where you create your character I always make males. Usually human, though occasionally I do other fantasy stuff depending on the game. Making a cat-guy in FFXIV: ARR was the best thing ever. I name them Sean 99% of the time, though my cat-guy was Sterling Archer as part of my FFXIV guild's running joke (we named it ISIS too).
 
I do care.

If you have a woman as a main character (preferably with at least part of her body covered) I'm far more likely to give your game alook at this point.
 
No but I'm a white dude so I never noticed anything off/can't really complain. If I was a girl or a non-white dude I think I'd be quicker to notice the patterns, so I can see why they complain.

Personally I notice more of the main character is using that god awful Christian Bale-Batman voice to be "gritty" and sounding like an asinine fool.
 
If they're preset, predefined characters it doesn't bother me incredibly what race or sex they are as long as they aren't written horribly.

With character creators I create female protags a lot of the time just to see how the story handles it. It works out well sometimes (Obsidian, Bioware) and not so much others (bethesda lol)
 
I sort of care when it comes to long-established [possibly iconic] characters. But then someone will come along and arbitrarily demand change, pointing out how long-established they are.

If the developer changes it up, that's cool. Doesn't mean I have to like it though.
 
I like games with interesting characters, cool environments and fun game mechanics.

I want to see more black main characters that aren't defaulted towards being "street" or comic relief.
 
Couldn't give a flying fuck about it.

When possible I choose a female character though, always have and always will.
 
In an ideal world, people probably aren't going to care about the race or gender of a fictional character. But I don't think the world is at that stage yet when racism and sexism is still very prevalent.

Squalor said:
It's easy not to care when the vast majority of main characters are already your gender and race.
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This.
 
As long as they're Human, yep. Dwarfs, Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Turians, Exo, Argonians, Salarians, Khajit, Awoken, Undead, Krogan etc, can fuck right off.
 
I don't tend to care about the main character's race. The only thing that matters to me is that the story and gameplay are good enough to justify me playing.
 
Nope, Unless it's some huge boobed anime chick.

Even then if that huge boobed anime chick has a game with good storytelling and good character development I'll give it a shot.
 
Depends on the game. I couldn't imagine an Atelier game from a male perspective from example. It's about cute girls doing cute things and alchemy, it just wouldn't work the same with a male protagonist. At least Eschatology gives you an option I guess.

Can't think of a game that wouldn't work with a female protagonist.
 
So, judging from these replies gamers don't care about sex or gender. Judging from other threads, they care a lot about other people caring :)
 
Every MMO census I've seen has shown that when given the option of choosing a race/gender, the most human-like race tends to be number 1 and most play as male. Could just be me but MMOs seem like the games that people would most experiment with race/sex and even they are par for the course. I have to imagine that in games that are single-player or have a campaign mode in which players are given character creation options, white human male probably has a overwhelming majority. Can't say whether or not this would effect people's purchases of games without that choice.

For me personally, depends on if the protagonist is a stand-in for you or they're their own fleshed out character. If it's the latter, I don't care but if it's the former, I would prefer to play a character more like me.
 
Great story, characters, and great cut scenes are my favorite aspects when I look into what game I want to play. Definitely a reason MGS is one of my favorite games.

What kind of character I prefer? Well in games like Skyrim where there is tons of customization I tend to make characters that just outright look funny as hell.

In games with (1) main character I honestly don't know what I want until I play it.
 
I don't necessarily care but I do NOTICE how they're all basically white males. And, I especially notice (as a black male) when a black male is in a game and they always make them a walking stereotype, which happens all the fucking time
 
I don't usually care, although I like it when protagonists are outside the norm. So; black men, black women, white women, Asian women are all a hell of a lot more interesting than the usual brown haired white American male protagonist.
 
z3Rtini.jpg


I don't really care ^^^^
I still wonder why Ubisoft caught so much attention on AC Unity
 
Xilium said:
Every MMO census I've seen has shown that when given the option of choosing a race/gender, the most human-like race tends to be number 1 and most play as male. Could just be me but MMOs seem like the games that people would most experiment with race/sex and even they are par for the course. I have to imagine that in games that are single-player or have a campaign mode in which players are given character creation options, white human male probably has a overwhelming majority. Can't say whether or not this would effect people's purchases of games without that choice.

For me personally, depends on if the protagonist is a stand-in for you or they're their own fleshed out character. If it's the latter, I don't care but if it's the former, I would prefer to play a character more like me.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. I never do stand ins. I like to create characters and role play.

BeatResetsTheWorld said:
I don't necessarily care but I do NOTICE how they're all basically white males. And, I especially notice (as a black male) when a black male is in a game and they always make them a walking stereotype, which happens all the fucking time
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I'm white but I've noticed that for years and it's really annoying.
I know this doesn't have a lot to do with games but it would be so awesome if the main character in the new StarWars movies was black.
 
Yes. Humanoid races with tails and fur will turn me off immediately, for instance. Hate dwarves, elves, orcs and undead as well.
I wouldn't mind playing as other races (except quarian) from the ME universe, though.
 
SeanBondConnery said:
z3Rtini.jpg


I don't really care ^^^^
I still wonder why Ubisoft caught so much attention on AC Unity
Click to expand...

It wasn't what they did or didn't do, it's how they tried to dismiss it in the worst way possible.

If those leaks from a few days ago pan out, there will be PLENTY of women in ACU, and the person who gave that explanation was probably trying to tip toe around what's actually in the game.
 
My first thought was that I don't care about any kind of gender/race differences when it's a set thing, like San Andreas or Tomb Raider or Uncharted.

Then I realized that when I have a choice to play as male/female and the female option is attractive to me (white male) I'll choose to play as a woman. If the customization options are not that attractive(skyrim) then I'll go as a male. I guess that confirms I'm looking to like what I stare at for hours and hours as I wander my character around the game.

Would I like Uncharted more if Nathan was Nathanette? Probably not. Would I like Tomb Raider(2013) less if it was Lars instead of Lara? Possibly! Wow. If TR had a guy protagonist it would feel a lot more generic to me, a lot more of an Uncharted clone.

Edit: As a followup if Lara was Lars in TR, and Lars was a black guy, the feeling of being different comes back and I'm just as interested in playing as if it is Lara. So white male dude protagonist is pretty stale to me.

So I guess I do care about what gender/race the protagonist is, at least in how it differentiates the game from others and feels 'new'.
 
Yes and no.

Yes, because I like to play as interesting and different people from myself and still have the opportunity to play as someone perhaps like myself. If all we get is the same homogeneous selection of crafted characters meant to appeal to some manufactured demographic, I can't help but notice it's lack of trying but also find it disappointing for a medium that supposedly reaches so many people across the world today and its biggest products are being made by a much more diverse set of peoples than the products they create. It's a poor show for something that can sometimes aspire to be 'art' (whatever that is), to be taken more seriously across the spectrum, and a medium that claims its worth based on its creativity and a willingness to provide more interesting experiences.

No, because I don't play or buy based on it. I recognize the value of having greater representation, though, and will never cease to make it known that I disagree with the lack of it in games. It's a benefit to the experience, IMO, and not just something to casually sweep aside as trivial. Games are repetitive by nature, but the visual experience doesn't have to be and featuring greater diversity opens the door to new ideas and possibilities.
 
It doesn't detract from my experience but it's cool to see diverse characters because I do feel pride seeing a good black character. I felt pride seeing a Somali faction in Civilization Beyond Earth. I imagine since white males are basically the default character that white males don't feel this sensation because it's the norm. I'm not a white male though so I probably shouldn't be speaking for white males.
 
I care, insomuch that I've enjoyed playing as different races and genders as part of an experience. CJ, Wei Shen, Lara Croft: they all add to the fun to play a role.

Equally, I enjoy a good cipher (Gordon Freeman, Claude in GTAIII).

So, yeah, I'd like more chances to be different kinds of people in a game.
 
I don't care about Race/Sex, but playing stuff like Dragons Crown or Senran Kagura makes me feel kinda "self conscious" about it.
 
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