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[Zekra Dezivad]

Depends. Context, story, setting. If it makes sense to me than I don't care. For example, if the game's context is absurd like some japanese anime I have no problem playing with a tiny sexy girl in school outfit against zombies and techno monsters with a 2.5mt sword. I even find it funny and it's what I expect from those titles.

Aside of that, in games where you are free to create your character I usually make a white male character, like me, to have a deeper immedesimation.
Also, in aestetically realistic games, to better preserve immedesimation and my suspension of disbelief I usually try to make my character physically coherent with the his role.
For example if I have to make a Knight, a Berserk, a Warrior, I create a strong and muscular male character (My model is usually Gatsu from Berserk). If I have to make a Thief, an archer, I create a thin and agile character (male or woman). if I have to make a sage, a magician, I create an old white male character (like Gandalf, of course).

 

[DoktorEvil]

OP, are you a white male? I am a white male, but my sincere understanding is that we don't care about this as much because we don't have to. There's no under-representation to be inherently bothered by.

I believe that to be false.
It's more about marketability and trends. White male is largest demo, thus protags are usually white males in real life stories.
But I'm not a white male so I can't and won't speak for all white males.

I don't care either way, unless the story changes from male or female perspectives. It's all about context.

 

[SeanTSC]

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.

The PS2 Atelier games all had male protagonists, iirc, and they were great. Especially Atelier Iris 2, it's still my favorite game in the series. They did have different tones though.

Also I haven't played Escha & Logy yet, have it sitting there waiting to be played at some point, but I imagine it still works out great. The current series are just as much about the other characters as they are the main character and you can still have cute girls doing cute things. Sterk, Gino, Lias, etc fit in just fine with them in the Arland series and you could easily have one of them be a protagonist in the same setting.

And guys can do cute things too!

 

[Garibaldi]

Nope, as long as they are well written I couldn't give a monkey.

 

[Namikaze1]

Nope. I don't care who I play as.
I'm Hispanic btw.

 

[Ash_Killem]

I usually try to get a character that somewhat looks like me.. so white/male preferably. But if they look stupid or their are stat changes then I go based on that.

 

[Gonzon06]

I'm not white and I can't say I care, honestly.

 

[dude]

Define "care".

I don't care in the sense that I would rather play a certain gender or race.
But gender and race obviously play into the games story, so I do care in that I want more stories in video game to involve gender and ethnicity in a mature and interesting ways. I want to play more interesting characters.
So yeah, I care for what character I'm playing, but I don't care which one in particular they chose as long as it's not another white guy.

 

[NinjaMouse]

Nope, not even a little bit.

 

[UnderWaterTree]

i don't really care

 

[ShutterMunster]

I care in the sense that I would like to see a bit more diversity.

I don't care in the sense that I would play a game regardless of whether X protagonist was a woman or arabic or african-american.

 

[Drvillain]

I care about sex. I just don't like to play as female leads. I've probably missed out on some good games because of it, but I just don't like it.

Surprised at all the "don't care" in this thread. I know I'm not alone in my thoughts, but I'll be the bad guy lol

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

It doesn't effect if I play a game or not, but I appreciate a more diverse and varied cast.

 

[Zia]

No. I wish there were more feminine games (I was very excited about Child of Light for example, though it didn't turn out as I had hoped), but, if interesting, I don't care what gender or ethnicity a protagonist is. That isn't to say I don't wish there were more minority leads in gaming, and of course I play a female character in role playing games, but those are different subjects entirely. I think there's often a genuine disregard for authorship when campaigning for diversity in relation to protagonists in games that doesn't exist in film or literature and that's tricky, probably down to the immaturity of the medium and its relative starting point among reclusive, mostly male, hobbyists.

 

[Jaevlar]

Not really.

I like diversity in games. The character could be whatever the developers want, as long as he/she/it got some nice design, interesting background story, good writing and a voice actor that does it's job.

 

[Mononoke]

I don't care, but I always want more diversity. Or rather, I'm always down for more diversity. What really mattes is the character itself though (how they are written).

 

[stupei]

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.

I would actually assume MMOs might be one of the places people are least likely to try new things, because they might want a "representation" of themselves for the more social aspects. Essentially a stand-in, like you said.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

No, but my wife says that's because I'm a white man and I have plenty of options. She won't accept that I just don't care who I play as.

 

[BPoole]

I don't care. If given the option of race, I choose white

 

[Springy]

I care about sex. I just don't like to play as female leads. I've probably missed out on some good games because of it, but I just don't like it.

Could you elaborate? I'm not looking to start debate, but I am genuinely curious what curtails your enjoyment. Does it matter if even the sex of the character doesn't factor heavily into it? (Like, for instance, Faith in Mirror's Edge or Samus in Metroid.)

 

[Siegcram]

I care that they're well written and interesting. Anything else is pretty much irrelevant.

 

[sn00zer]

I will likely never play a female in an RPG though as its just plain embarrassing when all the armor sets are bikinis.....although I heard Mass Effect did a good job of not doing this

 

[weeeeezy]

If it's a new IP I don't care. Everything else, it depends. Samus should remain female, Master Chief should remain male.

 

[Stimpack]

I hate when classes are restricted to gender, but beyond that I don't care.

 

[dude]

I think there's often a genuine disregard for authorship when campaigning for diversity in relation to protagonists in games that doesn't exist in film or literature and that's tricky, probably down to the immaturity of the medium and its relative starting point among reclusive, mostly male, hobbyists.

Doesn't exist in film or literature? People have been talking about the lack of diversity in all media (and real life) for a long ass time now.

 

[GungHo]

Eh. I like variety. I'm not interested in people being inclusive as a means to check a box, but not every character has to be a middle aged short haired white guy. Some stuff could be a lot of fun... like why can't we have an RPG that covers Indian mythology? There's some cool shit in the Bhagavad Gita and the larger Mahabarata or in the Ramayana, and it's been untouched. Like some seriously bad-ass stuff. And, if they do that, I don't want that to star an Englishman to make it more "relatable" to me. They can totally have Aziz Ansari do the voices.

 

[UrbanRats]

Is this a trick question?

 

[I-hate-u]

I don't care unless they are wearing too much revealing/extremely skin tight clothes. Bayonetta made me uncomfortable, and I changed Snakes tight suit in MGS4 into a different costume as soon as I could. Otherwise, I don't care if I am playing as a purple potato.

 

[Red Chocobo]

Interesting and quite shocking results here.

GAF has always been one of the most vocal forums over games not having enough black or female game characters. But when asked if they care or not, the vast majority say that they don't.

 

[Domstercool]

Don't give a crap, just give me a good character.

And this is coming from someone who is half-caste (mixed race).

 

[Dereck]

All I care about is the exercise in diversity.

 

[Herne]

The more choice we have in character selection, the better. Though, depending on the game and setting, I might have a preference. For example, my Shepard is female, but my M&B Warband character is male.

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

I don't care unless they are wearing too much revealing/extremely skin tight clothes. Bayonetta made me uncomfortable, and I changed Snakes tight suit in MGS4 into a different costume as soon as I could. Otherwise, I don't care if I am playing as a purple potato.

Lol

 

[PseudoViper]

If it's already predetermined, nope I don't care.

If it's like create your own character, then yes, absolutely.

 

[Kuroyume]

Doesn't bother me but I think it would be cool to see more diversity. At least in terms of race.

 

[dralla]

Yes, I'm sick of playing as straight white dudes with brown hair. More diversity in protagonists would also lead to more diversity in the stories being told.

 

[Josephl64]

could not care less about that stuff to be honest

 

[Kai Dracon]

It's not that I care in the sense of having demands for a particular kind of character. If there is a weird trend like everyone being the same focus tested 25-35 year old white male with short brown hair, it starts to feel off putting. It's boring and banal, like 'America saves the world in every action movie'.

 

[Slappers Only]

I'd honestly sign up for mandating that every single character in every game be an overweight, transsexual amorphous blob in a wheelchair if it meant we could stop talking about it.

 

[Siegcram]

I don't care unless they are wearing too much revealing/extremely skin tight clothes. Bayonetta made me uncomfortable, and I changed Snakes tight suit in MGS4 into a different costume as soon as I could. Otherwise, I don't care if I am playing as a purple potato.

 

[retrogamer84]

Options when creating characters are a great thing. I usually like to create female characters, but if I don't have a choice then I don't care as much.

 

[malingenie]

Don't care, i'm very unnatentive of those things. It's later, when I read a review of a game that i'm like "oh yea, thats cool, Jade was a female, and that's rare". Not once have i consciously chosen a game due to the main character's aesthetics either.

 

[razgriz417]

As long as it fits the story, nope, not at all

 

[lazygecko]

If I cannot play as a female orc my interest drops exponentially..

 

[Drvillain]

Could you elaborate? I'm not looking to start debate, but I am genuinely curious what curtails your enjoyment. Does it matter if even the sex of the character doesn't factor heavily into it? (Like, for instance, Faith in Mirror's Edge or Samus in Metroid.)

I have no problem with Metroid. I get very attached to the lead of the majority of games I play. I just can't be as attached to a female lead. I can't really relate to the character and care as much. I have no problem with a debate btw, since at the end of the day, it's just how I feel and it probably wont change no matter what is said.

I guess an easy way to put it, is that I wouldn't buy Bayonetta 2, because I can't take a woman carrying big ass weapons seriously, or find it to be bad ass.

 

[Mesoian]

Could you elaborate? I'm not looking to start debate, but I am genuinely curious what curtails your enjoyment. Does it matter if even the sex of the character doesn't factor heavily into it? (Like, for instance, Faith in Mirror's Edge or Samus in Metroid.)

I'd say that in both Faith and Samus' example, you know so little about them as people that it doesn't really matter what their gender is. They are characters defined by their mission and nothing else.

Which is why people hate OtherM so much; the player finally learning about Samus's backstory and learning more about her as a woman, and most of the things she does and happen to her being paramount to a complete character assassination based on what we knew about her from the games that came before it.

When the only thing that matters about a character is their mission, their gender doesn't matter. It is purely aesthetic at that point.

I will likely never play a female in an RPG though as its just plain embarrassing when all the armor sets are bikinis.....although I heard Mass Effect did a good job of not doing this

Games are generally getting better at this. I staunchly believe that "sexy" should never be the default for a game character, mostly because so few people do it well. However, "sexy" should always be an option. Let the people who want it have it, let the people who don't ignore it, everyone gets what they want.

And Mass effect barely has any customization so, yeah. But I was annoyed that, until the Kasumi DLC in Mass Effect 2, Femshep's formal evening attire was basically a military uniform, I thought that was a little dismissive of my Shepard as a woman; and that's REALLY fascinating.

 

[TatteredHat]

I was going to say no, but I actually prefer playing female characters.

 

[Zia]

Doesn't exist in film or literature? People have been talking about the lack of diversity in all media (and real life) for a long ass time now.

What? The superficial discussion of, "This should be reappropriated to accommodate that," that dominates discussion of inequality in video games (as it relates to protagonists in narrative-driven games) isn't something taken seriously in other mediums, at least in an academic sense.

 

[Nachos]

It certainly would never stop me from buying a game, but I do think that if it really doesn't matter to the story, then it might be good to include other groups other than white/ethnically-ambiguous dudes as the default. I can't fault the industry for writing/programming/modeling/acting what it knows, but that's still an inherently-limited knowledge base.

More representation is good. That's why I volunteered to do the Akiba's Trip OT – even if I don't play a ton of budget Japanese games, it's refreshing to see some studios realize that some people want to see hot boobs and others want to see hot pecs. Accommodating people doesn't need to come at the expense of striping away content, and it's great that Acquire was able to slip in a bit of man-service into the game.

By the way, /v/ compiled a list of games with female leads and managed to list 440 titles. It even says that the number's a drop in the bucket compared to guys, but hopefully that number keeps increasing.

 

[Jeronimo Jones]

I care in the sense that I sometimes note their race/gender and would like more variety and more interesting characters generally. I don't expect them to always look like me, but neither should anyone else. It doesn't normally have a great effect on my purchases though.