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Edit: I have merged various information(s). The additional information should act as a stimulus that may or may not contribute but they are all inter-connected nevertheless.

2013 Study

Gender Swapping and User Behaviors in Online Social Games

Abstract

Modern Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) provide lifelike virtual environments in which players can conduct a variety of activities including combat, trade, and chat with other players. While the game world and the available actions therein are inspired by their offline counterparts, the games' popularity and dedicated fan base are testament to the allure of novel social interactions granted to people by granting them an alternative life as new characters and personae. In this paper we investigate the phenomenon of "gender swapping," which refers to players choosing avatars of genders opposite to their natural ones. We report the behavioral patterns observed in players of Fairyland Online, a globally serviced MMORPG, during social interactions when playing as in-game avatars of their own real gender or genderswapped, and discuss the effect of gender role and self-image in virtual social situations and the potential of our study for improving MMORPG qualities and detection of fake online identities.

2014 Study

The strategic female: gender-switching and player behavior in online games

Abstract

As players craft and enact identities in digital games, the relationship between player and avatar gender remains unclear. This study examines how 11 in-game chat, movement, and appearance behaviors differed by gender and by men who did and did not use a female avatar – or ‘gender-switchers’. Drawing on social role and feminist theories of gender, we argue that gender differences in behavior align with the social roles and norms that establish appropriate and inappropriate behavior for men and women. Thus we complicate questions of ‘gender-switching’ by examining not only player gender, but also player psychological Gender Role as measured by the Bem Sex Role Inventory to examine how gender does – and does not – manifest in digital worlds. Analysis revealed that men may not necessarily seek to mask their offline gender when they use a female avatar, but there is evidence they do reinforce idealized notions of feminine appearance and communication. Movement behaviors, however, show no differences across men who do and do not gender-switch. That is, selecting avatar gender may be less a matter of identity expression, and more a strategic selection of available multi-modal codes that players take up in their navigation of this digital space.

Kotaku

A new study reported on by Slate found that men are much more likely to gender switch in online games than women. Researchers recruited 375 World of Warcraft players and had them cooperate in small groups for about 1.5 hours. The biggest finding? 23 percent of men opt to play as women, but only 7 percent of women try taking a walk on the (generally) hairier side.

"When selecting female avatars, these men strongly preferred attractive avatars with traditional hairstyles—long, flowing locks as opposed to a pink mohawk. And their chat patterns shifted partway toward how the real women spoke: These men used more emotional phrases and more exclamation points than the men who did not gender-switch. In other words, these men created female avatars that were stereotypically beautiful and emotional".

So these men role-played to an extent, perhaps somewhat unconsciously, while inhabiting idealized bodies they'd dreamed up. Article author and Ubisoft research scientist Nick Yee noted that this sort of behavior is actually fairly typical of people given avatars drastically or even subtly different from their own bodies. If an avatar is tall, he observed, people tend to be more aggressive in their actions. So basically, people unconsciously paint personalities in broad strokes. They act out what they know, so they fall back on stereotypes without really thinking about it.

The men in the World of Warcraft study failed miserably, however, when it came to movement and other less easily monitored/altered habits.

"The researchers found that all the men in their study moved around in a very different way than the women. The men moved backward more often, stayed farther away from groups, and jumped about twice as much as the women did. When it came to moving around, the men behaved similarly whether they gender-switched or not".

Credits to Kotaku and Slate

Counterparts

Ms. Male Character - Tropes vs Women in Video Games
Sexual harassment is rife online. No wonder women swap gender

Female gamers are used to putting up with sexist claptrap - both from the companies that design games and other players. So a study by psychologists at Nottingham Trent University showing that 70% of them chose to construct male characters when given the option by online games, should come as no surprise.

Why Women Play Male Characters?

Supplementary Information

This is an interesting study all thought outdated - it covers only 2005-2010.

Abstract

• A sample of 399 box art cases from games with ESRB ratings of Teen or Mature released in the US during the period of 2005 through 2010; a subset of games that are most often targeted at young males and are the most likely to feature sexualized women.
  
• A sample drawn from a sampling frame of about 6400 games with US sales of at least 10,000 copies; specifically, games had to be released in the US for a major home console (Nintendo GameCube, DS or Wii, Sony PS2, PS3 or PSP, or Microsoft Xbox or Xbox 360) in the period of 2005 through 2010.
  
• Sales were positively related to sexualization of non-central female characters among cases with women present.
  
• Sales were negatively related to the presence of any central female characters (sexualized or non-sexualized) or the presence of female characters without male characters present.

Video games have often drawn criticism for stereotypical depictions of women as passive partners for the (male) protagonist in such situations as the cliché “save the princess” scenario or as sex objects present primarily for the gratification of a male audience.

Assumptions

• Studies completed on video games sold in the US have shown that female characters are not given representation equal to male characters in video games and are often created from a male perspective that is less than “realistic,” exaggerating their sexual or feminine traits
  
• Sexualized representations of women are used in video games because such depictions increase game sales.
  
• Female characters are usually cast in supporting rather than central roles while male characters take central roles because the predominantly male audience is better able to identify with a male protagonist
  
• The research question explored here is whether particular depictions of female (and male) characters on game box art, specifically the presence, centrality, and sexualization of female characters and the presence and centrality of male characters, are related to sales.
  
• It is expected that “sex sells,” but only when the sexualized women portrayed are also depicted as marginalized, consistent with a gender coding of the game that fits cultural stereotypes
  
• Most popular Nintendo games of the time often placed female characters in either a passive, helpless role as a “damsel in distress” motivating the actions of the male protagonist or a negatively-valued, sexualized role as a “bad girl” minor antagonist
  
• Half of the female characters in a content analysis of game play videos were playable (Haninger & Thompson, 2004) and a fifth of female characters in a content analysis of game reviews were playable and therefore active rather than passive
  
• Female characters were more likely than male characters to be depicted as sex objects, sexier, more attractive or in ways that were sexually suggestive.
  
• When female characters were pictured as dominant they also were more likely to be portrayed as hypersexualized.
  
• Most of the women either wore revealing clothing or were at least partially nude.
  
• Measurement of their body proportions suggested that female characters in games aimed at older players were thinner than adult females in the US, in contrast, male characters in those games were proportional to actual sizes of adult US males

Limitations

• While box art is a widely accessible advertisement of video game content, it is far from the only form of advertisement and may produce an incorrect estimate of the incidence of female characters and highly sexualized female characters in games themselves.
  
• The box art examined in this study was for games marketed in the US only.
  
• The sample did not include PC games or free-to-play games.

Credits to Selling Gender: Associations of Box Art Representation of Female Characters With Sales for Teen- and Mature-rated Video Games

Supplementary Information 2

Respectable female protagonists, heroines and characters

Joanna Dark

Born with a spinal injury that left her unable to walk before the age of 5, Joanna Dark spent her life exceeding expectations and rising to the occasion. Even as a simple bounty hunter aiding her father Jack, Jo embodied professionalism and commitment to getting the job done, even when loved ones and friends were lost in the process.

Elena Fisher

We generally hold investigative journalists in high esteem regardless of their are of expertise, but it's Elena Fisher's skills off-camera that most impress us. Anyone who knows the Uncharted name immediately ties the title and no-hold-barred action to leading man Nathan Drake, but those who have played the games know that Elena is no damsel in distress or 'voice of an earpiece,' but a full-fledged counterpart to Drake's bravado and confidence.

Faith Connors

As part of the rebellion against a totalitarian regime taking over the City in which Mirror's Edge is based, we find ourselves rooting for Faith regardless of context. The fact that she practices her rebellion by acting as an illegal courier across rooftops where the police 'Blues' and City Eyes can't intercept her just makes her even more impressive.

Cate Archer

The quintessential counterpoint to James Bond's 007, cat burglar-turned-secret-agent Cate Archer is one of the most underrated leads in one of the most underrated modern shooters - the fact she's a woman is an afterthought.

Jade a.k.a. 'Shauni'

Jade's role in Beyond Good & Evil has been the subject of much criticism, naming her one of the most important female game characters ever, as much for what she is as what she is not. Created by Ubisoft's Michel Ancel to embody something relatable, not simply sex appeal, Ancel ultimately made a female protagonist who distinguishes herself by her choices, not her skills or appearance.

Liara T'Soni

Some people might settle for earning the title of the most learned and knowledgeable source of information concerning a now-extinct race of galactic engineers. Indeed, the world of gaming is full of such experts. But after Dr. Liara T'Soni stepped from her mother's shadow to do just that, and uncovered the secrets of Prothean extinction, she moved on.

Anya Stroud

From the very beginning of the Gears of War series, Anya Stroud distinguished herself as an intelligence officer unlike any other. Not just because she saw Marcus Fenix for who he was, not the traitor and deserter he was accused of being, but for her own dedication to the COG.

Alyx Vance

As a leading figure in the Resistance movement in City 17, anyone who isn't a Combine-sympathizer likely found Alyx Vance one of the highlights of Half-Life 2 and the following Episodes. Painstakingly designed by Valve and given a voice and writing that manged to be warm, trustworthy, but also confident and assertive, she was a success on all fronts.

Sarah Kerrigan

Sarah Kerrigan. A powerful telepath from an early age, Kerrigan was quickly trained to be one of the Terran Confederacy's 'ghosts'; soldiers with unmatched psionic abilities, entrusted with the most covert and pivotal operations.

Samus Aran

This is a no-brainer. She was the first, she was the best, and she still remains one of the most beloved characters Nintendo has in its stable. Granted we didn't actually know Samus Aran was a woman the first time we played through Metroid, but once we discovered it, we were never the same. Not only was the hero of the game a woman, but she was one of the deadliest people in the galaxy.

Ellen

After growing up in an orphanage, Ellen visits the remote Irish village of Doolin to discover something about her parents. What she gets instead is a slightly terrifying fantasy world full of a twisted version of Pokémon. Yet she takes it all in stride, and even puts those little monsters to work for her.

Rayne

Rayne is the definition of an anti-heroine; she's the protagonist of the Bloodrayne series, but she's not exactly a beacon of morality. She is a murderous vampire, after all. And though she's hyper-sexualized, what do you expect from the ultimate human predator?

Alicia Claus

Yeah, she's a witch. But she's a good witch, we swear! She uses her powers over nature to fight demons, and her massive gunrod is sexy and empowering. She's cute, too.

Jennifer Tate

We always appreciate when gender roles in video games are reversed, considering how ingrained the save-the-princess thing is in our culture. In Primal, Jennifer goes on a terrible journey to rescue her boyfriend. We hope our girlfriend would do the same.

Lilith

Lilith shares the Borderlands stage with tons of other protagonists, especially if you count the sequel, but her phasewalking ability is one of the most useful powers in the series. We love that she even got some lines and a fleshed-out story in Borderlands 2—all praise The Firehawk!

Madison Paige

Madison is one of four protagonists in Heavy Rain, but she might be the most compelling. Not least of which for the shower scene, which we obviously appreciated. But her influence on the story is invaluable, particularly in her presence making Ethan less of an apathetic dick.

Aya Brea

Aya is one of the most loved female characters of the PlayStation generation, and even her PSP adventure from 2010—The 3rd Birthday—was well-received. And that's saying a lot for a PSP game.

Shanoa

Shanoa is the leader of the DS Castlevania game's eponymous Order of Ecclesia, the group that steps up to defeat Dracula when the Belmonts are nowhere to be seen. And that's no easy task. It probably helps that certain story events have wiped away all her memories and emotions.

Yuna

Final Fantasy X was, at the time, the only game in the series to receive a direct sequel, in the form of Final Fantasy X-2. Some saw it as overkill, but we were okay with it, since it gave us another excuse to step into the supple boots of the capable summoner Yuna.

Nariko

We much prefer Nariko to developer Ninja Theory's later female heroine, Trip. Nariko is fighting for her life and her people in Heavenly Sword; Trip, meanwhile, literally slips a slave collar onto Enslaved's other protagonist, Monkey, while he's knocked out. Who does that?

Amaterasu

Amaterasu is pretty killer as a heroine. She wields the celestial brush to draw enemies in half and make the sun rise. That's the privilege of the sun goddess, after all. And she's an adorable white wolf. There's literally nothing we don't like about her.

Clementine

Clementine is the focus of plenty of rescues in Telltale's The Walking Dead game, but we'd argue that she's a heroine in her own right. She saves Lee's life in the very first episode, and she even becomes a right little badass once he teaches her how to wield a gun.

Tifa Lockhart

Tifa puts up with a lot in Final Fantasy VII, running the bar, hosting Avalanche meetings, helping take care of Marlene, and even taking care of Cloud when he's suffering his massive breakdown partway through. We're still not sure where she falls in terms of the whole Cloud/Zack thing, but suffice to say she's a trooper the whole time. And unlike Aeris, she doesn't get herself killed before the first disc's even over.

Lara Croft

Lara Croft may be the most iconic female character in gaming, but let's not forget that she was designed from the get-go to be little more than a male fantasy of a woman. A dual pistol-wielding, tiger-kicking male fantasy, but a jiggly male fantasy nonetheless. Whether Crystal Dynamics' new reboot of the character can alter that remains to be seen.

Cortana

Who hasn’t wished for its very own Cortana AI? Think about it, she’s super smart, gives the best advice, good with computers and totally loyal. She’s a friend till the end kind of girl, the only downside? She’s so smart she only lasts for about 7 years, she literally thinks herself out of commission. There was only room for one Artificial Intelligence in this list and Cortana made the cut, after all this hot piece of data proved crucial to the survival of mankind, can’t really imagine Master Chief saving the galaxy with GLADOS behind him can you?

Chun Li

Chun Li is one of the most popular female characters in all of gaming and for good reason, she’s a strong street fighter and undercover international cop in a quest to kick Bison to death and avenge her father’s death. Since her debut the fighting community has rightfully bestowed this Chinese beauty the honorable title of being the “First Lady of Gaming”.

Chell

Chell is the silent protagonist of Portal who is set with the task of breaking several laws of physics in order to make her way through the Aperture Science Enrichment Center.

Demographics and Confessions

The Videogame That Finally Made Me Feel Like a Human Being
The Next Frontier - Female Gaming Demographics

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Word. I don't want to stare at a dude's ass for 100+ hours.

 

[Abylim]

I often play a female character if given the option.

Always rockin' the ponytail if there is an option, too!

Interesting about behavioral differences though. Everyone I group with usually knows I'm a dude, but obviously I cant tell if I'm typing differently.

 

[Yasae]

Word. I don't want to stare at a dude's ass for 100+ hours.

All about that lesbian porn eh

 

[Shengar]

So these men role-played to an extent, perhaps somewhat unconsciously, while inhabiting idealized bodies they'd dreamed up.

Well, in the case for me it's mostly ideali woman character whenever I'm using a female avatar.

 

[OverBlood 3]

I always play as Simply Red's Mick Hucknall. What does that say about me?

 

[Impeccable]

I usually play a woman now and name it after my daughter. No other reason.

 

[Forkball]

Gaming people out of items in MMOs by pretending to be a girl is a time-honored tradition.

I roll male all the time. There are exceptions, like if the male character looks awful (Pokemon RSE), if we can have more than one custom character (in DQIX my party had two guys and two girls), or secondary characters (my alt in GW2 is a female mage). I don't think the difference in gender switch ratio is something alarming though. A lot of guys make a cute girl they can stare at while playing the game, I'm not sure if women have that mindset when playing a male character.

 

[DeaviL]

Yup, almost only play female characters.
I just like 'em more.

Mass Effect probably helped this for a lot of people, Female Shepard's boss.

 

[Brohan]

My main character in WoW was a female Blood Elf Rogue, i do not recall acting any differently than when i was playing with my male blood elf Paladin haha.

I just thought a female blood elf Rogue looked very badass, no other underlying reason for my 'gender switch'.

Interesting finds none the less.

 

[Vuze]

Yeh, playing female chars whenever I get the chance.

 

[meppi]

The only problem with this is when you're playing online as a female spartan and getting harassed by some dweebs looking to score.
Then they get mad when they discover you're not a "girl gamer".

 

[K.Sabot]

I play females in games because I want to be as detached from myself as possible.

If that makes sense.

 

[Krusenstern]

Word. I don't want to stare at a dude's ass for 100+ hours.

In Lords of Shadow 2 I liked to stare at Draculas bootylicious, in tight leather pants packed butt. And I'm straight.

But if I got the option I mostly prefer to play female characters over male ones.

 

[Authority]

The only problem with this is when you're playing online as a female spartan and getting harassed by some dweebs looking to score.
Then they get mad when they discover you're not a "girl gamer".

"Dude, you know I am a man right?"

Spoiler

Shameful display face

 

[lewisgone]

For some reason I find it pretty funny that men jump twice as much as women in games. If I get given a jump button and it doesn't slow me down I'll press the damn thing all the time for no reason. Why don't women feel the same way?

 

[Zakalwe]

Perhaps women choose women more because they're underrepresented as playable characters in gaming?

Maybe it's the same for men too? I know I find it refreshing when playing an mmo sometimes.

Also, sometimes female models look better in certain games. For instance, I almost always prefer the female options for hairstyle than the typical male emo cuts you get.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

I'll take a male character if there is no customisation or it feels like a game where I'd want to place myself in the world. If however the game features customisation then I'll pick female because they always have a very wide selection of clothing, hairstyles and such to choose from, whereas male characters never do.

 

[bryanee]

I very rarely play as female characters in games with character creation. I actually cant recall the last time I did.

 

[Snkfanatic]

I usually do, especially in MMOs, but for the most part if I can choose a Woman I will. Most of my Diablo 3 characters are women as well. No real reason, I just prefer it.

 

[kingkaiser]

I am playing as a male character wherever I can.
Immersion in gaming is by far the most important thing to me.
I want the male lead to be me and vice versa.
I can't deny there is some connection to my porn preferences, because lesbian porn does nothing, zero, nada to me.

 

[Finaika]

For some reason I find it pretty funny that men jump twice as much as women in games. If I get given a jump button and it doesn't slow me down I'll press the damn thing all the time for no reason. Why don't women feel the same way?

Men jump twice as much as women in real life too.

 

[Marvel]

I mix it up, I play both sexes.

It really just depends on my mood on the day.

 

[NotLiquid]

I'm a guy and I tend to go with a female gender in games for a variety of reasons. I like female protagonists for one and it's great with some gender representation. It's also a way for me to "experience" the game from a different angle. The design might also just be generally more appealing for me, even if that is a more shallow reasoning.

I guess just like every game, it's fun to pretend. I might not necessarily "identify" with a character but in some ways it's more interesting for me to be something I'm not. Just one of those things that games are able to allow you to do.

 

[Lernaean]

I play females too when the game gives me the option.
Is it just for eye candy? Most likely yes, but after all these years i partly do it mechanically.

 

[Kouriozan]

There is generally more female Mage than male in RPG, so I don't have any choices and it don't bother me.

 

[CorrisD]

Word. I don't want to stare at a dude's ass for 100+ hours.

I often play a female character if given the option.

Always rockin' the ponytail if there is an option, too!

Interesting about behavioral differences though. Everyone I group with usually knows I'm a dude, but obviously I cant tell if I'm typing differently.

Pretty much, given the choice in games I generally will choose a female character. I can't say I have ever pretended to be female though, I also rarely ever talk to anyone online unless they are my actual friends who obviously know I'm not female.

There's games like Mass Effect, to me the female Shepard I found to be a more interesting experience and default Shep, and it wasn't like there were sexy outfits to play in or anything in the games, but the voice acting I found to be much better. I mean I played through multiple times with both genders, but femshep would easily be my default choice going through the series. GTAO was an interesting experience, never have I spend so much time in a clothes shop in real life or a game finding the right outfit, I mean if I'm going to spend hours running around a city killing people, I'd like to do it well dressed with shoes that match.

 

[Roshin]

Walk on the wild side, bro. I've been known to go all out and even play orcs and gnomes sometimes.

 

[cammy84]

I've only gender swapped in Mass Effect and it's because I preferred the voice actor for Female Shepard over the male version

 

[HolyBaikal]

I play a girl in video games because I want to be more cute and girly.

A lot of people say things like that they want to be a girl or a woman in video games because they want to try something different. And I think that's really wonderful. I'm so glad that people are open minded.

And some people say things like they want to stare at a woman's behind all day. And that seems like a bad excuse. :/

But for me, I identify a little more as a woman than a man. But I'm very gender confused and I'm afraid of hormones making me go through a woman's puberty and growing breasts. I want to do things but a lot of them are hard and expensive and cots lots of money. And I'm always on a journey to change my body. And it's slow and difficult and hard.

But with video games, it is instant fun. I can feel like a cute girl. And for me personally why I like playing as a girl in video games. And that doesn't bother me personally at all. Because I don't really identify with being a man.

I have this constant feeling of wanting to be cute and girly. I always feel this way. I don't know if any of at all, even the tiniest is transgender or anything like that. Or whether I would be abusing what transgender people go through to identify with that. But I love everything cute and girly. Everything that is cute and girly and happy is what I love and what makes me happy. I don't know why that is, but it's my happiness and all my happiness and what motivates me. It keeps me moving forward and makes me love life. It's what I love and it's what I want to become, too. I always want to be surrounded by it and be a part of it and have it in my life. It makes me want to live.

And that always makes me want to be a cute girl. And I always try to be girly or androgynous or cute if I can in a video game. And I use video games to express my feelings and what I enjoy. I wish I could be one of those cute girls in a video game. And I will be in real life too, if I can find a way. I'm looking toward so many surgeries right now and I have so little money, it's overwhelming...


Anyway, we all have different reasons for wanting to play different genders in MMORPGs, and I think that's interesting. And while I don't personally relate to people who want to play an MMORPG as a woman because they want to stare at a woman's bottom. I relate to people wanting to only play as a guy because they're a man and that's what they relate to even less. Not because I don't understand relating, but probably because I don't quite relate to masculinity myself or as being a guy. I feel like I'm a genderless person or a genderqueer person, but if there was any gender I would relate to the most, it would be being a girl. I didn't do this on NeoGAF, but on some forums I've been to I pretend to be a cisgender woman. Just because it's so fun to be seen as a woman. And I also prefer feminine pronouns because it isn't a really really big deal to me, I don't think.


I want to go a step further than most MMORPGs, too. It seems like a lot of people just play MMORPGs to fight in dungeons. I want to be a new person and I always roleplay when I'm playing. I want to be taken to a whole new fairy tale world and play as a girl. I go to bed at night sometimes thinking I wish I could be taken to Eorzea and live a Lalafell girl. I feel like, I would be so happy, if I lived in a fairy tale world and live as a Lalafell.

That's why I'm looking forward to virtual reality so much. If I can't be who I want to be in real life, maybe I can in a virtual world. I've already done a little bit of it, and I'm always hoping it gets better. It makes me excited about the future. I'm going to try for both, in video games and in real life. But I'm excited for both possibilities and developments like new surgeries and medicine and in virtual reality and augmented reality.

I want to be like a cute little fairy in a wonderful fairy tale world. And video games can help me feel like that and I love that so much.

 

[fabricated backlash]

I choose gender based on looks. If the guys have the better outfits/styles/unlocks, I go with guys, otherwise with women.
Simple as that.

 

[Chocolate & Vanilla]

All my WoW characters are female. Just look better than male characters

 

[Da_Bears]

Hmmmm...first post here and it is on this subject? Talking myself of course.

The wife noticed I tend to play as female characters if given the choice. This would be WoW players and my anti-social tendencies causing this. I am a player who likes to go off on his own as much as possible. Do the crafting, skills, grinding, etc. During my years playing, I found that WoW players can be sexist. When rolling with a male character, always got a lot of help me out request. When rolling as a female character, those request did not come near as often. Because I did this in WoW, it started carrying over to other games which allowed female leads even if they were not online games. The way I talked never changed. The way I acted never changed.

I am not saying there is not any truth in this study, but a study of 375 people out of 7 million is to small of a sample, in my opinion, to project the finding they have posted.

 

[flatearthpandas]

That's interesting about the subtle roleplaying. I almost always choose female avatars too, but I don't roleplay as female or at all really, despite playing RPPVP servers.

 

[DocSeuss]

I'm not sure whether I like your style of posting or not, OP. Part of me does, part of me doesn't. So... keep it up/don't keep it up!

I will say that the red looks pretty eye-gouging against the black of GAF's dark theme.

A new study reported on by Slate found that men are much more likely to gender switch in online games than women.

I've always been weirded out by the "I can't play people who aren't me" argument.

I like playing as people who aren't me. That's fun.

But reading that, I find myself wondering, just a bit, if men are somewhat more tolerant of playing people who aren't them than women. The people I hear making the "I can't play if it's not me" complaint the most are, by and large, women.

Generally, we take this complaint as ammo to go "oh, we should totally have more diverse protagonists in games," but... I mean, if a guy says it, we go "that's dumb, you're a jerk, we should have more diverse protagonists!"

I find that position, regardless of the gender making it, to be creepy. I think you're a weird person if you can't play people who aren't you. I think it's good to want to be someone else for a while. I think it's valuable. But maybe my personality's just skewed by the whole "I hate being me because I'm in pain all the time and want to escape my body." I dunno.

Seems weird that men are more willing to gender switch than women, though.

It might be the tolerance thing mentioned above, but it could be other stuff. For instance, not that many games feature women, and if the norm really is "I have to play people like me," maybe what we're seeing is women glomming on to the few games that let them play women and not changing because there aren't enough games with female protagonists.

 

[Dabanton]

I play as a female in any game that gives me a choice

Fallout:NV
Mass Effect
Saints Row

In GTA:Online having my character as a woman is perfect when I want to get the drop on bounties.

 

[SporeCrawler]

i always choose a woman in videogames if i have a choice.

if someone pointed out i dont want to stare at a dude when im playing games. also whats the point of playing someone who is me when i can be someone totally different?

 

[tehPete]

I created a female avatar for my EVE account (back in the first years of EVE) called Kavalis; whether or not it was due to the amount of time that game sucked out of me back then I don't know, but she's stuck with me and now I play as her in any game with a character creator. I'm fond of science fantasy novels (reading Trudi Canavans latest atm) and it feeds into that nicely - becoming an on-going, cross-game saga spanning over 10 years so far

 

[Nikodemos]

G.I.R.L. fo laif.

Also, FemShep is bes' Shep.

 

[Arcanine55]

All my characters in Diablo III are females, for example. I'm just tired of playing with male characters in every single game.

 

[munchie64]

Femshep ftw.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

99% of the time, I'll play a female if given the choice.

 

[Lucumo]

I pretty much only play as a male unless it's a healer or something like that.

 

[SnakeEyes]

The only time I play as a female character is when I have no other choice.

Mass Effect 3's MP is a prime example, where different class choices were locked to male or female characters, with no option to choose.

 

[King Mac of Furry Frog]

All about that lesbian porn eh

I watch a fair amount of porn and I rarely see dude ass.

 

[Contra11]

What up with gender,races,sexual orientation topics in GAF ?

 

[Brohan]

This reminds me, A friend of mine also had a female character in WoW and would actually pretend to be a female (in game) from time to time when he wanted some help or items, gold even.

It was amazing to see the amount of help he got this way, he would get stuff for free and some would practically shower him with gold.
Knowing the truth this always made me laugh.

 

[Rigel6]

My cousin plays as a female so other male players give him free stuff. It works.

 

[ShiroAmakusa]

Same here. Always playing a female character when I have the choice, since the very first time I had a choice (by chosing Wendy and Razor in Maniac Mansion). I also always try to play a female character opposite to established gender stereotypes/ideals in RPG (counts for both sexes). In Mass Effect for example, my Femshep is a rough, mean and violent character with a look that expresses one thing only: Don't mess with me! This is especially rewarding because Jennifer Hale delivers those Renegade lines way better than her Paragon dialogues.

The exception to this rule are Fighting games. The combat style of a character is the only determinant there.

 

[Niwa]

Well it's perfectly understandable to play as female. Acting like one in MMO's isn't though.