Gaming and Gender

I usually play male characters. And if there is an option for romance in the game, I try to hook up with another male, if possible.

On the other side, I often play a bad boy while in reality I'm sweet and innocent

 

Well, I like playing as a half-elf, because they are usually the twink type :icon_bigg

 

I always play as my own gender, particularly where you can create you character, I just like creating someone to look like I want to!

 

What about Cis females playing males? I do that. That seriously needs to be an option, dude. The male character always just seems cooler to me. Which is hilarious because I usually prefer female characters in fiction. Makes no sense. If its customisable, I love doing facial hair and being super buff. I dunno why. Probably cos girls in video games are always the same boring "armour that would get you killed" sort of deal, whereas the men look badass.

 

This is a small sample, but it looks like cis men and trans women are disproportionately likely to answer playing as their own gender, presupposing that they play also play video games. If only we knew the genders assigned at birth of the people who answered "other".

Basically what I'm saying is, I'm hypothesizing that people assigned male at birth are more likely to be gamers than people assigned female at birth. Eh, someone will probably make a poll about that at some point, or there might already be one.

Anyway, I create female characters almost exclusively. I used to mostly make male characters because I was afraid of people suspecting I'm a trans woman, and was secretive whenever I made a female character (which I enjoyed a lot). Playing as male characters is a bit jarring for me if it's an RPG with lots of choices and where the main character is the player avatar (like in Persona 3 or Mass Effect), but if the player is just an observer (like in Kingdom Hearts) it isn't jarring for me.

When I'm choosing and not creating the character, I usually choose to play as female characters, unless it's like in Super Smash Bros. where the character choice has a big impact on gameplay.

 

In games where you can play the same role as male or female, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Etc. and the choice only affects your character's appearance, I usually choose female characters, though I'm a bit of an achievement whore, so in a lot of RPGs I end up playing characters of both genders so I can complete all the romance options and such that are gender specific.

If it's something like Borderlands or Mortal Kombat, where the choices are different characters with different attributes, abilities etc, I ignore the gender and just pick the character I like the best.

 

I tend to choose either based on which one I want my character to be at that specific point in time.

 

Mhm. ^_^

 

No that makes no sense. I am a woman. I play as a man. The two don't match. Therefore, that should be of interest to the poll, surely? If your trying to see if "the gender I'm comfortable with is reflected in game". Well its not I play the opposite gender.

 

I use male all the way! But as a kid I used girls cause I was HEAVILY in denial!

 

Okay I get it now. Theres also no choice for cis males playing females. So in the answer of "is the gender you're comfortable with reflected in game" you are only looking for people who answer "yes". I understand your point now. However, I still think it would be interesting for you to see who answers "no" to this question.

 

It depends. Sometimes I prefer playing female characters if they're customizable, and the same goes for male characters. My character has to be somewhat androgynous.

 

I never noticed until reading this post but I don't think I ever played as a female in any game other than tomb raider (because there wasn't a choice).
I also try to use the customisation tools to make my avatar as much like me as I possibly can. I'm sure there is a deep and meaningful psychological reason for that but I'm going to just assume I have an inner egotistical maniac.

 

Cis male greatly preferring female characters.

Of course I'll still use male ones, but the ratio is heavily skewed in favour of the women. It's odd, though. When I was younger, I had no qualms about picking controlling girls in games. However, after coming out and contemplating my own gender identity, I have this underlying feeling of shame and sense of disconnectedness for choosing females, especially if they are a customizable avatar.

So now, I generally choose females in fighting/shooting/party/role-playing games only if they are established as an original character pertinent to the game they exist in. Otherwise, I will choose to create a male avatar in the likeness of me/or what I wish to look like in that universe.

However, all bets are off if I find the male character to be virtual eye candy! :love: