Why Some Men Opt To Play As Women When Given The Option

When it comes to picking a male or female avatar, some gamers prefer the “odd” choice of picking the “softer” and “gentler” gender. Victor explains why he usually selects a woman character when given a choice.

 Ubisoft’s decision not to include any playable women characters in Assassin’s Creed Unity has got the gaming community in a tiff. The developer did try to defend their decision by explaining that creating a female protagonists would have a big impact on their development schedule and resources. Other developers have rebuked this argument and a lot of gamers are calling this a weak argument. Whether what they’re saying is the truth or not, I think Ubisoft is making a big mistake. Because I usually choose female characters in games.

While most people would say games enable the player to live out their power fantasies, that doesn’t mean I want to be a woman in real life (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I’m not doing it to make a political statement or anything like that. Much like how some women like to use male characters, it’s more of a personal preference.

Apparently, someone else did the same thing!

One of the main reasons I select female characters is because I like women and I like looking at beautiful women. Call me a pig but it’s the truth! When I started Mass Effect, I took painstaking effort to make Caitlin Shepard a looker. I think I spent roughly a hour or two sculpting her facial features just to make sure I could create my version of Shepard the way I wanted her to look. But all of that paid off and I really enjoyed my time taking on the Reapers with Caitlin.

Besides the superficial reasons, I always elect to choose female characters because, well, I’m pretty sick of playing the same white, heroic male all the time! Even with all of the bellyaching and grief gamers are giving Ubisoft regarding their decision, most gamers apparently favor male characters when given a choice.

Where’s the FemShep love?

According to BioWare’s official stats from Mass Effect 3, a whopping 82% of people played as the male version of Shepard while only a measly 18% elected to use FemShep. To put that in perspective that means that, roughly out of every 4 male Shepards, there’s only 1 FemShep! I guess this is the kind of data Ubisoft looked at when they decided the “no female assassins” rule! Anyway, I want to have a totally unique experience when I play games. So I usually pick female characters since that’s what most gamers don’t do.

Most gamers say they like to project themselves onto their character whenever they create their in-game avatar. So, if they’re guys, they create guy characters since it makes it easy to identify with themselves. But I just can’t put myself in the game like they do so the sex of the hero really doesn’t matter to me. I treat my characters like a character in a movie or television show: someone who’s not me!

When I played through Fallout 3, I only pick the choices that would give my character good karma points. If I were really living in a post-apocalyptic world like in that game, well… I would probably be killed by a mutated mole rat the instant I stepped out into the Wasteland. But! If I did survive a few days longer, I would do anything to survive! My version of the Lone Wanderer wouldn’t even steal from anyone even if her life depended on it. Sure, some of her well meaning choices caused the deaths of dozens of innocents in Tenpenny Tower but she didn’t know!

It’s the first thing I got once I reached Level 2.

This leads me to my final reason why I pick female characters: the effect it may have in the gameplay and the story. In the recent Fallout games, for example, there’s a perk that only female characters can have: the Black Widow perk. Getting this perk enables your character to deal 10% more damage to all male enemies. This is only useful during the early stages of the game when you have to kill a lot of (mostly male) Raiders while exploring the Wasteland. As you plunge deeper into the game and your character gets progressively stronger, that 10% increase won’t matter that much. Most male Raiders and human enemies won’t be that much of a threat by then and, unfortunately, Super Mutants aren’t classified as “male” enemies so Black Widow doesn’t affect them.

No, what makes the Black Widow perk great are the unique dialogue options you get when talking to male characters. These options really helped me stay on the good karma path! In Fallout 3, I didn’t need to scheme to get Mister Burke arrested or killed. I simply used the Black Widow perk to seduce him to get him to give up his quest to blow up the nuke in Megaton. It also helped me get rid of Benny in Fallout: New Vegas the instant I saw his murdering ass. At least he went out with a smile on his face!

I understand playing as a woman is not for everyone. Some of you may even be irked at the thought of playing as a female character. Me? I’m confident in my sexuality that I don’t see the big deal in choosing a female avatar! It’s actually nice to see a strong woman character taking charge in a video game and I think there’s already a lack of positive female heroes anyway. If Fallout and Mass Effect can prove that there is a market for women protagonists, other developers should follow suit.

Taken from N4G. Source: http://gamemoir.com/2014/07/02/be-a-woman-in-video-games/

I don't mind playing as either but recently I've started as a female character more.

If I can go both and there is multiple files, I usually do both. First time is usually done by random choice unless there are differences in stats or abilities, then i go for what I feel more i want.

I always choose the female part.
But i don't see why the hell AC should have a female protagonist. Where does this even come from, no AC (besides of liberation) had a female protagonist.

I always play as a female when given the choice. Something nice to look at while playing; especially in an RPG :)

I always like playing females more for some reason. More agile, faster, etc. I even pick Princess Peach and Diana over the male characters in Mario Kart.

Jennifer Hale has a better voice. That's why I use Fem shep. And frankly I rather be looking at sexy. Then some generic guy. Who doens't want to look at Chloie's behind, in Uncharted. Although I wouldn't mind if they made a male option, in say, metroid as a just a bonus model. Since we never seen a male varia suit. For Pokemon. I usually buy both games. So I just use both to not make myself confused which game I have in. It's also a good way to confuse people.

Plus, like Mass Effect. You get different stories for the genders. You replay the game so you can do: Straight, Gay, and Lesbian dialog. Not to mention Nice and asshole choices. I don't see it any different than say you making the perfect wife in Sims 3. Jill is better than Chris. She has a lock pick. Screw the lighter.

Its Daisy

I tend to choose females when they're the cooler characters, which yeah, happens a lot in Mario Kart 8 (i'm basically done playing on a regular basis as of today, but i rotated from Rosalina, Pink Gold Peach, Morton, and Wario).

I did pick a female avatar in the newest Pokemon, but that was just because

It depends for me. If it's a purely aesthetic choice, I prefer playing as a female (unless there's a male character with a design I prefer). If it affects the story and character interaction some way, I cheat a little and do a bit of research to see 'who' I want my character to be; myself, or someone whose story I want to tell/play.