Young Boo used to only play male protagonists. Then one day he tried a female Undead Slayer named Buffy and that was the first character he managed to finish Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal with. Nowadays older Boo plays both genders equally.
My Icewind Dale parties always seem to be a mix (occasionally 4-2 one way or the other, but usually an even 3/3 mix. Not even intentional... it just happens that way.)
@Squire the only radio I listen is Planet Rock FM, when Alice Cooper is the DJ. Mind you I like folk, trad, blues, jazz, 70s rock, Split Enz, and a few hundred artists you've never heard of but I've met playing in pubs or at folk festivals.
@Buttercheese surprisingly enough in many matriachal societies it's the men who openly show emotions. In modern western style we ladies tend to be more empathic, but I think this is prably a lot more due to nurture than it's due to nature.
I am fairly certain there are male and female characteristcs, however they are not where society puts them and there are tons of exeptions. It's basically women are more prone to X while men are more prone to Y.
A lot of it comes down to plain instinct, such the mother instinct for example. Others are based on emotions. Like, I am fairly certain that women tend to be way more emotional than men for example.
When I speak of gender-myths I mean like "girls don't play videogames" and "boys don't like cute things". That kind of stuff.
Oh. That's what you meant. Yeah, I agree with that.
Hmm. Was getting started on a whole rant here in response to you kiwidoc, but I think I'd just end up derailing the thread with it. So I'll try to summarize it in a couple paragraphs instead of the wall of text I was building.
Behavioural/thinking patterns being any different between men and women is both correct and incorrect. Incorrect because there's nothing inherent genetic that makes the brains work vastly differently. Correct because society programs us extensively into "male/female patterns" or "roles" whether we like it or not. Some of us are more heavily indoctrinated than others.
Regardless though, writing in games that has any degree of writing tends to have the society treat men and women differently, even if only slightly, and if you feel some degree of immersion in the game you don't know how to react. Being treated as the opposite gender makes society's above mentioned programming kick in; "men and women are different" and thus we attempt and fail to "think differently" and it just feels awkward. It doesn't happen to everyone, obviously. You apparently have no trouble with this. But some of us do. It's less weird, for me at least, being talked to as a male dwarf than a female human seeing as the NPCs treat me the same regardless of my race but not my gender.
@Silverstar: I couldn't have said it better! It's not about what actually lies behind the surface of humanity, it's about how it is represented and what we get confronted with.
In a World of WarCraft guild I was once in, this one woman refused to believe I was male, but now that we're Facebook friends, she believes me. I was also the subject of a bunch of creepy crushes. Like, Anomen-creepy. Also been misidentified on play-by-post.
male who plays both, but probably slightly higher on the female character side, and they're certainly among the more memorable ones that I've created. Partly, i'm sure, as many others have said, it's the "women kicking ass" trope that is mighty appealing to me (is this now called the Joss Whedon effect?) ;-) Part of it also is that i'm continually fascinated by females and their approaches to life, the universe and everything in it, one reason I love being married is that my wife constantly astounds and delights me with her thinking, casual utterances and actions. Most of the interesting people I've encountered throughout my life have been women so I guess I enjoy reflecting that in my playthroughs.
It depends on the game and the character I want to play. I tend to associate some classes/stereotypes with certain genders.
For example, I prefer my warriors as male. But I prefer my druids/sorcerers/bards as female. But I prefer male Clerics and male Wizards/Mages. Monks as males but Thieves as females.
But I have made female Paladins and male Sorcerers in some games. And a male Druid in PnP.
It's nothing sexist or anything, it's a matter of personal aesthetics or concepts. I generally don't like female characters to be all muscular and in plate. And I don't like my male characters to be wimpy and in robes or singing.
In games like Icewind Dale, I try to have half my team to be males and the other females.
Some other examples: In Morrowind I made a male. In Oblivion a female. In Dragon Age: Origins male. In Fallout series, female.
In general, I would prefer a female character because of the eye-candy perhaps. And I don't mean bikini-armor. I mean like portraits, voices, animations, head model, hair or concept depending on the setting.
And about BGEE specifically, I first made a male Monk, then a male Cavalier and now I'm planning a female Dragon Disciple (which has both high CHA and STR).
As someone wisely said "If I'm going to be looking at an ass for hours in my game, I prefer it to be a female one."
As someone wisely said "If I'm going to be looking at an ass for hours in my game, I prefer it to be a female one."
Pfft. That excuse (it's quite commonly used) never flies with me. In most games with an external view of the character, the ass doesn't take up 25% of the screen. Or even 10. There's absolutely no good reason one has to keep an eye on it.
That said, I'm not sure why it's such a crime making and playing a good-looking character if you want to. We all like good-looking things, we try surrounding ourselves with them on a daily basis.
As someone wisely said "If I'm going to be looking at an ass for hours in my game, I prefer it to be a female one."
That said, I'm not sure why it's such a crime making and playing a good-looking character if you want to. We all like good-looking things, we try surrounding ourselves with them on a daily basis.
I concur. Even if some character does not look "good" by our definition of beauty, they still often look "good" in some other way. Whether that means they look cool, heroic, or any other fitting word you can think of doesn't matter. People like to make "good" looking characters. It's natural.
@Squire the only radio I listen is Planet Rock FM, when Alice Cooper is the DJ. Mind you I like folk, trad, blues, jazz, 70s rock, Split Enz, and a few hundred artists you've never heard of but I've met playing in pubs or at folk festivals.
I know really, I was being facetious. ;-)
It's just that, every job I ever go to where the office is mainly staffed by women and they have a radio on, it's always - and I mean ALWAYS - set to Heart FM, and trying to change it to a proper station like Kerrang meets with mass protest.
I'm a male who sometimes plays female characters because I really enjoy the role-playing aspect of the game and often play charname as one of my friends, and given that a lot of my friends are female....
@Squire I too have witnessed the Heart FM syndrome, personally I'm an Absolute Radio kind of person (or Radio Hauraki when I was in NZ)
Male here that plays male characters, i can see why some guys play female characters though, i guess if it's a 3rd person game, and you gotta watch a character run across the screen, they'd rather look at a female behind. :P
It depends on the game. I almost exclusively play females in Diablo 3. It's about half-and-half in MMOs. I have a female Bounty Hunter and male Sith Warrior in The Old Republic. For the longest time I only played female orcs in World of Warcraft, until I made a male goblin earlier this year. I've only ever been able to finish Mass Effect with a male Shepard. I beat Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2 as male characters. Though, I'm planning on playing a female qunari in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Male here, just off the top of my head my ratio is probably 65 percent male, 34 percent female. The last one percent is bears. (But I guess those are also male and female...)
I *think* I do a pretty good job of roleplaying women, though obviously not perfect, and I try to not have their gender influence their class. Where my problems lie however is the romances. I find it difficult to romance men, whether my player character is female or also male. Though I must admit here that might partially be because of my initial dislike for Anomen. My female characters in RPGs have almost always 'dabbled' in lady-love, before settling with a guy, if available. Male-male romances I find awkward alltogether.
This is all because *I* like women, and I find it hard to roleplay otherwise for my characters. Please don't think I have any issues with people loving people of their own gender, because I don't, it's just that my perfectionist self wants to do a good job at roleplaying a gay man, bi man, or gay woman. Also, even if there is a "gay choice" in a game, doesn't necessarily mean it's a realistic romance. I have had some helpful tips for BG romances, so I will definitely play through those at one point.
Sooo this turned out a little longer (and less coherent) than I planned, but I found this as good a place as any to let this breathe.
Male, always male. I'm not really interested in assuming a role, always playing myself. For the same reason, I can't do pure alignment parties or act in accordance with whatever D&D alignment I've chosen. I tend to project myself into the fantasy world. Be the person I'd want to be in that world.
I blame poor imagination for my inability and lack of desire to role play. Would have no problem playing a female otherwise.
I usually create both male and females characters in my RPGs, and I'm currently playing Dragin age Origins with a male Aeducan.
I lean mostly to female, tho. I also wanted to play a male and a gender neutral (well, it was a warforged character) in a DnD group I was, but they went all "NO". I wonder why. :P
@NWN_babaYaga a Warforged is basically a construct, like a golem. While a normal golem is not "alive", warforged are, and are sentient. Think of Shale from Dragon Age. Being constructs they don't have to "do their business", but some do adopt a gender they identify with. Many do not.
I do wonder why @DaggerXIV's group would not accept the warforged. Would that have been a first for the group?
@Sjerrie I believe it was a first for that GM, plus there was another player that was like "No don't do this, don't do that." No wonder I left that group.
@Buttercheese I actually had played an avariel fighter in one of the games we were running XD And in the same game there was a half human/half black dragon. That GM accepted gladly any race, but God forbid a female played a male or vice versa.
The other game, with the other GM had a mainly human party and setting. I had an half-elf first, then a dragonblood paladin. I don't understand why she didn't like the idea of me playing a gender neutral warforged when there was tons of homo NPC in her game...*shrug*
Comments
My Icewind Dale parties always seem to be a mix (occasionally 4-2 one way or the other, but usually an even 3/3 mix. Not even intentional... it just happens that way.)
@Buttercheese surprisingly enough in many matriachal societies it's the men who openly show emotions. In modern western style we ladies tend to be more empathic, but I think this is prably a lot more due to nurture than it's due to nature.
Behavioural/thinking patterns being any different between men and women is both correct and incorrect. Incorrect because there's nothing inherent genetic that makes the brains work vastly differently. Correct because society programs us extensively into "male/female patterns" or "roles" whether we like it or not. Some of us are more heavily indoctrinated than others.
Regardless though, writing in games that has any degree of writing tends to have the society treat men and women differently, even if only slightly, and if you feel some degree of immersion in the game you don't know how to react. Being treated as the opposite gender makes society's above mentioned programming kick in; "men and women are different" and thus we attempt and fail to "think differently" and it just feels awkward. It doesn't happen to everyone, obviously. You apparently have no trouble with this. But some of us do. It's less weird, for me at least, being talked to as a male dwarf than a female human seeing as the NPCs treat me the same regardless of my race but not my gender.
I couldn't have said it better!
It's not about what actually lies behind the surface of humanity, it's about how it is represented and what we get confronted with.
In a World of WarCraft guild I was once in, this one woman refused to believe I was male, but now that we're Facebook friends, she believes me.
Also been misidentified on play-by-post.
Part of it also is that i'm continually fascinated by females and their approaches to life, the universe and everything in it, one reason I love being married is that my wife constantly astounds and delights me with her thinking, casual utterances and actions. Most of the interesting people I've encountered throughout my life have been women so I guess I enjoy reflecting that in my playthroughs.
I tend to associate some classes/stereotypes with certain genders.
For example, I prefer my warriors as male. But I prefer my druids/sorcerers/bards as female. But I prefer male Clerics and male Wizards/Mages.
Monks as males but Thieves as females.
But I have made female Paladins and male Sorcerers in some games. And a male Druid in PnP.
It's nothing sexist or anything, it's a matter of personal aesthetics or concepts.
I generally don't like female characters to be all muscular and in plate.
And I don't like my male characters to be wimpy and in robes or singing.
In games like Icewind Dale, I try to have half my team to be males and the other females.
Some other examples:
In Morrowind I made a male.
In Oblivion a female.
In Dragon Age: Origins male.
In Fallout series, female.
In general, I would prefer a female character because of the eye-candy perhaps. And I don't mean bikini-armor.
I mean like portraits, voices, animations, head model, hair or concept depending on the setting.
And about BGEE specifically, I first made a male Monk, then a male Cavalier and now I'm planning a female Dragon Disciple (which has both high CHA and STR).
As someone wisely said "If I'm going to be looking at an ass for hours in my game, I prefer it to be a female one."
That said, I'm not sure why it's such a crime making and playing a good-looking character if you want to. We all like good-looking things, we try surrounding ourselves with them on a daily basis.
It's just that, every job I ever go to where the office is mainly staffed by women and they have a radio on, it's always - and I mean ALWAYS - set to Heart FM, and trying to change it to a proper station like Kerrang meets with mass protest.
@Squire I too have witnessed the Heart FM syndrome, personally I'm an Absolute Radio kind of person (or Radio Hauraki when I was in NZ)
I'm all over the place on this one.
I *think* I do a pretty good job of roleplaying women, though obviously not perfect, and I try to not have their gender influence their class. Where my problems lie however is the romances. I find it difficult to romance men, whether my player character is female or also male. Though I must admit here that might partially be because of my initial dislike for Anomen. My female characters in RPGs have almost always 'dabbled' in lady-love, before settling with a guy, if available. Male-male romances I find awkward alltogether.
This is all because *I* like women, and I find it hard to roleplay otherwise for my characters. Please don't think I have any issues with people loving people of their own gender, because I don't, it's just that my perfectionist self wants to do a good job at roleplaying a gay man, bi man, or gay woman. Also, even if there is a "gay choice" in a game, doesn't necessarily mean it's a realistic romance. I have had some helpful tips for BG romances, so I will definitely play through those at one point.
Sooo this turned out a little longer (and less coherent) than I planned, but I found this as good a place as any to let this breathe.
Don't worry, there is no shame in not being attracted to Anomen :P
I blame poor imagination for my inability and lack of desire to role play. Would have no problem playing a female otherwise.
I lean mostly to female, tho.
I also wanted to play a male and a gender neutral (well, it was a warforged character) in a DnD group I was, but they went all "NO". I wonder why. :P
I do wonder why @DaggerXIV's group would not accept the warforged. Would that have been a first for the group?
Or both :X
No wonder I left that group.
@Buttercheese I actually had played an avariel fighter in one of the games we were running XD
And in the same game there was a half human/half black dragon. That GM accepted gladly any race, but God forbid a female played a male or vice versa.
The other game, with the other GM had a mainly human party and setting. I had an half-elf first, then a dragonblood paladin. I don't understand why she didn't like the idea of me playing a gender neutral warforged when there was tons of homo NPC in her game...*shrug*
What an outrageous statement!