Character you pick in games.

[R_1]

After playing a few games where you can choose gender of your character, I switch up being male or female just to keep things interesting. So, what about you?

[fantastic mx. foxglove]

I usually pick the character whose design I like the most

[Sarah-Sylvia]

As someone trans, I always pick my gender, because of it meaning more to me.

[lovely_xm07]

I usually pick who ever looks the coolest or is the most powerful character there. 

[verily-forsooth-egads]

If there's ever a nonbinary option I'll almost definitely take it, but other than that it's just vibes and which one I like more. I don't tend to change character details within the same run of the same game, and I can't think of anything I play where that's a choice I'd have to make often.

[Guest]

Mm, depends. If it's a game with no character customisation, I'd pick whichever character's appearance I'm drawn to the most. If I'm able to customise my character, I prefer playing as the female character. They tend to have more customisation options and better outfits lol.

[asexualien]

If I’m able to choose then 10/10 times I’m choosing the female character. They just look better to me. They also end up having better customization options too. 

[daveb]

I don't play many digital games, but when I do play one I do like to choose a female character when I can.

[plasticdinosaur]

I usually pick male characters, but sometimes I don't because of my family thinking it's weird or because I like the way a character looks.  It just depends.  Some days I feel a bit feminine too so then I like to express that through the character I pick.  In some games like Animal Crossing or Splatoon you can change your gender so I usually switch it up depending on how I'm feeling.  Most of the time I don't really care though so I just pick a male character by default cause I like those terms the best.  

[Karret]

Sometimes I pick a dude, other times, I wanna pick a chick, sometimes I want to pick a char that you can't really tell which it is. I like trying out different aesthetics. XP

[Autumn ace]

I usually pick females characters, but I also don’t have enough of a preference that it really matters. I’ll take whatever character feels best in the moment 

[Philip027]

Doesn't really have anything to do with my own gender, which is kind of ambiguous anyway.  It mainly depends on what kind of game it is.  If the female character has a cuter design (it's pretty rare that the male character does, to me anyway), I'll tend to pick that one.  It's often the case that the female character gets more options in terms of customization, which is another thing that will make me lean in that direction.  However, if it's the sort of game that sexualizes the hell out of the female character (like if the exact same piece of attire somehow looks like it's half-missing when a female character wears it), then I'll usually shy away from that option.

[Miss Grey]

I always pick female, though once or twice I've regretted it because the male is sometimes cuter in game. 🤭

[SkyWorld]

I used to pick what was assigned sex at birth because, for some reason, I didn't think I was "allowed" to choose anything else.

 

Now, I most often would choose what aligns with my gender identity. Though, sometimes, I do like to switch things up a bit. Explore more of what is available, depending on the game.

[Mult]

If I am to choose a gender, I usually select the female option. I generally prefer the female options in customization.

 

However I do sometimes play the male character if I like the design more such as in the original Pokemon Platinum because I liked the male character's hat which is what I would see for most of the game.

[uhtred]

My character choices are pretty random - mostly depends on what sort of mood I'm in when I design them.  I play both genders of characters, depending on what seems to "fit" at the moment.

[Ceebs]

I don't play any games but I'm pretty certain if I did I would choose female characters. Somehow it would just seem strange and wrong to do otherwise. I don't mean in some sort of morally wrong way whatsoever, I mean like... logically, factually... since I'm not a man. I know imagination is a thing, but somehow it would still just seem odd to me.

Reminds me of how when I was a kid, even when I was playing pretend, I needed my imaginary scenarios to be things that were realistic enough that in theory they could be completely real. Yeah, I was a fun kid to play with. /sarcasm 

[Frameshift07]

1 minute ago, Mrs Telecaster-to-be said:

I don't play any games but I'm pretty certain if I did I would choose female characters. Somehow it would just seem strange and wrong to do otherwise. I don't mean in some sort of morally wrong way whatsoever, I mean like... logically, factually... since I'm not a man. I know imagination is a thing, but somehow it would still just seem odd to me.

Most of us here are trans or have trans friends, and are acutely aware of how much it sucks to be perceived as the wrong gender. Being a woman and wanting to avoid being a man is perfectly natural.

[everywhere and nowhere]

I don't often play games with customisable characters, because I prefer retro adventure games. I don't like RPGs without a very strong quest adventure component (I do like adventure-RPGs such as the "Quest for Glory" series and its spiritual successors - "Heroine's Quest", "Quest for Infamy"...), I don't like strategy or simulation games, and almost anything with 3D graphics puts me off. However, a few old educational games, such as "Mixed-Up Mother Goose" (yes, they are very childish, but also cute), have customisable characters because of how little plot they have.

I always prefer playing as a female character. A rare exception was "Golden Axe", an old game from a genre I never liked - fighting games, and I "had to" play as a dwarf because the three options had different weapons and the dwarf seemed much more effective than either the human man or human woman, it was possible to progress further with him (I still never completed the game, I was too double-left-handed for that - but switching to the dwarf was still a technical relief, playing as him was indeed much easier). And it never felt right for me, I regretted being effectively unable to play as a woman.

This is what feminism does. When I analyse it in a trying-to-be-detached manner, I can see that theoretically very few things connect me to femininity: I am asexual, sex-averse, unable to form relationships, with zero reproductive intentions. I am socially isolated enough that I interact with other people much less than an average person. As a single person living alone, I need to do both "female" and "male" tasks at home. I even agree that biological femininity sucks (I hate periods and I would be totally fine with having no boobs), although biological masculinity sucks even more (erections - yuck... but seriously, do you know what I appreciate most about being biologically a woman? Having a secure hairline, because while I prefer having short hair to mark my non-sex-objectivity, I also believe that bald heads and crew-cuts are always ugly). So theoretically I should feel that I'm simply a person, someone whose gender is irrelevant in the vast majority of situations. And yet I found one way in which femininity matters to me through feminism. Asexuality, perpetual singlehood and lack of feeling at home in my body are perceived as "Do you really feel that you must have a gender?". Interest in politics, interest in psychedelic drugs and even listening to psychedelic rock (yup, at least 3/4 of fans of this genre seem male) are "coded" as... maybe not steel-strongly male like interest in cars or military stuff, but still rather male than female. And still feminism makes me insist that I'm doing all these things as a woman, not as simply a person, that the "definition" of femininity needs to be expanded to include all potential areas in which women might be interested without being expected to say that they are simply persons and their gender shouldn't matter... So I still feel that it puts me in a situation stragenly similar to trans people, one which partnered cis people with an unambigous gender expression probably never experience: feeling like I am expected to "justify" my gender, to explain why I insist on identifying as a woman, what connects me to femininity if theoretically there's so little of it.

[Ceebs]

1 minute ago, Frameshift07 said:

Most of us here are trans or have trans friends, and are acutely aware of how much it sucks to be perceived as the wrong gender. Being a woman and wanting to avoid being a man is perfectly natural.

That makes total sense, yeah, although for me it's not even an active aversion to being perceived as a man specifically haha. It's not like... I dunno, an emotional tie to being a woman, because I don't even understand exactly what womanhood is supposed to entail really and I feel no deep connection to it or to gender roles and have talked many times here about my dislike of or confusion surrounding (or even repulsion towards) stuff to do with being female. I'd choose female in a game based solely on my gender assigned at birth and the fact that I know 'man' definitely doesn't feel more right than woman for me, and in general I don't like unrealistic play when it comes to things like games, so a female character would seem like the only logical choice to me. Something like that. If I created a character to play in a game, they would also have to have the same hair colour, eye colour, dress style, be the same age, from the same place, etc. Basically recreating my entire self. Perhaps I have trouble with imagination or something... or even if I don't, it just doesn't feel like it meets some personal Rule Of Correctness, so I don't enjoy it.

 

It's part of a wider trait I have that's part of some kind of fixation on authenticity and anything that doesn't reflect reality just seems uncomfortable.

[Frameshift07]

1 minute ago, Mrs Telecaster-to-be said:

That makes total sense, yeah, although for me it's not even an active aversion to being perceived as a man specifically haha. It's not like... I dunno, an emotional tie to being a woman, because I don't even understand exactly what womanhood is supposed to entail really and I feel no deep connection to it or to gender roles and have talked many times here about my dislike of or confusion surrounding (or even repulsion towards) stuff to do with being female. I'd choose female in a game based solely on my gender assigned at birth and the fact that I know 'man' definitely doesn't feel more right than woman for me, and in general I don't like unrealistic play when it comes to things like games, so a female character would seem like the only logical choice to me. Something like that. If I created a character to play in a game, they would also have to have the same hair colour, eye colour, dress style, be the same age, from the same place, etc. Basically recreating my entire self. Perhaps I have trouble with imagination or something... or even if I don't, it just doesn't feel like it meets some personal Rule Of Correctness, so I don't enjoy it.

 

It's part of a wider trait I have that's part of some kind of fixation on authenticity and anything that doesn't reflect reality just seems uncomfortable.

I mean, people want to play as characters that affirm their. Including gender. This really isn't bizarre or uncommon, you wanting a character that's like you isn't any different from a woman playing as a female character because she doesn't want to play a character that contradicts her gender. If you want to play as characters that align with your assigned gender and your identity is in the rough ballpark of female or feminine, that'd check out.

[Ceebs]

I didn't say it was bizarre or uncommon?

 

Just giving an answer as to why I would choose what I would if I created a character in a game. I feel like a lot of people do also tend to create characters who are purely fictional to them and maybe feel like they're playing as some imaginary person who's not them, so I was more or less just saying I would need to create a character who resembled my real self in as many ways as possible.

[Frameshift07]

5 minutes ago, Mrs Telecaster-to-be said:

I didn't say it was bizarre or uncommon?

Sorry, I'm just saying I know what you're talking about.

[Gloomy]

If you mean like, Mario Kart or Crash Team Racing where we pick a character from the franchise to play as, I’ve most often chosen male characters. I’m a cis woman, although I was quite a tomboy when I was growing up and played video games more often back then (so I had more of an opportunity to pick characters back then, not that playing video games is a “tomboy” thing), but I’ve always had more of a connection to male characters and most of my favorite characters have been and still are male.

 

If we’re customizing our own character in a game, I do usually try to make the character like myself (or a cooler version of how I look) so I would often pick female. Although there have been times when I’ve made them male just for the hell of it or because I liked their design better.

Edited December 16, 2024 by Gloomy
Clarification because I realized I worded something kinda wrong.

[R_1]

3 hours ago, Mrs Telecaster-to-be said:

I don't mean in some sort of morally wrong way whatsoever, I mean like... logically, factually... since I'm not a man. I know imagination is a thing, but somehow it would still just seem odd to me.

That's how I used to feel. But, my mind opened up over time, and I'm like hmm, why does it have to be this way, and so, now I pick male or female character. I would stick with male persona in online games because I hear horror stories of being mistreated when perceived as a woman and prefer it wouldn't be that way.

[A User]

I mix in-between picking male characters and female characters or i find the gender neutral option. 

in Roblox I used to be purely girl avatar for a bit because being afab and all until I kind of took on a masculine attire one day and liked it. I still get called a guy in games (I have not left the masc avatar look) but I dont consider myself a man, I just like the look.

 

I feel like it's a representation of my inner self in some ways because I see masculinity in this weird soft way that sort of slots in for me. but it also heavily depends on design bc if the character does not jivvy with me I don't choose it, male or female

[halcyon.days]

If I'm playing as myself, I always choose a male character. However, if I'm playing a game where my character isn't me (e.g. Elder Scrolls or Fallout,) I sometimes pick a female character and build a story around them. I chose the female character option in the original Fallout game because the female characters walk faster for some reason, lol.

[Soul Searcher]

I have been playing Microsoft Flight Simulator for a few days now. I either choose an Airbus A320neo or a Boring 737- Max. 

 

 

Does that count?

[Old Maid Librarian]

I tend to play old-school games where there isn't that much customization and the character is not seen, or just the hands are seen (very 1st person view.)  Where there are choices I tend to take the default first (usually male because that is the default for everything) and then try all the other variations.  When I was a child, I found it easy to play pretend games where I was male, female, or an animal. I could be the villian on occaision too. I know some of the girls I played with were rigid about only being female which meant they missed out on good parts, but they usually didn't get into imagining things from books and were stuck on playing house which bored me, so I didn't play with them very often.  

 

 

[bare_trees]

I prefer a female character, but the exception is Pokemon Go.  I just don't like the way they made the women look, so I chose a guy when I started playing back in 2016.