Leaderboard: Playing same gender vs. opposite gender

It amazes me that I still get weird looks/comments in 2012 whenever I mention that I typically play a female character even though I live and breathe pure testosterone. My wife used to rib me about it, but then she rolled a male Sith Warrior in SWTOR, decked him out with tattoos, and said, "This? Here? Is a REAL MAN. And now I'm going to spend 300 hours with him." This will probably come up in our marriage counseling sessions at some point in the future.

In any case, I thought we were past the era when rolling a character of the opposite gender was an oddity, but these discussions over whether or not this is appropriate or weird roll through the community more regularly than the tide. Some people simply identify more with an avatar of the same gender, but some enjoy roleplaying into a different sex entirely.

So today's Leaderboard is real simple-like, see? Are you compelled to roll your gender in (almost) every game, or do you more often than not take walks on the wild side of the bathroom stalls? Let's hear it for the boys! Or girls!

Leaderboard: Playing same gender vs. opposite gender
I generally play same gender!	841 (50.9%)
I generally play the opposite gender!	810 (49.1%)

Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!

Reader Comments (113)

I generally just like the models better. In a lot of my favorite games, I can't stand the male faces or they're just all too similar. I feel like females often offer more levels of customization.

This didn't matter much in the past, but I do find it harder to deal with in games like SWTOR where the character actually speaks and potentially can have romantic interests as part of the real gameplay experience. I just personally have no interest in winning over male NPCs romantically, as a woman or not lol

@Softserve

^ This.

For whatever reason a lot of games have horrible male avatars imo. They are either steroidal freaks, goofy looking, or just plain ugly. Given a choice of playing as a dumb looking dude or a cute looking girl I'll usually side with rolling a cute looking girl. And I fully hear you on the awkwardness of rolling a girl with a game like SWTOR. The in game romance and story options are awesome ....but from that perspective it is a little (very) weird playing a female character as a guy. Luckily same gender romance is on the way with SWTOR so that will become a win-win situation :)

@(Unverified)
SWTOR - Bringing the galaxy a lesbian romance simulator before flying in space :(

help! I'm invisible

@(Unverified) "For whatever reason a lot of games have horrible male avatars imo. "

This reason: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze#The_male_gaze_and_feminist_theory

@Softserve

I almost never gender-bend - I'm just not a mmosexual by nature - but there have been a few games where I've done it and it's because of this. Ugly or weird looking male characters.

eg. in LOTRO I just couldn't manage to create a male elf character that didn't look deformed so I had to opt for boobs.

@fallwind They should enjoy the male gaze while they've got it because one day no one will be gazing at them anymore...

I am female, and I generally play females. There is a rare chance I will make a guy character because it "speaks" to the nature of the class or persona I'm developing but it's not very common.

@skylatron I'm the same, I find female characters more engaging (I have a rough time getting involved role-playing a male toon). I think it's because I almost always play strong leadership type toons and there are just SO dang many male leader archetypes in most mmo's that they seem, well, bland.

Like you said, Justin, you got two main camps : Those that identify with their character on some level and those that just treat it as a play-piece to move around and are not connected.

The older and more mature one gets, the less it becomes an issue.

Interestingly enough, I wonder about all the "Trolls" with reasons; you know, those that try to raise the "this is just a game" flag and tell you not to be so "seriouz!" and spread it around the internet via various reasons, either in-game taking advantage of loopholes or hacking or other. For these people, it shouldn't really matter, but while I do tend to see a wide-variety of "crazy" body/face/skin customizations, most tend to stick to male interestingly enough. (That's just an aside from the main topic.)

I outright refuse to play female characters (I am a male). I also won't play games with gender locked classes unless there is a similar character of the opposite gender.

I've always been interested by those that vehemently stick to their own gender and insist it's unnatural to do otherwise. How do they feel about games with female protagonists like Tomb Raider and Metroid? Do they refuse to play them? No female fighters in fighting games?

Also, does that dislike translate to other mediums? No books or movies with a female protagonist?

@Skai
Y'know, I've never really thought about that situation. In terms of technology, I grew up with a gender neutral view of the internet and video games. Good point about the cross-media applicability.

I do think that a lot of modern, accessible novels with female protagonists are written with a predominantly female audience in mind, but I don't really know enough about the realm of literary production as a whole to assume that they are just the "Barbie Horse Adventures" of books.

@Skai
I think the people who are intensely same-gender have strong identification with their character. In this case, it is unlikely they have much interest in games outside of RPGs. For example, I assume Maseno in the post above does not play Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat type games, DOTA type games, Diablo type games. Better not touch Portal or Sanctum for having a female character either!

@Skai
I stick exclusively to male characters and I am male. But I have no objections or issues with others doing differently, I just prefer to play a male character, I think there are more like me than think it is unnatural to play a character of the opposite sex.

@Skai

Uh... honestly, those are horrible comparisons and that's a very weak/silly argument.

All of those examples you gave (except for the fighting games part which I'll get to) are of mostly single-player, offline games where you're playing as a specific character. And with fighting games, the female characters have different movesets typically from the males and in said fighting games people who are actually competitive pick characters based on what movesets they can do best with or such.

Books/movies are similar too in that regard. You're watching or reading about a specific character doing things.

Now, on MMOs? You're the one creating your character, playing it, creating its own story, and so forth. So really that is a very poor comparison.

And I think what probably bugs people most who oppose that stuff is when a male playing a female character ends up -acting- like he's a girl outside of the game.

@Sorithal
hmm i think u might be jumping to silly conclusions there m8
i'm male, in my 30s, married, i spend 8+ hrs per week in the gym and i follow my football( soccer for u americans:P) team around each weekend(this normally involves a lot of pints and the occasional brawl here and there)
yet i almost never play male chars in any game, my mains are always female
i rather think guys that are 60kg with glasses tend to play big, strong males in mmo-s - so at least in the virtual world they can feel big and strong - for once..
FLAME ON!!!

:D

@Skai I'm a male, but I'm more attached to my sexual orientation (I like females) than gender. So, I have no problem playing a female character, as long as I can assume she's a lesbian. That way she's just me with t*ts.

There really should be a third option for 'mix of both." I think I'm 50/50 on my alts.

@SkyStreak

I pretty much play both as well. Like others, it comes down to what idea I have for what I'm going to play, and what visual/stylistic options are available to help enact that vision I have.

@SkyStreak
I went through the comment thread and upvoted all 3 (!) 50/50 both comments!

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Leaderboard: Playing same gender vs. opposite gender

Reader Comments (113)

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 3:09PM Softserve said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 4:26PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 9:43PM Deliverator said

Posted: Mar 6th 2012 11:41AM fallwind said

Posted: Mar 6th 2012 2:56PM DancingCow said

Posted: Mar 6th 2012 3:35PM Daemodand said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 3:14PM skylatron said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 3:22PM fallwind said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 3:17PM Space Cobra said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 3:20PM Maseno said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 3:22PM Skai said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 3:31PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 4:51PM h4ngedm4n said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 5:49PM Ref Minor said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 6:05PM Sorithal said

Posted: Mar 6th 2012 4:51AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 10th 2012 12:45AM maxwell97 said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 3:24PM SkyStreak said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 4:00PM NeverDeath said

Posted: Mar 5th 2012 4:03PM h4ngedm4n said

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