Gaming

Cishet guy. Most male protagonists are too brutish. They look dumb. Female protagonists seldom have that issue.

MMORPG = many men online role playing girls

Male. If I can make a character, I'll make a male character almost every time, especially on a first run. Or if the character is otherwise a placeholder for "me* in the game.

That said, I love when games give us female protagonists that aren't sexualized (think FF6), and I'd love to see more of that.

So, do I prefer to play as a male character? It depends.

I'd like to see some good takes on "female perspective" in games. But if it's basically an aesthetic difference, I'm making a character that matches my gender because it's supposed to be "me" in the game.

This feels like trolling or horseshoe theory in play, you skip games where you can only play male, aka most games? This is very similar to people who skip “woke” games because they can not play as male.

I'm a cis guy and I play primarily female characters. I will play male characters, but I find it fascinating to roleplay as a female character. It's something I'll never experience in real life and I find female characters are often more interesting.

IMHO if you're going to pretend/imagine yourself as the character you're playing, I feel you might as well do something that isn't you for the experience. Otherwise, what's the point of putting yourself in a characters shoes if you just make yourself in that world? I already know how I'd be in any situation....because I'm me. Hell, in RPG games I'll even sometimes romance male characters, if thats an option(Playing Femshep in Mass Effect, I will often romance Garrus Vakarian, for example).

Then again, I'll also sometimes explore LGBTQ+ relationships, if they're offered, playing as either male or female characters, even though I'm not interested in that in real life.

Is it a little weird? Probably, but it also helps me understand what it might be like for other types of people and how to better understand and sympathize with their life struggles and experiences. RPG stands for Role Playing Game, after all.

Cis-het guy, usually play female characters. One of my first action games as a kid was Tomb Raider and I think that just cemented in my mind that women characters are badass

In a typical core PC/console game, about 60% of the female avatars you meet are played by a male player.

Seems low

If I have to stare at a digital ass, it might as well be a chick’s ass

If I have to stare at a digital ass, it might as well be a chick’s ass

Cishet guy; I play female characters more often than not.

One factor for me is that so many male characters feel... cheesy, like the game assumes I'm hideously insecure in my masculinity and need to be excessively pandered to by making my avatar Muscledick McFireman, and all the ladeeeez will just be aching to jump into my pants when they see my ridiculously huge arms.

It feels like really sad wish-fulfilment fantasy, to the point that it wrecks the immersion; it's almost getting into AI Girlfriend levels of cringe.

There's more to it and I haven't fully worked out all the edges, but that's a big lump of it.

I mean yes okay I also ferinstance play female dwarves in dragon age because my god Becky, but that's both minor and very situational.

I am male. If given the option to play female and a female would make the story more interesting I will choose to play a female. What defines "interesting" is arbitrary. Valheim - female named Muscle Wife. Phasmophobia - black male with friends (due to movie tropes) and female solo (because they look janky and ragged as hell). MMOs - depends on the aesthetic. If I am going to be staring at a character for a long time and I am not roleplaying an ugly bastard then I will choose female most of the time since I don't play MMOs to self insert.

When choice isn't an option I do not avoid a game just because of a character's race or gender, but I am starting to get real sick of white male protagonists. They aren't really offering me any new perspectives.

Really depends on the game/story and if I like the characters. For example playing Fallout 4 as a female protagonist felt out of place, like it was just a mod that someone hacked in. But on the other side Cyberpunk 2077's male character annoyed me enough that I restarted as female V. And then there's games like Skyrim where the only difference I notice is the grunts you make in combat.

I've always played male characters, just because I identify with them more. Playing female characters gets all those lonely simps thinking your a girl and I don't like attention in games. I have played women in games, and it doesn't bother me though - I do have plenty of female characters just because they fit the 'theme' better sometimes. I don't think it really says anything deep about you. It's just a preference.

People look at gender while I'm just trying to see what style fits me in playing. Sometimes it's male characters and some times they are female.

I usually just play whoever has the best racials or abilities. If i can play as the giant tank guy or girl (think Karlach or Reinhart) i usually play as them.

I pretty much exclusively play os female characters (I'm a male). I think it's mostly that male characters in video games are mostly the same.

i wouldn't overthink it too much. it seems youre in a category of almost 30% of male respondents, not all preferences say something meaningful about us.