The introduction of playable female characters into genres/franchises that historically only had playable male characters often elicits arguments in gamer forums around the low prevalence of female gamers in that particular genre/franchise and how adding female characters is pandering to a demographic that hardly plays the game to begin with. Apart from the “is-ought” fallacy, this line of argumentation assumes that only women want playable female characters. But what about the men?
In this article, we’ll take a look at the prevalence of players who prefer to play characters of a different gender. In the survey, we also included non-binary gender options (for both player and character gender), so we’ll explore that as well.
The Gamer Motivation Profile
The Gamer Motivation Profile is a 5-minute survey that allows gamers to get a personalized report of their gaming motivations, and see how they compare with other gamers. Over 500,000 gamers worldwide have taken this survey. The 12 motivations that are measured in our model were identified via statistical analysis of how gaming motivations cluster together. You can get a more detailed description of our gamer sample here.
See how you compare with other gamers. Take a 5-minute survey and get your Gamer Motivation Profile along with personalized game recommendations.
The Survey Data
Alongside the Gamer Motivation Profile, we run a series of optional surveys that gamers can take. In a survey we ran between March 2020 and December 2020, we focused on in-game decisions collected responses from 2,956 gamers (69% male, 27% female, 4% non-binary). The median age was 24 (mean = 25.9, SD = 8.15).
Overall, players are most likely to prefer playable characters of the same gender.
This is true for players who identify as male, female, and non-binary. Notably, female players have the strongest preference for playing a character of the same gender (76%), whereas non-binary gender players—while still most likely to prefer non-binary gender characters—prefer non-binary gender characters only slightly more than female characters (38% vs. 33%).
Almost one out of three male players prefer playing female characters.
29% of men prefer playing female characters, whereas only 9% of women prefer playing male characters. This implies that even in game genres with predominantly male players, players would nevertheless have a moderately-strong interest in having a playable female character.
For example, in a simplified game example with 74% male / 23% female / 3% non-binary players.
- 76% of the 23% of female players would prefer a female character = 17%
- 29% of the 74% of male players would prefer a female character = 21%
- 33% of the 3% of non-binary players would prefer a female character = 1%
Thus, 39% of the players in the game would prefer a playable female character.
In a typical core PC/console game, about 60% of the female avatars you meet are played by a male player.
Across core PC/console game genres, the gender proportion roughly averages out to 74% male / 23% female / 3% non-binary gender. So in a simplified example with a hypothetical game that only offers male and female character options:
- There would be 740 male players—355 prefer male characters, 215 prefer female characters, and the remaining 163 have no preference, so we’ll divide them equally (82 prefer male characters and 82 prefer female characters).
- There would be 230 female players—175 prefer female characters, 21 prefer male characters, and the remaining 25 have no preference, so we’ll divide them equally (13 prefer male characters and 13 prefer female characters).
- There would be 30 non-binary gender players—3 prefer male characters, 10 prefer female characters, and we’ll split the remaining 17 equally (9 prefer male characters and 9 prefer female characters).
- In terms of characters, there would be a total of 483 male characters and 504 female characters, reaching essentially (in-game) gender parity.
- Of the 483 male characters, 34 (or 7%) are played by female players while 12 (or 2%) are played by non-binary gender players.
- Of the 504 female characters, 297 (or 59%) are played by male players while 19 (4%) are played by non-binary gender players.
Older men are more likely to prefer playing female characters.
There are two interesting age differences in terms of playing characters of a different gender. Men who prefer playing female characters tend to be older, whereas for women, there’s no age difference between those who prefer playing male or female characters.
And then for both men and women, those who prefer a non-binary gender character are younger than those who prefer a female character.
All the patterns we’ve mentioned so far are consistent with data from MMOs from about 20 years ago.
For example, back in 2001, I found that among EverQuest players, men are about 4-6 times more likely to play a female character than female players are to play a male character. And in 2003, with a broader MMO sample, I found that it’s older men who are more likely to play female characters in MMOs. In 2005, specifically with a sample of WoW players, I estimated that 55% of female avatars in WoW are played by a male player.
With the MMO surveys, it was never clear if these patterns were unique or idiosyncratic to MMOs. The broader cross-genre data here shows that these patterns are likely consistent across many genres and have been remarkably stable for at least 2 decades.
Men who prefer female characters score higher on Design. Women who prefer male characters score higher on Destruction.
When we compared the gaming motivations of men and women based on their character gender preference, we found differences that aligned with gender stereotypes. Men who prefer female characters score higher on Design (expressing individuality, customization), while women who prefer male characters score higher on Destruction (chaos, mayhem, blowing things up).
There were no statistically significant differences among non-binary gender players or with the other character gender choices, so they are not included in the chart.
Because both the gaming motivation and character gender preference questions were about general gaming preferences, this suggests that character gender preference might be (at least partly) a way for players to align/reconcile gameplay preferences with gender stereotypes—e.g., it makes more sense to dress up a female character or it makes more sense for a male character to be blowing things up. Or they’re both driven by an unmeasured variable—e.g., men who are X are more likely to enjoy Design and playing female characters.
But why are men so much more likely to prefer playing female characters?
Researchers have proposed many (sociological, psychological, game-based) reasons for this:
- Society is harsher on men who transgress gender norms than women who do so. Thus, men are more likely to explore gender identity in safer digital environments where they are anonymous.
- Men playing female characters (typically designed for the male gaze) is another way for men to objectify and control women’s bodies.
- Female avatars are treated better than male avatars in online games and more likely to get “freebies” and invited to groups.
- Female avatars are psychologically perceived to be weaker and less skilled and this can give a player a psychological edge against opponents.
It’s worth noting that none of these theories explains why older men are more likely to play a female character.
When male gamers are directly asked this question in blog posts and message boards, by far the most common provided response is along the lines of: “If I have to stare at a butt all day, I would rather it be a female butt.” Whether this is the actual reason or simply the most socially acceptable explanation that can be stated is unclear.
But I wonder if we’re asking the wrong question. Given that gaming is often framed as an escape from reality, perhaps the better question is “Why do women have such a strong preference for only playing female characters?”.
Ironically, it’s games that are played predominantly by women that have much less need to provide playable male characters than the other way around.
We started with the topic of introducing playable female characters into games that are predominantly played by men. The data shows that even in the absence of any women playing those games, roughly one-third of the male player base would prefer having a playable female character.
Ironically, it’s among games that are predominantly played by women where we can make a much stronger business case that it’s unnecessary to spend resources to create playable male characters. In the most extreme example of a game that is only played by women, only 9% of that player base would want a playable male character.
Do you prefer playing characters of a different gender?
Why do you prefer playing characters of a different gender, and do you have any interesting stories/experiences from your gameplay? Tell us in the comments below.
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I wonder how much of the disparity is due to the female in-group bias and male out-group bias.
I tend to be more attached to my avatar if it’s a woman. When it’s a man, it feels bland to me.
I didn’t get to be born a woman in real life and even though I still identify as a man, I sometimes wish I was born as a woman. I am fully aware that it wouldn’t have made my life easier and that video games can’t fully emulate reality, but this is my way of experiencing something like it.
It doesn’t really make me feel like I’m my character’s gender, but more like I’m gender fluid, because when you play a female character online with a female or gender neutral nickname, people often don’t even try to guess your gender. Most often, they don’t care.
I vastly prefer playing as female, I’m quite fed up of male leads. Also playing as male is very dysphoric for me after years of being forced to be male since I was born.
Playing as female is more soothing for me and lets me focus better than when having to play as male, my dysphoria makes it hard to focus.
I’m an older (early 50s) cis male and very comfortable with that; I’m curious about what it would be like to be female, but I wouldn’t want to be one more than temporarily. I generally represent as male in on-line interactions because that’s who I feel I am. (This includes usually playing male avatars in on-line games.)
However, when I play a character in an offline game, I more often than not pick a female character when given the choice. (It’s not a hugely strong preference; I may make a second or third character male just to help differentiate it.) I have a very strong preference for careful tactics over brute force and stealth over going in guns blazing, and I suppose I have some sort of feeling that a female character lines up better with this.
My main worry when playing a female character is that it won’t be as tall as a male character and will thus give me a worse viewpoint in an FPS.
I’m physically female and okay with it, though I very much dislike the whole social gender thing and ensuing stereotypes… I prefer playing as a female-bodied character; it is a “female power fantasy”, so to speak… my character can become head of the Mages Guild etc, earn the respect of kings etc, solely based on skills and not how good-looking or otherwise gender-conforming the character is. If only things worked like that IRL))
An important question this article doesn’t ask is: how many identifying-as-male subjects are actually closeted non-binary or transgender individuals? While all nonbinary individuals have a tendency to be judged/ostrisized socially, the impression I have is that MtF individuals tend to be treated harsher than their FtM counterparts, although that may be a result of it being harder for them to “pass” as Cis than FtM individuals.
It would be difficult to test for using questionaires and polls, but it’d be worth considering that Assigned Male At Birth individuals may be less likely to identify as non-binary than Assigned Female At Birth individuals, which could be partially responsible for results we see here.
For the records, I (a Cis Male) prefer to play female characters because I find it easier to form an empathic bond (as opposed to a self-identity bond) with the character: my male mass effect character feels like an avatar, little more than a mouth and a gun for me to insert my will to the game through. my female mass effect character feels like an actual (fictional) person, and I’m just the narrator telling her story.
I am a cis male, (and I am an ‘older’ player) and I do have a slight preference for female avatars, though I do both. It’s possible that the male gaze is part off the motivation for this, but I do often find that the male character choices are so exaggerated in their testosterone filled demeanours that I don’t identify with them. The idea of playing a grizzled musclebound hunk is pretty unappealing to me.
I’m a male, and in a cRPG I would often play a female character. Exploration is a big driver for me, which may be one of the reasons. I also like to think that stepping outside the comfort zone enhances my brain’s neuroplasticity :)
I love how you tried to take a jab at “the gamers” and men and to atempt to do so you unwitinly proved that male gamers don’t have anything against female characters and it’s the women who are more intransigent about not playing the other gender XD
Uh, there’s nothing biased about noting what the discourse that gets noted about gaming and how the different sexes relate to it. What the authors are trying to do here is to find if there is indeed any support for that discourse – of course, playable character sex preferences aren’t themselves proof of the presence or absence of casual sexism amongst the core/hardcore gaming demographics given the presented reasons for men playing female characters.
I’m female and I don’t have a preference. I strongly prefer offline games in general and don’t use avatars to represent myself. If I get/have to create my own character in an offline game, I mostly try to actually GIVE it character. I don’t think of it as “me” or “my representation” in that world but another person. I like roleplaying, so I tend to prefer to try out just anything. With video games, I’m most comfortable with predefined avatars/characters. It feels like I can get to know them while “being” them, which is much more interesting to me than making something up (I can do that w/o any game in my head, after all ^^) So if game designers give me something to work on, that’s much more interesting to me than that awfully painful process of creating your own character at the beginning of a game, without even knowing anything about the world and story, so you might end up with an idea of a character that is then not compatible with the world. – Of course, there sadly are many predefined avatar characters that are not interesting in the slightest bit, which is sad. But I think games have come a long way here and I love the diversity you can see nowadays ^^
I was very impressed with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s avatar options – not only are there two storylines for male and female, you can also let the game ‘decide” situationally which avatar to play (I haven’t chosen this option yet but found it remarkable). I’m also impressed with the designers’ decision to include an equal number of same-sex romance options within the NPC dialogue trees.
In the game (which is single player) you occasionally encounter dead player characters that you can avenge. It was very striking to me that every single one I’ve encountered to date is female. That suggests that most players (male and female) are choosing female avatars, which supports the data in your article.
I always play as females in games. Because I try to create a perfect “waifu”. Not because of some bs like I want to control women or smh. It is the other way around. My character controls me, way more then I control her. If it makes sense. Like if my female paladin in WoW would be deleted, I would be heartbroken, because I literally spend with her thousands of hours. I am really attached to her.
Some reasons for older male gamers playing females could be that they are less concerned with what people think about them, and that they are more comfortable with their own identity ( thus making exploration feel less threatening and more interesting).
As a female gamer, I grew up playing games where I was forced to play as a male all the time. It was what it was. I still enjoyed the game. But when I finally got to play a game as a female lead, I thought it was so cool. The first one I remember was probably Dark Forces II: Mysteries of the Sith where you got to play as Mara Jade. Later on, when they started allowing you to choose and there was voice acting for both (like Commander Shepard) I was blown away with excitement. I think it’s cool that there are so many more female characters in games because there are more girl gamers than people realize, I think.
Remember that Disney the super ally company was the one who cancelled Mara Jade’s character.
For me i dont give any attetion for this detail. Since I’m latin woman. At my childhood its rare to get one game original. The taxes are absurd for minimal wage. So this gender issie is the pointless for my generation. I was more worried if is difficult or not.
I seek more fun playing than talk so i’m more lone wolf. I avoid MMOs for the annoying part social chat window i cant hide that thing. So much trash i read at them rare something usefull.
I play as women for the jiggle physics.
Transman (ftm) who prefers playing male characters in multiplayer but sometimes likes playing a female character in solo. Female characters are interesting to me story-wise but I id easier as a guy.
I’m one of those apparently rare female gamers who tend to prefer a male avatar. I’m cisgender, but don’t have a strong gender attachment in general. I grew up at a time when female characters were often given ridiculous outfits and weapons in comparison to the male ones, had rather silly dialogue, etc, so now it’s just a habit. Now that there are many more games that either have interesting female protagonists and/or are more egalitarian in their character design (look, either EVERBODY has their tiddy out or NOBODY does), i find that i’m drifting back to a 50/50 choice.
I also find that i’m generally uninterested in playing games where there is no choice, unless the MC is a defined character with a complete story of their own.
Removing the crass flippancy from the “If I have to stare at a butt all day, I would rather it be a female butt.” statement, it’s like this: As a heterosexual man, even without being aroused, I am wired to be able to enjoy the appearance of an attractive woman much more than I could an attractive man or people who aren’t particularly attractive. So playing as a woman who I find attractive is just more enjoyable to me in the same manner that, for example, playing a game with an art style you really like can more enjoyable, or playing a game with really good graphics can be more enjoyable.
Came here to say this. I see the character creator as a way to make art. Women are more aesthetically pleasing and often have more/better customization options. I don’t see my character as a reflection of me, nor do I try to project myself into the body or role of the character. I can enjoy a character’s journey without imagining it was me doing it.
I would also like to add that one can simultaneously enjoy playing female characters and believe that adding female characters is pandering *if the developer’s motivation for adding female characters is that they believe women cannot enjoy games where they play as a man, or that having female main characters is important for advancing societal causes.*
Yeah it is like that, this is why we all loved Lara Croft! Amazing game, with a beautiful protagonist and the game play is unrelated to her gender completely. But once there’s her story involved, with female emotions and all that, I don’t really want to see it. Tbh, many men play games to keep their distance from exactly that. It’s easy, I’m a man, I don’t relate to female life.
Maybe we should have more games intended to a single gender?
No, we shouldn’t.
So in other words, these past three comments confirm that having the image of a woman to stare at (read: objectify) is a major motivator for men to play female characters. And you in particular outright confirmed that you don’t actually care about the female character’s story or emotions. So with all that considered, I think it’s safe to assume the usual reason cisgender, heterosexual men play as female characters is sexism. :)
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Could it just be that men care/think less about gender identity; and so it takes a smaller role when picking an avatar?
That also also fits with men being more likely to choose “No preference”.
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As male gamer in most games where i given the choice I prefer playing female characters. One of the reason is that i find it more appealing and more interesting. In many Fighting games many female characters are more agile compare to male and prefer this agile play style more. For RPGs the female characters have always better more interesting clothing/design option, for males in this games are mostly very same/boring looking or things you saw 1000 times in other games. Then I was younger (played more male at that time in MMOs) I also found out fast the advantage in MMOs to be female because of a friend who get a lot freebies like this but for groups invites I find in general it is more important what class you are and if it`s a fix group or not. I would also say in general over all genres then their are lesser difference between male and female (play style or design) the lesser I care what gender I use and more about who ever looks/sounds more interesting.
So, take from a cis-male who generally chooses to play male avatars: there’s a difference between playing a character and playing an avatar – when playing a pre-existing narratively established character, I’m not playing as ‘me’; I’m simply controlling another character so I don’t have to put myself into it.
But when making an avatar, I’m creating someone who is ‘me’ within the context of that game’s world – so while I may not be making myself exactly, I’m trying to create a representation of myself that fits within that world’s setting for the most part. This isn’t to say that I actively dislike making female alts, especially if doing so enables me to better explore the possibilities provided by the game. But at least on first run, I want to play as the avatar that represents how *I’d* fit into the world of the game.
that’s one of the points 99% of the people on this site are missing, the characters might be crucial to the story the way they are
I don’t have play or purchase games where the only only options is to play with a female character, since I don’t need to hide my manhood online.
I feel that, all these excuses for men playing female characters are a tad, odd. It’s a bunch of pixels at the end of the day and i’d much rather they just say they are pervs, or homosexual, or whatever, as long as they don’t try and give a bullshit reason. If i personally get a choice to be male or female I’m always going to be male, literally zero reason to be a female, i’m not a woman and if i wanted to bs and say it’s for looks, plenty of other guys go around as females, also google exists so a game isn’t even where u need to see it. I also don’t play games with only female protagonist because it kills the game for me, having said that if i play league i will play any character that has a kit that interests me.
If women are expected to play a male protagonist and enjoy them, treating them as interesting PEOPLE and great characters, then it’s not about male or female, but about the storytelling.
If you won’t play a character because they’re female, that’s just sexist, not a design choice. It also means you are insecure in your masculinity and threatened by others thinking you might not be some hyper-masculine dude (and really masculine men can play female characters. Tomb Raider, for instance. You’re a bit behind on the times with that one). You should work on that. It’s a flaw that once fixed will help you enjoy other people and the games you play much moreso.
PS. Including pervert and homosexual in the same sentence, and saying any dude that plays a female character is one of these, is very wrong and narrow-minded. Again. Work on yourself.
Yeah, cause female characters are hawt! But otherwise you don’t want a female character. Especially online or in story telling games, any sexual interaction is so bizarre you want none of it.
I’m working on a theory that we choose male or female characters based on what kind of emotional experience we want to have.
If we want higher emotional stakes in a survival game, we might pick a female character. I respond with more emotion when my female character in The Long Dark is about to freeze. When it’s a man – eh.
Conversely, if I know that my character will die a lot, like Dark Souls, then the game is about pushing your character forward knowing that he will die often. That he is a male character just adds to the feeling of disposability.
And humour. I can’t laugh at a female character dying nearly as much as a male character meeting a sticky end. Sometimes I play for that.
This seems to be reflected in the data in Nick’s article where players with higher destruction choose male characters more often – seems they play for a more brutal game where emotions are left behind – and those with a penchant for design and story choose female characters. More player emotions means more drama means a deeper story experience.
I read one person’s comment above that they choose male online and female offline. That checks out here too.
That is a very insightful observation. It is possibly a evolutionary feature to protect women, and to consider men more disposable or tough enough to endure pain etc.
well then you’re either a sexist or a misandrist if you are ok with males getting hurt but not females
Older cis female. In games where I can make an avatar I have played both male and female and would certainly consider a non-binary option.
Mostly, though, I largely prefer gender to be irrelevant to the game play. Characters which are hyper-masculine (the Witcher, for example), I simply can’t relate to enough to get immersed. Likewise a hyper-female character (giant boobs and sexualized) just feels like a caricature.
Could this be because of what some say – that we want a character that is LIKE us, that we can relate to, but that is just a little better. Not a LOT different, because we can’t imagine ourselves as that, but a little different.
Do you go for characters that have something to do with you? What’s your upper limit before they lose your interest?
Then you’re missing the point of the Witcher story lol
Plenty of females played Witcher and liked it for the story. It wouldn’t make sense to put a stranded whale in that kind of story. The character has to fit the story and their body build needs to make sense within that context.
The Witcher fights evil monsters, of course he would be well built hahaha ….
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I make my male characters not bland. I tried female characters as a dude and I don’t connect to it unless she is very rough and masculine in nature. I like to play as males but they are gender fluid yet they portray something cunning. Like dark characters with jewelry and feminine faces yet also masculine. Def androgynous. The clothes i could say are as gender fluid as it gets. And I’m a transguy saying this. Its cool to be a dude that breaks the binary and also (rarely play) a female that does too. They’re flexible and not Boring and you get to explore their personalities without judgement of what you have to be to be a man or woman.
“If I have to stare at a butt all day, I would rather it be a female butt.”
That is actually a very good explanation. Call that objectification if you must, but looking at attractive female is pleasurable and thats even when we like or even respect the character. The same is true in real life – even if we are most respectful towards women, in general we _feel better_ after dealing with attractive females than other people. Men are onlookers, end of line.
Another is that female characters often are better voice-acted. Very often male character with a *manly* voice is poorly voice acted. An example is in polish voiceact to Mass Effect 2. The male Shepard is unpassable to me (in first game there was a different and much better voice actor), yet female Shepard in polish is quite good.
Another partially good observation is about roleplaying a woman. This is common also in eg. traditional tabletop RPGs. However in my opinion it is rather not about social restrictions (of course sometimes it is, obviously), very few people who do that would like to look or behave “womanly” etc. in real life as men which they are. I think many of us men are fascinated by the prospect of actually *being* a woman (and yes, rather attractive one at that) for some time, which can be explored in fantasy only. Especially that we connect gender mostly to looks and sexuality, thus we play female characters doing rather manly things – fighting, physically demanding exploration etc – with exception being looks, clothing and romantic naratives. It is a specific and possibly not that rare kind of fantasy.
This was a very interesting article.I am a female every character I have ever made in a game has been a male and rather attractive long hair beard. Probably what I would aspire to look like If I were born male. me it’s a preference I think armor on say a female braer class looks goofy. Only exception to a female was a charr on GW2 bulky yet feminine in that game. That and well what straight woman doesn’t want to look at a shirtless hot sweaty dude running around hunting monsters all day.
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I’ve never considered the in game character to be an extension of myself and so instead create characters based upon what I find attractive. I’m a dude and not gay, so I create good looking females.
The idea that the character I create is me thrust into another reality…that’s just odd and very, very unappealing. Most game worlds are horrific when one really considers them, so why would one want to be inside one? I love Fallout, but I wouldn’t want to live in the wasteland, dear God no! lol
Character design is a huge deal for me, if I’m offered true variety, customization or some sense of “realism”, I can go for either F or M characters (or non-binary).
But I tend to choose male characters whenever I feel like the game only offers the “bikini armor, sexy red-head with giant boobs” option for females (which is… most of the time). It rarely fits the story, so if I’m going to feel disconnected from the character anyway, I might just choose the one that at least makes sense for a post apocalyptic war lore the game is proposing… Most games only cater to male gaze, even games with a large female player-base (and yes, that includes male characters: power fantasy Kratos IS for male gaze, straight men. Most women would prefer a different design when it comes to attractiveness…inb4 “But he’s shirtless!!”). I like some level of “realism”, but it’s totally understandable why most of my female friends don’t choose male characters: they clearly weren’t design with them in mind, it’s not appealing for most of them.
50 yo game makers are so stuck in the past with their limited views of female players, they fail to realize how much money they would be making if they designed for the female gaze as well. Women with big pockets would love some Henry Cavils, some Tom Hollands and Timotheés in games… China is making a lot of money from this, but their beauty standard don’t always calls the attention of western women.
I play a female character mostly due to customization it seems like there are more and better options for female characters than male characters. And generally female gear is smaller and lighter looking and male gear is generally bulkier and I prefer the light look
I think the only people likely to comment on this article are people who prefer female characters. The reason behind my belief is the fact that those men who admit they prefer male characters will be labeled as sexist by most of you. Most men I know, prefer to play characters they can identify with, ie male characters. I have absolutely no issue with games that allow you to create your own character. In fact I prefer this. This feature satisfies everyone. The video game industry seems to be forgetting who purchases the vast majority of their games. The article even admits that only one out of three men prefer a female main character. Catering to one third of your purchasing population has a bad, bad business.
Well, this cis-male who prefers to play male avatars/characters commented on this article and I’ve yet to be accused of sexism – if anything, it’s the cis-males who prefer to play as females who are commenting to explain their position on the matter as to why it’s something other than wanting to stare at the female form all day for gratification purposes (well, sometimes even that, and even that isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
I think you’re reading some biases into your comment here: after all, no-one is suggesting that we should *only* cater to one third of the potential purchasing audience
Im a straight cis male with no dysmorphia : Ive found i enjoy playing female characters for a number of reasons. When i was younger my friend convinced me i was less straight prefering to play a male character because i had to look at him all day. So at first my motivation for playing a female character was objectification. But as i grew up i learned that was all bs and wrong. As i started to try and play male characters again, i felt there was something always missing.
The clothing for male characters is always so lack luster. The colors never match, and i swear its mostly a bad ass alpha male aesthetic.
After switching back to female characters i also found in most games you have better advantages. Most female character models are visually smaller (sometimes smaller hitbox) which is a massive benifit in multiplayer games
Tldr; used to pick female character for misogynistic reasons, now play female because better clothes and visually smaller
I’m female and if I’m playing with other people, I often play as a male just because I’m tired of my skills being questioned or discounted because I’m female, and I’m tired of being hit on. When I play as a guy or use a neutral name if there’s no avatar, it’s assumed I’m just “one of the guys” and it’s a lot more fun. For instance, Clash of Clans is far less fun when they know you are female. When I played Harvest Moon or some others that only had male protagonists, I didn’t mind, though felt annoyed at not having choice and what felt like an assumption of who’d play the game unless it made sense that the character was only one sex for some reason (like Final Fantasy XV–I preferred that it was a group of guys), but when I play Stardew Valley, I always play as a girl. I’m rather tired of the huge hulking male and the overly sexy female types when there are so many other types–how about a gentleman or a tomboy without a huge, mostly revealed chest? Just a basic nice-looking person of either sex or androgynous is fine with me. Great clothing options are a must, but they don’t need to be sexy regardless of their sex. Nice looking characters, nice clothing, and a nice looking environment would be great. I’m really tired of ugly games.
I’m male and I don’t like to play as a female. I don’t feel like she’s a representation of me and that distracts me. Although, I have a friend that always selects females characters because he likes to look at them.
Cis female here. I play males primarily because I like looking at them. It also makes me feel badass/powerful, depending on what game I’m playing. Males tend to be more accepted (less doubt in capabilities, etc) and I don’t get hit on (as much) in online games. Half the time, I switch between male and female for aesthetics (I like to play dress-up with both sexes.) I’ve been met with genuine surprise when acquaintances find out I’m female. Then the flirting starts.