In Games With Male and Female Protagonist Options, Which Did You Choose And Why?

[Last Jon Standing]

Until my early 20s I'd always play as men, but now I exclusively play as women, mostly because playing as a man is boring since I'm a man and I know how the world reacts to me. Playing as a woman gives me a whole new perspective and teaches me a lot about sexism and other forms of oppression and prejudice against women, especially in WRPGs.

 

[MadeULook]

Always a female even though I'm a dude. There are just so many male protags in gaming so I find it boring to play as one when given the option.

 

[HanSoloCup]

Female all the way. First, I have three daughters and they love to watch me play games. Second, I have played so many games as a male, I find it so much more refreshing to play as a female. Plus, they usually have cooler outfits and better VA.

 

[ChrisD]

I pretty much always chose Male as a kid and teen, Splatoon in 2015 was one of the earliest games I can actually remember choosing Female for the same reason stated in OP (felt it was a way better design). Since then I tend to vary. In Monster Hunter I used Male for Freedom Unite, P3rd, 4U, so on Generations Ultimate I finally changed it up and used Female. Went back for World and used Male, so now with Rise I'll use Female again.

For Pokémon I'm always Male though. Probably always will be. It's just too set in my brain that my Pokémon Trainer is a dude lol.

 

[Poltergust]

It's typically male for me if romancing is a thing, but if it severely limits my pool of romanceable male options then I will begrudgingly go female. This happened in Three Houses and it really bothered me.

If romancing isn't a mechanic in the game I just pick whichever design I like the best.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Literally whatever feels best to me at the time. Sometimes I make a dude, sometimes I make a woman. Entirely depends on my mood during character creation as well as small cosmetic elements like hairstyle choices and facial presets.

 

[Kay]

If it's fantasy mmo and i have to wear robes I'll chose a woman character because they usually look better. Otherwise, mostly a dude.

 

[Thorn]

Female if there's customization. Male for A second play-through or I REALLY like the VA for the Male.

 

[Unaha-Closp]

Given the choice 100% of the time I pick female - I am not one so at some point, I just started and it's now a habit. I do it without thinking. Any game, any genre, if it can be picked I will pick it. I don't need to insert myself into a game I am playing, much rather be someone I am not and I am not female so. Also applies to human - if I can pick another species - I will.

 

[Nessus]

If they're more or less blank slates (Skyrim, Mass Effect) I choose male cause I'm male.

If they actually have distinct personalities I pick the one I like more (Claire in Resident Evil 2 remake).

 

[SOLDIER]

I'm always amused with the "can't relate" thing.
I mean, it is a character, right? not you

as for me, I choose females because they are nicer to look at...
it is not the most progressive reason, I know.

Agreed OP, the VO for Sunset Overdrive is amazing.

As mentioned earlier, playing with females in COD might irritate some bigots and like this feeling, lol

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Which is why I almost always hate silent protagonists; unless there's a vast dialogue tree, they almost never act like I would.

The DQ leads don't have any spoken lines and I still consider them individual characters.

 

[Cjdamon042]

Depends on the game/character for me.

In AC Odyssey I went with Kassandra because she's clearly the superior character out of the two. I just couldn't take Alexios seriously. I'm so glad I went with that decision. For AC Valhalla however I went with male Eivor simply because he just looked better to me. I've not played more than 15 or so hours of it though and I think people say the best option is to go for the one where the Animus changes it?

Mass Effect I stuck with default male Shepard mostly because I felt custom characters looked awful. Fire Emblem Three Houses I went with female Byleth because her design wasn't as terrible as the male design.

I think anything with a character creator I tend to lean more towards picking male (and boringly try to make myself), but there have been a couple of instances where I'll pick female, especially if it's a second playthrough.

 

[Dupy]

I'm gay and I asked my straight friend why he always picked females in the MMOs we played. He said if he's going to stare at a character for 600 hours it should be someone he finds appealing. Which is why I always pick guys in games so we were pretty aligned on that point lol.

 

[Trup1aya]

I'm a guy, but I usually pick the female option. I find the character models and voice overs are generally more varied.

 

[Starseeker]

Always female because I'm a woman, probably to compensate for the fact that I have to play as men in 99% of all games.

 

[Shining Star]

Always female because I'm a woman, probably to compensate for the fact that I have to play as men in 99% of all games.

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Same as this, I'm not going to play as a man when I don't have to.

 

[BasilZero]

Male in first playthrough and female in second playthrough.

Because I am male

 

[shinobi602]

I almost always go with male if there's a choice.

If there's a character creator I like to envision myself in the game.

 

[super-famicom]

Always female character if the option is available. There are way too many games with cis white male protagonists.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Depends,
If I want to be an extension of myself = male
otherwise I play as female often.

For example MMOs like FF14, Star Wars Galaxies I play as a male,
Call of Duty, Mass Effect, GTA online, Skyrim, AC Odyssey I play female characters often.

I play as women in games like Call of Duty just for the difference imo I guess.
Military games are/were so heavily male dominated for so long I always picked women when they are an option.
All the male characters just feel rather dull at this point

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

If you can date characters and stuff like that, I pick my gender (male).

Otherwise, female with a HIGH PONYTAIL BABY.

 

[youwei]

male always cos in mmo or any online games , male characters do not get private messages from randoms

 

[AwwBubbles]

Always female.

 

[Zips]

I typically go with the female option, at least in single player games. Just got so tired of playing as the same dudebro types for years prior. Plus in some cases, especially in games like Mass Effect or Assassin's Creed, the acting is far, far better for the female option.

 

[Hexnest]

If one model has better customization options or appearance, then I go with that one. It's really not that deep of a choice for me.

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

Typically female since I usually prefer the character designs and fashion options.

 

[Zuly]

Always female because I'm a woman, probably to compensate for the fact that I have to play as men in 99% of all games.

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Yup, same reasoning.

 

[Multievolution]

I've always preferred playing female characters when possible for the last 15 years or so, originally I think it stemmed from the fact that I found male characters boring and all too common, still do if I'm being honest, far as I'm concerned the more games that don't have have an established character that offer options the better

 

[Phoenixazure]

I go 50/50. Melee characters I tend to go female wheras those using projectiles/guns I tend to go male.

Lately it also comes to story/voice actor quality for example recent assassin's creed games

 

[魑魅魍魎]

It depends on the game with me. For the mass effect trilogy games I envision commander Shepard as a Black woman and also the voice actor is better than the male one. Same goes for assassins creed odyssey. For mass effect andromeda I chose a male character. For the saints row games I usually try to play as an Asian male character . I don't really have a preference for strictly female or male characters.

 

[Zaied]

I typically play as a male protagonist if there's a character creator, but I'll go with a female protagonist if I prefer the voice and/or customization options. If I'm selecting between presets, and there's no canon option, I lean towards female. Otherwise, I'll go with whatever is canon, which has ended up being the female character before (AC Odyssey, AC Valhalla, Dishonored 2, and KOTOR II come to mind).

 

[JhOnNY_HD]

Always female.

 

[J.T]

Always male cuz I'm a guy, lol. I also never customize an character, default for me.

 

[TortadeJamon]

It depends on the look of the model, animation and/or voice acting.

 

[Matrix XII]

I choose both but probably skew a little toward female.

 

[FarronFox]

In most cases I choose female. Exception to that is usually if they allow me to pick a creature or other being of sorts and so its a toss up in whether I pick the female or the creature.

Its just that in most cases I find it boring to pick the male human.

 

[Zero-ELEC]

By a great margin, most games with set characters have male/male-coded protagonists. So I always try and chose ones that aren't.

 

[Akumatica]

I never go with the male option when given a choice.

I've also never made a representation of myself in a character creator.

 

[Tohsaka]

Almost always female, the only recent time I went with the male option I can think of was AC Valhalla.

 

[LuckyHit]

Usually depends if gear or options are gender-locked or not. I usually pick male though, because I usually like to trying make myself whenever a character creator is available.

 

[Polaris]

Whichever has the better VA.

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This is where I'm at, assuming it is a voiced role. If not, I'll pick male and try to make it look like me.

 

[thankyoumerzbow]

usually female because the vast majority of main characters are dudes

 

[Mozendo]

When I was younger I played guys just because I wanted to insert myself into the story as much as possible.
Now it depends on who is prettier in my eyes. If I can customize my character I usually play as a woman, if not probably a guy.

 

[Mimosa]

It honestly depends on how appealing/attractive I find the character. If the male character is hot I'll typically choose him tbh. I'm a woman of simple habits and motivations.

 

[Iolo]

I switch off on replays. Which one I pick first is probably just a whim or based on the last game I played.

 

[ZeroX]

Default

I hate character customization in general

 

[DeoGame]

Depends on my mood. Probably 60/40 Female to Male. I'm Male.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

If it's a game that is a character creation style then always male as I am one, however in games that have character select like Streets of Rage or something for instance I will choose a female a lot.

 

[Elfgore]

I pick whichever feels right. It swings towards men more often than not, but there are times playing a woman just feels right for that game.

 

[Finaika]

I refuse to play games without female protagonists.