Do you play as a male or female in a game, given a choice?

[Pachi Risu]

Male always the first time through, Female the second time for great justice.

[anosou]

real reason why guys roll girl characters right here

Very true, I was turned on the entire time.

[superjoe30]

where is poll option lol

If I am given a choice I usually play female because I'd rather constantly stare at a nice ass in my game. It's also probably some deep freudian psychological shit, I dunno.

ditto

P.S. Princess Peach OWNS in super smash bros. melee

[Devyn]

It depends if the abilities are different. If they have different mechanics and moves, then I play through with both of them. I often end up picking the chick though. Like in Endless Ocean, I really don't want to look at a dude in a diving suit the whole time I'm playing.

[LuIzA]

I usually prefer to pick the male character. I like to stare at men with cargo pants if an option too in games.

agreed there. haha.

depending on the game, I play as the female the second time through.

[BlackDragonSoul]

i play as a male when i am given a choice. sometimes i will play as a female so i can stare at her ass or boobs

[Salluz]

Sometimes playing with girls can be a way to embarrass the players.

[Aninymouse]

all other things equal, i'll go for whichever looks better

sometimes i will play as a female so i can stare at her ass or boobs

classy

[FR]

whenever I have a choice

female

[The Coop]

If it's from a first-person perspective, it won't matter to me. I'll see who has the most interesting abilities, and go with that. But if it's something where the character is always in front of you, I'll choose the female character. I'd rather have a nice feminine polygonal ass/figure leading the way through the game.

Fran was the lead in my play through of Final Fantasy XII for that very reason (not to mention, she can kick some serious ass once she gets leveled up).

[Arek the Absolute]

If it a game where every person has a different class, gender doesn't mean much to me. I care solely on what I think will make a good party.

If it is a game with full customization, I almost always play male. The only time I haven't is when I was playing WoW way back. Good lord the human males are fucking ugly. They really need to rework their models.

[Tricklozen]

Neither.

DIE, HUMANS

[Theophany]

Neither.

DIE, HUMANS

We don't take kindly to prawns 'round here.

[Brushfire]

I typically play as a Pyro in TF2, so I guess female?

[gwilendiel]

Depends on the game and who is playing it.

Like in one MMO I play a female character, and am in a guild that has a lot of female players so we know there is no "no girls on the internet" rule.

In Quake 2 I played the male character online...

If I like the way a male character looks I might play it just so I can look at him.

Otherwise it depends on my mood. Some times I regret picking a female character, because I get harassed by noobs. Either because they think girls don't play, or because they realize I am actually a girl so they want to hit on me or whatever.

Otherwise, I don't care what people think I am, usually. I'm a bit anti-social (if I haven't made it obvious by now haha)

[Arek the Absolute]

ur a girl?

hey wussup

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

If it's a single-player thing, I'll most likely play as a girl, especially in fighters or games with different mechanics/pathways for each character(Resident Evil and several other games come to mind). Overall I just find a lot of female characters more interesting than generic "coming of age" boy or "tough" dude. Plus I'm of the idea that if I'm going to be staring at something for a few hours on end, I'd like it to be something nice-looking. I guess the only exception to this rule would be Bill in Left 4 Dead. I always play Bill.

When I'm playing an MMO though, I see it as a representation of myself, so I always go as a dude.

[chivesontheweb]

I typically play as a Pyro in TF2, so I guess female?

I guess I have an inclination to pick female characters over male, but it depends on my mood at the time. If it's a game I know I'll be playing through again I'll pick a male character the first time and a female the second.

[Ferret]

Like a lot of other people in this thread I don't really care one way or the other under most circumstances, especially if it's not going to change any of the important dialogue.

It usually comes down to who looks the most bad-ass or has the best head model.

[Arek the Absolute]

People choose characters for their looks and not because of their fighting styles in fighters? That is weird.

I play Chun-li in Street Fighter because she fits my playing style really well, not because she is female.

I don't know. I don't think I could stand playing a character just for their looks. I would get far too frustrated, especially if their playing style really clashes with what I like.

[The Coop]

Fighting games are an entirely different beast from other games to me. I pick whichever character I find I do best with. For example, in the Soul Calibur series, I play as Mitsurugi a lot, as I find his fighting style to work well for me. Ivy (my favorite female character in the series), isn't bad, but her fighting style doesn't gel too well with how I play (I do a little better using Sophitia). It's the same with the Street Fighter games. I can kick some righteous ass with Ryu and Blanka, but Chun-Li and Cammy lead to many losses. So the whole male/female choice thing goes out the window.

But when we're talking games like 3D RPGs, sand box games, and so forth, where you have the choice, then it goes back to what I said in my previous post on the subject.

[K.B.]

I almost mentioned fighters before but didn't for the sake of being pithy. I gotta think Malaki is in the minority there. Unless you're new to fighters - in which case you could pick any character and go with it since you have so much to learn (and a little T&A could be a good incentive to keep at it when you're continually getting whooped-up on) - it doesn't make a lick of sense to choose someone based on appearance. It could make sense to choose someone weak just to humiliate an opponent, but that wouldn't necessarily be a female character.

Not that I can really talk on fighters THAT much... all I've ever played a lot of was Street Fighter II back in my arcade days and SSBM (if you want to count that) more recently. In the latter, I'd choose Shiek sometimes, but that'd only be because I'd want a break from Fox.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I prioritize speed and agility in fighters, which is why I usually pick the females. I don't have to prove any weird sense of masculinity.

[K.B.]

You would have avoided the confusion if you had said that before. And that it's usually the females, not explicitly them.

I really wasn't...

[DusK]

If the choice does not impact gameplay, I usually go with being a male character. Especially in regards to online games. I'm a "he," and I'd like to be perceived as a "he" while I'm playing. Simply as that.

But as Arek stated, I'll play a female if it has some bearing on the gameplay, such as having certain moves/fighting style/whatever.