Gaming

I really don't care. I'm fine playing genderless shapes (and if PacMan didn't have "man" in his name nobody would even know he was a he) if the game is fun. Even when finishing the first Metroid back when I was a kid and discovering Samus was a woman didn't really blow my mind like it did for so many others.

The only time I care is when it actually matters in the game. Such as Fallout 2 and being able to skip fighting the Slavers to rescue Vic but only as a woman, or older FPS games where the smaller frame of a female model came with a smaller hitbox, or even Demon's Souls where male and females have different armor sets so my gender changes with my build.

Personally it's because I like the range of outfits better when I create a female character. Like a dude maybe has trousers, jacket and a shirt but a woman has those and a skirt and a blouse and a dress. I like having more options. I'm also not sure if I'm completely cis or not as I'm now starting to question some things.

I opt to play as a female character sometimes. A quote from the article perfectly summed it up for me: "If I have to stare at a butt all day, I would rather it be a female butt".

I used to always prefer to play male characters and if there was character customization/creation, I would almost always try to create myself in the game.

Now that's all flipped. I load up old Dark Souls saves and see a derpy version of myself and just cringe a little. I typically only create female characters anymore, but they often just look better and have more interesting hair styles, etc.

I’m a cis bi guy. I always play male characters ‘cos it’s kinda like a self insert thing I guess. If the game has romance options I’ll just go with whoever seems the most fitting for the plot haha. Except in WoW I had a few female troll alts because screw those hunchback male troll models..

I dunno, I've always made whatever struck me as cool in the moment. No real pattern to it other than wanting the character to look cool on screen while I'm making it. If it turns out later that something in game makes it not look cool, I might not make the same choice on a new character, but it's still about having something neat to run around on the screen with.

Like, playing Neverwinter back a few years ago, I had one of every class, and between three accounts, some duplicates of a class in different races. I spent a ton of time on that game while I was recovering from a chain of health issues lol.

Anyway, the rogue class was always fun to play, but male dragonborn looked goofy as fuck in higher level armor for that class, so my main rogue was a female dragonborn. My paladin was male human because cheese. But when I was setting the character up, I would just flip back and forth until I was happy with what it looked like.

But, that even applied in table top games in a way. I'd pick sex based on the cool factor rather than playing what I am.

I'm personally pretty indifferent. If I'm given the option I'll usually choose male but if the characters are gender locked like diablo 2 I just pick what looks fun to play

I play exclusively female characters, and also go for the F/F romance when possible. I think it started with fighting games, because female characters were usually faster, and some shooters actually have smaller hitboxes for female models, so there are are actual advantages. But yeah, I'm mostly with you, to the point where my GF laughs at my characters always looking like me with boobs. We're playing through Elden Ring together now, and I'm playing a (F) dex spellblade and she is making a (M) tank with a bonking stick.

Not only a different gender, but a different race. Fuck playing some asshole that's a jacked version of me. That's boring. I can at least change things up a bit and play a jacked version of someone else who is very different to me.

I'm male. If the game has much of a fashion/customization aspect to it I tend to play female characters, since I guess I'm more interested in how female characters look than male ones. I think a lot of this has to do with whether you view your in-game avatar as an extension of "you" or not - personally, I do not identify much with my avatars regardless of their gender.

I started playing more with friends in online games for the past 10 years or so now. Newer games definitely allow more customization so they noticed I always pick the female and wonder why. I just tell them the same thing some have mentioned here, if I am playing this game for a long time I would rather be looking at a female than the man. They just look better. Plus back in the day I absolutely noticed in MMOs that people were way nicer to female characters for some reason.

I’m male and mainly play female characters if given a choice

Mainly they look really good. And if I have to look at someone’s butt I’d prefer it’s a female

On my case, i'm a male and i always play with the male character unless i got no option.

Hypothetically, if i happen to play for example, Plants VS Zombies Garden Warfare 2, i would always play as the Sunflower, yes, the doctor brainz it's also there but i would prefer being on the plants side (Although things may vary).

An example of a game where i had to forcefully play as a Female Character is Cally Caves 2.

Out of that, i mainly avoid playing with female characters, mostly because i'm a honest person.

I just pick the one that makes sense in the story

I played a female character in WoW because I was an avid PVPer and the neckbeards hated getting killed by a female. Also because I'd rather look at a female posterior while I'm playing than a male's.