Why Do Guys Play Female Characters?

[adriennah]

Hello everyone! So, as you read, I've always wondered why do guys play female characters? I'm a girl and I build female toons always, i like it. During the time I've been playing (3 years now) I've heard men saying that they build female chars because the Drow look horrible, lol.

But would like to ask you, yeah, the men of DDO, why do you play female chars? Just for fun.

Thanks, see ya in game!!!

[redspecter23]

Unless you're playing in first person, you'll be looking at the back of your toon pretty much all the time. At least for some people, looking at a pixelated female jogging along is better than the alternative.

[Vellrad]

There are elves males? Wow, I never noticed

Unless you're playing in first person, you'll be looking at the back of your toon pretty much all the time. At least for some people, looking at a pixelated female jogging along is better than the alternative.

Then you're doing something wrong, you're supposed to watch where you go, and what hits you

[gphysalis]

Accidentally
This is because warforged look the same, and if a character is WF first life, then you might not notice until your character's second life

[whitehawk74]

gonna stare and an arse? might as well make it a nice one.

also, i tend to make male characters the big and slow classes and women the finesse classes. thats the way I started out but now I have male finesse and female heavy hitters too.

I dont think of myself as the character, so im not really playing the role. If this was PnP then I would play male characters.
My characters have their own quirks and ways of doing things.

[Gkar]

I've heard men saying that they build female chars because the Drow look horrible, lol.

They do. My bards have always been male, until I played in this game and at L2 deleted my first Drow bard - just couldn't stand how he looked, so my Bard, now turned Arti is female.

For me it has more to do with flavor. Going back to Basic D&D in the 70s, my Magic Users (the original Wizard Class) have been male, and my Sorcerers (AD&D1.0) female. Why? I think it was just that when I thought of sorcerers I thought flair and style and to me, that felt female. But wizards, that image of the old guy with a long grey beard was stuck in my head.

Most of my melee characters have been male. Why? I think the melee was the image of middle ages warriers who would most certainly have been male.

My clerics have traditionally been male, but when I started playing DDO my first character, a cleric, was female because I modelled her after a particular character from a book I had been reading. My next cleric was rolled female to continue that DDO tradition.

Personally I don't understand why the gender should match your gender anyway. You don't stick to just rolling up humans do you?

[arminius]

I started with primarily paladins, and I just always considered paladin virtues to be feminine virtues. I did the same in PnP when it was considered weirder.

People don't seem to care as much now as they did even in 2006. I contribute that to the fact that DDO never developed a hookup culture like Everquest and to some extent WoW. Or maybe the causality worked in the opposite direction, that a hookup culture didn't develop because so many were gender switched? You only felt "betrayed" if you had any reasonable expectation that the female character actually was a RL female, but DDO chucked that out the window from day one.

[cdbd3rd]

I started with primarily paladins, and I just always considered paladin virtues to be feminine virtues. I did the same in PnP when it was considered weirder.

...

PnP:
Rogues. (or AKA, Thieves, when I first started playing.) Female characters had more 'options' for plying their trade. (were seen as less of a threat) But seriously, at that point there was still some bias towards females as strong characters. Think of adventure movies in the late 70s/early 80s. Even when you had female leads, they were usually more finesse type builds. Red Sonja, Xena, a few others eventually turned that opinion, but early on it was another "character flaw" to try and overcome thru roleplay.

Same reason I used to play a lot of half-orcs in PnP play. They'd always start off having to just eek by on whatever they could scavenge, being rarely allowed in taverns, or shops. Downtrodden, but doggedly determined to achieve the things more important to them than treasure. Respect & acceptance.

DDO:
Pretty much covered already here and in other threads that never ended well. It's all about the visuals and character postures/movements.

[FestusHood]

I have a lot of characters, and they are split up about half and half male-female. I guess i just do it for the variety, the same reason i play multiple classes and races. I never imagine that the character i am playing actually represents me, so that's not an issue.

I wonder if there are a lot of tall people that play halflings, or chubby people that play elves, just because it is the opposite of what they are in real life. It is role playing after all. I won't speak in character, but i will make a female toon, and not feel insecure about it.

Funny thing is, it's extremely common. So common that most puggers i run with automatically refer to me as a guy, even though i have given them no reason to do so. Maybe most just assume all the players are guys unless proven otherwise.

[Therrias]

Maybe most just assume all the players are guys unless proven otherwise.

This.

[Jorianon]

I have a lot of characters, and they are split up about half and half male-female. I guess i just do it for the variety, the same reason i play multiple classes and races. I never imagine that the character i am playing actually represents me, so that's not an issue.

Same here. I alternate between male and female characters and have an equal number of both. Why wouldn't I play female characters? I'm not trying to create an accurate depiction of my real life self, I'm creating a fictional hero to run through quests in a fantasy game.

[Trent5]

As someone who plays a female elf wizard it's because I think women are cool, powerful, and awesome.

And no, it's not just because I want to look at their backside (which is still lovely mind you). I'm afraid I am too busy celebrating over the hoard of enemies I've just ensnared with a dancing ball spell to give that aspect a second thought.

[Diyon]

Look! Another of these threads!

Anyways, my answer is: a few reasons.

In general: Just because, or sometimes, randomness. Who cares and what difference does it make? So eh.

Other cases: I cannot stand the male elf/drow/half-elf face models. Simple as that. If I roll up a character as one of those races now, it will always be female.

That being said, I on occasion play a female character in PnP D&D games. Part of the reason for this is partially my first point from above. Another point is that I also DM games at times. As a DM, or a writer for that matter, you essentially have to be playing some female characters anyways. So by playing a female character occasionally, you get some practice at doing that, and become more comfortable doing it, which in turn makes it easier when DM (almost anything that makes things easier when DMing is a good thing) and you have to roleplay female characters, especially when they had to be made up on the spot. The inverse can be applied to those who are female.

[Ivan_Milic]

Also some people got used to making female chars because in other games armors are gender based and usually female equipment is cheaper because less people are playing them.

[sigtrent]

Variety. I have characters for every race, one male one female and then a few other random ones. Like a writer its interesting to imagine characters of different sorts.

[Nodoze]

I have all daughters and they often help pick the looks of my characters & they tend to want female characters so more often than not I have female characters. Before I had kids I generally make my healer & casters female and my melee male though sometimes female.

[phillymiket]

Because I'm not portraying myself or even a fantasy version of myself.

I'm portraying a completely different person so I like to have many different sexes and cultures represented.
.

[sirgog]

Because I'm not portraying myself or even a fantasy version of myself.

I'm portraying a completely different person so I like to have many different sexes and cultures represented.
.

This.

I also often come up with a character concept that's summed up by a name, then determine gender from that. My wizard is an example - I wanted a name that sounded fantasy-esque, fit an enchanter (which at the time meant a Sorc that had more enchantment spells than the cookie-cutters) and having just been rereading a Wheel of Time book, the word Myrddraal was in my head. This led to a name, Myrmidral, which to me suited a female character.

[AZgreentea]

I like to write little bio's and sort of role play my characters into the quest I am running. It keeps me entertained, and makes this more than just an some D&D based MMO. It becomes a book. In all the books I have read, I have always preferred a strong female lead to a male lead. So, I roll up female characters and write little stories about them in DDO.

I should put some of them to print someday.

[Artos_Fabril]

But would like to ask you, yeah, the men of DDO, why do you play female chars?

What the hell, I guess I'll go ahead and be the weird one...

I primarily play female characters because I feel more comfortable in a female persona. Which is probably why I spent more time online than out trying to be social in the real world.