Why Do Guys Play Female Characters?

[Zorth]

/ Rant on: Because we like to look at the female who is beautiful in all their (her) curves. Females are hot in this game as in real life too. Curves and nice hips!

This game has done well in that regard. Well done and nice to look at.

Rant off: I am male and play as a male character because I would play terrible as a female, I do not play nice and I am always showing off. I want the most kills every time and I fight! I have the Alpha male gene so why would I play as a female?

Yep: 6 foot 4 in real life, 3 kids, 340 lbs, I don't ask questions in a fight, I simply show up and everyone says, " Hi, how's it goin", I have never been in a fight because I enter a room and stand my ground without even trying.

To fight me is to die. Simply put. I also like to protect. It is in my Genes. My boss was once being yelled at by a customer who was mad as hell, but I did not get to hear or witness the whole story because the customer exited the store as soon as he saw me. ( I was busy in the stock room and as soon as the customer saw me he left the store quickly, I was only able to see from afar. I was not present when the argument happened, but if I was there in the first place, the argument would have never happened in the first place. That is who I am and that is the presence I carry! This is my Burden as to why I hve never been in a fight.
I have made female characters, but only to look at them, not to play them. I would not enjoy playing as one, it is not who I am.

[YamiLover13]

It isn't just men that choose to play the opposite gender. Everyone has their various reasons for doing this.

I mostly play female characters because it feels second nature to do so. Sometimes it feels odd to play the other gender. That is until you play a character for the character itself. Sure we are not role plying like you would with normal DnD, but a little flavor never hurt. I have one male character just for that purpose. It is just a character I made up long ago and enjoy the idea of being that character. It is fun.

I have heard some men like to roll female characters when they are spellcaster type classes, due to them wearing robes. As my bf has put it, "I don't like seeing a guy running around in a dress."

For the long and the short of it, people play other genders because it is fun. Sometimes it can be for looks too. If I ever had a reason to play Dwarf, I would roll male. Female Dwarf is just a no in my book.

[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.

[WanderingGrump]

In many RPGs and other computer games there is often content that is sensative to the sex of a character. Sometimes you can't get somewhere unless the toon was male or female depending on the situation. When I first started playing my first toon was male and the second female for this reason. Then I found out DDO didn't do anything of that nature and feel rather bummed out they didn't take it that far.

I know on occasion they have race restrictions and/or circumstances (WF in the LoB raid come to mind) but it's not a mechanic this game has used much. That kind of thing can add a huge amount of flavor in the play of the game.

[danzig138]

/ Rant on:

What is it they say? Cool story bro?

OP: Why not?

[fco-karatekid]

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!!!

Ths topic came up way back during Quake I or Ii days (whichever allowed you to choose sex). First is the "I gotta stare at her" thing, but second was the voiceover sound effects - I liked the sound of the females better than the males.

I made my light monk female for these reasons; but also because I knew I'd make her relatively high-DPS (woulda been higher dark, but oh well) - I thought an uber hard-hitting female would draw attention to her

[SynalonEtuul]

Well, if I could make attractive male characters, I would. Unfortunately, every single male in DDO is hideous, except MAYBE the npc drow with mohawks you sometimes free from the slave collars. Therefore, I make women.

[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.

[Drekisen]

All entities have female and male in them......probably for the same reason some females make male characters.

The idea that you are 100% a specific gender because of the plumbing you popped out of the womb with is denial and simplicity.....and life is not that simple.

[ZeebaNeighba]

Because I felt like it. That's why.

I don't put thought into my characters' flavor, and I don't think of them as me either.

[cdbd3rd]

...

Yep: 6 foot 4 in real life, 3 kids, 340 lbs, I don't ask questions in a fight,...

Hehheh.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

In the few fights I've had over the years, there were some big guys, and some little guys - and I'll tell you with all seriousness, I'd rather fight a big guy than a small one ANY day.


(Still curious how having 3 kids played in to the issue. I mean, having 3 myself I understand there's a LOT of frustration a dad can build up over the years that could be unleashed on some deserving opponent. Maybe that's it.)

/derail.

[Lord_kNiels]

Speaking for myself:
I play a character, I don't play myself. Therefore I have both female and male characters. Also the elven characters (both drow and regular) have horrible looking male versions. And as a personal lore restriction I have a hard time creating a female dwarf.
But yeah, basically my character is a character. Not myself. (Wouldn't be role playing then would it?)

[ddobard1]

when it isn't my main character

[Munkenmo]

i play female toons so other guys will give me stuff.

really both my female toons were w/f i got wrong.

[Ryan220]

because it annoys my wife

[9Crows]

i play female toons so other guys will give me stuff.

[

4 tanks and a healer

[Uska]

Because i would rather stare a a female behind than a guy's

[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

[bigolbear]

Well I have a couple of female characters, several male characters, and several Warforge who are asexual, one warforge that considers him self male - and claims to have been modified, and one gay dwarf rockstar. (in ddo)

Sex/gender, race - and sub cultures, skin tone, sexual preference, religion.. these are all fundamental things that make up any character - in any world.

Exploring what its like to be some one different is not only fun - it opens up your mind to understanding others better, and in turn can lead to better understand of self.

This is why I roleplay. I see no reason to limit my self to human, male characters - especialy as I have an avatar to represent me physicaly.

Back in the days when I was playing everquest 2 - one of my chars there was a ratonga female - her backstory was that of a student studying at the magic university there - apparently i was so convincing at playing her role that not only did I have other men assuming I was a female stundent in real life but also women too... im kinda proud of that.

[Ungood]

My namesake, "Ungood" ended up being a female. because I started as a War Forged, and it seems I made the mistake many others have done in this game. I picked the wrong gender. But come on, a War Forged needs not worry of such things, and I just carried on, and forgot about the fact that my namesake was a female, that was, until I TRed. Now I TRed just as my ViP ended, so at that moment, I only had free races to chose from, and to say I was not happy, was an understatement. It really did totally ruin the entire character for me to have to play a female looking avatar.

And while, I understand, it is just a model, I guess it comes down to how you view the toon in relation to yourself. There are many ways a player approaches the creation of a toon in an MMO. I guess the main ways you can look at it are "The Toon is Me" or "The toon is Mine"

I have female toons that I made because I like others, think the female model looks better then the male model to look at, or animated better. But Those toons are "just alts", they are not my Main Avatar.

But Ungood I view as my Avatar into the game world and thus has always been a male. I mean even the name Ungood sounds masculine. So this goof up with my Current Ungood, irked me, because I view that toon as "My face" in the game world I am playing, in many ways that Avatar was my person in the in the game world itself. And my face now being a drow female, is not making me happy. I has taken a lot of the fun out of playing Ungood even if my Guild mates have stopped teasing me about it. (I love you guys soo much! )

I don't know why, like I said, I guess it really boils down to how you view your toon.