Would it turn you off being forced to play as a Female protagonist?

Would it turn you off being forced to play as a Female protagonist?


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Azureth

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 29, 2008
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So there is a debate about why you don't see more females in lead roles in games. Many say that because most gamers are male they choose a male as the lead role to help identify with and that many males would be put off if forced to play as a female. So I'm curious if that's how you feel, if lots of (otherwise good games) came out that had a female lead would it turn you off?
 
Um... they already have so many times it's unreal. Relatively few games let you choose your gender in the narrative (a relatively new concept) and both male and female leads have populated narrative games since the dawn of gaming. What kind of post is this?
 
Huh? How many AAA games or even popular games do you know of where you play as a female protagonist and not because of a create a character?

EDIT: And they aren't sexualized in some way.
 
Only games I played as a female protagonist were The Longest Journey and its sequel, Dreamfall. You don't have a choice between male/female, but I didn't care. Both games were outstanding.
 
Doesn't matter to me. Lara Croft could kick any male protagonist characters ass and look SO fine while doing it.

/thread is sexist.
 
no, don't give a fuck.

this reminds me of when GTA:SA was coming out though, i distinctly remember listening to someone bitch that they weren't going to buy it because the main character was black.
 
wait a minute you said turn off in the title this thread is totally misleading.
 
If I have a choice I generally pick a male character (IE in rpgs, etc).

However being forced to play as a female lead wouldn't make me not play a game at all, loved Tomb Raider back in the day and No One lives Forever.

In fact two of my favorite games of all time feature female leads, Syberia and The Longest Journey.
 
Of course not, but I guess it also depends on the context of the game too though. Go look at the Skyrim screenshots thread, like 80% of all the chars in there are slutty hot chicks.
 
I prefer female protags if they are good. I don't want a female protag just to have a female protag. If there's a choice though, then I pretty much almost always go female.
 
I have a friend who will pick female chars even if if it means he's at a huge disadvantage doing so. Something about having to look at a mans ass for hours vs a womans or something along that line.
 
I have a friend who will pick female chars even if if it means he's at a huge disadvantage doing so. Something about having to look at a mans ass for hours vs a womans or something along that line.

+1.
 
Huh? How many AAA games or even popular games do you know of where you play as a female protagonist and not because of a create a character?

EDIT: And they aren't sexualized in some way.
I can think of 2 right off the bat.

Portal 1&2
Mirror's Edge

I have a friend who will pick female chars even if if it means he's at a huge disadvantage doing so. Something about having to look at a mans ass for hours vs a womans or something along that line.
Your friend isn't comfortable with his sexuality then. News flash, almost no one is looking at the man's ass when in 3rd person view. They are looking at the crosshairs, action, or environment ahead of the player.
 
I've played female characters in MMOs all of the time... And have enjoyed many other games with female protagonists...
 
Not at all. I love games like Parasite Eve, Resident Evil 3, Silent Hill 3. No issue playing a female protagonist
 
Oni, No One Lives Forever, Beyond Good and Evil, King's Bounty Armored Princess, to name several more.

For that matter Final Fantasy 3/6 is primarily narrated by a female lead (Terra).
 
^Eh... is it? I mean it seems to start that way, but it really seems there's more Locke than anyone else... then probably Celes, then probably Terra.
 
I've had this discussion with friends of mine, and quite a few actually prefer male protaganists. I think it boils down to the way they immerse themselves into the game. The ones who are much more into rpg's tend to play the game as if they were the characters and it helps them immerse themself into the story, as corny as it sounds. It's easier it seems to suspend disbelief and put yourself into the body of a space marine fighting for humanity, than it is to be a chick....

I don't really care too much one way or the other, but I don't think anyone is necessarily wrong for wanting to project themselves into the character they are playing, if they are male, it's easier to play a man, and for a woman vice versa.

I think if anything more games just need more protaganist choices.
 
No.

Depending on the game, I prefer to play as a female. Such as Unreal Tournament. The Female is smaller, thus more difficult to see far away giving me a tactical advantage. Also IIRC, her hit box is smaller than that of the male hit box, so she's also a smaller target to hit.
 
If a game has a choice, I'll just generally choose the option that makes me enjoy the game the most. For example, in the Mass Effect games, I greatly preferred the female voice acting, so I created and used a female Shepard.

There are relatively few "hero tales" with female leads... but this isn't something relegated to gaming. Almost every type of media in western culture features male heroes more prominently and more often.
 
I'd be OK as long as she had big knockers and a sweet caboose so I have something to keep me entertained while she walks around talking about periods and that bitch from work who's "crazy".
 
wait a minute you said turn off in the title this thread is totally misleading.

this..


For me, it depends what kind of game it is.

and this..

do i think there needs to be more female character choices in games? yes as long as it fits within that game, don't just add them for the sake of adding them.
would i play one? probably not because 9 times out of 10 the female voice acting in games are annoying as shit so if i was forced to listen to that from my character i probably wouldn't play the game.
 
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Been playing as a chick since Resident Evil and Parasite Eve and never had a problem with it and never felt "less masculine". My all time favorite game, Mass Effect, I almost always play as fem-Shep. The way I see it, if I'm gonna have to be staring at a characters ass for 20+ hours, I'd rather it be Laura Croft than Max Payne.
 
Been playing as a chick since Resident Evil and Parasite Eve and never had a problem with it and never felt "less masculine". My all time favorite game, Mass Effect, I almost always play as fem-Shep. The way I see it, if I'm gonna have to be staring at a characters ass for 20+ hours, I'd rather it be Laura Croft than Max Payne.

Speaking of which if we're talking badass protagonists my vote is for Claire Redfield in Code Veronica(great game). It was nice to play a level headed teenager with brains and skill let alone a well written female character. No clue why capcom dumped her for empty shell characters like Chris and Leon.
 
I played a female troll mage in WOW for years because male trolls were incredible stupid looking and ugly.

I don't mind playing female characters as long as the gender differences are not thrown in your face like "girl power" themes. I loved Final Fantasy X and its rich characters but X2 went nuts with Yuna and girl power crap. I felt like a creep after a few hours and stopped playing.
 
Character gender doesn't really even register with me in terms of enjoyment, but I do like switching between them depending. Sounds retarded maybe, but I'm less about being able to put myself in a male protagonist's shoes because I'm male, and more about the role they're playing. If the choice is between a heavy-set hollywood god-alike and a generally smaller, more delicate woman - male if I'm playing a big tuff'n who goes around socking stuff, and woman if I'm playing a rogue or magic class. So it depends on the role I want to play as to which gender feels right to play as.

As for the whole non-issue of character gender in video games, I think a lot of it's jezebel-style morons who're unaware of the fact that there have been many strong female video game characters who haven't been caricatures. Probably more than men. I can't think of any male protagonists that aren't from the demigod mould right off the top of my head, whereas regular Janes I can think of at least three or four.
 
Evil and/or sassy can be fun. Forget sexualisation in bloodrayne 1/2, the one liners in that game were funny. A good voice actor is important unless you're as quiet as Gordon Freeman.
 
Who is that Tomb Raider chick again? I heard she was really popular.
 
Lara croft is the female protagonist of one of the most successful game franchises, there is nothing relevant to the argument if it would turn people off.

Now you can argue about why there are not as many as men, but obviously that game being little more than a typical RPG has shown that there is no mass market turn off. In fact female protagonist are probably a turn on since many times bad games will use them to move more sales or make a name for themself.
 
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