Do You Play Games As Your Opposite Sex?

[Guest ametur_poet]

Many games allow you a choice to play as a male or female character. Do you ever use this opportunity to play as a character opposite of your physical sex? I do it whenever possible; I play as a female character whenever the opportunity arises. It just feels better to do so. I played as Blaze in Streets of Rage, Tear in Tales of the Abyss, and the female protagonist in Persona 3 Portable, to name a few examples.

[Guest April63]

I have a few times, but I don't tend to feel any better by doing so. I guess it all depends on the game and my mood. I probably play as whichever gender looks better to me haha.

[Guest ChloëC]

ok, nobody asked this specifically before,so I sort of either ignored it or talked around it. I did start a character on 2nd Life as a female, but stopped it pretty quickly after making the initial jump. I started getting approached constantly by strangers and did get all kinds of offers and come-ons, though, by email. It was sort of interesting. The character has probably expired by now.

But, before I joined this board, I was (and in a way still am) a member of another board, having nothing to do with gender issues. It's pretty much a rpg board based on a book series like Harry Potter, though with lots of other avenues for interaction,but they really encourage role playing. I joined with an off-site female name and background and selected a female character. I got pretty involved, running some long term activities/games, entering contests and winning, becoming a moderator, asked if I wanted to become an admin, all in my feminine persona. Our characters could even wed in a certain circumstance, if desired, and I was married twice to male characters (I believe both were GG males, although I suspect one was in a prison). They both asked me. My favorite role was to welcome new members and make them feel comfortable. I instituted a number of different ideas that others picked up on.

I also had two fairly close online friends, who from everything I could determine were GG females (they sent me pictures, from Scandanavia where they live, they became legal partners eventually). We even corresponded offline, including snail mail - in fact they sent me an autographed picture of some of the characters from a movie adaptation who they met personally signed to my feminine persona.

The most interesting thing was in regards to the actual purpose of the board, the literature, story, and books behind it. I got involved in some very deep discussions with a number of males, and being me, I had (and still have) very deep seated yet slightly different viewpoints on things. There were times I was lambasted for my views, and during these times, others - some male and some female - pm'd me with support asking how I could stand such obvious male superiority, female gender bashing that I was receiving. Other obstensibly females abandoned the site because of that bashing. Parts of that site were very heavily male dominated, the parts I felt close to.

I survived until the male ringleader that most just adored, became my 'boss'. He was given control over the mods of the various forums (each forum had a mod). He gave me an ultimatum, do it his way, and his way only, or resign. I was the basically the last mod to resign before they eliminated that position.

I still look in and I may go back, but I'm not sure how much I want to participate anymore because of that experience.

It's interesting that we want something so bad, and then experiencing it, find that the world is just a little bit less nice than we had hoped. Yet, it's a learning experience and I have an even deeper appreciation of my internal gender.

Oh well,

Hugs

Chloë

[Guest reyna]

i play all my games that i can like this. i also tend to only purchase games that have a geder choice really. I play world or warcraft too, all of my chaters are female

[Guest Whitenail]

It depends, really. Three major factors tend to affect my choice of gender:

*The sort of game (i.e it's hardly very lady-like to run around in bombed out Washington D.C shooting at super mutants)

*Being torn between having some sort of connection with the character or playing through fantasy (as happy and comforting as it may be, and hey, if the character's a blank canvas then they could have gender dysphoria as well)

*Not wanting to be reminded of my dysphoria when trying to play a nice, distracing videogame

Half the time I end up not really wanting to continue with my male characters at some stage (even in something like Fallen London, where the only sense of masculinity my character has is in a scrappy little silhouette that clashes with my consequence-free dress and lively affairs with male artists) and start a new game as a woman after an appropriate amount of time, but I've played through quite a few RPG's with my dad so gender doesn't really matter, and one of the many reasons I bought New Vegas was because I could have an 80 hour+ adventure as a woman and my dad (he's into gaming almost as much as me) decides to watch through the beginning phase of the game

[Guest Shadi]

I don't think the option of gender choice affects my decison on what games to rent or buy. Although, when there is a choice, I nearly always choose the female option. In a game like Oblivion or New Vegas, it can be like going clothes shopping without having to spend any money!

In those games with the option, I often find myself bored with the way the male character moves or interacts if there's a romantic sideplot. I mean, come on? Who doesn't want to give Garrus a great big hug?

[Guest Jennifer2111]

I played Second Life, The Sims, and a few RPG games as a female.

I still have my old male account, but I don't think it's a good idea for me to get back on since I was a totally different person. I feel better when I play female.

I have been encounter by strangers as well, but I normally just say hi and when they get to personal I let them know that I'm taken and they pretty much back off in the end.

I've made a lot of great friends on all my games and I have been to countless parties and dance events on Second Life.

So, yes I do play games and Female and always will.

[Guest MelissaC]

I tend to play with characters of both gender leaning more towards female characters, although who I choose really depends on the game. If it's something like say... Dungeons and Dragons where I can make any number of cool characters, then I'm likely to play pretty much anything if an idea I like comes to me. If on the other hand gender is just a little box you check at the beginning that affects how your character looks and possibly some of the dialogue, but with no real impact on the story or gameplay (i.e. girls can do anything guys can and vice versa) then I'm more likely to choose female. Pokemon's a good example there with the exception of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, in those games I sometimes choose the male player character Brendan just because he has an amazing hat. Usually I'm always the girl in Pokemon and other games similar to it though.

[JJ]

It always just felt wrong and uncomfortable to play games as a female character. I never could enjoy playing a female character and never finished any games I started with a female character. I used to be kind of uneasy about that before I realized I was trans.

Now I just enjoy it.

[Guest Jon aka Rachel]

I like the topic

I play a lot of games I use them to escape from reality.(some favorites halos, gears of war, mass effect, fallout, world of Warcraft(from time to time), crysis and real time strategy games most of them anyway) I have always played Female characters when the choice presents itself. It was always the better looking choice to me. But I also play games that don't have a choice and that has never bothered me. I still find them fun but I think that is more because of the reason I game.

[Guest Ainsley]

I've always chosen male character given the choice, but only for games in which gender is irrelevant. I wouldn't switch genders on things like second life because I would feel deceitful, but I certainly do play as male in other games.

[Guest Selena Soh]

I play as female whenever I can get away with it. I am nervous about my family noticing!

[Guest Aries]

I used to play as a girl whenever I could and if anyone said anything I just said it was to add insult to injury! "How does it feel getting beat by a girl!?" It always worked for me lol!

I recently gave up wow for the time being (have an 85 warrior tank-mad skillz lol) and kinda am getting into the Left 4 Dead games.

I used to play Earth & Beyond and I played as a girl and even my cousin knew I was doing this & everyone thought i was a girl untill he "outted" me 1 day. He was jealous that everyone liked me so much lol.

[Guest Wulfhere]

I never liked playing as a female character and always chose male characters. I remember once trying to play an Amazon in Diablo II in high school and stopped shortly into the game to start over as a male Barbarian (my preferred race in fantasy RPGs ). Even with a female Barbarian I could never get into the game or lose myself in the game the same way I could with a male character. Also always presented myself as male on my teams/clans in online browser based games like Tribal Wars and whatnot. To me playing a male character isn't playing the "opposite sex," it feels a lot more honest than playing a female.

[Guest twistedpixie]

Yes, I almost always create female characters when given a choice ever since I accepted being trans, it just feels right to play as the sex I should be.

[Guest Dibz]

I usually end up playing male, but then again for most games there really isn't a female option.

I feel most comfortable as a guy character.

On top of that, it beats getting asked to be someone's "gf" every five seconds for using a girl avatar.

[Guest Megan_Lynn]

Have always enjoyed playing the female chars in games. It just fits me as my mind has always been female. Games like tomb raider , resident evil, many of the final fantasies, guitar hero,mortal combat, ect.. i do enjoy many other games that you can not be a female but I really do not get all upset about it cause its just a game. Stuff like madden football ( huge Steelers fan). Online games like Second life I have always been a female char even got very good at making my own original designs to wear in-game. On a fun note i always had enjoyed the old super metroid and when i realized it was a female char the game became even better to me.Game were I am interacting with others its a must I a female char. No way I even want people seeing me as a guy..

[JJ]

You know in reading this title I would have to say I always thought I was playing as my opposite gender but since I discovered I am trans I was actually wrong. I was playing as my true gender all along. Could never finish any game where I took a female character. Just felt awkward and wrong.

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

In the last 10 years, I've only played a couple of games...Age of Empires and Microsoft Flight Simulator....

In Age of Empires all the characters are mixed male and female and I'm the boss of them all...the queen..

And Flight Sim? Heck, both men and women are pilots so, it's a moot point...I just love to fly!

Donna Jean

[JenniferB]

So someone else plays Age of Empires.

Anyway I always play female in every game I can. When you play an MMO as a female (or male for FTM's), it's a good way to have experience for those who are beginning transition. You will be treated differently in either role.

Jenny

[Guest CariadsCarrot]

I play mostly female characters in WoW but then so do a lot of guys. Everyone still assumes I'm a guy and refers to me as 'he' so it makes no difference. I just think that in most of the races the females look better and the armer looks cooler on them. Maybe it's because I'm attracted to females so that's what I want to look at.

To me it's fantasy and none of the characters represent me.

[Guest Megan_Lynn]

And I thought I was the only one that like age of empires....

[Guest Lizzie McTrucker]

And I thought I was the only one that like age of empires....

I like AoE! Well, I really liked AoE2 and the Conquerors expansion.

I also didn't play online, that may be why I liked it so much.

..I also liked totally destroying a civilization in a matter of turns with some well placed trebuchets, some archers defending them and the melee ground group who took out any civilians or military they may have.

Oh and good luck if you tried to send transport ships. I would place a monk on the shore and have them convert the ship to my team..but the ground units inside the ship were still the enemy team so I would just destroy the ship.

I loved being a dominant power hungry dictatorette. (is that a word?)

[Guest Serene]

Most of the time I preffer to play a game as the gender I feel I'm supposed to be and not the one I'm trapped in. I guess it's like a small freedom from an otherwise smothering prison, so to speak. But that's not the only factor that moves my decision, I like to have the best looking character I can get ;p My sister tend to play males if she thinks the females look wierd, it's the same with me. Of course playing an androgynous character might solve that issue hehe.

[Guest Robyn G]

I started playing Hoyle Casino on my computer recently and I have a female character. My hockey game? I wish I could.