Why do MEN create FEMALE CHARACTERS?

[keela]

Okay, I swear to god this is an honest and curious question.
this is something I've always been wondering, but never asked much, and thought I might get some interesting answers here

Why do men like to play with female characters in games that you can choose your gender?

(For disclaimer I'm talking only about games where you can choose your gender, I don't feel nothing by playing 2B or Geralt of rivia for instance)

I'm a girl, and I really like playing female characters, I don't see any appeal in playing men, I can't exactly explain why, but as dumb as it sounds, I like to create and play a pretty female character and I probably feel that way bc there's more connection with my character representing my own gender I guess?

I've been playing online for as long as I can remember, and in all those years, I've ONLY MET ONE girl who played a male character, and she told me she did it so she wouldn't be bothered.
As for men, almost every female character I could find was being played by a guy. I thought for a long time that it was because of the sexy appeal of the female characters, or maybe bc some people could get free items as female?

Anyway, this happens in singleplayer games as well, and is happening in Baldur's Gate too, naturally, but there's little sex appeal here and nothing to gain, so what makes you choose a different gender for your character in this game and possible others? Is it about the roleplay? Is it about appearance?

Just to be sure, there is NOTHING wrong with that, and I know for a fact that there are girls who play male characters, as well as MANY men who play male characters. All I'm saying is based on my experience where the amount of men who chose this is much higher than the women.
And obviously I'm referring to man as people who identify as male as a gender

EDIT: Something I want to point out, I'm not necessarily saying about creating yourself, only your gender.
As much I love creating a female character, I don't ever create myself, I create a CHARACTER that I find suitable.... aaaand after reading some answers, I guess I don't find that nice BECAUSE I'm also a girl, but because they're pretty to look/nice to create?
Someone said that you either wanna ♥♥♥♥ or BE the character, I guess that's right lmao
for a lot of cases anyway

[Arlen]

Originally posted by homekeys:

Originally posted by nobalkain:

Gotta clearly take things out of Context and shoot for the Victim Points.

Of course when we say "treating like me", we mean that we do just that. No Chivalry, no speaking "Politely", no letting you go first, just treating you like one of the "Boys". Men do not run around Physically or Sexually Assaulting one another.

im just saying whenever i have this conversation its always "well should we be able to hit women then?" and idk i dont think anyone should be able to hit anyone. but my gender never stopped anyone from hitting me anyway! in all other respects i'd be open to it. im not interested in and i dont get much of manners or chivalry to begin with, if anyone wanted to start treating me like "one of the boys" i would have nothing to lose and everything to gain. so how do u propose i get this kind of treatment?

I am against anyone who hits another person, that being said, if a woman is "man" enough to hit a man, they should be "man" enough to deal with the consequences of that action. Only women have that privilege, the ability to haul off and punch, kick, slap a man, and no one bats an eye, or say he did something to deserve it. But the minute a dude defends himself, you get everyone around jumping on him, calling him all kinds of cruel names and labels. Just saying, treat others the way you want to be treated.

[nobalkain]

Originally posted by homekeys:

Originally posted by nobalkain:

Its rather easy. If you have Close Male Friends, who are not looking to Hook-Up, just tell them. That or it will naturally happen. Back in my 20's we had a Female Friend who played Pen and Paper with us, and we just treated her like one of The Guys. We would talk crap, tell crude jokes, be crass, all the stuff Guys do around one another.

if the answer were having friends who respect me well thatd be that. so theres no helping it otherwise, then. i meant in a broader sense, because harassment and discrimination exist outside of my personal relationships but not rly within them. i never tolerated that ♥♥♥♥. but u have to pick ur battles etc. etc.

Originally posted by Amado:

you dont, :( im sorry for that
You probably dont understand but threat of violence is everpresent in man to man interactions.
While threat of violence in a man-woman interactions its never viewed positively...

i understand it enough to know "the everpresent threat of violence" is practically the definition for abuse and its not normal. u need a better support system than whatever uve got that makes u feel this way.

Well yeah thats the answer, its the same for us Guys. We dont act that way with people who are not our Guy Friends either. For our Female Friends that we treat as Women, we dont act this way to them. Fact is regardless of how some want it to be, Men an Women are different. We treat one another differently because we are.

[Fox]

Originally posted by Arlen639:

Originally posted by homekeys:

im just saying whenever i have this conversation its always "well should we be able to hit women then?" and idk i dont think anyone should be able to hit anyone. but my gender never stopped anyone from hitting me anyway! in all other respects i'd be open to it. im not interested in and i dont get much of manners or chivalry to begin with, if anyone wanted to start treating me like "one of the boys" i would have nothing to lose and everything to gain. so how do u propose i get this kind of treatment?

I am against anyone who hits another person, that being said, if a woman is "man" enough to hit a man, they should be "man" enough to deal with the consequences of that action. Only women have that privilege, the ability to haul off and punch, kick, slap a man, and no one bats an eye, or say he did something to deserve it. But the minute a dude defends himself, you get everyone around jumping on him, calling him all kinds of cruel names and labels. Just saying, treat others the way you want to be treated.

Reminds me of this experiment video from 8 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVHnZX8E50

Society has double-standard toward men. The bone headed morons who constantly scream, "MMMM YES QUEEEN" are only perpetuating this kind of stereotypes where women in Western-society are believing that they are oppressed by the male aggressors and must "teach them a lesson".

The irony is that the majority of guys are now exposed to the double standard and are reluctant to be affiliated with being around women, and why should they? You kept perpetuating that men are the enemy, steal their iconic characters from Movies and TV Shows, mock them when they are at their lowest "omg just grow up", and constantly try to compete with them because "down with the patriarchy".

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by homekeys:

Originally posted by Amado:

you dont, :( im sorry for that
You probably dont understand but threat of violence is everpresent in man to man interactions.
While threat of violence in a man-woman interactions its never viewed positively...

i understand it enough to know "the everpresent threat of violence" is practically the definition for abuse and its not normal. u need a better support system than whatever uve got that makes u feel this way.

Seriously. I have never felt threatened by my male friends (or female friends, for that matter), even the ones I literally did martial arts with. It's not normal to feel threatened by your friends - they're literally the people who aren't supposed to feel threatening.

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by 黒猫:

Because looking at man's ass in a game that is 50+ hours long is a torture for healthy man.
The only exceptions are JRPGs with romance options.
I couldn't care less about romance in BG3, so the choice is simple. My friend that is playing with me on splitscreen did the same.

So I guess healthy men don't play Assassins Creed. Witcher, Batman, Mad Max, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, Uncharted, God of War, Max Payne, or any number of other games that have you looking ar a man's ass for hours?

I think its healthier not to obsess over the rear of a video game character I'm playing. But I do like to play characters who look good to me, and women look good to me so I'll sometimes play one if the option exists.

[Amado]

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Originally posted by homekeys:

i understand it enough to know "the everpresent threat of violence" is practically the definition for abuse and its not normal. u need a better support system than whatever uve got that makes u feel this way.

Seriously. I have never felt threatened by my male friends (or female friends, for that matter), even the ones I literally did martial arts with. It's not normal to feel threatened by your friends - they're literally the people who aren't supposed to feel threatening.

that is why "bros" are so valued, its the men that you interact where the threat is minimal xD

[SomeoneSomewhere]

As an old school male gamer, I've used male and females characters in games for years.
I'll usually do the first play through with a male character and on a second play through a female.

The reasons are varied depending on the game. Some games have male specific or female specific choices/quests/romances so I like to see all options a game offers (since I paid for the game). In games that are voiced, sometimes the female voice is better and easier to listen to for hours and hours. Same for the models, sometimes the female models simply look better.

There are often more mods for female characters, too. I used to play a lot of Quake 2 death match and there were considerably more female models to pick from (not in the original game but modded). Plus they were much better quality than the male models. Even with BG3, there are a lot of mods (hair, makeup, faces etc) that are considerable better for female characters.

I've also used female characters just to make an all female team for fun. Such as with BG1, BG2, BG3. Playing the games where my one rule is "You can only use female companions." It's a fun distraction when you've played the games so much.

The way I see it is I paid, $40, $50, $60, $70 for a game. I want to play with as many options as I possibly can to get your money's worth from it.

[Solidus2kill09]

Because yes

[nobalkain]

100 Pages lets GOOOOOO

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by Amado:

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Seriously. I have never felt threatened by my male friends (or female friends, for that matter), even the ones I literally did martial arts with. It's not normal to feel threatened by your friends - they're literally the people who aren't supposed to feel threatening.

that is why "bros" are so valued, its the men that you interact where the threat is minimal xD

Those are just called "friends". If you feel threatened at all during interactions with your friends, something is wrong with either you (paranoia) or them (not your friends).

[Arlen]

Originally posted by nobalkain:

100 Pages lets GOOOOOO :danette::Refrain_exclamation:

Are we there yet?

[homekeys]

Originally posted by Arlen639:

I am against anyone who hits another person, that being said, if a woman is "man" enough to hit a man, they should be "man" enough to deal with the consequences of that action. Only women have that privilege, the ability to haul off and punch, kick, slap a man, and no one bats an eye, or say he did something to deserve it. But the minute a dude defends himself, you get everyone around jumping on him, calling him all kinds of cruel names and labels. Just saying, treat others the way you want to be treated.

in order for it to be "man" enough to his a man it has to be "manly" to outright hit other men. so, if nobody should hit each other, hitting ppl isnt a manner of being "man" enough. ur own logic takes mens violence for granted, and u take for granted that women dont face excuses for violence and abuse all the time. theres a lot going on under ur nose it seems.

Originally posted by nobalkain:

Well yeah thats the answer, its the same for us Guys. We dont act that way with people who are not our Guy Friends either. For our Female Friends that we treat as Women, we dont act this way to them. Fact is regardless of how some want it to be, Men an Women are different. We treat one another differently because we are.

i was saying my friends do treat me this way, i dont build friendships with pretenses like manners and chivalry. "male" isnt a personality type lol anyone is capable of these kinds of relationships if they see fit. if u had an open mind u could have the kind of friendships u associate with women, and u dont have to give up ur other friendships for it. u can have different relationships with different ppl. i heavily encourage it, cos envying womens friendships just means ur missing out.

[homekeys]

Originally posted by Arlen639:

Originally posted by nobalkain:

100 Pages lets GOOOOOO :danette::Refrain_exclamation:

Are we there yet?

yes

[Ryu_Sheng]

1) women's arses are better for watching

2) women's voices are better for listening to

3) married and dating men tend to make their toons look like their partner, or so youtube says

[Cosmo 🐲]

Originally posted by keela:

Okay, I swear to god this is an honest and curious question.
this is something I've always been wondering, but never asked much, and thought I might get some interesting answers here

Why do men like to play with female characters in games that you can choose your gender?

(For disclaimer I'm talking only about games where you can choose your gender, I don't feel nothing by playing 2B or Geralt of rivia for instance)

I'm a girl, and I really like playing female characters, I don't see any appeal in playing men, I can't exactly explain why, but as dumb as it sounds, I like to create and play a pretty female character and I probably feel that way bc there's more connection with my character representing my own gender I guess?

I've been playing online for as long as I can remember, and in all those years, I've ONLY MET ONE girl who played a male character, and she told me she did it so she wouldn't be bothered.
As for men, almost every female character I could find was being played by a guy. I thought for a long time that it was because of the sexy appeal of the female characters, or maybe bc some people could get free items as female?

Anyway, this happens in singleplayer games as well, and is happening in Baldur's Gate too, naturally, but there's little sex appeal here and nothing to gain, so what makes you choose a different gender for your character in this game and possible others? Is it about the roleplay? Is it about appearance?

Just to be sure, there is NOTHING wrong with that, and I know for a fact that there are girls who play male characters, as well as MANY men who play male characters. All I'm saying is based on my experience where the amount of men who chose this is much higher than the women.
And obviously I'm referring to man as people who identify as male as a gender

EDIT: Something I want to point out, I'm not necessarily saying about creating yourself, only your gender.
As much I love creating a female character, I don't ever create myself, I create a CHARACTER that I find suitable.... aaaand after reading some answers, I guess I don't find that nice BECAUSE I'm also a girl, but because they're pretty to look/nice to create?
Someone said that you either wanna ♥♥♥♥ or BE the character, I guess that's right lmao
for a lot of cases anyway

Well, im a male and i mostly play males, tho one of my Charecters in BG3 is a Lolth sworn Drow, and female because they are a matriarchy.

I do have a single female in wow classic (stopped playing tho) and thats because if i have to look at an butt for 60 levels, it might aswell be a pretty one.