Games - character gender, appearance and personality

[Ithior]

I'm curious to know what gender do you usually choose when creating a character in any sort of game. I myself used to always choose a character of my gender, and I'd try my best to make him resemble me, both physically and mentally.

Nowadays I'm starting to change things up a bit. Sometimes I create female characters, sometimes I create male characters that greatly differ from me physically, sometimes I create characters with a personality significantly different from mine. But if I'm planning to create several characters, my first one is always similar to me.

What about you?

 

[DepravedFurball]

Well, let's take the amazingly-massive Bioware game 'Dragon Age: Inquest' for example, since that just came out a short while ago.

Four races to choose from, times two gender options, so eight basic ways to start your play-time...

I'm a human guy through and through, completely hetero, and have zero desire of seeing *myself* in a game. I'd be, like... the worst protagonist ever... and besides, with some games that have a 'karma' component, like 'FallOut', I'd rather not watch a digital representation of *me* shot-gunning an innocent merchant in the face just to steal Pungafruit and a couple of bottle-caps. :crying: Sure, I chose to actually *do that*... but, uh...

Anyways, when given the choice, I'll always, *always* create female characters of varying race. Naturally, I spend a long time tweaking the slider-bars to make them gorgeous, then send them out into a world with the name of 'Murder', 'Death', or 'Slaughter'...

Why those names coupled with a beautiful female visage? 'Cause it's hilarious.

The game-makers haven't figured out a way yet to give an entered name context, so I get a giggle every time my character's moniker pops up. Plus, a femme-fatale slaughtering her way through legions of enemies or friendly NPC's alike is just hawt. :bigsmile:

 

[Ithior]

Well, let's take the amazingly-massive Bioware game 'Dragon Age: Inquest' for example, since that just came out a short while ago.

Funny you mention that, I started this because I've been playing Dragon Age: Origins lately.

I'm a human guy through and through, completely hetero, and have zero desire of seeing *myself* in a game. I'd be, like... the worst protagonist ever... and besides, with some games that have a 'karma' component, like 'FallOut', I'd rather not watch a digital representation of *me* shot-gunning an innocent merchant in the face just to steal Pungafruit and a couple of bottle-caps.

I tend to think of it as "What would I do if I were in this situation?". Sure, sometimes there isn't the option you want, but I can deal with that.

 

[NathanielWingatePeaslee]

I always play male characters. Playing a female would just feel weird to me. :idontknow:

I generally prefer to play as far from human as is possible; and if I play a human I usually make them as ugly as possible.

I like playing moral extremes--either a virtuous good guy or a deplorable bad guy.

 

[Ithior]

I like playing moral extremes--either a virtuous good guy or a deplorable bad guy.

Hmm, I usually create a character that acts according to my morals, and sometimes I create a character that is as evil as I can make him. But I never found interest in creating the good extreme, probably because the one like me is close enough to that route.

 

[Missing]

Hm. Most of the time I pick my own gender and I don't necessarily make them look like me. It just so happens that I like brown hair and blue eyes. xD

Games like Oblivion and Skyrim though, I tend to pick males. I don't really know why. I guess when playing an MMO female armor is like... Not armor at all.

Like...

How the hell is that going to protect me?

So I guess sometimes I get tired of looking at half naked ladies and make a male character. xD

For races, if there's an option for a light elf, I always go with that. If not, then I go for human.

Personality wise... Thinking about it, normally my females tend to walk the good path, but the male characters are evil as hell. (I can't go in almost every Skyrim town.... That guy was annoying as hell. We all wanted him to die, don't deny it)

 

[Pyrophosphate]

Appearance-wise, I always make someone who looks reasonably like me. I usually also stick to my own morals in games, so far as I can. Except in Fallout 3. I am the single worst thing to ever happen to the Capital Wasteland.

 

[SCP-087-1]

I usually model my characters after myself. I stick to my morals on the first play through. If it's a game that has good replay value then when I play it again I'll usually role play as something different

 

[NathanielWingatePeaslee]

How the hell is that going to protect me?

 

[Panhead901]

I usually play my own gender. Usually I go with a brown haired character, but I just prefer that color. I don't make them look like me because I really don't want to have to look at myself in game.

 

[Remus]

Female, Dark elf (drow) or elf, old, chaotic evil,usually mage/necromancer/psychic. It's just my thing.

Nothing like me, there lies the escapism.

 

[Rawz]

I always play as a male character, it's just what I prefer. Basically (if I have a choice) I go for a character/character design that I can pretend is me, but I don't put effort into trying to get it to really look like me.

For games where classes come into play, I always go for a fighter/warrior/barbarian. It just never gets old running around as a muscle bound dude, beating the peanuts out of anything that comes at me.

 

[dannyboy65]

An example from my favorite game Skyrim. I like to make my characters elves, khajjit, or argonian. My favorite though is the Wood Elf just being a natural archer and one with the wild speaks out to me. I only make male characters, and I love to make them the sneaky type. Not to big, but not to small. Have some kickass facial hair and hair, green eyes if there is a choice. I go right down to detail when creating a character and it's one of my favorite processes.

 

[Missing]

An example from my favorite game Skyrim. I like to make my characters elves, khajjit, or argonian. My favorite though is the Wood Elf just being a natural archer and one with the wild speaks out to me. I only make male characters, and I love to make them the sneaky type. Not to big, but not to small. Have some kickass facial hair and hair, green eyes if there is a choice. I go right down to detail when creating a character and it's one of my favorite processes.

I play a wood elf in Skyrim too. He's an archer/dagger/sneaky character. Normally my male characters are dagger type classes, and my female ones are always mage.

Character creating is my favorite process too. I take hours. xD

 

[Metal_isthe_Answer]

I'm curious to know what gender do you usually choose when creating a character in any sort of game. I myself used to always choose a character of my gender, and I'd try my best to make him resemble me, both physically and mentally.

Nowadays I'm starting to change things up a bit. Sometimes I create female characters, sometimes I create male characters that greatly differ from me physically, sometimes I create characters with a personality significantly different from mine. But if I'm planning to create several characters, my first one is always similar to me.

What about you?

I'm a guy but I almost exclusively play as women, for some reason I find it more enjoyable. Some games its just as simple as which voice actor I prefer, for example in Mass Effect or Saints Row the of the voice acting for the women was infinitely superior to the mens voice work.
In Saints Row in particular I was always annoyed that while the women had "white woman voice, black woman voice, Britishy voice" the men had "black man voice, hispanic man voice, Britishy voice" it was always like "why would I play as a man if none of the voices sound remotely like me?"
In fact, I'm not sure how often if ever I've made a character resemble me, I usually create my imaginary fantasy girl.

 

[Metal_isthe_Answer]

An example from my favorite game Skyrim. I like to make my characters elves, khajjit, or argonian. My favorite though is the Wood Elf just being a natural archer and one with the wild speaks out to me. I only make male characters, and I love to make them the sneaky type. Not to big, but not to small. Have some kickass facial hair and hair, green eyes if there is a choice. I go right down to detail when creating a character and it's one of my favorite processes.

Usually play as a Nord personally, since I create my fantasy woman, the Nord is the best option visually, sometimes though I play as Dark Elves, for some reason I find them kind of sexy, and theyre almost always sneaky.

 

[squidgee]

Generally I play as a male character, but sometimes choose female as well. I also usually pick mages or mage equivalents as my class because I find they usually offer the most varied gameplay, and also for the fancy particle effects from spells/powers. When it comes to morality, I'm always either neutral or some saint from heaven. I always feel bad when I do something evil like blowing up Megaton in Fallout.

 

[superman]

I usually create a character based on my own gender and try to make it look as close to me as possible

 

[NamiraWilhelm]

I basically try to make myself lol. Human female, as close to my appearance I can get (though more attractive ofc) with the same style hair and make up.

Non cannon playthroughs, I will be more creative and go for something completely opposite for a totally different playthrough

 

[Argentum]

I guess it depends on whether or not the game is intended as a roleplaying experience. I'll create characters the same gender and somewhat similar in appearance if it's a roleplay-heavy game, but otherwise I'll go with what seems the most efficient or the most fun to play. Things like class mattered in Mass Effect, but not so much in Torchlight 2 where most of the gameplay simply involved crushing enemies and picking up loot.

Generally I play as a male character, but sometimes choose female as well. I also usually pick mages or mage equivalents as my class because I find they usually offer the most varied gameplay, and also for the fancy particle effects from spells/powers. When it comes to morality, I'm always either neutral or some saint from heaven. I always feel bad when I do something evil like blowing up Megaton in Fallout.

Divinity: Original Sin sent me on a mission to save cats, and then I found out there was only one cat, the cat was blind, and I couldn't save him.