Does the default gender for characters with multiple gender options matter to you?

[PlanetSmasher]

I don't like creating characters, so if there's an option for a default character that looks really good I'd rather go with that. I don't really care that much about the gender as much as just knowing that my character won't look like a possessed doll.

 

[Neoxon]

Default gender is the one that's canon; and the one that gets all the marketing.

Nobody cares about Inkling Boy, or Female Robin, or Femshep (the fact that fans even had to come up with that ridiculous portmanteau tells you everything really).

The default image is the one that represents the game and the one that isn't far the most important.

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That's basically what I'm getting at (with that said, people do care about Female Robin, even if she's marginally below Male Robin). It's not just about the choice in the source game, it's also about marketing as well as potential spin-offs & crossovers with regards to how the character is represented.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

I have never even thought about this. It doesn't matter to me because I'm picking Alien or Monster race if it is available, and if it has to be a human I always do an Asian guy with a beard named Greg.

 

[Neoxon]

Now that Byleth is out & is (to the surprise of nobody) male by default, I thought now would be a good time to revisit the topic.

 

[Renna Hazel]

It doesn't matter to me. In Smash I simply press a button to switch to the gender I want. If I have options, I don't care what the default is.

 

[TheEchosOfTheCyborg]

It bothers me when its clear one gender is considered the "true" character, Bioware and Bethesda really irk me for that, especially in marketing and promotion (and this doesn't even get into the fact that was a mandate by companies back in the mid-00s, early-10s because "women on covers don't sell!!!" BS). Like you CAN make Revan any gender you want, but it won't be the CANON Revan who appears in the MMO (and no, it is convenient whenever Bioware make one of their protagonists a canon woman like The Warden or Exile they immediately kill them off).

Edit: And in the case of games like Smash, why DOES the women character always have to be the secondary one? The button switch etc? It still surprises me that Wii Fit Trainer woman is the default given the same game shafted woman Robin (did she ever get an Amiibo?). #

I do want to see more games with character creators have non-binary characters as the default (with they pronouns as an option), both for more NB rep that isn't non human but also help balance the above issue. Let all body types, faces etc be available for all genders.

 

[Menchin]

As long as choice is available, it doesn't really matter

They could always make it so there's no default and you pick what you like on your own when the game first starts

 

[Pelao]

I play default male in everything, I try to waste as little time as possible in the character creator. If by any chance I don't have a choice I don't care.

 

[MickZan]

Not at all.

 

[NotLiquid]

It doesn't.

 

[OrangeNova]

In some situations, especially Smash, UI design would be difficult to avoid default, unless on character select it would choose a random variant of them for their icon each load, but then it's confusing as some players might not know who the other variant is. So when it comes to in game, Default doesn't bother me, because UI/UX is difficult.

Outside of that, I don't understand why a company like smash doesn't release both versions of a character at the same time for Amiibos, and that bothers me.

 

[Deleted member 49611]

never thought about it. doesn't matter to me.

 

[Neoxon]

It bothers me when its clear one gender is considered the "true" character, Bioware and Bethesda really irk me for that, especially in marketing and promotion (and this doesn't even get into the fact that was a mandate by companies back in the mid-00s, early-10s because "women on covers don't sell!!!" BS). Like you CAN make Revan any gender you want, but it won't be the CANON Revan who appears in the MMO (and no, it is convenient whenever Bioware make one of their protagonists a canon woman like The Warden or Exile they immediately kill them off).

Edit: And in the case of games like Smash, why DOES the women character always have to be the secondary one? The button switch etc? It still surprises me that Wii Fit Trainer woman is the default given the same game shafted woman Robin (did she ever get an Amiibo?). #

I do want to see more games with character creators have non-binary characters as the default (with they pronouns as an option), both for more NB rep that isn't non human but also help balance the above issue. Let all body types, faces etc be available for all genders.

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Inkling is also female by default. And unfortunately, Female Robin never got an Amiibo. The only secondary variant of a gender-choice character that got an Amiibo is Female Corrin.

 

[Deleted member 7883]

I'm a cis white dude. Default gender doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I always appreciate when a female is the default. As far as something like smash goes, though, I honesty think it's kinda pointless. Smash absolutely needs more female characters... but I don't really think avatar characters that are defaulted to being male (Villager, Robin, Corrin, Byleth, etc.) like I genuinely want female characters who are... well... genuinely female lmao. In other words characters that don't have the option to be male. Anything else doesn't feel genuine to me. Take your Byleth and shove it up your own I want Edelgard flag nabbit.

Gender options I always appreciate. Back in the day I had a blast making wacky characters in Saints Row 2/3, and being able to mix/match male and female clothes, hair, voices etc. was always very entertaining.

These days, I still really appreciate them. Not so much for making "wacky characters" but mainly for the fact that these non-binary options make a lot of difference to some people. I guess the same argument could be made that default gender matters to some people, too, but I just don't get why you wouldn't rather fight for a character that's blatantly female instead of just an avatar. Just because you see a lady on the screen by default for Byleth doesn't make the character any less of a male to me.

Maybe I'm just salty about Edelgard. Maybe my minor OCD would just get cranky over all of the avatars not having the similar default state. Maybe I think default gender is a lazy cop out for female representation when there's so many more fleshed our characters that would make splendid additions to the roster (LIKE FUCKING TWINTELLE). Actually, yeah. That's it. The last one. It feels lazy. It feels pandering. It feels like that's the option Nintendo would take if they wanna please those who are wanting more diverse representation, but still want to choose a character that wouldn't get people overly-salty for being a female or a not-too-well-known character.

Final tangent: I want Monster Hunter in smash. I'd love for the default gender to be female. More importantly, though, is the default armor she'd be wearing. 🤔

 

[Shining Star]

Yes it's annoying how the male character is always the default one, even if the girl is cooler or the one that more people seem to like.

 

[Jimnymebob]

As long as the option is there, I don't really mind which is used in marketing/promotional stuff. Like, the fact male Shepard was on the ME2 box didn't affect how much I enjoyed playing as female Shepard in the slightest, and likewise, Kassandra being the prominently featured ACO character didn't make me enjoy playing Alexios any less.

I feel like it's harder to do this with singleplayer games, as it could be kinda confusing if every other trailer the main character changes gender, but for something like Splatoon, where you're kinda like a faceless multiplayer avatar, it's a lot easier to get away with showing a variety of different character options.

 

[Wulfram]

It bothers me when its clear one gender is considered the "true" character, Bioware and Bethesda really irk me for that, especially in marketing and promotion (and this doesn't even get into the fact that was a mandate by companies back in the mid-00s, early-10s because "women on covers don't sell!!!" BS). Like you CAN make Revan any gender you want, but it won't be the CANON Revan who appears in the MMO (and no, it is convenient whenever Bioware make one of their protagonists a canon woman like The Warden or Exile they immediately kill them off).

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Canon Revan was established by Lucasarts not Bioware. And the Warden isn't canon anything

 

[Jimnymebob]

Final tangent: I want Monster Hunter in smash. I'd love for the default gender to be female. More importantly, though, is the default armor she'd be wearing. 🤔

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I'd be surprised if it wasn't female default with Rathalos and Kirin, like MvCI, but I could unfortunately see male default in Rathalos, female alt in Kirin.

 

[TheGhost]

It doesn't matter to me in the long run
But as long as i have the option to pick a male character I'm happy (unless it is something like say Lara Croft)

 

[Deleted member 45414]

Final tangent: I want Monster Hunter in smash. I'd love for the default gender to be female. More importantly, though, is the default armor she'd be wearing. 🤔

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Yes, this, very much this!

 

[DaToonie]

Hm. Disappointing poll results. Seeing female versions of characters presented as the default is great for diversity and should happen more, imo.

 

[Aztechnology]

Not particularly unless romance is a core component of the game. Then just as a cis gender male I kind of tend to gravitate towards male with straight choices, probably like most people. However the caveat is. If one voice actor seems to be far superior or I'm annoyed by one. I'll go with the other.

 

[TheCed]

Genders never bothered me nor were a factor Of me liking a character more because of it.

I understand wanting more representations tho... but for me, it's all the same.

 

[Glio]

I don't care about it but I can understand why some people care.

 

[Kyuuji]

Aim to change all defaults to women and non-binary characters where available if it's really not a concern for so many. Which it genuinely isn't for many here I'm sure, but would be interesting to see how many took more of an interest in it were that to be the case.

Personally though - not really sure of a legitimate reason why you wouldn't want to represent a variety across defaults if the options are literally there. If it's not explicitly a written character or labelled then often it just reads as "which style of character" more than which gender to me. Where they're evidently a stereotypical binary look of male/female then an inbetween of the two would be and is neat, if only just for a middle ground between basic masculine/feminine norms stylistically. Shake that shit up a bit.

 

[nsilvias]

as long as i like the design i dont really care.

 

[Nessii013]

Games need more diversity and the default sets a precedence. Having non-male options but only ever showing the male one is a half measure.

Yes for sure.

 

[Enduin]

If there are options for gender or appearance there shouldn't be a default. It takes virtually no effort to randomize that in any situation. Smash could do this too, alternating between the various non-color alts when you open the character selection menu.

Many RPGs now randomize the character creation screen. DAI if I'm not mistaken did this with its card order and which was first. Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire does too between the gender and skin color. Even small indie games like Encased does this.

 

[Hyun Sai]

I don't care, but it absolutely matters, so female default should happen more often.

Didn't vote, didn't like the options.

 

[Jimnymebob]

Aim to change all defaults to women and non-binary characters where available if it's really not a concern for so many. Which it genuinely isn't for many here I'm sure, but would be interesting to see how many took more of an interest in it were that to be the case.

Outside of that, I think it is important to have diversity even in the minor details. Not really sure of a legitimate reason why you wouldn't want to represent a variety across defaults if the options are literally there. If it's not explicitly a written character or labelled then often it just reads as "which style of character" more than which gender. Where they're evidently a stereotypical binary look of male/female then an inbetween of the two would be and is neat, if only just for a middle ground between basic masculine/feminine norms stylistically. Shake that shit up a bit.

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I think the best way to do the standard male vs female default choice is to just show both early on, and then judge which is the most popular and go from there. These days, if a big company announces a game, people on the internet will fall in love with characters instantly, so they'd have a clear community favourite almost instantly.

I know male is quite often the default, but I feel like female is usually the fan favourite. Even in something like OW, while not the same character, Soldier and Tracer were both pushed as the main hero, but Tracer was clearly more popular/ended up being the primary focus in a lot of promotional stuff.

As for a more broader diverse range, I sadly think that'll take longer to reach that point (both in terms of games actually including it, and especially players not being idiots and crying on social media about forced diversity running video games etc.), but again, if it's an option, and people seem to like it, then absolutely push for that to be the default.

I think ARMS is an example of what not to do: I know he had his fans, but who the hell cares about Spring Man? I honestly think him being pushed so hard instead of Ribbon Girl or Twintelle was the main thing that stopped that game from blowing up.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

Nah. I don't mind whatever the default is usually.

If given the choice, in a game with romances I'll pick a character that aligns with my gender, but outside of that, don't really care too much.

 

[Mazzo]

Diversity matters to some people, and the others will always tell you how they couldn't care less either way. So, do it if you can.

 

[Issen]

I literally just realized the default Corrin is the male version and not the female version that I usually associate with Corrin, even in Smash.

I guess that means I don't care? Certainly not enough to have noticed this sooner, anyway.

 

[OrangeNova]

Hm. Disappointing poll results. Seeing female versions of characters presented as the default is great for diversity and should happen more, imo.

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That's still a default gender though.

 

[DynamicSushy]

I'm sure it doesn't matter to a lot of people since we're calling Byleth a she instead if they anyway.

 

[Neoxon]

I'd be surprised if it wasn't female default with Rathalos and Kirin, like MvCI, but I could unfortunately see male default in Rathalos, female alt in Kirin.

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I could see Capcom pushing for a female-by-default Monster Hunter since that's the route they took for MvCI.

 

[banter]

No, absolutely not. Best example: Mass Effect. Default male but everyone knows femshep is superior in every way. Doesn't matter what the default is, we pick what we want/like regardless.

 

[Anteo]

I doenst matter to me personally, like it wouldnt put me off from a gane. But I would love more avatars to default as female at least. Like Byleth from Fire Emblem should have been Female as the default considering spoiler stuff of who she is.

 

[Neoxon]

I doenst matter to me personally, like it wouldnt put me off from a gane. But I would love more avatars to default as female at least. Like Byleth from Fire Emblem should have been Female as the default considering spoiler stuff of who she is.

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That's actually a good point, though it does raise interesting questions for M!Byleth.

 

[Sanctuary]

Doesn't matter to me at all, especially if options are there for people that do not like it. All I actually care about is an interesting character.

 

[Apollo]

It matters to me

 

[Bluelote]

it doesn't really bother me, I'm quickly changing the defaults most of the time, but I can see the point of not going with always the same default and why it would bother some.

 

[Violence Jack]

It doesn't matter to me. I still have a choice, and whatever gender of the character I see first doesn't influence my decision of which one I want to use.

 

[Deleted member 16657]

The default gender is the "main" character to me. The Wii Fit trainer for example is the girl rather than the guy.

 

[Waluigilicious]

No it does not matter, the choice is there. Also Smash having lots of characters where gender isn't relevant as far as diversity goes, like Pokemon, being counted against the female ratio in your topic is absolutely bonkers. As far as humanoid/clearly gendered characters and the amount of them being available as female goes, Smash Ultimate does a fantastic job, yet you bring it down at every opportunity.

For example, female Pokemon Trainer is now an option, yet in your topic this is ignored when comparing Brawl to Ultimate. Same goes for the likes of Robin, Corrin and Byleth that have been added, yet they count *negatively* despite giving *more* female options. I just can't wrap my head around your thinking. If they add 50 more characters that can be both male or female, and the default is male, the stats will come way down 😂

My adult sister mostly uses female characters and I don't think she is bothered one bit who is default. She loves the number of female options in the game.

Edit: Yepp I just asked her, she couldn't care less. Her response was "who uses the default costumes anyway? We all have to scroll through to get to our favourites".

 

[Mocha]

If its a story driven game I would want a default character due to having the story revolve around them, their gender, and their culture.

If its an online or multiplayer game or any game that doesn't have a story then default character doesn't matter to me.

 

[The Archon]

The default gender doesnt bother me at all, if I use the opposite one. Maleshep is clearly the default character, but femshep is far superior due to Jennifer Hale being a better VA than Mark Meer. In the case of Smash, F Corrin>M Corrin. Im indiffirent to Robin as a whole because I dont really like the character.

 

[Neoxon]

No it does not matter, the choice is there. Also Smash having lots of characters where gender isn't relevant as far as diversity goes, like Pokemon, being counted against the female ratio in your topic is absolutely bonkers. As far as humanoid/clearly gendered characters and the amount of them being available as female goes, Smash Ultimate does a fantastic job, yet you bring it down at every opportunity.

For example, female Pokemon Trainer is now an option, yet in your topic this is ignored when comparing Brawl to Ultimate. Same goes for the likes of Robin, Corrin and Byleth that have been added, yet they count *negatively* despite giving *more* female options. I just can't wrap my head around your thinking.

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Regarding my own personal opinion, the best way to describe it is by comparing it to Injustice 2's Premier Skins (which are basically how Smash Ultimate approaches secondary gender options). Black Lightning is a Premier Skin of Raiden (Raiden's the default, Black Lightning is the secondary costume), who has unique dialogue with various characters in the game. Is it appreciated, yes. But it's far from sufficient when it comes to representation. Smash is the same way. The effort is respectable, hence why I do a separate alternate costume percentage. But it's no substitute for characters who are either primarily or exclusively female. It's basically a band-aid for a larger problem, & the fact that we went the entire Fighters Pass without one character who's primarily female is disappointing. Smash Ultimate does not do a fantastic job regarding women, & it should be called out on it.

 

[Jakisthe]

Absolutely not. I barely care about story to begin with; this is just the epitome of splitting hairs for me.

 

[Merc_]

It's just a button press away, so why would I care?