In Games With Male and Female Protagonist Options, Which Did You Choose And Why?

[SOLDIER]

It's more or less become a given at this point that a Triple-A game with a character creator, even a minimal one, now includes the option to pick a male or female lead, often the only difference being their design and voice.

So I was curious about which option people have chosen for which game, and what were their reasons? It could be something as superficial as "I picked the character that resembled me" or something more discussion-worthy like "I felt like they were a better fit for the story and premise."

As a recent example, I've been playing the Outriders demo on Xbox as preparation for the day one Gamepass release (which by the way, kudos to MS: that game went from "eh I dunno, wait and see" to "hot dang, day one and I'm already building my character to transfer progress"). Initially I went with the female character as I felt they had a better aesthetic. After playing up to the tutorial and spotting the differences in line delivery, however, I felt that the male was a better fit for the somewhat cocky, somewhat pissed demeanor of the protagonist, like a mix between Star Lord and Doomguy.

Likewise, I went with female protagonist for Xenoblade Chronicles X, as by doing so it would be one of the few JRPGs where the three main party members were all women. It makes for a cool title screen and just looked neat overall.

In Sunset Overdrive I went with the female protagonist because Stephanie Lemelin is super entertaining as a no-nonsense loudmouth....other than Screwball, anyway.

And while I do think Redhead Female Shepard is totally the superior design, I ultimately felt that Male Shepard "fit" the story of Mass Effect better. That's entirely by personal preference, I could go either way really.

On the flipside, I VASTLY prefer the look of the Female Inklings in the Splatoon series. Coupled with the fact that the main NPCs have all been ladies, I consider the Female Inkling as the default choice. If they ever do an Anime adaption of Splatoon and go with a Squid Boy as their lead, then they've automatically failed (also why I noped out of that trash manga adaption after just a few pages).

So let's hear some of your choices. And remember, we're talking about games where there is virtually no difference between the male and female protagonist choices, NOT games where there is a clear difference in character or branching story paths.

 

[Seda]

I vary it up. Sometimes male, female, old, young, whatever.

 

[Beth Cyra]

Always a female .

Even if there is no difference in being Female I will always choose one.

Video Game publishers spent the last 30 years pushing men as hard as they could to the point it is a legit turn off if a game stars a Male solo with out an option of being a female for me.

 

[WestEgg]

Depends on the game, but usually male for the first playthrough and female on a replay. I'll pick the female character if they are better designed though, which happens a lot with Pokémon.

 

[Cheesebu]

Typically a woman. Especially games with armor selection. They just look cooler.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

Really depends on the aesthetic. I just go with the one with the better design in my eyes.

If it's a character creator type deal, if I can't make a decent looking black man, I tend to go with the female avatar.

 

[steviestar3]

Random

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Eh, just depends and I have no real reasoning for it.

I just started playing Immortals Fenyx Rising and picked the female option just because, and honestly, the hair choices were better.

 

[Android Sophia]

I always play as a woman, unless there's potential for roleplaying (which is rare in anything that's not an MMO)

 

[MrCibb]

Usually a dude unless he's shit in some way. Like in Cyberpunk I played as female V because I really didn't like the male V's voice actor.

 

[Horohorohoro]

I pretty much always play as a woman in any game with customization tbh

 

[SOLDIER]

Always a female .

Even if there is no difference in being Female I will always choose one.

Video Game publishers spent the last 30 years pushing men as hard as they could to the point it is a legit turn off if a game stars a Male solo with out an option of being a female for me.

Click to shrink...

That's totally valid, but it's also a half-measure by having most of them be interchangeable "blank slate" characters with no discerning personalities between them or the male variants.

In some cases they're still written with the male choice in mind, the biggest offender being Digimon Cybersleuth, which straight up uses male pronouns while having all the suggested love interests be female (which would have been fine were it not for the former example that proves the intention).

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

Usually female because the chances are high that when i don't have a choice i'll be playing a male protagonist. It's not set in stone though, if i feel like for example the VO is much better for the male protag i have no problem playing male too.

 

[Patryn]

Whichever has the better VA.

 

[Deleted member 41178]

I always play as a male when given the choice, I have no problem playing a game with a female lead but will choose male if given the choice.

 

[adj_noun]

Usually male.

Reason: I like to have the biggest, bushiest beard I can.

I'm talking clipping through telephone poles that are across the street big.

I can't grow a great beard in real life. It's very sad. 😿 <-- how sad it is

BUT BY GOD I CAN IN VIDEOGAME LAND

 

[defaltoption]

Most of the time I go male first when given the option because I just always chose my gender but any game that has the female be canon or on replays I anyways choose female.

 

[SOLDIER]

I always play as a woman, unless there's potential for roleplaying (which is rare in anything that's not an MMO)

Click to shrink...

In games like Final Fantasy XIV, I almost always go with making the character resemble me.

Which makes for a very boring aesthetic as that means I always go for "clean-shaven white guy with short black hair dude on the cover".

On the other hand, it also makes me happy every time he (me) shows up in an awesome CG trailer for each new expansion.

 

[Host Samurai]

Male because I always try and do my best to create myself.

 

[RaySpencer]

I'm a dude, and it really depends on the game. I mix it up for sure, but usually of it's something with romance options, I'll typically pick a dude character, as it helps me role play stuff easier.

Probably a 50/50 choice.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Female almost all of the time.

That also somehow extends to my character choices in fighting games.

Spoiler

SFV - Chun-Li, Lucia, Sakura
KOF - Blue Mary, Yuri
Tekken 7 - Asuka, Julia
Guilty Gear Strive - Giovanna
MK11 - Jade
Soul Calibur VI - Seong Mi-na, Sophitia
Samurai Shodown - Charlotte

 

[Hidant]

In CoD and BF(5) I always try to play as female just to piss off the random POS.

In RPGs, male mostly if not always.

 

[Beth Cyra]

That's totally valid, but it's also a half-measure by having most of them be interchangeable "blank slate" characters with no discerning personalities between them or the male variants.

In some cases they're still written with the male choice in mind, the biggest offender being Digimon Cybersleuth, which straight up uses male pronouns while having all the suggested love interests be female (which would have been fine were it not for the former example that proves the intention).

Click to shrink...

Oh I've experienced this, Caguila Effect Overdoes has the female Avatar addressed as the male one multiple times.

Thing is I have no desire to not have men be an option, so while it's a half measure as they are interchangeable I am okay with it.

That and honestly rather than then the shit like in Dark Souls 3 where you choosing your gender forces other characters to change so they ensure you're a straight person.

 

[Dinjoralo]

It definitely depends on the game. Often I'll go girl for the heck of it, but there's plenty of games where I pick guy, usually because the female option annoys me somehow. Digimon Cybersleuth is one example where the design bugged me in a weird way that made me start a new playthrough with the guy.

 

[Lari]

Female always because I relate to female characters a lot more than male ones, even if they are a blank slate, it feels like me in the game.

It frustrates me that in some games with dialogue it highlights how the whole writing is done with a male protagonist in mind and the female character is an afterthought where they simply switch the pronouns and call it a day.

Also I wish both the thread and games would recognize non-binary players more often and allow them to feel represented in games as well.

 

[Android Sophia]

In games like Final Fantasy XIV, I almost always go with making the character resemble me.

Which makes for a very boring aesthetic as that means I always go for "white guy with short black hair cover dude".

On the other hand, it also makes me happy every time he (me) shows up in an awesome CG trailer for the next expansion.

Click to shrink...

I almost always make an idealized version of myself for games for my "main" character.

Ironically, FFXIV has a number of anti-alt mechanics that result in making a second character for roleplaying kind of difficult.

 

[carlsojo]

Female protagonist nearly every time. I play enough games where the only option was a dude.

 

[J-Spot]

If there's voice acting I tend to go with whatever voice actor I prefer. Usually that ends up being the female choice as in Mass Effect, Fallout 4, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Cyberpunk. I went the male in Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

 

[Lego Killer Moth]

Whoever happens to look cooler. Like Kassandra looks cooler in AC Odyssey, but male Eivor looks cooler in AC Valhalla.

 

[Deleted member 21875]

Usually female - it's good to have the choice.

 

[SOLDIER]

I almost always make an idealized version of myself for games for my "main" character.

Ironically, FFXIV has a number of anti-alt mechanics that result in making a second character for roleplaying kind of difficult.

Click to shrink...

It doesn't help that Fantasia isn't free, and rarely given out as a gift.

Since I had two of them I ran around as a Lalafell (potato person) for a bit, just for fun.

But once I changed back it meant I could never experiment as a dragon dude or dorky lion, so alas.

 

[Apollo]

Female basically whenever possible because because it is just more relatable that way for me

 

[Reinhard]

Usually female because I tend to prefer the voice acting over male protagonists. I have enough games where male protagonists are the only option.

 

[vitormg]

Usually a male, being one myself, but for Pokemon games, I like to go with a female character and call It Sarah.

I really dont know why it started and why this name specifically, but it began all the way back to Fire Red on the GBA.

Also Odyssey, because Kassandra.

 

[Korigama]

As in custom protagonist games? Female, typically a matter of aesthetics and occasionally being eh on voice options for the male choice. And male leads are a dime a dozen in general, anyway. Don't care either way regarding canon.

In Astral Chain's case, it also led to getting the better power-up song between the two siblings.

 

[Deleted member 5491]

Depends on how fancy I can make them or how their style is and how I like it.
In a Monster Hunter is almost always went with a male in FFXIV I went female, just because I liked the armors for male hunters more and
ever dude in FFXIV looked kinda boring or too beefy for me

 

[Rotobit]

Female, unless the design is real bad/skeevy or it's a character creator, in which case I tend to make them a more-or-less androgynous middle-ground with male pronouns (if the game allows).

Decent M/M relationship mechanics can also play a factor but that's pretty much only applied to Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition in my experience (going to attempt the ME3 stuff when I replay those games in that collection tho)

 

[jph139]

Depends. For stuff that tends toward being a social game - Animal Crossing, pretty much any online competitive game - I'll make a male avatar that vaguely reflects me, because, well, I present as male in the real world, makes sense to do the same in a digital world.

For single player games, if a character is customizable, I'll make whatever sort of character I think is interesting in the world. Maybe lean in certain directions for aesthetic reasons, or if I prefer a voice actor (like Jennifer Hale for Shepard). If I know stuff about the plot, I'll try to tailor my choices to that - like, Dragon Age has a major choice near the end that you can only make if you're playing as a male.

I do find roleplaying - that is, playing a role other than "myself if I was in this video game" - a lot easier and more interesting if I'm playing as a character that doesn't match my gender/race/sexuality/whatever.

 

[Like the hat?]

Always female. I prefer the voices and the styles.

 

[ClearMetal]

The characters I create don't resemble the person I am; they resemble the person I want to be. Which is why my player characters are always female.

While I don't mind playing as a male character per se, I have definitely passed on certain games because they didn't offer me the option to play as a female character when I felt they should.

 

[Shroki]

First playthrough is always my avatar (male), the second playthrough - if I want to play it again - I'll go with a girl.

Especially in something like Mass Effect where the character actually changes a bit.

 

[aett]

Almost always female.

That also somehow extends to my character choices in fighting games.

Spoiler

SFV - Chun-Li, Lucia, Sakura
KOF - Blue Mary, Yuri
Tekken 7 - Asuka, Julia
Guilty Gear Strive - Giovanna
MK11 - Jade
Soul Calibur VI - Seong Mi-na, Sophitia
Samurai Shodown - Charlotte

Click to shrink...

Same here, and I'm positive that I'm missing out on the character(s) that's just for me because I'm limiting myself.

 

[Bard]

Usually a guy because I'm a guy and there seems to be very little difference in how these blank slate avatar characters are treated. Unless I really hate how the male characters look, one example being male Byleth's stupid looking hair, then I go with the female option.

 

[julia crawford]

Always as a woman. And if it's attainable, an all women team. But sometimes i try to switch that around because i end up not seeing a lot of characters.

Always the same name too.

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

Sometimes i go for female, sometimes i go for a dude who looks like me, sometimes i go for a wacky character. Not really a pattern or anything, just how i feel that particular day.

 

[Nazo]

Usually I play a dude. But if it's an rpg I'll end up playing a female character at some point.

Or if it's a game with no character creation and a lack of romance options I'll pick female.

 

[Siggy-P]

Depends. At this point I tend to bounce back and forth. If other games I'm playing have men I'll play as a woman. And vice versa.

Exceptions are standouts ofcourse. Cassandra is better than Alexander and Alex Ryder was better than Sarah Ryder.

 

[Potato Mage]

Usually male unless the female has a much better character model / animations. Any time there is character selection or creation I think I just assume I'm supposed to be playing as myself and pick whichever character is closest to that.

 

[Mecha]

No preference at all, I just choose on the spot based on the idea that pops on my head in terms of backstory.

 

[TheMadTitan]

If I'm given the option, I go with a woman. There's a billion games with only male options. Weighing the VA plays a part in this too, if the woman's VA sucks too much, I'll flip over to the male character. If both suck, I go back to the woman.

If there's a character creator, I'll make a minority woman first. Second playthrough will be a minority man if it's an RPG. Third playthrough will be a vague facsimile of me.

And if I'm really indecisive, I'll close my eyes and flick the joystick around for a few seconds before opening them and choosing whatever I stop on.