When a game allows for a customizable protagonist, what do you do?

[Hey Please]

Given the dearth in the representation of female protagonists (esp, women of colour), I have noticed this steadfast practice of mine to always play as a female character and preferably of colour.

I think OG Gaf (now Era) had drilled me with sufficient knowledge about the state of this industry (from aforementioned scarcity to Gamer-gate fuckery to story behind Remember Me to the recently Cliffy B throwing minorities under the bus, etc), to ensure that I, as a mostly straight guy (& I am secure in my sexuality), do my part to walk in the virtual shoes of female (human and non-human) characters in worlds which seldom feature any disparity of capabilities between sexes.

IIRC, the first game I did was with ME3 (chose default FemShep's model). I will always hold EA responsible for not prominently featuring the awesome FemShep during ME1 and 2 marketing campaigns.Since then, I have recreated both fictitious and non-fictitious women in games inhabiting female characters as my avatars. I tell you now, I don't think I could go back playing as a guy anymore.

Fun examples:

Outerworlds (still have to actually play the game). Named her after what I would name my daughter, if I ever adopted one):

Shadowrun Dragonfall (recently started playing). Named after Toph Beifong from Avatar TLA:

Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire (in queue to played after Shadowrun DF). For some reason, my mind went to Nepenthe who is a practitioner of the martial arts, Capoeira, as her fictitious reflection in this game:

Bloodborne (still have to finish the game). Modeled after (rather unsuccessfully) Sonequa Martin-Green as featured in Star Trek Discovery:

Not pictured-is my Divinity OS EE playthrough characters on PS4 where I made brown Triss (PC) and (almost ivory) Geralt.

I was going to make a poll but it tops out a 7 options which is simply not enough given the granular nature of the question.

TLDR:

Do you (Note: Both 'Men' and 'Women' encompass trans-folks):

1. Always play the same race and gender as yourself (As a white woman)
   
   
2. Always play the same race and gender as yourself (As a white man)
   
   
3. Always play the same race and gender as yourself (As a woman of colour)
   
   
4. Always play the same race and gender as yourself (As a man of colour)
   
   
5. Select the same gender but not same race as yourself (As a white woman)
   
   
6. Select the same gender but not same race as yourself (As a white man)
   
   
7. Select the same gender but not same race as yourself (As a woman of colour)
   
   
8. Select the same gender but not same race as yourself (As a man of colour)
   
   
9. Select the same race but different gender (As a white woman)
   
   
10. Select the same race but different gender (As a white man)
    
    
11. Select the same race but different gender (As a woman of colour)
    
    
12. Select the same race but different gender (As a man of colour)
    
    
13. Select both different race & gender (As a white woman)
    
    
14. Select both different race & gender (As a white man)
    
    
15. Select both different race & gender (As a woman of colour)
    
    
16. Select both different race & gender (As a man of colour)
    
    
17. Select same race and male (As a white non-binary person)
    
    
18. Select same race and male (As a non-binary person of colour)
    
    
19. Select same race and female (As a white non-binary person)
    
    
20. Select same race and female (As a non-binary person of colour)
    
    
21. Select different race and male (As a white non-binary person)
    
    
22. Select different race and male (As a non-binary person of colour)
    
    
23. Select different race and female (As a white non-binary person)
    
    
24. Select different race and female (As a non-binary person of colour)

Kindly select whichever options apply to you and I hope that list consists of sufficient number of options.

 

[MrWindUpBird]

I generally spend 3 hours trying to figure out the character creator, designing a character that ends up looking nothing like I want, and then get fed up and just play my ugly ass character for the whole game with a helmet on to cover my shame.

 

[Cipher Peon]

I create myself, of course!

 

[Ezra]

2.

And I always make them look like me but hotter.

 

[Unkindled]

Waste my life creating the perfect character.

 

[Whatislove]

I create the hottest woman possible.

 

[AshenOne]

I just stay myself man but if you're encouraged to make diverse characters then cool!

 

[Deleted member 58846]

So this is a problem, because there's no one hard and fast rule for what kind of character I play as, not even enough of one that I could identify any patterns for what I primarily do.
Sometimes I will play the same race and gender as myself. Sometimes I will play a different gender, but play the same race. Sometimes I will play the same gender but a different race. Sometimes I will play a different race and gender.

There's no rule. I just go with whatever I feel like at the time.

 

[janoGX]

25. I do whatever I pick.

 

[Maligna]

14. Select both different race & gender (As a white man)

I'm the exact same as you OP.

I'm a straight white man 24/7. Games are a chance for escapism so I try to do the opposite of the real me.

I always pick a woman of color.

Also, I'm kind of obsessed with my characters standing out from the crowd so it doesn't hurt that black women are the most underrepresented demographic in games.

 

[Samaritan]

I'll usually start by trying to recreate myself and if I'm satisfied with the results, I'll go with it, but if I'm not I'll just go with what feels appropriate for the game and its setting. So in games like Monster Hunter World or Divinity: Original Sin 2 my character is a bald white dude with a big beard. But in something like FFXIV (or most Japanese games for that matter) where you'll rarely find a bald option and beards are usually pretty short, I'll just go with the flow until I settle on something I like. In games where the player character has a ton of voice acting, I like to play as a female character (Mass Effect and Saints Row 3/4 come to mind), but otherwise I stick to dudes.

 

[Milennia]

2 usually
Unless I like the design of the female character, then I have no problem swapping

Exclusively played female characters in WoW for about 8 years
I also wouldn't mind swapping to some cool races like trolls etc if they look nice

 

[Richietto]

Depends on the game. If it's more of a sim type game like AC, Stardew, etc. I go with a character that looks similar to me which is a well, a colored dude. Brown skin, brown hair, brown eyes. Otherwise I always make a woman of color with orange hair and green eyes, always.

 

[Rirse]

I generally use my 'stock' characters who have various different arctypes. Generally default to the redhair female Aasea, but if I can use red hair or more color options or the game forces you to use male only will alter what stock character name and design I use. This also serves for replaying games as I can use a different stock character I got instead, with some being the 'evil characters' if needed.

 

[Brotherhood93]

They often tend to be RPGs with dialogue options and branching paths, since I always choose the options I would choose in those scenarios I basically create the player character in my image too.

I did play as a woman in Mass Effect Andromeda to change it up a bit though. Honestly, don't think it makes much difference as customisable characters are almost always boring anyway. I don't think they do an effective job of making you walk in someone else's shoes either, it is pretty much just a model swap.

 

[Kamaros]

i try for 2h to make Ciri, then i fail and do a fierce looking woman.

 

[Shining Star]

1. I try to make a character that looks like me and then wish I had all the cool costumes.

 

[mikhailguy]

I give them hella scars.

 

[Kevers]

I usually make a female character that isn't a complete mess visually.

9.

 

[plake]

14.

Either I make a cute woman or I press randomise X amount of times til I find something funny.

 

[crienne]

It varies for me. 99% of the time I choose a female character, race is typically that of my own but sometimes I go for a person of color, and looks-wise I tend to for femme-leaning androgynous. Basically, race aside, I use character creation to offset my dysphoria a bit.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Me but with a strong chin.

 

[flashman92]

I make my waifu, so 12 I guess?

Is Asian considered poc?

 

[Darkstorne]

Never really thought about why but yeah, I also trend towards creating minority females.

My FemShep was Asian, and Redguard females are always my "main" characters in Elder Scrolls games.

 

[Manu]

I do all sorts of characters. All genders, races, anything that fits the game, or sometimes even if it doesn't.

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

Make a cute girl if I can if not then create an odd-looking guy.

 

[Red Arremer]

Since I have to look at my MC's character model at all times, and I'm gay, I usually go with making a male character.
And I usually try to make that male character appealing to me, so it can range from conventionally handsome to ruggedly hot. Skin colour I usually go with whatever I feel fits the best. I've had characters ranging from milky pale to mocha dark, though I think I tend to gravitate towards bronze to brown skin. Or I straight up go with exotic skin colours like blue or crimson. I'm into demon dudes with odd skin colours, sue me.

There have been instances where I had a female character because none of the male options looked appealing to me (I had a femshep in Mass Effect), but other than that, I heavily gravitate towards duders.

So, 14, with heavy tendency towards 6.

 

[tatwo]

See if any presets look good and tweak from there.

 

[Orb]

Might sound weird as a white dude but I almost always make a black woman character when I have the option. The main reason is that I know developers track all sorts of metrics in games these days, including stuff like this, and I want to send the message to devs in whatever small way I can that people want more diverse options in character creators.

 

[Deleted member 13645]

14, generally, though I deviate based on the character i'm 'feeling' at that moment. Usually I go in with an idea of who I want to be in that game, and usually that lines up with being a pretty big deviation from me since that's the power of video games. I'm me 24/7, it's neat to be someone else for a bit, to see the world through someone else's eyes. like 70% of the time that'll be different gender and race for the character i'm thinking of for that game, but sometimes it'll be same gender but different ethnicity. Can't remember the last time I made a white man as a character.

It also tends to depend on gameplay for me. For ranged people or spellcasters I lean towards women character, for melee people I lean towards men. So gender also ties into that. It all comes down to the roleplay for me.

 

[N.47H.4N]

I always pick the default male character.

 

[nsilvias]

i make them look like hot middle aged dudes.

 

[JustJavi]

I always play whatever looks closest to me, so late 30s white male.

 

[CloseTalker]

If it's first person, I don't do much cuz why bother. If it's third person, I'll usually make a badass female.

 

[Phellps]

I usually just go with the flow, play around with the settings, try some stuff until I reach something I like. Which means I spend over an hour just creating the character, usually.

I fucking love character customization.

 

[PunishedPrince]

4 is for me usually. Though sometimes I go with the white default if I'm too lazy to customize.

 

[boy power]

I only create male characters, and if the game is good, make male characters of several different races, otherwise probably white men like myself, really depends on the customization options.

 

[Kneefoil]

I just do whatever I think looks best, or in some rare instances what I think fits the setting the best. There's no one sex or skin colour I always or even usually stick to.

 

[Rosebud]

I always create a skinny, weird guy

 

[Deleted member 37233]

I'm a white man and most of the time create white women if there is a character creator, I have a weakness for pale skin. In fantasy RPGs I also create grey skinned charcters from time to time.
In Skyrim I remember that I created a women of colour though.

 

[Tiny Hawk]

16, but it definitely varies. Sometimes I'll try to make cute girl. Sometimes I wanna make generic action male protagonist. It depends on the game and what I'm feeling at the moment.

 

[Linkyn]

Between 10 and 14.

I can't remember the last time I opted to play as a male character when given the choice.

As for the race, that depends largely on the game. Most of the time, I can't be bothered to actually model my character unless it's really straightforward (since I don't have the patience to model all the details without the character ending up looking horribly misshapen), so I usually just pick whichever preset works best for me (or even just the default unless that feels completely off) with maybe some minor tweaks (mostly concerning hair options).

With this, I largely end up somewhere on the medium-Caucasian to mixed-race interval.

 

[Rassilon]

'Gender' swapped version of myself (i.e. a white woman).

Otherwise every game would just be White Man with Beard: The Game

 

[Z-Beat]

Can I make me?

Yes? Make me

No? Make an OC

 

[Aranjah]

I guess I'm either 1 or 5 depending. Sometimes 9 and 13.
Most of the games I play have non-human options, so if we are counting that as "different race" then far and away option 5, with the other numbers for edge cases.

Specifically, I generally play the same gender as me, but if non-human "races" are an option, I will always pick that. I'm a human every day, I want to be something different in the game. (Meanwhile, there are enough games where I have to play as a dude that I will still pick female in the character creator games.)
If non-human races aren't an option, I generally match my own race (white). Partly because I feel like as a white person I'm not "allowed" to play as a PoC, or...something. I'm not sure that even makes sense, but it makes me feel guilty so I don't do it. Notably, when I pick non-human races, like elves or trolls or cat-people or whatever, I tend to go for the darker skin colors because I like the high contrast of dark skin/light hair visually with the character's gear, etc, and would probably do that with human characters, too, if not for this guilty feeling.
But even though I do match my race/gender in these cases, I almost never make "myself." I'm a boring person, I don't want to be "myself" in these games. I want to play as a separate character with their own story.


For alts, or if the female armor/costume/clothing options are absolute garbage and I find that out beforehand, I have no qualms about playing a male character to avoid a MHW situation. (Unfortunately I didn't find out about MHW beforehand. :( )

 

[Lukar]

I tend to choose a feminine character. I played as female Byleth in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Cassandra in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, and a female agent in The Division 2. Sometimes I'll choose a male / masculine character, but it really depends on what headspace I'm in at the moment, and what I want for the game in question.

 

[StiLteD]

I usually just roll whatever cool looking character I feel like role playing as right then that fits the scenario. Very rarely a white dude though (which I am).

So usually a POC or whatever cool in game races available and everything from a badass woman to a grizzly old dude. Depends what's coolest in the given editor pretty often. It's fun immersing in different vibes though. Head cannon back story and all of that.

 

[Giga Man]

"Always play the same race and gender as yourself (As a man of colour)"

And I proceed to spend hours customizing him juuuust right.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

I always start with some sort of noble idea that would fit the atmosphere, like, woah I'm a Cleric from the far away North in Dark Souls so make a really pasty, hunger-stricken, medieval person fuck yeah.

Then after five minutes of fucking with annoying sliders and what not, the reality of me just wanting to play the game already hits and I just hit "Finished" or whatever and forget about it because I'm always in armor.

So option #25: I fail and stop caring five minutes in.

 

[MegaSackman]

I always want to make Gandalf but end up doing a stereotypical bland jesus or I make myself, even more bland.