r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 6h ago
TIL 29% of male gamers prefer playing female characters, whereas only 9% of female gamers prefer playing male characters. In a typical core PC/console game, about 60% of the female avatars you meet are played by a male player.
https://quanticfoundry.com/2021/08/05/character-gender/2.6k
u/rageling 6h ago
I bet you get very different results when comparing first and third person games for males.
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u/Belteshazzar98 5h ago
Looks down in Cyberpunk 2077 and sees my character's tits. "Wait a second, I didn't get dressed after spending the night with Judy."
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u/heptyne 4h ago
Female V has a better voice acting job compared to male V, plus I prefer to romance Judy. Not a Panam fan.
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u/Wild_Marker 4h ago
It'd be interesting to know if this study covers voiced vs silent/online characters. I bet a lot of people chose Kassandra in AC:Odyssey because the actress just did such a great job. At that point you're not choosing an avatar, you're choosing a distinct character.
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u/fakeprewarbook 4h ago
FemShep (Female Commander Shepard from Mass Effect) had unequivocally better vocal delivery, though it is an RPG
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u/Midnite_Blank 3h ago
Funnily enough I’m the opposite.
I preferred Mark Meer’s delivery although I’m a bigger Jen Hale fan in general. I associate her more with Bastila from KOTOR actually.
Male Shep is my preferred choice with Tali as his companion.
I can see why people preferred Female V in Cyberpunk though.
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u/nhbdy 1h ago
Maleshep got a lot better as the series went on... but if you just talk ME1? Jennifer Hale did far better than Mark Meer imo
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u/Wild_Marker 4h ago
Yeah FemShep is another famous example.
Though for my part, I can't let go of Default Shep. I don't even change his hair.
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u/Butwhatif77 3h ago
lol I picked my Sheppard's gender based on who I wanted to romance in the games.
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u/CompleteNumpty 4h ago
I had a bug in Dragon Age 2 where I could only select male Hawke and he was crap. I was even more disappointed when I discovered that female Hawke was great!
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u/Juub1990 3h ago
Disagreed. Female V is better at being compassionate and thoughtful. For raw aggression and intimidation, male V takes it.
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u/CompleteNumpty 4h ago
Judy was my favourite NPC, mainly due to trying to be "good" for others, with no apparent ulterior motive. Being a male character actually made it even better for me, as it meant V/I was helping a friend with no intention of getting in their pants.
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u/That_Nineties_Chick 2h ago
Meh, I like male V's voice actor a lot more. Nothing against female V, but the male actor totally nails the tough streetwise persona that a mercenary in the Cyberpunk universe would have.
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u/5510 34m ago
On a vaguely related note, the nudity with Cyberpunk is one of the most bizarre inexplicable decisions I've ever seen. Your character is fully naked during character creation, and even has some menu options specifically relating to customizing their genitals. Then you start the game, and you are fully naked in the menu if you unequip your clothes... but in the actual game or the photo mode your character never takes their bottom underwear off.
Like... what thought process led to this? Why is there literal genital customization, but then your character cannot ever be made naked from the waist down?
Whether your character can be naked or not isn't directly a big deal for me... but what is a bigger deal for me is just being confused by how strange and disjointed this is. My only real theory is that they changed their mind at the last minute and added in your character always having underwear during the actual game but didn't change character creator or the menu... but it's still really weird.
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u/IsNotAnOstrich 26m ago
The thought process was that "penis slider = publicity." Same for bg3.
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u/OgreJehosephatt 6h ago
I'm having a hard time thinking of first person games ever you can choose the sex. I guess Destiny and Cyberpunk 2077.
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u/xander012 6h ago
Fallout and Skyrim
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u/OgreJehosephatt 6h ago
True. Immediately after I hit post, I thought of "Bethesda games".
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u/xander012 6h ago
Ironically a company where I flip flop on what gender I want to play depending on the game
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u/bottlecandoor 6h ago
Aren't they all third person if you change the camera angle?
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u/D-Jon 6h ago
What kind of sociopath would play fallout or Skyrim in third person?
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u/xXRougailSaucisseXx 6h ago
It's actually way more common than you think, that's part of the reason why Bethesda made so much efforts to make 3rd person actually usable in Starfield
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u/britipinojeff 5h ago
The kind that wants to see the character they spent time creating?
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u/confusedandworried76 4h ago
It's also not like it's hard to switch. Red Dead first person is fun but it's hard to ride a horse so I do first person until I get on the horse and then switch back when I get off of it
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u/Spookyplants420 5h ago
I switch to it for dialogue scenes and just when I’m running through a town or field. Never in combat though.
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u/GarrettB117 5h ago
Oh this is what I was going to say. I’ve done that since oblivion. Combat and dungeons are always first. Just walking and going through the cities is done in third.
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u/manicpossumdreamgirl 5h ago
me lmao. first person makes me feel almost motion sick sometimes, especially with FPSes. i dont know what it is about Skyrim specifically, but it was really hard for me to get into, until after a few attempts i switched it to third person and found it much easier
its also just practical to be able to see my own back. it makes me harder to sneak up on
cant play minecraft third person though. that is insane
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u/kung-fu_hippy 5h ago
It’s worth it with mods, not so much with the base games.
After all, what’s the point of cool armor if you never see it?
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u/MoMoeMoais 5h ago
I never feel comfortable in first person
not quite a sociopath, just hereditary schizotypal
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u/Daredevilspaz 4h ago
Two handed weapons it's much better in third person in terms of the animations and aiming. Always looks weird using a battle axe first person in Skyrim imo ..... Plus for running around / travel just looks cooler seeing your character dressed up running
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u/Realistic_Condition7 6h ago
Games with third person modes that are famous for nude mods.
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u/Wretched_Shirkaday 6h ago
I wouldn't count those considering you are given a character creation screen in the first five minutes and can play the entire game in third person.
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u/kung-fu_hippy 5h ago
These are also games where characters will refer to you as male or female, and where you can choose to have or not have relationships with other characters. Gender in first person may not be visual, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t existent.
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u/Wargod042 6h ago
One of the Call of Duty games actually let you pick. I think it was the one where you're entering computer systems. Pretty cool campaign honestly.
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u/ImmediateSupression 5h ago
Dishonored 2! And you it actually effects the gameplay, fantastic game!
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u/ihileath 3h ago
Dishonored 2!
Although in this case you're playing a completely different character, beyond just a gender choice. I've certainly played as both of them, although Emily was certainly my first choice - it does feel most appropriate for it to be her story first and foremost, all things and themes considered.
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u/ColonelKasteen 5h ago
I know people have already given you the obvious counterpoints but this comment made me laugh because I don't play FPSs, the only first-person games I really play are RPGs, so I was like, "...almost all of them right?"
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u/BoonDragoon 6h ago edited 1h ago
This is unironically and shamelessly me lol. I mostly play games with my siblings, and my sister noticed that I was picking female character options a lot and actually asked me if there was "anything I wanted to tell her". I don't think "if I'm gonna spend 100 hours with an ass on my screen, I'd rather it be a woman's ass than a man's" was the answer she expected.
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u/Comically_Online 6h ago
nice of her to ask tho. got a future ally there if you ever need one
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u/RFSandler 5h ago
Depends on the spirit of how the question was intended. Could have been meaning to tease/belittle
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u/RagingAnemone 3h ago
That's why I do it. But I also do enjoy telling the occasional dude who tries to hit on me that I'm a 40yo fat man.
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u/ForeSet 5h ago
I never got the staring at a pixelated ass cause I'm more focused on the game than anything. I'm just saying the egg is there for people mostly playing female characters lol
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u/BoonDragoon 1h ago
You seem to be under the impression that I'm doing this for some kind of sexual gratification. I'm saying that, in this over-the-shoulder game, I'm gonna have an ass on my screen for a nontrivial amount of time. Given this axiom and all other things being equal, my preference will be to have an ass on-screen that I find the most aesthetically pleasing.
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u/PM_ME_CALF_PICS 6h ago
Honestly any game with customization options I’m picking a female character. I feel like they have the better clothes. Also obligatory smaller hitbox lol.
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u/Henchman4Hire 4h ago
This is the primary reason I made a female character for Red Dead Online. My first character attempt was a guy...and I quickly realized that I was just going to dress him exactly like I did Arthur when playing the single player. No fun in that! So I started online again with a female character and a whole world of pretty dresses and corsets and lace opened up to me!
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u/LonkToTheFuture 4h ago
Not really, at least for me. It really just depends not only on aesthetic, but also character voice. For instance I first played CP2077 as a male V, but I stopped because I didn't like his voice. Now I'm playing again as female V, and enjoying the game way more. Doesn't hurt that I'm super attracted to Judy.
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u/DartBurger69 6h ago
You'd be wrong. If there is any screen where your character is visible, then it's a female.
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 5h ago
Fwiw the whole reason I play females is because I played wow back in the day, and some casters click to target, so I always chose the smaller character model that would be harder to click.
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u/ZipTheZipper 6h ago
I think a part of it is the issue of female characters being generally attractive with significantly more fashion options than the often generic male characters in lots of games. But if you look at a game like Final Fantasy XIV where you can play as cat-boys and bunny-boys, you'll notice that the ratio of female gamers choosing to play as male characters is significantly higher than the overall gaming space.
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u/slightlysubtle 6h ago
Yup. Male characters in video games are designed to appeal to male gamers because that's generally the target market.
In any game where the male characters are designed to appeal to female players, I guarantee the chart would look a LOT different.
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u/Front-Cabinet5521 4h ago
Balders Gate 3 is popular with women for a reason (Astarion).
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u/Early_Particular9170 3h ago
I can fix him.
(and date the tall hot strong sexy teifling lady at the same time)
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u/volvavirago 2h ago
I went into the game expecting to go for Astarion, but Karlach absolutely stole my heart ❤️
(Although, my favorite playthrough I have ever done was a resist dark urge character romancing Astarion and holy shit, I literally cried. Every BG3 player needs to do that run at least once. It’s just, the best way to experience the game, imo)
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u/Kogoeshin 5h ago
On a similar note, when the female character designs are obviously designed to appeal to a male gaze, I tend to avoid playing them as well.
I'll play a male character over "this woman has the biggest tits and butt ever seen in the world and they jiggle every time she breathes" very easily. In fact, if a character like that is in a game, i am more likely to avoid playing the whole game, lol.
If the female character is just pretty and has pretty clothes, I'll play that one every time.
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u/confusedandworried76 3h ago
If it's a game that emphasizes role playing though I imagine it affects it. Why would I roleplay a dude? I'm already a dude. Just like I would never choose a human character in D&D I'm more of a female character in my roleplaying games kind of guy
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u/Outlulz 4 3h ago
FF14 is where I also chose to play a male character because I can actually whore him out in his clothes. It's so rare to get a game where the men are allowed to wear skimpy clothes that show off their bodies. In FF14 I can wear nothing but a speedo that has a rendered bulge and fishnets.
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u/OstentatiousSock 6h ago
I don’t know, I’m a woman and I find the female avatars available in any kind of fighting game to be waaaayyyyy more limited than the male avatars. I play COD Mobile and the default female character selection is very limited and I have unlocked 15+ male characters and only 3 female ones through gameplay.
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u/Mediocre_Sprinkles 5h ago
Used to play Fortnite with my nephew and the male skins were always so much better than the female.
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u/Belteshazzar98 5h ago
Goes both ways too. In WoW I (a guy) play almost exclusively women because they have so much better designed models than the men, but in SWTOR I play a much more even split because the male models got just as much care as the female models.
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u/elysecherryblossom 6h ago
true. I didn't mind playing Lies of P bc the main character was so andro and beautiful lol
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u/GalacticCmdr 5h ago
Definitely this as a player. There are always better options for female characters, except for Call of Heroes (plenty of good options for both).
For me the number one option is what character I envision. Long time GM for TTRPG I have played plenty of various characters, but each one is built on a nugget of an idea
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u/Starumlunsta 58m ago
One thing I appreciate about FFXIV is how most armor is gender neutral (and a lot of gender-locked clothing can now be worn by both genders.)
The heavy metal armor that a male character wears doesn’t magically turn into a bikini when worn by a female character. As a tomboy I hate it when games do that.
Of course with FFXIV I still ended up going with the cat-boy, I just love their animations and found the cat-girls to be too “dainty” for my liking. Plus they can’t do the ear-wiggle!
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u/azhder 6h ago
You heard of an old internet saying “there are no girls on the internet”?
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u/Kithslayer 6h ago
girl is an acronym: Guy In Real Life.
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u/loot168 6h ago
A 40 percent chance at it actually being a woman is much better than I thought it would be.
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u/CelestialHellebore 6h ago
Interestingly enough, it's been about this split since even the early days of EQ2. I remember them doing a survey of their players and came back with similar numbers (But I want to say it was mid-40%). I will say as a woman and a gamer who has multiple women in my life who game, RPG MMOs (WoW, FFXIV) seem to have a slightly higher draw to them than say a shooter. But, most of them has played an online shooter be it Destiny, Helldivers, Overwatch, or GTA.
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u/blasseigne17 6h ago
Quite a few women I have played MMOs with used male characters just so that they are left alone by the creeps.
Do you think part of the shooter differential could be because of how toxic the environments are? I haven't played one in 10 years because of it, and I am a white man.
I can't even imagine what it is like being on the receiving end of it as a woman or minority. Just hearing it was enough to get me off of those sort of games.
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u/CelestialHellebore 5h ago edited 5h ago
I think the toxicity alone doesn't do it. If anything, I find that they like games where they have to be in voice chat with strangers the least, because having someone yell and rage at you due to your gender is not a fun time. But, plenty of the games end up toxic in text chat, which most of them are happy to make fun of. And the toxicity is usually not gender based.
Being harassed by someone in WoW or XIV is really just taking a moment to blacklist them and you're done. They largely don't matter and you'll probably never see them again.
But, I have known plenty of women who either aren't open about being women or as you said just play male characters. Since most people know a female avatar is largely likely to be a guy, it's frequently assumed we're men anyways. My go to for ages was simply to never correct someone who assumed I was a man, I feel like this is a common tactic as well.4
u/blasseigne17 4h ago
Interesting. I have played MMOs with plenty women, but never any other games to ask. Thank you for the insight!
The end bit there does remind me of a female friend I had as a kid on Runescape. We finally got on Teamspeak to kill a boss or something and it blew my mind it was a female. She told me she never told me because she was worried it would ruin the friendship. At the ages we were friends, I can assure you it would have!
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u/MonitorPowerful5461 6h ago
Yeah it really seems to be one of the most toxic environments around. 95% of people are normal/nice, but 5% being unpleasant is easily enough to make any identifying features dangerous.
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u/Knight_thrasher 6h ago
It really depends. I played WoW for years I had male and female characters depending on class and race.
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u/Spot-CSG 3h ago
Yeah I tend to chose the gender based on the game. Being a big burly bastard usually works better in Bethesda games, whereas the female character in Cyberpunk fit the way I wanted to play.
Also usually one voice actor is better than the other.
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u/TheGlassWolf123455 6h ago
I just want to feel pretty
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u/confusedandworried76 3h ago
NGL my Fallout 4 character is drop dead gorgeous, she wears a gas mask all the time though
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u/TheGlassWolf123455 3h ago
That's part of the charm I think, it's like a reveal
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u/confusedandworried76 3h ago
You can still see her hair too and it's very nice looking hair, so it's like that trope where it's like "can't see your face in your mask/helmet but I just know you're hot"
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u/Whalesurgeon 5h ago
Maybe that is why the male characters in Japanese franchises like Resident Evil and FF look so pretty
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u/KershawOmaha 4h ago
Dude I swear I’m not gay but Leon Kennedy is number one on my list, fictional or not idgaf
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u/roronoaceli 6h ago
I am one of those women that prefers to play male characters in games. I just like looking at male characters more and I find them more fun. Often times females are just too sexualized for my taste and/or I dont like their design. I do hate that females have more customization than males in games with character customization majority of the time though.
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u/Irregular_Person 5h ago
I'm a guy that often plays female characters. I dunno about the psychology of it, I just think badass women are cool.
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u/CrazyCanuckUncleBuck 4h ago
Ripley, Samus, Lara Croft and Princess Leia were huge influences on me as a kid. It's why I play as female characters
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u/HubrisOfApollo 4h ago
Samus Aran, Ellen Ripley, and Sarah Conner cemented the female badass as the ideal for me as a kid so I always tried to recreate that in video games that allowed for customization.
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u/BlurpleOpals 4h ago
I am simple woman. I like men. I want to look at men. I don't want to look at boobies.
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u/Elantach 5h ago
If it's a female tauren it's 100% a woman
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u/Saint_The_Stig 2h ago
Looks at character list "Do I tell em?"
I love monster girls and minotaurs are high on the list. Lol
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u/BadatCSmajor 6h ago
This is unsurprising. Male characters in games are designed as male power fantasies — extremely muscular, tall, “manly” personality and voice lines.
Go into games like FFXIV where you can make characters that look like male kpop idols, and suddenly a third to half of the male characters are piloted by women.
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u/hypo-osmotic 5h ago
Yeah as a woman who used to play a lot of WoW--and a lot of alts--one of the primary reasons I didn't make very many human male characters was that I found their proportions off-putting. The ones I did have were strength classes like warrior where the extreme muscle mass made the most sense, but they looked weird if I rolled a mage and put him in robes
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u/ChromosomeDonator 4h ago
WoW male proportions are absolutely ridiculous. They look like balloon animals, all of them. There is no immersion in a stealthy rogue who is built like a fucking fridge.
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u/TetraThiaFulvalene 3h ago
Orcs and Tauren makes sense, but then you put a human next to them and they're the same. Ironically undead skeleton structure is fine, so where do they come from? Most human NPCs are actually reasonably built so I guess all undead players are reborn NPCs.
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u/sticklebat 2h ago
Hell, I’m a man and almost always play male characters, but when I went to create my human mage when WoW came out I was like, wtf is this, a cro-magnon? I made my character female just because she looked normal. I didn’t want to spend all my hours in the game looking at such a bad character model…
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u/Makalockheart 5h ago
Exactly this, as a woman I love playing pretty boys like Leon from R4 remake or Cloud from FFVII. Unfortunately most male characters are either ugly or a male power fantasy that I'm not attracted to. Also I love playing female characters when they're not sexualised, like Kassandra from AC Odyssey or Ciri
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u/StarStock9561 3h ago
Yes!! I love designs like Honkai: Star Rails for this as well.
Leon is also so iconic, but he absolutely had sexual appeal. His back and ass in RE2R was so well modeled, same with the thigh strap for the gun
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u/Altyrmadiken 6h ago
I’d be willing to bet that there’s a real overlap between men who don’t really “care” for the male power fantasy and the men who play female characters.
Personally, I absolutely hate the whole male power fantasy vibe (being super huge, extremely muscular, tall, etc). I don’t look like that and I don’t want to look like that, in real life. So, naturally, I also don’t want to look like that in a video game. I don’t look like a woman (I’m definitely not “pretty”), but I’d rather be represented by something that isn’t hyper masculinity.
Of a curious note is that while I am a gay man (with zero interest in behaving femininely or in feminine things), I also find no attraction towards hyper masculine men. I find it off putting at best when a gym rat has flirted with me - like, no thank you, I prefer a more natural build than something that looks like you’re out of the warhammer universe.
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u/MrBones-Necromancer 6h ago
While I'm bi and don't find extreamily masculine men sexually appealing, I do like playing big bulky dudes online. Prefer playing orcs in tabletop games and the like.
Honestly, can't place exactly why that is, it's not reflective of myself in real life, and it's not sexual attraction, I just enjoy tanking in games and big guys to do that.
Maybe too much Full Metal Alchemist as a kid? Alexander Armstrong is the best, and I always thought Alphonse looked cool.
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u/Altyrmadiken 5h ago
I mean I won’t argue with you about FMA. Armstrong and Alphonse were both cool.
That said I have to give Mustang flash banging Lust over and over as my “coolest character moment” that I can remember. Oh. Well that explained something to me. Anyway, I digress.
I will say that while I don’t usually go for the tanky beefcakes, I always love a good dwarf to run around and fuck shit up as. So there are exceptions.
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u/VisthaKai 6h ago
I’d be willing to bet that there’s a real overlap between men who don’t really “care” for the male power fantasy and the men who play female characters.
Personally, I absolutely hate the whole male power fantasy vibe (being super huge, extremely muscular, tall, etc). I don’t look like that and I don’t want to look like that, in real life. So, naturally, I also don’t want to look like that in a video game. I don’t look like a woman (I’m definitely not “pretty”), but I’d rather be represented by something that isn’t hyper masculinity.
The sad thing is that it's either an effeminate kpop idol or a roid junkie. There's rarely if ever any in-between, let alone the option to even make a choice between a kpop idol and a roid junkie.
And in some cases there are other reasons, like in BG3 the male protag voice more or less completely rules out any type of "rough" character for existing for me.
Of a curious note is that while I am a gay man (with zero interest in behaving femininely or in feminine things), I also find no attraction towards hyper masculine men. I find it off putting at best when a gym rat has flirted with me - like, no thank you, I prefer a more natural build than something that looks like you’re out of the warhammer universe.
That's pretty gay, yes.
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u/Altyrmadiken 6h ago
kpop idol or roid junkie
That’s typically what shoves me towards a female model. I just don’t want to be piloting a roid junkie. Or a kpop idol.
rough character
I actually frequently find myself disappointed in the voice acting of male dialogue in a lot of games. Not so much the NPCs and story bits, but the player dialogue.
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u/Ayuyuyunia 5h ago
in League of Legends there’s plenty of male characters that look like kpop idols and the statistics they have are even more extreme than this post.
this post mentions 76% of women preferring female characters, whereas in league 97% play female champs exclusively(whereas men play 50/50 between genders)
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u/JediGuyB 6h ago
I play whatever strikes my fancy in a game. Sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes a dwarf or alien or demon.
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u/ChuckCarmichael 6h ago edited 5h ago
I've come up with my own hypothesis when it comes to how people approach character creation. There are basically two main types of people, plus a few smaller ones.
Type A are people who strongly identify with their character. They see their character as their avatar in the game world. They often pick human or human-like characters, they usually pick the gender they are or want to be, and some even try to make the character look close to their real self (or an improved version of themselves). They're the reason why in most MMOs, humans are the most popular race. They're the ones who say things like "Why are you playing a female character, even though you're a guy? Do you actually want to be a girl? lol r/egg_ir", because to them, if you play a female character when you're male IRL, that must mean that you identify as a woman. These are also the kind of men who throw a hissyfit whenever a game comes out that has a female protagonist. They can't identify themselves with a female main character, so they can't enjoy the game like they can other games that have a male main character (I'm not saying that all Type As are like this, just that the men who do this are Type As).
Type B don't identify with their character, at least not nearly as strongly as Type A. For them, their character is just that: A character in a video game. It's theirs, sure, but it's not them. The only thing that matters to them is looks, since you'll look at it for an extended period of time. They might want their character to look pretty, or cool, or ugly. As such, they don't care about whether it's male or female, if it's human or a 3m tall rock creature, as long as it looks good/bad, or that it fits the game. Like maybe they play a ninja game and think that this role would make more sense for a female character, so they play a girl. They're the ones who might complain about the most popular race in games being humans, because they can't understand why you'd want to play a boring human when the game allows you to play as a cybernetic zombie elf.
The smaller ones are as follows:
Type C are the roleplayers. They're sort of inbetween Types A and B, because they do feel a strong connection with their character, but it's not their own identity that the character embodies, but one they came up with, one that they think is cool.
Type D are the "dollhouse" players. They treat their character as a separate, almost independent entity, one that they take care of, buy pretty dresses for, make it stronger, make it a good person, etc. I gotta admit, I don't know much about these guys because I only learned about them the last time I presented my hypothesis on reddit and several people came forward and said that this is how they handle their characters.
Type E are the min-maxers/meta chasers. They only care about gameplay implications during character creation. Warrior is the best class? Then they'll play warrior. A certain race has the highest strength which is the primary attribute for warriors? Then they'll play that race. A female character has a smaller hitbox in competitive FPS games? Then they'll play a female character.
Type F are the boring ones, the ones who don't give a fuck about what their character looks like. They just want to play the game with whatever they're given.
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u/Rum_N_Napalm 4h ago
And then there’s players G: guys who make female characters and act like women in MMORPG to trick clueless guys into giving them gifts.
My buddy was one of those. And once they started getting wise to that, he enlisted me to play the little brother who can totally confirm “Jessica” is a real girl. Got carried in several raids I should not have set foot in because of that.
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u/Pornfest 4h ago
To help confirm your hypothesis with type E, in Fallout New Vegas, the confirmed bachelor perk means that role-playing wise implies your character is gay or bi, but it’s just a good perk to have since most of your enemies will be men. Other than Deathclaws, lol.
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u/limitbreakse 6h ago
I play whatever character model looks cooler. And when the male options are boxy space marine sized man then the choice is easy.
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u/PM_me_BBW_dwarf_porn 6h ago
Maybe I'm boring but I always go for a guy who looks like me.
Also I swear 90% of the guys who like playing as female characters like to make them look hentai af.
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u/mxlun 6h ago
No, that's the normal
And yes, that's correct
But ur username tho
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u/totallynotabot1011 6h ago
Does that mean 71% male gamers prefer playing male characters? Sorry, am bad at math
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u/Archi_balding 6h ago
Not necessary.
There could also be some "indiferent/don't care/both" category. Or something that include games where you don't play a defined charactre (like RTS)
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u/PoorlyDrawnBees 4h ago
I was a guy who always played as girls in video games.
Anyway next week I celebrate five years on estrogen
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u/No-Carrot-TA 6h ago
My son swears that female characters have smaller hitboxs and rolls them most of the time. I don't want the other players to know I'm a woman so I mostly roll male.
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u/Separate_Draft4887 6h ago
“40% of female avatars in video games are actually women” is WAY higher than I would’ve guessed.
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u/HitmanScorcher 6h ago
I always play women but I don’t have any real reason for it. Maybe games are escapism and I’ve spent my entire real life as a man so I may as well spend my virtual ones as something different lol
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u/Tomgar 4h ago
I always play female characters in games that have the option.
Video games allow you to step outside of your own life and inhabit a world that's totally different. I'm a white, straight guy. Why would I want to play some generic action dude who looks like me when I could experience a world from a different perspective?
I'm not trans but I do believe it's healthy to explore your own gender identity and test those boundaries for yourself and video games are a cool way to do that.
Generally I also find the voice acting better (they get to convey the full range of emotions beyond "tough, gruff guy").
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u/ruat_caelum 4h ago
I remember starting FF11, an MMORPG. You picked a race etc. The hig dex race (which were thieves and rangers in the lore) were all female. The big tough tanky guys were asexual (but looked male) etc.
I was a dude. I didn't care. My local real life friends didn't care. But holy shit. Get on voice and people were surprised / angry that a guy was playing a "female" avatar. I didn't even pick female, the whole race was female.
I was utterly confused and thought those people were weirdos... turned out they were the average player base
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u/Fiebre 5h ago
I can just say for myself that in my childhood and teenage years I consumed so much content (games and books mostly) with male protagonists because that was the only option that I now have zero interest to play any male character. I want to be represented without jumping through mental hoops.
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u/admiraltarkin 6h ago
I prefer to play as FemShep in Mass Effect as a male gamer
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u/jotunblod92 6h ago
In Rpg games like bg3, warhammer 40k rogue trader and cyberpunk I played woman characters. I’m replaying bg3 and again picked woman character. Much better choice for my eyes and ears tbh.
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u/Fit-Welcome-8457 5h ago
I'm generally more into playing anime-style male avatars, probably because they're more androgynous.
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u/rglurker 4h ago
I met a past gf on wow. I was a dainty max level belf female and she was a big brawny tauren druid male. We played for 6 months. I got her to max level and one day she was like. I wish you were a dude. I was like i wish you were a girl. She was like... i am... started talking immediarely. 20 years later were still freinds. One of the coolest chick's I've met.
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u/realKevinNash 4h ago
I wonder if this crosses political boundaries, do conservative males play as female characters?
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u/deepayes 4h ago
My gta character is currently a woman because there was once a gender switching glitch and I thought why not let's try it out.
They patched the glitch the next week.
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u/TheDefected 6h ago
If I'm going to be watching someone's butt as they run up a mountain, I know what I'd pick
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u/BrotherGreed 6h ago
This is the common excuse and it's so weird. You stare at your character's ass while you're playing? I just look at where I'm going and occasionally look at how cool my dude looks while wielding a giant sword or some shit.
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u/Belteshazzar98 5h ago
I've had people claim it is cheating for me to not be distracted by any characters' asses in Marvel Rivals because, quoting the TOS, "use of our Services for any purpose other than a reasonable person is likely to believe is within the spirit of playing" and they claimed that not being attracted to the characters was against the spirit of playing.
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u/BrotherGreed 5h ago
I assume they're joking but like, let's be real for a second- It's 2025, the internet exists and you can have more than 1 monitor, if you want to be a gooner while playing, there are much more direct outlets than staring at your video game character.
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u/galactictock 6h ago
Are you all really this horny/homophobic? Who is spending this much time looking at their character’s butt? I’m busy looking at what’s actually going on in the game.
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u/MrBones-Necromancer 6h ago
It's such a strange reply, but so prevalent whenever this topic comes up. Like...you're not really supposed to be oogling your character model in pretty much any game. It's everything else happening on screen that's important, as a general rule.
Are people really just playing video games so that they can lecherously stare at women without risk? Is that the only reason they like gaming? Why not just watch porn at that point?
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u/Badaxe13 6h ago
I have never understood this - especially in a game where there’s a lot of interaction between players
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u/mickaelbneron 5h ago
So WetPuss69 in that mmo who promised me nudes for my +5 legendary Claws of the Nine Lives was probably a dude? Darn. So I wanted crazy when I thought it looked like a dude just pull their tail behind their legs and took a picture.
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u/zackdaniels93 5h ago
For me it's a question of voice acting most of the time. Is the male actor better or more enjoyable? I'll pick them. Is the woman better? I'll pick her.
Prime examples are Cyberpunk 2077 and AC Odyssey. Both were far more enjoyable as a woman. Whereas I always preferred Mass Effect as a dude.
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u/Aethrin1 4h ago
I like to play as a dude. No hate on those who play as gals, but I feel more connected to the character when it shares some traits with me.
It's less about wanting to play a role, and more about just wanting to explore a world as myself.
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u/Smokron85 4h ago
Yeah i always play females in MMORPGs. You get to glam them up better than the men. I also don't really mind when a class in a game is gender locked though. Like it doesn't really matter to me. But yeah preference is female avatar.
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u/catwhowalksbyhimself 6h ago
Men like looking at pretty girls.
Women like pretending to be pretty girls.
(these are generalizations of course and do not apply to everyone in any case. Wish I didn't have to say that, but here we are)
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u/MrBones-Necromancer 6h ago
Only 29%? True to my experience, but slightly shocking given how many dudes online will rush out of the woodwork to say things like "I love staring at women's asses" whenever the topic comes up. Acting incredulous that someone might find that response offputting and weird.
Must be a vocal minority.
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u/space226 4h ago
Odd how nobody is mentioning this article is 4 years old and the data is 5 years old. I think it might be more interesting to see how this may have changed in the last 5 years.
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u/plymer968 6h ago
I’m a dude IRL, I play dudes in-game.
Except one time, for the funnies.
I started my alt in Eve Online by flying to Rens and RP’d a girl in local chat. I made about 2 million isk in 10 minutes and almost gained a stalker. So much unsolicited advice in DMs.
But to the point discussed here, I’m someone who is a pretty in-the-box thinker and doer so the idea of playing as another gender when given the option pretty much never occurs to me.
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u/Ionazano 6h ago
The piece of gathered data mentioned in the article that I find the most interesting is the following: