General Discussion

Don't know if this has been done before, but it's a subject that's piqued my interest.

So, current belief is that men outnumber women in gaming. This is more true in the MMO scene, far less so in the casual gaming scene. It's also slowly closing. Unfortunately despite many a web search I can't actually find hard core reliable statistics, just broad based statements... and last time I saw a television special on it, I neglected to write them down.

One statistic I did remember though is that it was found that about 80% of female characters in a game are played by men.

Now, my personal experiences in dealing with individuals are limited by number, and littered with so many different results, so I thought I'd fling the question out to a larger base of users. What gender do you play, and what are you're motivations for doing so?

I know one man that plays women because he likes escaping the assumptions people tend to make outright about men as most are not true for him personally. I know one girl that plays men because she got sick of being hit on within an hour of logging on. One guild mate is a guy that plays women because his own character is the one he's stuck staring at the most so it might as well be one he finds aesthetically pleasing.

So what do you all have to say? Please, tell your friends. The more examples, the better then data. You don't need to give up your character name or anything if you're worried what people would think, I'm just honestly curious here. Heck, you can even do the poll without having to post at all.

Although I can roleplay, I don't associate myself to my characters at all...it is easier to appreciate a girl toon than a guy, and be fond of that toon.  See, if I am to play a toon hundreds of days I must like her and find her sweet.  I am a real geek, but heck, I like to like my toons.  Especially when I hear them jump, a human male barbarian is a big: turn the sound off you damn it!  While a girl...let's hit spacebar again! :P

I do believe there are more girls than guys in some casuals games.  I am pretty confident telling you that more girls are playing Bejewels than guys, maybe the same for Puzzle Pirates.

i'm not sure what girls playing casual games like bejeweled has anything to do with MMOs or this topic at all.   Not that I dont play those games when I'm bored at work but its a huge misconception that there aren't alot of girls in MMOs and most of us enjoy 'casual' games over MMOs (total lie).  Please don't spread any more of your 'confident' opinion around ... you have no facts...your not even a female!  Heck its completely off topic and opens up a HUGE can of worms your going to end up turning this thread into a girls vs boys debate from hell just like the last dozen threads that turned that way.

I break gender barriers .. I rarely play female toons.  Sometimes I do but only when its a game where their body isn't completely hanging out of their clothes.    Of course thats just my own personal like for my female toons.    Most often its because I like to create a little bit of a persona for the character even though I'm not a major Role player in MMOs its fun to have a character!

Glad to contribute to an interesting poll.

I am male and I have always made male characters.  In-fact, in some Korean MMO games that force you to be female to be the type of class that I want to play I just quit and uninstall right there.

I consider my character an extension of my own person & want it to resemble something close to myself, or at least someone that I would want to be.  My "avatar", as it were.

100% of characters in online video games are played by people I'll never meet (nor wish to), which makes their real-life gender completely irrelevant to me. Personally, I'm far more disturbed by folks obsessed with this question, than whatever someone chooses for their pixelated avatar.

How come this comes up again? :P

From the entertainment software association:

• Thirty-eight percent of game players are women.
• Women age 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (30%) than boys age 17 or younger (23%) 

Perhaps it's rather skewed in MMO's because they are all about teh kill?

Originally posted by hanshotfirst

100% of characters in online video games are played by people I'll never meet (nor wish to), which makes their real-life gender completely irrelevant to me. Personally, I'm far more disturbed by folks obsessed with this question, than whatever someone chooses for their pixelated avatar.

Although I do find men playing female avatars sorta strange. But hey thats just me, whatever spins your dials. The only time I really find out is on team speak so its a non-factor anyway as I hardly ever use or even look at text chat.

Two more options missing from that poll

Males that play both

Females that play both

I broke the species barrier!

I play both...it depends on the game. In some games, armor for male characters is purely sad, so I play a female character, and vice versa.