Why are people put off by playing your opposite gender?

[Larsadius Rex]

My suite mates were watching me play earlier while they were bored, and they asked to see my character. I zoomed out to 3rd person, and when they saw I was a chick, they flipped out and all started laughing. This is not a thread about insecurity, because it doesn't bother me in the slightest (it was all friendly), it's a thread to ask why other men/women play their opposite gender in video games.

For me, ESO is the only game where I play a woman character. Why? I'm usually a nord, but the ebonheart pact zones are so bleh and meh that I just can't do it. My next favorite archetype is the female ranger. I've never played this archetype in a game before (besides d3, and only recently thanks to the new shadow mantle set), so I figured this would be the best game to branch out and it's a blast.

Why do you play a woman if you're a guy and vice-versa?

[Aeula]

I generally am better at and enjoy customizing female characters more than male characters. Plus I've always liked the warrior woman kind of appearance in fantasy games.

As for people being put off/taking the piss out of you for it I have no idea. It'll probably die off eventually though.

[Tech614]

In games where I customize my characters look I play as the model I like best regardless of gender.

For example in a game like Xenoblade Chronicles X I thought all the male models absolutely looked terrible and ridiculous so I played as a female model.(Me being a male). Funny enough, Fallout 4 was the exact opposite and almost impossible to make a decent looking female model where as making a decent looking wasteland male model was pretty brainless.

It really comes down to what model looks the best to me. If I'm going to spend hours playing a game I'm not going to spend hours playing it as a stupid looking male model just because I'm male.

[Deleted]

People react on people playing the opposite gender?
I've never experienced that, and I've been playing (especially mmos) for quite some time now. Are you playing with members of chinese government? (think it's forbidden to play opposite gender in china).
Anyway, I don't play males because I've specific taste in characters and the male ones can't pull that off :P I like tiny, pink and cute and the female versions of that do it better (gnomes, asuras, aurin) except the one gender race chua that does a good job too.

[Deleted]

I've never experienced something like that, either.
I generally switch gender / race (if available) a lot from game to game to have some variety in my characters.

[The One Percent]

Make male orcs, trolls and undead lose that stupid fucking hunch and I'll play them all day long.

[Rukh]

I play whichever. Generally I don't try to make "myself" in games. I try to make an interesting character that I think would make a good story. So for instance, in guild wars 2, for characters I play a lot, 3 are male, 2 are female. My Fallout 4 character was female. I've done both through Mass Effect.

[Dread Pirate Phayde]

In WoW at least I generally play male because I am, and I like how the gear fits them better, in other games like D3, I play both

[Nirawen]

In games where I customize my characters look I play as the model I like best regardless of gender.

Likewise. Customization options vary from game to game, when I started Blade & Soul recently I intended on playing as a little old man but the aging details sucked so I went something totally different.

Doesn't seem that much different from playing Life Is Strange, Tomb Raider, TWD2 etc as a guy.

[Gandrake]

Because men are ugly as fuck in video games.

There is little to no option for facial hair, the hairstyles are limited, the body types are usually of the hulk smash variety and your character's face either looks like he is 5 years old or used to be or still is a crack addict.

Blood Elf males, for example, are probably the most realistic looking men of warcraft and even then they are still buff as fuck. They have better hairstyles to choose from than any other race but they are so singular in their fantasy elf style that you cannot deviate from it through character aesthetics - you will have to use a helmet.

All of the men in Final Fantasy XIV either look like they are high school kids or belong in a bodybuilding competition.

So to make a long answer short - the video game industry doesn't really capture the attractiveness of men in MMORPGs. You will never see a man who looks like Commander Shepard, Rick Grimes, Ryan Gosling or Tom Hardy in them.

You are just missing out on another aspect of the game by playing a male character if you really enjoy mixing and matching equipment sets and making a unique look because you're always wearing a helmet or have the same haircut.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

They aren't put off by this.

[Tripz]

I pretty much play all female characters (I'm a man) because my father blew my mind one day, he said..

"I would much rather watch a female bounce around than a guy"

My life hasn't been the same since

[May90]

I couldn't care less what other people think about the gender of my character; I am the one playing the game, not them.

As for why... I don't know. I guess, if I am going to play this character possibly for hundreds hours, then I better enjoy what I see on the screen all the way. Plus, in some games there could be specific reasons for that. Like, in Mass Effect my Shepard is always female, since I can't stand male Shepard's voice actor. But in KotoR 2, it is always male, since male characters get Handmaiden as one of the companions, which I kind of like, while female characters get boring Disciple.

[Valentines]

I started as a boy tauren so no one would pick on me. Turns out player size doesn't keep you from being a noob to people =(

[Usagi Senshi]

Female characters just look better in MMOs/most games plus its fun to play dress up with them using various customization. Plus I like cute things (why I like loli type characters in MMOs) so people can fuck off if they're offended by what I like.

[Deleted]

If you need a rebuttal for your freinds just ask them why they want to stare at mens butt for hours.

[Deleted]

There can be all kinds of reasons to play opposite genders. In SWTOR I played a female twilek smuggler, because I always viewed smuggler as a very manly job and wanted to go against conventions, because I am an outlaw goddamit.

In wow, well sometimes the casting animation is better for female, sometimes you play as a draenei, sometimes you just want to preserve lore(nelf priests) and so on.
I rolled a pink haired gnome death knight chick for shits and giggles. Cute but deadly.

[october breeze]

I seriously prefer to look at a female's butt running, 3 hours a day, rather than a male's hairy one!!! :/

[Rainsorrow]

i play both female and male characters, its more like that i like specific gender with specific class, or if i have good name for class that is for specific gender

[Soeroah]

Immaturity, mostly.

There are plenty of valid reasons to play a fictional character of the opposite gender than yourself. Anyone who sees cause to laugh or call it weird, it's just not worth listening to their opinion. If they think they are "right" or "normal" they are utterly insecure.

No one (very few) people give anyone crap about playing races in games that aren't human, so why is gender such a big deal? No one gives novel or movie writers crap about writing characters of the opposite gender, so why is it such a big deal in games? The people who deride anyone for playing a female when they are male IRL strike me as the type to watch porn, for some reason, but I bet they don't give the men who worked on producing that a hard time about having to instruct a woman on what to do and how to act which is, surprise, what you're basically doing with a video game avatar.

Giving a male a hard time for playing a female or a female a hard time for playing a male is basically as valid as giving either a hard time for playing their own gender. "lol dude you want to be a chick" makes as much sense in the context of playing a fictional character as "lol dude you want to bone your hulky guy" does.

Myself, I pick the gender and race of my WoW characters according to what I feel the "fantasy" is for each class. There's obvious wriggle room- there are both male and female Blood Elf mages in the lore, for example. In general, though, I tend to have an idea of each class/race combo as being a certain gender, so I play it. I'm completely on the fence about which gender my Demon Hunter's gonna be. I'd like a female one, but it's been a while since I had a male BE character, and a DH would fit.