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I for the first time tonight created a female Imperial character in Skyrim, all of my previous characters being male. I have to say, it's really liberating to get out of the archetype of a male, even though all of my characters have different personalities and backgrounds, playing as a woman (a beautiful one at that) makes the game feel new again, as if I'm experiencing it for the first time, but as a female.

So, who do you prefer playing as, and does being a male or female yourself impact your choice?

I usually play male. myself. I just don't see many women going out and killing dragons for a living, well except Nord women. Either way, all of my female characters, currently two Bretons, are usually just there. I do not play them often. Something about Skyrim makes me want to be that dude that gets all the ladies. Must be all that testosterone.

I nearly always play female, because I feel awkward playing a male.

Mostly because it feels like I have to do stuff I am comfortable with when playing a male, as I identify more with a him than I do with a her. This sort of limits my joy of playing, and thusly I mostly play females.

Also, I'm a bit put off by the fact that all males are veiny, hairy, brawny people. Even those with low weight. You just can't be a sissy-sized male. That stereotype annoys me slightly.

I have 4 male characters and only 1 female. Only because I modeled it after my gf and asked what skills, guilds she preferred. Other than that I don't expect to play as a female.

Not to mention every time I make a female character she has to be the most attractive person in Skyrim. I'm not weird like that. <_< , >_> , <_<

Whenever I make a male, he has to have a humongous moustache.

Preferably ginger. I don't really know why.

Seriously though, I agree with you a bit Breadmax... It has been a thought at times, but I always end up thinking "How did Bethesda make all these characters without the mouth looking completely idiotic?" because it always does that to me.

No characters creatable by players can be as good as the ones created by the developers.

Patience with the character creation screens, young grasshoppas.

I always play a male, although I am a female. I may sometimes have an alt who is a female, but my main player character is a male, always. It's actually a habit I picked up from online gaming, because females are stupidly singled out and harassed, so I just started to play as a male, and got stuck in the habit. Plus, I'm already a female in real life...so I like to escape from my own skin once in a while.

Avron the S'wit wrote:Patience with the character creation screens, young grasshoppas.

I always play a male, although I am a female. I may sometimes have an alt who is a female, but my main player character is a male, always. It's actually a habit I picked up from online gaming, because females are stupidly singled out and harassed, so I just started to play as a male, and got stuck in the habit. Plus, I'm already a female in real life...so I like to escape from my own skin once in a while.

I actually recognise that feeling, it just feels weird to say that.

I'll play as both, but my women are always lesbians. I just think it would be too weird to have some dude calling me "my love"

That is a bit awkward, now that you mention it...

Male in RL, looking very much like a nord.

Skyrim however is nearly always pretty, young, thin-ish female elf...

soda popinski wrote:I'll play as both, but my women are always lesbians. I just think it would be too weird to have some dude calling me "my love"

That's interesting. I always separate my character from myself - so I don't mind marrying the ladies.

Not sure how to vote. I've made more male characters but I've spent the most time playing my female character. On the topic of sexuality, my characters seem to be strangely ambivalent.

I usually play female because I can't make a good looking male character. Though I usually pick male when playing Dunmer because I don't really care for female Dunmer faces. If that makes any sense... Another thing I don't like playing as are elderly characters, because old people (no offence old people!:D) usually are not out and about killing law breakers in real life or in a fantasy one.

Avron the S'wit wrote: - so I don't mind marrying the ladies.

Behold! Avron the ladies woman!

I generally play female, though I've had a few male characters. Like... Three, maybe. All my other characters have been female. I'm female so I tend to play female. Just seems most natural to me.

So far I have only played female characters because...well...as a female it seems like I relate the better? Hmm. I will probably play a male character someday but I really like the idea of a "femme fatale". As far as choices go, the personality of the character dictates that. I like to rp; so one of my characters is the flirty type that uses her looks for advantage. If I was playing a dude that might be different.

For both Skyrim and Oblivion, I always played a male Khajiit. Until now. Just for a change-up, I created a female Imperial character who is a total demon of chaos. She's heavy on the illusion magic, which I have not used much in the past, and quite a lot of fun. She seems to favor women as followers, household companions, etc. (I guess there are some personal preferences I find hard to let go of, even when role-playing.)

Male. I just enjoy the idea of being a muscle-bound manly man, with lengthy beards, Conan-esque dress style and such, in fantasy universes. Most of my characters are either barbarians or warriors for that reason. I do make female characters of these types sometimes (usually an orc or dunmer, and lacking a beard of course), but I do not play them as much as the males.

JVElEven wrote:I nearly always play female, because I feel awkward playing a male.

Mostly because it feels like I have to do stuff I am comfortable with when playing a male, as I identify more with a him than I do with a her. This sort of limits my joy of playing, and thusly I mostly play females.
[..]

This is very much like me. Except I'm female who almost always plays a male character. I just feel like it makes the roleplaying more fun and is somehow more... liberating. I do can seperate myself from female characters too but with males it comes far more naturally which in my case, I have noted, results in richer characters. I guess I also just enjoy having a chance to "escape from my own skin once in a while" like Avron expressed it.

This isn't always the case though since in Mass Effect for example I picked a female as my first character. It just felt right. I was kind of bored of seeing all these male marine type of characters (hundreds of games have that kind of protagonist) and the default m!Shepard is just so... stereotypical. I do plan on playing ME as a male character too and really want to attempt to make him seem less like your typical space marine.

Come to think of it... none of my Skyrim males is like the Dragonborn we saw in commercials and such. No muscle head Nords. All mer folk instead and when/if I create the classic nord warrior Dragonborn, it's definitely going to be female. I currently have only one female character in Skyrim so this could be the next one. I guess I like to defy stereotypes XD... though it has a lot to do with personal preference too. I like those pointy eared ones dammit!

I am a male, but I tend to play as female characters. (In fact, all three of my current characters are female.) I do like to play as a character, someone that has very few similarities with me as a person. When I play a male, I almost always stray from my intentions and turn him into a Skyrim-mini-me. I feel like it limits my creativity, and it is just boring to be me in game-land whenever I'm already me in real life. (I don't know if that makes sense. XD) I think of Skyrim as a story and the character I play as the protagonist, and I always invent personalities and goals. (Personally, I find that when my female characters marry, a male calling her "love" is more annoying that awkward. Honestly, they seem to say it every other sentence.) When I do play a male it is normally a beast or elf race.

I agree with being able to better separate yourself from your character when they are of the opposite sex. I guess that's why I played almost exclusively female characters in Oblivion, but I rarely play females in Skyrim because I can't stand the female walking animations. Female Orcs are ok though. It would have been excellent if there was a choice between the two animations in character creation.

Is it the hip swinging that's putting you off?

No better way for me to word that, sorry.

I usually play as male, unless i get a certain character concept in mind. But when i do play women it just so happens that

soda popinski wrote: my women are always lesbians.

It does seem kinda odd to marry a man to me. I guess i just think of my female characters as kinda like men lol.

all my male characters just kinda fail for some reason. So most of successful characters are female and I've only had one male character that lasted past level 30

JVElEven wrote:Is it the hip swinging that's putting you off?

No better way for me to word that, sorry.

Yes, the hip movement is a bit much, and it causes one-handed weapons to clip horribly. Also, the way the arms are cocked out to the side all dainty-like. I have never seen a woman walk like that in real life. I know it's a video game and it's not supposed to be real, but it bothers me enough to deter me from playing females.

Edit: While I'm at it, Skyrim's female bodies in general are iffy. Ridiculous swayback and way too much emphasis on bust and butt, to the point where it just looks silly.