In game Gender Dysphoria

[AwishForXX]

A few times in recent years as I'm playing an RPG such as Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3/NV or even Mass Effect, my wife has asked me why I am always playing a female character.  I have either deflected the question or just given some obviously unsatisfactory answer. When one of my sons first introduced me to gameing he had installed Oblivion on the custom built PC we had built together.  I honestly tried to play a male character but that didn't even last the length of the tutorial before I had to start all over again with a female character.  I have never played a male character since.  Why should I, I have the option in game and it feels so intolerably unnatural for me to do anything but play as a female.  Does anyone else have a similar experience?  If the option is given in RPGs and FPSs, what gender do you play?

C.

[King Malachite]

If the option is given to me, I will always choose to play as a male.  The only exception was Smackdown vs Raw 2008 where I created a wrestling woman, but she had facial hair.  In Saints Row 2, I created a male with a female voice.  I hate being a girl in real life so why should I suffer in video games?

[AwishForXX]

I hate being a girl in real life so why should I suffer in video games?

I agree wholeheartedly,  I may be outwardly male but I see no reason to suffer in game, I play to enjoy the game.  I can't enjoy it if someone is forcing me to play in a way I can't tolerate. although in Minecraft and Tekkit my skin looks like Bender.  I don't really have to see it and I play publicly on servers where people know me and I'm not out too.

[King Malachite]

I agree wholeheartedly,  I may be outwardly male but I see no reason to suffer in game, I play to enjoy the game.  I can't enjoy it if someone is forcing me to play in a way I can't tolerate.

Exactly, I play video games to escape reality.

[Elspeth]

I agree wholeheartedly,  I may be outwardly male but I see no reason to suffer in game, I play to enjoy the game.  I can't enjoy it if someone is forcing me to play in a way I can't tolerate. although in Minecraft and Tekkit my skin looks like Bender.  I don't really have to see it and I play publicly on servers where people know me and I'm not out too.

I'll rarely play a game where I'm not female. Minecraft graphics are so crude, and gender is undetectable among the testificates so far as I can tell. But I also share an account with my son, because Mojang refused to take the credit card I used to open his account to make as separate second one for me. I did change skins once but don't mess with many mods there, apart from sometimes playing the snapshots to get the benefit of new features early. 

Then again, I also was out to my spouse with no concealment as long as at least 20 years ago, so I've rarely felt a need to hide, except for personal safety.  I also find I play fewer and fewer games over time. Skyrim was the last one I played extensively, and that was on a PS3.

[bethany]

I will more often than not play as a female character. The exception being in an online game on xbox live where until recently I was in the closet. When I played through Fable 2 I would use a male character but dress him in female attire. I loved the humor written into that game, even though the game itself was okay at best.

On playstation's home I am exclusively female.

[Emily Aster]

I mix it up sometimes, but most of my toons are female. It's rough sometimes. People don't seem to believe that women play those games, so I either get stalked/griefed by some idiot telling me it's wrong for a guy to play a chick toon, or I switch toons to find some peace.

[ZoeM]

Always. Always, always, always. Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind, MMOs... I don't think I ever have male characters - except in Runescape, and that character visited the Makeover Mage as soon as I gathered the gold. Mind, this was when I was very young and surrounded by inquisitive siblings. Had a heck of a time passing that one off.

[Carrie Liz]

I absolutely always play as a female character. Before I started actually admitting my transsexualism in real life, playing as female characters in video games was pretty much the only way that I ever really got to feel like my true self. I played as female characters in games like Tony Hawk, female characters in Pokemon, female characters in the lone MMO that I ever played, and a female avatar in Second Life. I pretty much never play as a male. What's the point of living in a fantasy world where you can be absolutely ANYBODY that you want to be, and yet play as the same gender that I hate in real life?

[AscendantDevon]

I play characters of either gender, depending on hair choices, whether my gender will change dialogue choices or not, or just the character I'm making up in my head at the time. If There are going to be gender specific sort of things, I tend to go with my preferred gender, but in things like MMO's, where it doesn't matter, I can go either way.

[~RoadToTrista~]

I almost always play a girl, but I don't see myself as being the character or anything. If I'm playing as a human character I frequently play outside my race, and I especially like to make black female characters just because I feel they're underrepresented in video games.

In game series like Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls where every game has a different hero, I try to keep it varied since they all follow the same history with different protagonists, it would just seem kind of dumb if every single one of these warrior peoplez was a woman. (My Warden is a female elf rogue while my Hawke is a male human warrior, or my Dragonborn is a female orc while my Nerevarine is a male dark elf)

I don't mind playing a guy character but I like using a girl character more. It's just more interesting.

Oh and in WoW I never play as a guy, I try and it's just too weird for me. But there's tons of men and women who have no problem doing it.

[luna nyan]

Always play as a female.  When people ask, I just say if I have to look at a characters rear end for hours on end, a female one is better to look at.  I don't explain why a female is better, I just let peoples assumptions take them where they want to go. =)

[Wynternight]

In MMOs or single player games I always play females and present exclusively female in MMOs.

When I played tabletop games I always played female characters which tended to get me grief from my friends and other gamers. Every few games someone would make a snarky comment or ask me why and I came close to telling them a few times. I think one or two figured it out but no one ever said anything. I haven't played a pen and paper game in three years now and I miss the release it gave.

[spacial]

Always play as a female.  When people ask, I just say if I have to look at a characters rear end for hours on end, a female one is better to look at.  I don't explain why a female is better, I just let peoples assumptions take them where they want to go. =)

This is exactly what I say. I have to look it it, I may as well look at something nice.

It's perfectly honest and don't see why I need to explain myself to anyone.

[Chaos]

I always do the same as well,playing the male role.I do this will all mmo's and even do so in roleplay (something i do on another program tho its not a game but 3d program) and i have also tried playing the *female* roles but never ever could get into it,almost like-playing my real self and no..not an option if i can chose otherwise.I play games like WOW,EQ2,some free based ones like battle of the immortals.

[Chaos]

I absolutely always play as a female character. Before I started actually admitting my transsexualism in real life, playing as female characters in video games was pretty much the only way that I ever really got to feel like my true self. I played as female characters in games like Tony Hawk, female characters in Pokemon, female characters in the lone MMO that I ever played, and a female avatar in Second Life. I pretty much never play as a male. What's the point of living in a fantasy world where you can be absolutely ANYBODY that you want to be, and yet play as the same gender that I hate in real life?

Speaking of second life,IMVU is one place i roleplay and do so as male.more of a real 3d experience with real people while enjoying the fantasy (created) life one creates.

[lawliver]

I usually play as the male gendered character in any sort of game, really. i think I do it because the male gendered character pleases me more than the female. It sort of mirrors how i feel inside. As weird as that may sound. 

[Jayne]

If a game doesn't give me the choice of gender then who cares as long as the game's fun to play with a compeling story.

Before I came out I played mainly male characters, when I did use a female character & get questioned about it i'd respond that i'd rather look at a womans ass for however many hours the game took than a mans ass & everyone bought that line.
Feel free to pinch the excuse if it lets be be yourself on or offline.

Nowdays I always pick a female character, fem-Shep is my fave & i've played Dragon's Dogma repeatedly in a quest to unlock some of the rarer & prettier clothes.

I love Lost Planet 2, my Femme Fatale character is at lvl 97, I love the emotes & whilst playing co-op I wind my mate up by blowing love heart kisses at him or doing the sexy cat woman crawl towards him Lol

[anya921]

when I get to choose the gender It has always been female characters. I remember one time one of my friends refused play Mortal combat with me saying that I always use female characters and he didn't wanted beat up a girl even in a game lol. Well I can't blame him for that too. I always used tell them go easy on me coz there are fighting against a girl.  . If only they knew what I was talking about LoL.
Ohhhh... the good old days

[Tossu-sama]

Even before letting myself admit I'm trans, I played as male characters if there was the option to choose.

Not that I would feel dysphoric about a character in a game, I just prefer male characters for some reason. Like if I have to name the character myself, I'm completely clueless to name a female one. I'm better at naming males. XD

Then again, the only game where it's kinda obligatory to play as a female character is Okami but that's just because English speaking people just had to give Amaterasu a gender-specific pronoun. Seriously, that character is the sun god's incarnation, does gender really matter THAT much?
And here I can boast about the excellence of Finnish third person pronouns that are NOT gender-specific~