In game Gender Dysphoria

[Spelunkette]

I identify as genderqueer or non-binary, so for me it is not truly about choosing a character that represents my true gender. I just prefer picking women characters for a few reasons though. It's still annoying that the vast majority of games star men and don't offer any choice of character customization, so a change of pace is always wonderful. Women avatars generally have better exclusive plot lines or romances, voice actors, and clothing options too—I love customizing my characters to the ends of the earth, and this all makes role-playing way more immersive for me.

Perhaps a little off topic, but I have been playing a lot of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth / Afterbirth lately. It is definitely not for everyone, but it has a very interesting—if not scarily dark—exploration of gender identity in the main character and possible gender dysphoria.

[Midnightstar]

I often play as a male character but i like character creation and if i feel there is more creative options inside the other clothing or items then i often pick the gender i am not instead. So in other words i often play both  

[SanaRinomi]

For those who are non-binary or genderqueer, can you please send me some PMs on what you think a non-binary character should look like acordding to you. I want to add a male, female and non-binary character option in my games

                                       Love,  Sarina!

[MelloYellowSurge]

I first ran into this problem when I tried to play through Saints Row IV with a male character. Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV let you customize the protagonist to your liking, including whether the character is male or female. I didn't even get half way through the game before I had to reset and play as a female character. Even now when I'm playing Grand Theft Auto V in online mode, I play with a female character. I also have the habit of empathizing with said characters when it comes to their fashion choices, particularly with respect to their shoe collections. I don't like buying heels when putting together an outfit for one of my characters. I suppose I have a hard time understanding how someone runs in heels without breaking either their ankles or their shoes. I'm also not sure that heels are a good idea in a gun fight.

[Ellement_of_Freedom]

Absolutely always female characters! It's one of the best ways I deal with dysphoria. I've always used games to escape in that way. Before I even realised I was trans.

[Rufio]

I go back and forth. The male options are often way too beefy and just feel weird to me, so I end up playing women a lot. If I can make a less blocky guy, I will. Sometimes one gender model has hair or clothing options I like better, or if they're voiced, I'll usually play the gender associated with whatever voice I like better.

Basically, neither option feels like me, so I go with the one that feels closer to right or looks more interesting.

[Sadephanie]

I first ran into this problem when I tried to play through Saints Row IV with a male character. Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV let you customize the protagonist to your liking, including whether the character is male or female. I didn't even get half way through the game before I had to reset and play as a female character. Even now when I'm playing Grand Theft Auto V in online mode, I play with a female character. I also have the habit of empathizing with said characters when it comes to their fashion choices, particularly with respect to their shoe collections. I don't like buying heels when putting together an outfit for one of my characters. I suppose I have a hard time understanding how someone runs in heels without breaking either their ankles or their shoes. I'm also not sure that heels are a good idea in a gun fight.

You know Saints Row IV has a plastic surgeon that allows you to change your character's sex right, so you don't have to reset the game and start over.

That's also what I do in SR IV, I start as a male and eventually switch to female, to represent me as a trans person.

[MelloYellowSurge]

You know Saints Row IV has a plastic surgeon that allows you to change your character's sex right, so you don't have to reset the game and start over.

That's also what I do in SR IV, I start as a male and eventually switch to female, to represent me as a trans person.

Not when I did it. It's only in hindsight that I remember that I could have visited Image As Designed and made the changes without losing my progress. I actually thought of making the change midway through in order to get the "Switch Hitter" achievement on Steam. Not that it matters now, I have spent an unhealthy amount of time on GTA V as of late anyway. Needless to say, I haven't played SR III or SR IV since I got GTA V.

[Sadephanie]

Well, it's there if you decide to get back into it

[Atom]

Always played females, always ahve done, always will do. It's my preference because I'm not a boy.

My partner on the other hand, she likes nothing better than to create some Kratos/Orc male hybrid.  Usually because she get's left alone. Unless we're using some kinda VOIP.

[Raye]

For me the dysphoria hits really hard and is sometimes hard to cope with even during my transition. I usually play female characters, but it depends on the game. If it's online most of the time it's a female, but if the MMO has a reputation for >-bleeped-< male players. I play a male character then. Some games have very androgynous characters and is very hard from me to choose which is male or female.

[WarGrowlmon1990]

I usually play as male characters. Dragon Age was the only game where I went back and forth and played as different characters of different genders, due to the different story lines. Also with the DA series I enjoy making characters based off my favorite fictional characters. For example, I made different female gray wardens based off of each of the main characters from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (my favorite was probably R.D [Rainbow Dash] the casteless dwarf who was a total badass). I wouldn't play their files for too long at a time though cause of the dysphoria. My favorite warden I ever made was WarGrowlmon the mage. I made multiple mistakes with that one though cause it was my first playthrough.

[Raye]

I usually play as male characters. Dragon Age was the only game where I went back and forth and played as different characters of different genders, due to the different story lines. Also with the DA series I enjoy making characters based off my favorite fictional characters. For example, I made different female gray wardens based off of each of the main characters from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (my favorite was probably R.D [Rainbow Dash] the casteless dwarf who was a total badass). I wouldn't play their files for too long at a time though cause of the dysphoria. My favorite warden I ever made was WarGrowlmon the mage. I made multiple mistakes with that one though cause it was my first playthrough.

I ended up playing a Mage first time too. I ended up making a male character as well just for the heck of it. I managed to get through with dysphoria 'barely'. He was pretty androgynous as much as I could make him. On top of that he ended up becoming a Death Knight. Dual Wielding, full plate, + so many active buffs. HP + Mana were Balanced not one was higher. I killed off the Arch Demon with his own dead subordinates with Waking Bombs. It was pretty funny. And I could tank any boss with or without a living party.

[Sena]

It doesn't bother me when i play with a male char but most of the time i play with a female one.

[Platzhalter]

For me, it depends... most of the time, I'll actually have two or more separate savegames, especially when you can do a lot of customisation. Otherwise, it's whatever is more pleasant to look at. Yes, it's shallow... but hey, gaming is for fun.

[ghoulified g]

I usually start out with a male character while I'm playing the game properly, and if it's a game like Fallout 3/NV/4 or The Elder Scrolls 3/4/5/Online where you can have multiple saves then I might go back later for roleplaying purposes and make a female character. I'm doing that with FO4 at the moment, I have my main one, Ed, who did the main stuff in the game, and I have a woman done with the Alternate Start mod called Hellcat (yep) who works as Nick Valentine's assistant. I'll probably do the Railroad questline with her since I couldn't with Ed q:

[SiobhánF]

My answer used to always be, "I just get so tired of following a dude and felt like following a female around the game was more to my liking. 'Cause which one would you want to see more? The dude or the girl?" But, even when I would play male characters, I would eventually make them more feminine and they ended up looking gender neutral or like a brawny female, anyway. I just choose female characters, now, because I identify with them more than the male ones. I'm already out to my wife, so she understands. Haven't told the kiddos yet, but they've asked about it and I tell them that I just like the female characters more. They seem to take it for what it is.

[Alexa08]

i play and assign any character in my games to the true character/gender that i feel, most of my games use to be on computer years ago as i felt gaming consoles to be pointless if i could get the game for my PC, i now find my self with a PC and a PS3, (PS3 was only brought to play PlayStation exclusive games primarily) both my PC and PS3 have user accounts best reflected to my self, some games i find difficult as there are only a male option like GTA 5 only having Michael, Trevor, and Franklin to choose from i don't really play the game much now anyway, i also play juiced 2 as i love cars (not the factory stock ones) and i also play a game called OMSI Bus Simulator, you can mod buses change repaints and finally drive them can be fun and till you hit a lamp post like me  , both of these games allow me to choose a female characters, games like Gran Turismo, Forza and others i have all have the option of male or female character rolls, i play other games but if i dislike them i uninstall them off my system or in a PS3 scenario i would trade the game for something else of interest.

[JoJo87]

Glad I came across this thread as I was wondering if others used video games as a sort of coping mechanism. When it comes down to the video games where you get to create your own character, for years I would always play a male character, but I never really liked how any of the character models would look, especially since I personally don't like having short hair. So either I was always unsatisfied with their appearance, or I'd try to make them as androgynous as possible. Then later I got over the phobia of playing a female character. Certainly helped when a friend would justify his reasoning by saying "if I have to stare at a character's butt all day, I'd rather it be a woman" and ever since I started doing so, it feels comfortable to me.

So nowadays, I almost always play female characters. Slight exceptions would be games like Fire Emblem where there's no same-sex romance options (I know Fates does, but it's only 1 character for each gender) or Dragon Age: Inquisition because Cassandra is <3 and you can only romance her as a male :/ ...there was also a fairly recent stint where I was playing male characters more in games like The Old Republic and FFXIV because an ex-girlfriend would keep asking me why I played female characters and she wanted me to play male characters to suit her characters.. yeah it was dumb. But games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Fallout, Skyrim, etc. female all day, ev'r day!

Apologies for the rambling towards the end.

[Angela Drakken]

In MMORPGs I've always chosen either female characters or the huge gross monsters. (Not sure what if anything that says about me or how I 'see myself' as far as the monsters go lol) It was very rare for me to play a male character that matched my assigned gender and when I did I was always in character 100% of the time as this snide, bitter over confident, roguish, yet charming thief, Drakken. (I use this character in DnD as well because he's awesome when he makes his rare appearances.) I feel really bad for doing it, (but not at all) but I've gone so far as to sometimes use female voice modulation in VOIP in games because I *HATE* the way I sound.. And if not that, I just refuse to speak or pretend I don't have a microphone.. =(