[astronomy_psi]

Do you prefer playing a male or female hero in adventure games?

I remember hesitating about buying ‘The Longest Journey’ because of having to play as a female. Images of Pride & Prejudice and other girly films came to mind…!

But, I really enjoyed playing April Ryan, and equally enjoyed playing Kate Walker in ‘Syberia’ – the characters seemed much more involved in the game and much funnier.

[nordic_guy]

I don't really care what the gender of the character I'm playing as is, as long as the character is "real" and suits the type of game. Like I think playing as a male guy in Syberia would have been kind of weird, as would a female wannabe-pirate in Monkey Island be.
But I would never not play a game just because the main character is male/female.

[Bastich]

I find the sex of the character to be irrelevant for the most part. I guess if I was forced to choose at gunpoint, I would pick female because they are nicer to look at.

[mag]

In adventure games I generally find gender irrelevant, but nordic_guy brings up a good point. Gender does carry with it certain conotations. I think good writers can use those to their advantage when deciding what sex to make their characters. That's not to say turn the characters into blatant stereotypes. It's just something to keep in mind that can really enhance the story. Since adventure games are more of a predetermined story in that regard, I have no preference other than what fits the story.

I do have a gender preference in RPGs, though. My male chauvinism just won't allow me to play as a female character for some reason. It's really annoying too having the most powerful character class in Diablo II off limits to me because of my ego.

mag

[The Seed]

Generally I quite like may lead character in an adventure games to be a bit of a loser, i.e. Guybrush, Simon the Sorcerer, Manny at the start of Grim Fandango, so I guess from that point of view I prefer a male character, because you can't really associate an attractive female character as being a bit of a loser.

[Bastich]

Originally Posted by mag

I do have a gender preference in RPGs, though. My male chauvinism just won't allow me to play as a female character for some reason. It's really annoying too having the most powerful character class in Diablo II off limits to me because of my ego.

LOL! I am the opposite. I always play a female, if given the option. The reason is largely because the option to play anything other than male rarely existed in RPGs and such in the early days. You always had to play the same stereotypical male and I got bored of it. That said, I prefer when female characters have different skills than the males. It is more realistic and interesting that way.

[fov]

It doesn't make a difference to me. I don't prefer one to the other. Now, if the female character is annoying (like both in KQ7) -- that's a turn off. But male characters can be just as annoying. I really can't stand George Stobbard.

In RPGs, I go more by which characters I like too. Sometimes they happen to be girls, sometimes they happen to be boys. But I don't find myself choosing girls over boys if I like the male characters better.

I do think it's funny when men say they're apprehensive to play a game with a female character, because women are sort of expected to play games with male characters without thinking anything of it. But that has also changed a lot in recent years. I remember being thrilled when KQ4 came out... Rosella was cool (in that game, at least). I just picked up one of the Laura Bow games and am looking forward to trying it out.

-emily

[WontonGoodsoup]

I don't mind either way. I think that the choice of character sometimes leads to a better perspective of the storyline. For instance in TLJ i felt it was genius to cast a female lead. Just for the fact that you don't always see women in the role of "saving the world" it gave it a more exciting feel for me. I don't think i would have felt the same with a guy lead in that game.

[mag]

Originally Posted by Bastich
That said, I prefer when female characters have different skills than the males. It is more realistic and interesting that way.

That can be cool, but I think a lot of games carry it too far. Kind of like how every female character in a Japanese RPG is a healer. And every female character in any fighting game uses fast attacks. It's almost ridiculous sometimes.

mag

[WontonGoodsoup]

Kind of like how every female character in a Japanese RPG is a healer.

You can't say every Japanese RPG...just from Final Fantasy X alone the 3 girls in your party are a summoner, thief, and black mage.

[Zanthia]

I prefere female characters. Mainly because there are so little of them.

[Luke]

As long as the character fits the game, genders don't matter much. The days of using gender as a unique or "groundbreaking" element of a game are long gone (e.g. KQ4), While it's obvious that there are far fewer games with female main characters out there, are there too few? Personally, I don't really think so. It just depends on the type of game the designer is creating, and what he or she thinks is the best approach.

Luke

[mag]

Originally Posted by WontonGoodsoup
You can't say every Japanese RPG...just from Final Fantasy X alone the 3 girls in your party are a summoner, thief, and black mage.

Obviously I was exaggerating. But it is a very noticable trend even if it isn't apparent in every instance.

There actually seems to be a lot more games now with female characters. So it's not really a matter of needing more. What we need are more realistic female characters. Almost all of the females in games now are either fair princesses waiting to be rescued or adventurous amazons with as little clothing as possible. Adventure games do seem to be the best genre in that regard, though.

mag

[Leonardi]

I don't really care about the gender of the character as long as it fits the kind of game I'm playing. For instance, a game like Serious Sam, as a parody of macho-behavior, would never work with a female character or a male character that wouldn't be such a macho man. Same goes for the witty and charm of Laura Bow, it would never work as a man.

[Bastich]

Originally Posted by mag

What we need are more realistic female characters. Almost all of the females in games now are... either fair princesses waiting to be rescued or adventurous amazons with as little clothing as possible.

Well, I see the problem with the fair princesses anyway...

[Zack]

In my opinion, I really don't mind whether or not I play a male or female hero. I just like seeing a good story in adventure games, and I want the hero to be a likable character. However, April Ryan (The Longest Journey) and Kate Walker (Syberia) are the two best adventure game female heroes ever, mainly because they're just so real. They act like normal people who are both forced to go on an incredible journey. I've also been partial to George Stobbard instead of Gabriel Knight, because he and I are both from California. I also love playing Tex Murphy games, and I keep wondering if he and Chris Jones will ever come back.

Now, this is going to be a bit off-topic, but the only female character I've really loved playing is not the star of an adventure game, but an action game instead. That female character is Cate Archer from the No One Lives Forever games. I just found it so refreshing to actually play a female action hero who knows how to take care of herself, and is at the same time, gorgeous!

[convexion]

I prefer playing as a female because of da booty. Ho yeah, I said boo-tay! Seriously though, I really don't care so long as the character isn't hollow and the story isn't cliché.

[MeddlingMonk]

It doesn't matter what the gender of the main character is. Hell, it doesn't matter what species the main character is. I approach adventure games as a form of 'prose' fiction; I don't chose games based on protagonist gender any more than I chose novels for such a reason. While I can see why a person might, given that some might in some way identify with a game character more than a novel character (since they control the game character), for me it isn't relevant.

[crabapple]

I usually prefer male characters in adventure games.
Female characters tend to be more annoying.

[lmxplx]

Don't much matter either way, as long as the character fits into the story. However, I much prefer first person games where I am the main character and am free to choose my own persona.