Why not?

As far as I can remember, that’s been the reason. All the characters I’d played as (Lara Croft and Aloy excluded) were male. Why not a girl?

So really, it’s just been for the novelty.

I played Mass Effect as female Shepard because i heard the voice acting was better. Generally for RPGs I play as “myself” though.

I was once handed a princess to use as a playable character in my first text-based chat roleplaying game with 3-5 other people of girls and boys.
It quickly grew on me and I started using girls more often as my playing character from then on.

I won’t deny that looking at them could be generally nicer, but I believe it’s not the main reason. At least when it comes to text roleplaying, I like to (try) think and behave like a lady in games, to roleplay in their world of view. It’s neat in its own way and I love the immersion when it hits me!

My favorite reason is seeing women in roles not explicitly written for women. Either it helps me reframe what women can be (reframing being a great reason to read stories anyway) or it points out how hilariously coded those roles are.

My second favorite reason is about playing something I am not, and examining how that changes my outlook and decisions. It’s the same reason I want to play as a robot, or an alien, or a golem, or a dwarf, or whatever else.

Lastly, but maybe most poignantly, is women tend to have more varied depictions than men. There are far too many depictions of men that are brutish, boisterous, and warlike, which I am extremely not, and usually don’t have any want to play as. Games that give you a character creator are way better in this respect, and I’m much closer to 50/50 male/female characters in those.

I always thought it was weird to model a game avatar after myself. I always roll the “random character” button (shout-out Monster Factory) when it’s available, keeps things simple.

Sometimes.

Most of the time, I just make myself and I’m a guy. But in games where I am constantly making characters, like Elden Ring or something, I just slap the random button a bunch and whatever it gives me I accept.

Well… Fallout 2 I am always a woman because it makes dealing with the slaver leader a helluva lot easier.

If it’s a third person game, I’d rather be looking at her ass throughout the playthrough than his.

I like the crossbow.

I don’t relate with masculine characters at all. No idea why as I don’t identify as a woman. I have very little association or ownership of my gender.

Also character creators traditionally don’t have a ton of options beyond the binary. Hair, pronoun options tend to be most of the extent.

Also feminine bodies tend to be more interesting. More curves and interesting shapes while a lot of masculine bodies are rendered as blocky.

I don’t go deep into role play stuff. My character is a character, not me. In games where it’s “pick a man or a woman” only I’ll tend to pick women because the voice actors are often better and you can better “play barbie” with character customization, plus of course the cliche reason.

With games that allow full customization I’ll often make androgynous/non-binary characters with various dials at either extreme trying to break the character builder.

By-and-large, they are more committed to the VO from my experience, which lead to a more believable character and is almost always more immersive as a result.

Male VO is always played as arrogant and tryhard/heroic but comes off as cringy and bland. Whereas female VO seems to typically be played as a survivor-type just trying to figure things out and live. Which is almost always the correct call for the character.

I saw some Avatar gameplay recently. There was a portion of aerial flight where you can enjoy the view of a naked ass in hi-def. I’m guessing they chose to play a female Pandorian for the same reason most players choose a female character in video games, (naked) male asses are a niche market for gameplay purposes.

Girls pretty

But, if there’s an option to be a robot, I’ll pick that over a male or a female character. For example, PSO2

Why not? I have to roleplay as myself all the rest of the time.

It’s hard to explain more concretely than “I just like women more”. In multiplayer (and actual roleplay) games (and even emojis in WhatsApp) I tend to play women as well and won’t correct someone when they use “she/her”.

Now that I read it here from a couple other people, I would also agree that the female options are usually more interesting and grounded in all aspects (Voice acting, looks, skills).

I don’t think I’m an unhatched trans (learned that term in the comments here hah), because I really don’t mind being a guy. But I also wouldn’t mind if I had been born a woman?