Gender selection within Video Games

>1) What gender do you identify as?
Male (gay)
>2) What gender do you pick in-game?
Always Male
>3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency?
i suppose, personally i just prefer looking at a qt buff guy over a grill
>Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?
depends on the game and the player i guess. it certainly offers the opportunity

>>3835110
This was a thread a few weeks ago. You missed out OP

>>3835110
I'll bite
>1) What gender do you identify as?
female/woman/whatever specific term you want to use
>2) What gender do you pick in-game?
Whichever i feel like at the time.
>3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency? Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?
Having the option is nice, and if there are romance option it can easily subvert stuff, but as a TTRPG player, it really doesn't directly affect my choice. I am not my character.

>>3835154

Damnit...was it particularly insightful?

>Male, cis
>Usually male, either so I can role-play the character, or simply because I enjoy looking at him. I'll occasionally play as a female just to mix things up and add a bit of variety to the game. I don't mind when games enforce predefined genders, though. For example, Gauntlet's Valkyrie character class is always female, and she's one of my favorite classes because of her balanced skills.
>Gender selection certainly gives the game more depth. For that matter, I wish more games would allow players to role-play sexual orientation as well, maybe in the same sense that games like The Sims, Dragon Age or Fallout: New Vegas handle it. The more choices the player is given, the more immersive quality the game has.

Hope that helps, OP.

>1) What gender do you identify as?
Male
>2) What gender do you pick in-game?
Depends on romance choices and which looks better. Quite often I tend to pick female characters nowadays if I have to choose between them.
>3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency? Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?
I guess it's nice especially if they have different romance options, so the next time I play I can do things a bit different than the last time. But seriously I don't give a fuck, I don't buy games with character selection in mind.

>>3835110
>1) What gender do you identify as?
Male
>2) What gender do you pick in-game?
Male
>3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency? Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?
Retarded question, neither enforce anything and both have it's own merits.

>1) What gender do you identify as?
trans female
>2) What gender do you pick in-game?
generally female
>3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency?
of course. being able to build and entire virutal avatar from scratch, including gender, is something that I rebemember as liberating from an early age. It meant that I could play whatever game it was as I really wanted to be, not as on the predefined character I was in rl.
> Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?
I believe so. If you had an extremely introvert and geeky childhood/puberty like mine you know the feeling of being yourself more freely behind an avatar (wtf am I saying, this is 4chan), and I remember clearly how I always felt good for being able to have fun as the gender I identified most.

>>3835468
wtf *remember

>>3835468

I like this response. I can relate to this, even though I'm a gay cis guy and not trans. I grew up in the Deep South where admitting you were gay essentially meant being disowned by your parents and having the shit beat out of you, so being able to express myself openly through my choices in RPGs and sim games was definitely a liberating experience.

>>3835110
Cis gay male

Almost always male. Occasionally I try to make a female character to change things up a bit, but thosr characters tend not to last long because sex appeal usually wins out. I just can't resist a man in plate.

It depends on the game. In some games like saints row for instance, you can do practically anything with your character. You can be hyper masculine with a manly voice and manly clothes, and then halfway through, change your voice and clothes to be super feminine while keeping your face intact.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is like the Sims for instance, where you have to pay $60 to be able to wear women's clothing on your male sim and only the more "compatible" AKA masculine clothes work.

The big thing you have to remember with video games, is that the only thing they all have in common is the fact that they're video games. You can't make generalized statements about them because they're all so different.

>>3835110
The only games I really play is various Pokemon games and Skyrim. I tend to play as both sexes frequently.

>>3835110
Cis les

Always female

I have no idea what you're asking in question three but I like it when I can play as a female character, I find it a bit weird playing as a dude in games, it's like harder to relate to the character, you know? Even in shit like Path of Exile I pigeon hole myself to the female-only classes (they have the best tree starting points for the most fun builds anyway).

1) What gender do you identify as?
>cis bi leaning les (kind of on the fence)
2) What gender do you pick in-game?
>male
3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency? Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?
>idk, its just that when I used to play games there was never a choice of male/female, only male. So I got used to picking that.

>>3835110

>1) What gender do you identify as?
female

>2) What gender do you pick in-game?
female, except for second characters in MMOs

>3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency? Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?
yes, was kinda pissed when i found that awesome old game called freelancer that there is no way to mod it to have a female character. i am into rpgs and like my character to be and look as much as me as possible. that counts only for the main game / main character, sometimes i enjoy a role switch too.
so id say alot of games do give us the the opportunity to fuck around with norms.

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trap/tranny/qtfemboy

feminine males (frodo) , badass females (mulan, samus), mfw no trap main chars in vidya (sheik?)

pretty limited, even in character creation its hard to make chars i like... im more a fan of sliders than presets... also voices/sound animations tend to be pretty limiting

>>3835110
>1) What gender do you identify as?
Female? or are you asking about if I'm trans too? If so, mtf.

>2) What gender do you pick in-game?
Female

>3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency? Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?
A tiny bit on the first one, if it's open world or MMO it needs it, otherwise there's little point of gender options. And for the second question? I don't know? All guys play girls in video games anyway, given the option, so I don't think it changes anything at all.

>1) What gender do you identify as?

Female

>2) What gender do you pick in-game?

Female

>3) In your opinion, does the option of gender selection entail a sense of gender freedom and agency?

It does tremendously for me, because I don't really go out and present female at all so even having to have a girl represent me in a game makes me feel a little better.

>Does it subvert heterosexual gender norms of merely help to reinforce them?

It can depending on what content is offered. I'm not a genderspecial though so I'm okay with wearing pretty things, this isn't about "sticking it to da man" for me.

>>3835110
1) Male
2) Varies
3a) No.
3b) Depends on game.

>>3835110
Cis Gay Male
Male, though I have a soft spot for cute girls so I could play as a female one if she fit the criteria
I don't see what heterosexuality has to do with gender norms, but I do think that it gives the player more freedom. Though I don't think its existence is required for someone to enjoy a game, not me at least.

>>3835110
I identify as a woman. I'm mtf.

I pick female characters 100% of the time when it's possible. I build all-women squads/teams/groups whenever possible too.

It absolutely empowers gender agency to have a choice, and it undermines patriachal norms too. Having a default female character with no choice undermines them more though.

You know what's surprising, is most bigger games that allow gender choice have lots and lots of dialogue that doesn't reflect it. Assumptions about the gender of the characters is almost always present (and they don't assume it's women....) Quite revealing. If you've never built an all-women's team in a large RPG for instance, try it.

>>3836264

That's a really good point, would you care to elaborate by any chance? I'm thinking of putting it into my dissertation and an example would be nice. Just of the top of your head that you can think of :)

>>3836274
Uhm, well I remember Might and Magic X had a lot of that. Dialogue from NPCs would refer to us "men", and my ladies were all like.... excuse us?

>>3836290
total fucking bullshit rage washes over me when even my fucking games misgender me.

srsly. fuck you guys.

>>3836290

Haha seriously? Yeah that's a brilliant point. Will be really useful as a topic to explore as well. Thanks!!!!