What about you? In MMOs' or RPGs, I can't stand playing anything but human. I try, occasionally, but I always grow board within an hour and go back to plaing a human character.

I just can't see the appeal of an Elf ot Dwarf or what have you.

 

I have to play as a humanoid, the closer the better. Elves are tolerable, as are most human hybrids. I have serious difficulties playing as anything that's noticeably inhuman, like the Argonians/Khajiit in The Elder Scrolls.

 

I've never really considered it, but I guess I also stick pretty close to human. Humans, elves or some short of half-human or half-elf is about all I'd really play even in a system with as many races as Dungeons and Dragons.

 

I've got a friend who refuses to play as a woman in any video game. That's not just RPGs; it's everything. Hes an avid gamer, but he'll never play Tomb Raider, Mirror's Edge, or Portal. No fem-Shep, and I expect that he'd have to stop playing Resident Evil when the first Jill Valentine or Claire Redfield arc begins. I think he even extends this prohibition to books with a female lead - the only reason I haven't introduced him to Worm.

I wish we could go back in time and have him play the original Metroid on NES. For those who don't know, Metroid has you play as a power armour clad hero who is famously revealed at the end of the game to have been a woman the entire time. When I described that to my friend he was appalled. He considered it to be a personal betrayal to invest that much time and effort into finishing a game only to find out that you'd been playing as a woman the entire time.

He's a man, so he only plays men.

 

Is man really the right word?

I usually play humans, but in stuff like DOA, I have basically picked every race so far. In Skyrim I stayed with the human races though, in the two or three play attempts that I did but that maybe simply because it didn't have any playable dwarves.

As for the gender, I really try to pick female main chars if I can, but my buying the game is not dependent on the gender of the protag. Unless it is Mass Effect, there, male Shep just seems wrong and I couldn't even get through the first mission with him.

 

I almost never play humans. They're so average and commonplace, and often ugly brutes with ugly animations.

 

If the game is dominated by good story, then i tend to always play a human-esque (humans, elves etc) male. I find it hard to connect otherwise.

Games like WoW, Tomb Raider,LoL or GW2 where the story is either weak or not focused on the protagonist I'll play as anything.

 

The correct term is "getting wood."

Also, it really shouldn't take an hour.

That aside, I don't see why your somewhat mystifying arousal is any reason to switch races. Unless you're religiously opposed to arousal, 'cause... damn, soooo many religions are.

 

You can troll so much better on a non-human, why would you want to be safe and boring?

 

Honestly, unless I'm forced to play as a human, I really don't like to. I mean, an RPG is a means to create your own adventure, to be whatever you want to. Why would you want to be something similar to yourself? You could be a Twi'lek refugee or an Argonian tribesman; a savage Orc berserker or a deadly Wood Elf archer.

The possibilities only provide further enrichment of the environment created by developers. So why play a boring vanilla human?

As for male versus female, I generally go male simply because I connect better, but I have nothing against playing female characters.

 

I typically play human or at least humanoid characters, and I will always choose a female character over a male one. I did play as a Khajiit in Skyrim though, I like cats ^_^

 

I don't really have a preference one way or another for what I play. In Dragon Age: Origins I like playing a Dwarf. In The Elder Scrolls I like playing an Argonian. When I play D&D I play whatever makes the most sense for my class. The only time I have a specific preference is if the game is in third person perspective. Because if I'm going to be staring at someone's ass for hours at a time I'd rather it be a females.

 

I think being able to immerse yourself in your character in a role-playing game can be great fun, and playing as a non-human or as the opposite gender could prohibit that somewhat. I've managed it once in Skyrim with an Argonian, though I really had to build up a story around him in order to compensate for not being able to naturally identify with him at all. Hell, I've never even tried playing as a Redguard because I'd just rather play as a character whose culture and appearance are a closer match to my own (i.e. Breton, Nord, or Imperial). The one exception to this is the Dunmer race. I started playing the Elder Scrolls game when Morrowind first came out, and I have fond, nostalgic memories of that time. So I enjoy playing as a Dunmer. The one race I simply can't bring myself to play as in Skyrim is the Altmer, thanks to the bloody Thalmor. I would just feel so offensive and out of place in Skyrim's main quest.

I generally don't play female characters if I have a choice, but I certainly wouldn't abstain from playing a game just because the protagonist is female.

 

Same, I will always play a human character if possible. Like everyone else, I prefer to be able to relate to my character.

 

Nope no problem on my side. I only avoid playing female characters when there is a lot of (straight) romance in a game.. I can´t stand romancing a guy, some light flirting is ok, but real romance is impossible for me.

No prob with races...

 

Let it be said, yak, that your friend amuses me.

I generally prefer the non-human races. If nothing else, I usually like to play something specialized in one way or another, and humans, while definitely not a bad choice(and honestly sometimes the best, although that's rare), are usually so 'average' so as to be almost boring in comparison. For that matter, my preferred alternative race, usually aligns itself to the concept of quick, agile and possibly intelligent, but also usually fragile. I usually like the play style usually of being fast, but having to be careful to avoid taking damage.

Also, personally, my preferred sex mostly depends on the particular role of the character, as per a personally-created 'story' of a family of characters. There are some outliers, but in general, the direct fighter type, the 'paladin' type, the elemental mage or the woodland ranger, are males.
The dextrous fighter, the martial monk, the cleric, the 'alternative' magic user(spirit magic, summoning, etc.), the sorcery user, and the huntress(similar, but not as 'nature' focused as the Ranger), are females.

I've certainly deviated from time to time, and I do have some other names than those from the core family group, but that's generally what I do for games where you can make a choice. Games where you can't make a choice, well, I don't really care if they main character(s) are male, female or cosmic monstrosity.

Perhaps I have little issue immersing myself regardless of circumstances, I really couldn't say.

 

Oh, I hadn't thought of my characters in pen and paper RPGs. I typically play a rogue character which is generally a half-elf, dark elf or some variation on elf. But I do remember fondly of a campaign where I decided to shake things up a bit. Thus, Ronin the Warforged Rogue was born.

Picture for reference

Playing a 300 pound (136 Kilos) giant metal robot who could instantly stealth was beyond hilarious. The moral of the story: Sometimes playing something out of the box can be a lot of fun, even if playing it can be difficult to immerse yourself. It took me a while to get the hang of playing an emotionless (voice-wise) character, but it made for a completely different dynamic in the group. Also, I didn't have to worry about genders, I was a robot after all.

 

I didn't think to mention gender before other people did. I always play as a female character when given the choice. In some cases there are solid reason to do this, like getting to experience Jennifer Hale's great voicing of fem-Shep, or the fact that Jill makes the original Resident Evil a little simpler. But even when there isn't I role with a female character. The exception would be pen and paper RPGs. Going to join a Pathfinder campaign with some friends soon, and I'll definitely be going male for that.

 

I play for the racial benefits, so I generally go for Elves (because they're typically the mages of the setting). Otherwise I have no preference in any direction.

 

When given a choice, I almost always end up playing the little 'derpy' race in an MMO. Gnome in World of Warcraft. Froglok in EverQuest II. Hobbit in Lord of the Rings Online. Greenskin in Warhammer Online. Popori in TERA. Halfling in Dungeons and Dragons Online and Neverwinter. I was a Betazoid in Star Trek Online... but all the races there are just humans with funny shaped noses or foreheads. I think the only MMO where I've actually played a human by choice is Star Wars: The Old Republic - and that's only because the species options are incredibly limited for F2P players.

I tend to pick female characters too, because if I'm going to be staring at the same backside for a hundred hours, it damn well better be a female.