Vilhelm on 10/7/2002 at 23:24
Ok now that I am done work and have put some thought into it.
1. As mentioned above there are varieties of taste, and it's not limited to girls. Guys find different girls attractive as well. There is a particular girl a lot of my coworkers go crazy over; she gives me the willies. (She reminds me of one of my sisters) Other times I have seen someone I thought was hot, and gotten “you're nuts” as a response.
2. There are stages in how you react to a person based on the amount of time you are around them and how well you know them. Initial reactions are based on appearance, and could be the strongest reaction (gauge) as to a person's hotness. As you get to know people their appearance becomes more common to you and their attractiveness is affected by how you react to their personality. I honestly could not rate the attractiveness if any of the people I work with or am friends with after knowing them for a while, they all would rate in some degree of medium for me. My wife I still find very attractive, and at times she will say, do, or the light will catch her right and I will be blown away with her beauty.
3. Isn't it true that most hetero women agree with most hetero men in finding woman-woman interaction more acceptable than man-man? (I know I read a survey on that somewhere) The same metal process that allows this could come into play when determining someone of the same sex's attractiveness.
4. Two things could also influence their willingness to answer: One is that one of your friends could find you attractive and does not wish to give you any other potential options. Two they could feel the guy would not find you attractive and don't want to be put in any uncomfortable “fix me up” situations.
Try approaching your question from this angle: Do the girls you meet go for him? They know you and probably your tastes, so ask: Would I find him attractive?
Now I want to go play some Morrowind :)
Chairman Fukui on 11/7/2002 at 17:27
I played a female character in Baldur's Gate I and II for two reasons. The first was because I thought all the male character portraits were really stupid looking and the second was to see what differences the game designers included based on the player character's gender. I never see the RPG character as "me" it is simply "my character."
TheShadowThatMoved on 12/7/2002 at 09:51
When I play an RPG(not a party based one), my main character is male.That's because when I play an RPG I choose a character that suits me (even the statistics are those that match to my own personality, not the ones that'll make the game easier).I can't play as a female just as I can't play as a "badass" fighter...it's just not my style not a ROLE I can PLAY.I preffer a charming little fella based on his sneaking abilities and his intelligence(am I arrogant or what?!).
Exception:Like Chairman Fukui, I played BG with a femle character just to see the programmer's tricks.
P.S.:I always hated the way people of different sexes fight over trivial things, such as "The character I play in RPGs is female or male..." No offence there:) !
Xanther on 18/7/2002 at 05:52
Well for me it ultimatle depends on concept of the character, then race, typically if i play the what i see as 'female dominated' society typically elves, i will play females, while the 'male dominated societies (eg. orcs and dwarves) ill play males.
Not because they are the most powerful or 'best' of that race, just because I see them as being the most likely to be an 'adventurer' and out in the world.
So i guess thats just stuck with me when i moved to computer role-playing games (CRPGs).
Initially when i started playing table-top/ pen & paper role-playing games(RPGs) (in the late 80s), it was mostly a male dominated pasttime, and the circles i played with where all male (accept for the occasional girlfriend or sister that came allong), so I started playing female characters to break up the 'all male' groups (like Exodus_dk mentioned).
While on the other hand people i know and play with like the challenge of playing the opposite sex, and trying to make it a 'belivable' entity or character.
Ultimatly i guess (and from what ive seen) people like playing a sex that fits with the concept or 'role' their trying to build, typically sticking to their own sex if its not a major part, or just not worrying the sex when designing the concept, and as people become more experienced they tend to move further afield.
Hmm... this may be more of a PRG reasoning than a CRPG, but hope it sheds some lite on the matter and gives food for thought.