Is it wrong to play as the Opposite Gender?

[qazwsxed]

What are your thoughts on playing as Opposite Gender.

My friend is always played as male in every game. But recently he went he restarted his Platinum game and began playing as Dawn.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

It's never wrong. It's just a game. And part of roleplaying is that you can choose your gender freely.

But wait...Pokemon is more than just a game, it's a way of life! Anyways, I have sometimes played as Marina in Crystal and May in Ruby/Sapphire and I see nothing wrong with that. If you take it too seriously, though, it becomes a matter of ethics, but we're not going to discuss ethics here, are we?

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

I always switch between genders. One time I play the boy, next game the girl.

[Blademaster]

It's never wrong. It's just a game. And part of roleplaying is that you can choose your gender freely.

For once, I totally agree with Mikachu. Well said.

[Magmar]

I usually chose a male character, but whatever game first gave the option don't remember which, I chose the female character to see what a different storyline would be like.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Was it Crystal? But I believe Pokemon games do not offer so much change since they aren't so much about roleplaying.

[Crystal Tears]

It was Crystal... And nothing really changed (not in Crystal anyways, and I can't remember anything really changing in RSE either... I haven't really played any of the games after that), I think the people who even called you cute stayed the same. The biggest difference was some lines said 'she' instead of 'he', or the blatant parts where they said your name.

As for playing the opposite gender, it's fine. IMO, I agree with Mikachu and Blade.

[Blademaster]

The first female character I ever role-played as was in Fallout 2.

I made a female character and slept with Metzger for a slave discount for Vic.

Then I planted a bomb in his pocket, left, came back, and looted his corpse. Got a full refund, completed two quests, AND scored some useful goodies from the rest of his cronies. Such is life in the Den. :D

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I'm on a habit of playing as girls in some videogames. To name a few...

In Tekken series, I use Ling Xiaoyu, and later also Asuka Kazama and Lili Rochefort. I like both their appearances and their moves. See my signature!

And my Final Fantasy teams are not surprising. Especially in FFVIII, I prefer Rinoa Heartilly and, most of all, Selphie Tilmitt to everyone else. I have a friend who hates Selphie but I love her.

Hehe, in many games, girls are forced to play as the opposite gender, by the way!

[RedRum]

It's only a game, who cares.
I am a girl who plays as Brendan all the time in the Hoenn games because I find May Ugly, and am currently playing as the male in my Black as I found the female sprite ugly in that game too.

I have a guy friend who likes playing as the female and I have seen that he does so in his Diamond.

Don't forget EVERYONE was male in the original games, Red, Blue, Yellow, Silver and Gold. There was not a female option until Crystal.

[Mew Master]

If you take it too seriously, though, it becomes a matter of ethics, but we're not going to discuss ethics here, are we?

Wait...

What?

Also, I commonly play as females. Well because in the games I play they're the most anatomically correct proportionally.

Let's face it, an 85 Priest should not look like the Arnoldnator.

In Pokemon I usually play the male character in my main game, name them after me, and then play the extra game as a female. Though usually for trade fodder.

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

I always switch between genders. One time I play the boy, next game the girl.

²

[Blademaster]

Let's face it, an 85 Priest should not look like the Arnoldnator.

Don't you mean the Governator?

[Mew Master]

Don't you mean the Governator?


The Arnoldnator, Governator, same thing. It's the Terminator in a Suit.

[RedRum]

What 85 priest are you referring to?

[Mew Master]

Any male World of Warcraft character.

[RedRum]

Oh I see, I don't play that game.

[Mew Master]

Serriously! Any Preist or clothie Male character looks like they could break your back like a twig!

[Blademaster]

The Arnoldnator, Governator, same thing. It's the Terminator in a Suit.

But 'Arnoldnator' doesn't roll off the tongue as easily because of that awkward mashup of "ldn" in the middle. 'Governator' is not only smoother to say, but it's also wordplay on the word 'governor.'

Besides, 'Governator' turns up over 1.2 million Google results. 'Arnoldnator' turns up... 298.

way2fail bro. The Governator will eat your family for that one.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8hpVq6hZ0No/S3Dpqs8GIQI/AAAAAAAAA1w/gEOvk7xbtyg/s400/arnold+crazy.jpg

PROOOOOOOTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIINNNNNNN!!!!!

[Master Rudy]

Considering how many people actually do this I wouldn't go so far to say it's wrong. Here's a few screencaps of my WoW characters. You'll notice fairly quick how many of them are male :P

People do this all the time. Hell a few big name games do it as well from time to time with the MAIN character!

Final Fantasy 13: Lightning
Final Fantasy 6: Terra in the WoB, Celes in the WoR
KotOR 2: The Jedi Exile (confirmed to be FEMALE by several sources)

All in all it shouldn't matter too much as most games don't take gender into account for stats, abilities, ect. Just remember one thing in regards to MMO's: about 60-70% of the time if you see a female character chances are it's a dude.

G.I.R.L.=guy in real life (until proven otherwise ^_~)

[Lady Vulpix]

There are many games where you can only play a guy, some where you can only play a girl, and others where you have to play both. If it were wrong to play the opposite gender, that would severely limit everyone's gaming options.

Now, if you're talking about Pokemon games from Crystal up (because before Crystal you had to play a guy anyway), as everyone said, it's just a game and you can play what you want. You're playing a character, not pretending/trying to be that character.

[Telume]

It depends on the game. In some games I play a girl simply because the armor looks a lot better than it does on a guy.

And others because, females of a particular class are a rarity.

[Dark Scizor]

Of course not.

Every guy wishes to become the little girl.

[Magmar]

Usually gender doesn't account for much in video games, except in Pokemon where generally female Pokemon have higher defense, and male Pokemon have higher offense. The genderless and exclusively male or female Pokemon narrow the options to homogenize the genders of your team.

I remember one of the first RPGs I played with female protagonists, as someone who hasn't played many, was Golden Sun, and I remember being kind of bummed that we lost the badass fire girl Jenna from the get-go, and the female member of the 4-character team (Mia) is like the Chansey of RPGs, she heals the team until she gets knocked out in battle. But then the sequel gave us two tough female characters, and even a badass Water-aligned guy. I always preferred the water-element magic in games, and it was cool to play a character who wasn't in the support role.

Although I have to admit Secret of Manna kicked ass :D

This is all just something I always noticed about earlier games. It doesn't really hold true today. Genders are pretty much equal, except where strategic to build additional gender-based statistics into the game (like in Pokemon).