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[jamesprimate]

I'm looking forward to Call of Duty: Sports in 2016.

honestly, id probably play that

[s0]

call of dooty IS a sport

[Netsu]

Call of Madden: Black Sports

[Dacke]

Indie trying to make a game that is as generic and bland as possible in order to sell more. Sure, great idea.

[Oskuro]

What about customizable characters? AKA why Saints Row is awesome (until the last one, at least)

If you're working with sprites, having both a male and female sprite whose skin color can be chosen by the player (like Terraria does) shouldn't be too drastic.

3d models can be a bit more complex in the animation department once proportions change, specifically if the character interacts with items or the environment.

But, as far as consumer appeal goes, allowing them to make their own Avatar will always beat any static avatar choice (think that some very popular characters, like Master Chief, are blank slates, thus the player is, at least mentally, projecting themselves on the character).


The only games I think should consider gender a factor are those with a story where the gender factors heavily (like say, a story with a romance plot whose characters/situations are heavily informed by specific gender roles, that is, where simple gender switching won't do).

In every other case, it shouldn't matter.

IMO, anyway.

[oahda]

I'm looking forward to Call of Duty: Sports in 2016.

[Jordgubben]

This is US retail sales data only. On an international chart would probably feature more Asian games. Also, FIFA would most likely out-sell NFL and NBA. I assume that "retail" means it excludes digital sales (Steam and GOG).

[Nillo]

This is US retail sales data only. On an international chart would probably feature more Asian games. Also, FIFA would most likely out-sell NFL and NBA. I assume that "retail" means it excludes digital sales (Steam and GOG).

Good point. I guess kids without credit cards is the biggest demographic for brick and mortar gaming stores these days. Which explains why they are selling so many copies of Call of Dooty.

[Jordgubben]

The "academic" gamer has moved to gog and steam. They (We) simply do make a mentionable dent retail sales.

But to get back on topic, here's a challenge. Take a look at your own Steam library (I just assume everyone here has Steam). What is the gender of the protagonist(s) of the 10 games you have spent the most time with?

[Nillo]

The "academic" gamer has moved to gog and steam. They (We) simply do make a mentionable dent retail sales.

But to get back on topic, here's a challenge. Take a look at your own Steam library (I just assume everyone here has Steam). What is the gender of the protagonist(s) of the 10 games you have spent the most time with?

In order from most to least hours played:
Dota 2 - Both genders are playable
Spiral Knights - Both genders are playable
Path of Exile - Both genders are playable
Dark Souls - Both genders are playable
XCOM: Enemy Unknown - The identity of the protagonist is undefined
Dungeons of Dredmor - Both genders are playable
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Male protagonist.
Torchlight 2 - Both genders are playable
Dishonored - Male protagonist.
Civilization: Beyond Earth - Both genders are playable

I'm not sure what to make of this.

[Nillo]

I gave the experiment another try and filtered the list to include only games with a protagonist that has an established identity of some sort (male, female or other).

This time I got 7 males, 2 females and one character with an unknown gender (Ori and the Blind Forest). So the gender ratio of those games is 70% male, 20% female and 10% unknown.

I can conclude that my "most favorite" games generally allow any gender to be selected. However, the games that offer only one specific gender are generally about a male character.

[Jordgubben]

Dota 2 - Both genders are playable

DOTA 2 is a bit tricky to pin down. Yes you can chose, but it's very male dominated roster. There are 16 female characters (including Broodmother and Winter Wyvern) in the 100+ total rooster (roughly 1:5). From what I can recall, Puck is the only explicitly non-gendered hero in DOTA 2.

The champions in League of Legends fare a bit better. There are roughly 40 female and 85 male champions (almost 1:2). I can not think of any non-gendered characters in LoL.

(Edit: The gender-ratio in DOTA 2 is 1:5, nothing else)

[Netsu]

Here's my rundown, without filtering like Nillo did:

4 games both genders
3 games male
3 games no gender

and when filtering out games without a set protagonist:

9 males
1 female...

The underline is there are indeed very little games with a female primary character, especially among the genres that I play.
Out of 30 games I played on Steam that have a single clearly gendered protagonist only 5 have a female main character.

BTW among the games with a female lead is The Swapper and Sword & Sworcery, both games don't make it very clear that you're playing a female.

[Ashedragon]

For me personally, I couldn't care less who I play as long as the game is fun.

[Jordgubben]

Dota 2	Arguable choice - Se above
Thomas Was Alone	Both represented - Different main characters on different levels
TowerFall Ascension	Player choice - Seems 50%/50% as far as I've been able to unlock things
Tomb Raider	Female lead - Villains of story constantly remark on having their asses kicked by a "little girl"
BioShock Infinite	Male lead - Some argue that Elizabeth is the main character, but Booker is definitely the player character
Cave Story+	Male robot
Bastion	Male kid
Long Live The Queen	Female lead
Portal	Female test subject - Also possibly Native american or Hispanic?
Dungeons of Dredmor	Player choice - The female player character was added in a DLC, if I remember correctly

When filtering I found 6 Male and 3 Female solo protagonists. I also found a lot of games that I've never played, but I believe that is the established norm on Steam

For me personally, I couldn't care less who I play as long as the game is fun.

I agree. For me personally, this is not a problem. But I'm also a slim "white" (mostly) heterosexual male in my thirties. 

[s0]

dark souls: gender choice
dark souls 2: gender choice
xcom EU: genders of characters randomly assigned
crusader kings 2: both possible but with bias toward male due to the political system the game simulates
europa universalis 4: see above
cities skylines: no gender
dragon age origins: gender choice (wat a heck why is this in my top10)
shadow of mordor: male
saints row 4: gender choice
fallout new vegas: gender choice

these numbers are probably incorrect because i play in offline mode a lot and steam doesnt count offline playtime

[ANtY]

I'm a male and I love games with female protagonists

[Superb Joe]

BTW among the games with a female lead is The Swapper and Sword & Sworcery, both games don't make it very clear that you're playing a female.

wow thats extremely bad. they should make it clear like samus aran by putting them in a special ass and boob suit (this is called strong female character)

[Boreal]

Dark Souls (334 hours): choice
Skyrim (214 hours): choice
Binding of Isaac (61 hours): choice
Besiege (42 hours): N/A
BF2 (29 hours on Steam, hundreds with CD): the soldiers are all male
GMod (29 hours): choice
SWBF2 (25 hours on Steam, hundreds on PS2): the soldiers are mostly male
Delver (23 hours): sounds male to me
Dark Souls II (23 hours): choice
E.Y.E (22 hours): male

I main Jolyne in ASB and Zelda in Smash so there's that too

[ANtY]

The "academic" gamer has moved to gog and steam. They (We) simply do make a mentionable dent retail sales.

But to get back on topic, here's a challenge. Take a look at your own Steam library (I just assume everyone here has Steam). What is the gender of the protagonist(s) of the 10 games you have spent the most time with?

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (824 hrs) - male soldiers/terrorists
Dota 2 (32 hrs) - both
Mount & Blade: Warband (32 hrs) - both and you can marry as both man and a woman
Sid Meier's Civilization V (26 hrs) - n/a
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare (25 hrs) - male knights
Nosgoth (23 hrs) - both
Tomb Raier (13 hrs) - female lead
Mortal Kombat (10.1 hrs) - both
Euro Truck Simulator 2 (9.6 hrs) - n/a or both
Game of Thrones (8.4 hours) - both female and male leads (but more male)
The Walking Dead: Season Two (8.2 hrs) - female kid lead
Long Live The Queen (6.1 hrs) - female lead