Well since it seems to be another wave of discussion about us lady players washing through and it seems to be popping up in every thread, maybe this is a good time for me to post a thought I had awhile back.
This is a question for the female game playing members of the Escapist honestly, and I'm not foolish enough to ask gentlemen not to answer (because that will just provoke all sorts of crap) but the design of the question is directed at my gender so, if you're giving it a go, please stay on topic as much as possible. For the record - this is a question of personal exploration, not a commentary on the industry.
So here's my question: Do you find yourself not feeling a desire to play games that do not offer a male or female protagonist choice, the way others do i.e. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fallout 3/NV, Skyrim and so forth?
I am finding myself feeling this recently. Having been a player of video games for more than 20 years now, I've played and enjoyed plenty of games that had male only protagonists on offer, but recently I am finding I don't desire to give a title a chance if I can't make... well, myself I guess - or a version of me I choose and I am more comfortable playing a female me in game worlds.
I've speculated that maybe this is simply because I gravitate towards RPGs and that requires a certain amount of immersion to get the most out of as a genre. JRPGs I'm not really counting against that, because you play half a dozen people in those usually and are more of a director of people than inserted into any one of them - kinda like the personal demi-god/dess of whatever party you're rolling around the game world.
Still - people have been saying how good the Witcher is - and this is what brought it to my attention probably a month or so ago, talking about that series with a friend - and I found I have no desire at all to play it. It sounds like a great game, but my turn-off is being a grizzled older man for the entire experience and how I don't think I could get into it in that mode.
Even with little two-player games me and my fiancé play together - one's where there is only the option of picking among dudes I can't really get enthusiastic about, I'm just playing them with him to pass the time together, not for the game itself, and I get indignant that they couldn't throw one sprite in there that represents half the population's sexual characteristics.
Maybe I've just reached a point where, now that it's possible and moving towards more standard, I'm unwilling to settle for less than a choice to play my gender and make my character's face/hair/etc. up to my liking. Maybe I'm just in a bit of a rut playing the same games over and over that offer me that immersion other's don't.
I'm not sure if the old sprite stuff would bother me, it's been ages since I went retro. I'm pretty sure I still love Zelda games even as Link and would enjoy a mario 3 pizza party with friends easily enough, but like I said, it's been forever.
So what's your take? Where are you at? I'm sure I'm not "alone" in this (no one ever is) but I'm having trouble identifying when exactly this shift in my gaming philosophy took place and maybe hearing some perspectives on it might help me identify an "ah-ha" moment.