I originally wrote a couple of paragraphs exploring my own biases in gendered protagonists, but ultimately in self-reflection realized the discussion I was trying to open hinged on a misunderstanding. So instead I have a better discussion to open: player characters whose gender expression is part of their appeal.
Not in the sense that the character is necessarily in-universe trying to present one way or the other, but the vibes of the character design that carry part of the appeal in a gendery sort of way. Maybe this makes no sense but I’ll list a few examples of my own.
Soma Cruz (Aria of Sorrow) - Something about the short white hair + jacket combo with blue accents, topped with the angelic imagery in the official art for the game makes Soma one of my favorite protagonists in Castlevania. Not because it makes him look cool, but because it gives him this very delicate, feminine edge that’s juxtaposed with the awesome combat.
Zero (MMZ) - Trimmed down from the rough, square, sharp design from the Mega Man X games, Zero’s redesign in his own subseries gives him a much softer frame that I appreciate for very similar reasons to Soma Cruz.
Red/Felix (Bomb Rush Cyberfunk) - Something about Red feels transfem and something about Felix feels transmasc. (Spoilers for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk) The fact that they are the same character only improves the appeal of both of their designs to me. Totally genderfucked or whatever.
Maybe none of this makes any gosh darn sense but I’m wondering if anyone else thinks about protagonists this way! I often mind myself frustrated with action games (especially older action games) that I’m unable to play as a woman and so find my own way of appreciating and reframing characters like this.
(I’ve not interacted with forums as a medium much before, aside from browsing the old MSPA forums a bit back before they got nuked, but this seems like a good place to start discussions about things like this.)
I don’t know if I’m doing this right, and I’m a cis dude so I really get my pick of the litter (though I often pick the female character when it’s an option), but this thread seems nice so I’ll post my guy Yuri from Fire Emblem Three Houses
He uses male pronouns and most Fires Emblem have a fem looking male character like this, but I felt like it was more of a character choice with him than usual since he’s presented as being kind of a chameleon who can be all things to all people. Also he’s bi which helps with that feeling. Lastly, I just think he’s cool.
Fall-From-Grace is my favorite Planescape party member because “asexual succubus who feeds on other passions besides lust” is an outstanding character concept in a game filled with great character concepts. And she’s voiced by Jennifer Hale. (And now that I’ve seen Star Trek: Voyager, she’s clearly at least a little inspired by Seven of Nine.)
Cis dude here, but games are very much where I started to decide that gender was just a construct way before I had the vocabulary to express that. If I have a distinct memory of this it is always picking Elissa Steamer in old Tony Hawk’s or Gum or Cube in Jet Set Radio.
I didn’t need to see myself reflected gender wise to identify. I gravitated to the character who seemed the coolest to me and that was that. You project yourself onto enough avatars of a different gender than you and it gets to real, “I don’t matter. None of this matters.” hours.
Anyways, very recently with the gender nuetral protagonist of Jusant, I started out seeing them as male, but by the end I had decided they were canonically female in my telling of the story and that changed nothing about how I felt about the game.
I have three initial associations I am drawing with this topic.
I like Femshep. I never liked the argument, sometimes bandied about by het-masc bros, that “I play as a woman so I can watch her ass as I play.” I was attracted to this Pygmalion I had made, but for me what really made her was the combination of the voice and the Marine confidence in how she moved. I liked that she moved basically the same as a man. I was specifically engaged by roleplaying butch.
There really isn’t much to the protagonists of Legend of Mana, but I’ve always loved the golden, flowing locks of the “Hero,” and how the cuteness results in some ambiguity of presentation.
Cis male over here. I like playing as all genders in games. Sometimes being a woman in a game just feels right to me. For example I played as female V in Cyberpunk. For one, I liked her voice more. Also from a role playing point on view, I’d want to present as a woman in a cyberpunk dystopia because FASHUN (leotards). More rizz more biz right?
I feel it is starting to become more common to choose your gender in video games. And I think being able to play as a different gender is one of the stronger cases that video games offer an experience all together different to other media.
Never played Phantasy Star so I’d never heard of Noah before, but I looked him up and yeah that is precisely the type of character I’d put on my own list.
i remember two weeks ago when dragon warrior 3 asked for my gender and i told them im a girl and then everyone in the entire game proceeded to misgender me effusively except for a slime and i think the priest but only when i checking my experience and not when saving. that was the most seen/understood ive ever felt by a piece of software
This is Subaru Kujou she’s the best nonbinary character in all media. In the English localization, she is referred to as a woman and with she/her pronouns, but she couldn’t be more nonbinary. Before making this post, I looked her up on the Sakura Wars wiki, and noticed that it uses they/them. So I’m not sure what’s correct there.
