Which gender do you choose

[Valin]

I started a topic like this way back when on the old forums, but I figured I'd ask again:

When you start a new game, which gender do you choose for your trainer? I know it's recommended you choose your own gender, but I'm sure at least a few of us hadn't really given in to that.

Back then, I usually chose which trainer I thought had the better design (I hardly ever name my player character after myself anyway, so the gender doesn't matter much to me):

Nowadays, however, I usually choose the female player character, if only because it seems too standard for a guy to be running the show.

 

[Sir Red]

My first playthrough I usually will pick the male character and collect the team that I want to have. If I have other games in the Gen/restart a game I will usually play as an character of mine and select the corresponding gender for them and set about collecting their team for the play-through.

The only way I would not pick one of the genders over the other is if the design of one is over-the-top horrible. :x

 

[Linkachu]

I typically follow the same pattern each generation. Not counting playthroughs on Japanese versions, I always pick the female character when starting a new generation and name her after myself. For my second playthrough, I pick the male character and name him after a longtime reoccurring character of mine (Kenji~).

From there I'll generally just pick whatever gender I feel like and give it some random name. I tend to restart my games each generation multiple times over.

 

[KoL]

I've always chosen the male character in the main games, since I'm male myself. That said, I've found I tend to do noticeably better at games where you play as (or can play as) a female character (Metroid being the most noticeable game to follow this trend.) Part of me is tempted to see if this trend applies to Pokemon with the next game in the series.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Depends on whose design I like more.

In Crystal and R/S/E I always picked the female characters... And from then on it's always been the male character because I cannot fucking stand Dawn and Lyra. As far as Gen 5 goes... frankly, I like the female lead from the waist up, but her Flipper-winged Short-shorts (so she can swiiiiiiiiim through the skyyyyyyyyyyyy) made me like her a lot less - to the point I tend to play the male even if he does look like the spitting image of Jaden Yuki.

Hurrdeedurr.

 

[Mr.RMA]

I have always picked the male character, simply on the grounds that I myself am male. Never really considered ever picking the female character, simply because I just never found a reason to. It's not about design or anything like that, I just think: "Well, I am a boy. Guess that settles it".

Not exactly very original maybe, but really, I'm usually too eager to get in the game to garner any curiosity about playing as the girl character.

 

[cloveria1215]

well i choose the female mc first, since i'm a girl. But, if i start a new game i usually go with the male mc

 

[Shocari]

I pretty much just pick the male for my first runthrough, not out of preference, but because it's the first choice and I want to just see what the game has to offer as fast as I can. During the second playthrough, I'll pick which character whose design I like the most, name them after an appropriately-gendered OC, and go through the game collecting their team.

Black was the first game that I initially chose the female character, because I wasn't able to stand looking like Jaden and NOT dueling with Pokemon cards.

 

[dafg 猫君]

I always choose the male... I'm a boy, I never choose the female unless I wanna give a try.

 

[_Erebus_]

Used to choose female sometimes just for giggles. Never done it in Fr/Lg or D/P/Pt, only Emerald. Most times I'm the guy though :B named either Jake, Phil, or Erebus.

 

[Foxy]

Since I'm a girl I'll generally go with the female character but sometimes go with the guy (like in ruby/sapphire/emerald). But in SoulSilver I picked the guy...Lyra just looks..dumb in my opinion. For White, I picked the girl even though her shorts do bother me...I just think theres something wrong when you can see the pockets coming out of short shorts. But yeah, I normally pick the girl character.

 

[Dark Soul]

I usually choose the boy on my first playtrough, mainly because I think the girl makes a better rival (Except for HG/SS, because that dude was the most awesome asshole ever<3). In B/W, though, I think I'll take the girl instead because I don't really like the boy of that generation.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

Ever since we got the option to choose the gender of our charrie, I've always picked the girl regardless of design although I'm never too fond of the boy's design in any generation. I guess I'm like RMA, I pick the girl because I am one and couldn't picture myself playing as a boy again. Besides I just think it's cooler for the girl to go around kicking major butt and have the best starter.

 

[Secad MS]

I usually pick the female because I am female, so I can imagine being called 'she' instead of 'he.' Yes, there hasn't been any incidence of that noun thing that I can remember in game text, but I still like to imagine it.

 

[Moose]

I always end up picking the female lead of every generation, mostly because the male designs are terrible.

However if I end up with two copies of a game in the same gen (such as Ruby and Emerald) I end up making the third copy the male counterpart, to even it out.

I'm looking forward to using Hilbert in B/W's third part.

 

[NiteFox]

When I was younger, it was the madintory male character, Red in Blue and Yellow. I'd never picked up any of the Generation II games, so when I got FireRed Leaf was a huge shock to me. I picked her and named her Annie after my sister. For the rest of Gen III, I picked only female characters. So in Sapphire and Emerald I uesd May.
Then I saw the charater designs for Gen IV and the were ATROCIOUS. Lucas' was better and I despised Dawn, so in Pearl and Platinum I choses Lucas. In SoulSilver, Lyra's design made me mad, so Ethan was my choice. Then in Black I was really torn between Touya's and Touko's designs. They both were excelent. I chose Touya because I get teased by my friends when I choose the female hero.

 

[Luckii]

I pick the male most of the time, because I am a boy. The girl usually is the professor's assistant in the respective games, and I think they suit it more. For example, the things that May/Brendan say in R/S/E are far more tailored to what a girl would say, "Oh my gosh", being a recurring example in this particular set of games. The automatically set rivals, like Gary and Silver, are the best, because Silver is the most badass all-ages video game villain EVA.

 

[Teapot]

Just to completely confuse matters, I always play a girl in RPGs, despite my Y chromosome. I have no idea why; I always do it. Unless the game makes me strongly think that I need a Big Manly Dude otherwise it doesn't make sense, which is surprisingly rarely, always a woman.

Especially in Mass Effect, where Jennifer Hale is a godly actress and whoever plays male!Shep... isn't.

 

[Doubled]

I usually go with being a guy, as I feel more heroic that way.


However, if I have a separate game, I go drag girly It makes the experience different for some reason.

 

[SineCosineTangent]

I'm rather boring. I always choose the female character, because for some reason I don't want the pixels to think I'm a boy. I really have no idea what goes through my head. Plus, I usually like the female designs anyway (save for "It's snowing out; I'll wear this jacket, this scarf, and... this tiny skirt", "my hat is a bucket for all of my woes", and the lower half of "I have a sensible shirt and some cool lookin' boots, but I like to add wings on my shortshorts.")

 

[charmander91]

I play the character that I like the design on the best which tends to be the female but with Lyra I saw it and went WTF

 

[dewotter]

I choose the female for all games. In emerald I choose the male so i can get latiose.

 

[Jenova]

I'm rather boring. I always choose the female character, because for some reason I don't want the pixels to think I'm a boy. I really have no idea what goes through my head. Plus, I usually like the female designs anyway (save for "It's snowing out; I'll wear this jacket, this scarf, and... this tiny skirt", "my hat is a bucket for all of my woes", and the lower half of "I have a sensible shirt and some cool lookin' boots, but I like to add wings on my shortshorts.")

^ This. I pretty much pick female for everything because I can.

 

[Cycloneblaze]

(save for "It's snowing out; I'll wear this jacket, this scarf, and... this tiny skirt", "my hat is a bucket for all of my woes", and the lower half of "I have a sensible shirt and some cool lookin' boots, but I like to add wings on my shortshorts.")

Lol.

Myself, I am a guy, so I pick the guy. Simple as. I name him after me, too. Even if I got another game that generation. If I was to replay any of my games maybe I'd pick the female, but I never have restarted any of my games anyway. Although I've only been playing since Generation IV anyway.

 

[Fiona]

Females all the way. They're perfect fap material for me.

 

[Coreysawrus]

My choice comes down to 3 factors

1. Design of character
2. The pokemon I like in that generation
3. The legendary of that game

2. For example if I like Jigglypuff, I would choose female but on the other hand if I like Steelix, I would choose male.

3. In Black and White, I would choose female in Black because Reshiram seems more feminine.

But which ever one I pick I use the other in the other game like I used a male in White because I already used that games female

 

[turtledragon101]

I chose gender by the design of the character too. Usually male but with 5th gen I went with female.

 

[Shady]

Initially when the female trainer was introduced as an option I tended to go with it to match my own gender but eventually begun to take design into account. Now I will refuse to play as what by my standards is an unattractive female trainer such as May of Hoenn.

Though I have taken to playing as the male even when I do not dislike the female design simply because of the name I have in mind.

Recommended that you use your own gender? By who? Well screw that.

 

[Rinoa Heartilly]

I always find myself picking the female character. Apart from HeartGold/SoulSilver, I've always preferred the design for them over the males. The G/S/C one is my favourite - probably because Kris was the first lead female as well as her sporty appearance. The only time that I choose the male character is when I have no choice (thus far). A.K.A; R/B/Y. XD

 

[Shady]

I always find myself picking the female character. Apart from HeartGold/SoulSilver, I've always preferred the design for them over the males. The G/S/C one is my favourite - probably because Kris was the first lead female as well as her sporty appearance. The only time that I choose the male character is when I have no choice (thus far). A.K.A; R/B/Y. XD

Actually Red, Blue, Yellow and Gold and Silver only allowed you to play as a male trainer. The female was not introduced until Crystal.

 

[Rinoa Heartilly]

Actually Red, Blue, Yellow and Gold and Silver only allowed you to play as a male trainer. The female was not introduced until Crystal.

I own both Sliver and Gold but in my experience, not everyone has heard of Crystal. So I often group them together anyway. I'm very well aware that the female trainer wasn't introduced until Crystal, what with it being my favourite game out of the PKMN series. I guess I should have been clearer and I'm sorry for causing you confusion. Thank you for taking an interest in my response! It's nice knowing someone actually sees what I post. XD

 

[misfitbenji]

My first playthrough, I always choose the gender with the design I like better. Every playthrough after that, I don't give it much thought but I usually go with the guy.

 

[Beten]

Normally, on my first playthrough, I'll choose the male character. However, if I get duplicate copies (e.g. a ROM), then I'll choose the female.

 

[YukiPikachu]

I tend to play as the female trainer since I am a girl. I honestly don't mind playing as a male character though. In the end, I suppose in the end it just comes down to which character design I like more.

 

[Keleri]

I usually alternate, since I end up having multiple carts/save files. I semi-regret choosing the male avatar for my first playthrough of X since the female avatar gets more clothing options, but I picked her for my Y playthrough.

 

[Magpie]

I'm always female if the choice is there because I am female, and I just feel that anything representing me should be also xD I don't think I've ever chosen the male trainer in any Pokemon game.

 

[Valin]

I usually alternate, since I end up having multiple carts/save files. I semi-regret choosing the male avatar for my first playthrough of X since the female avatar gets more clothing options, but I picked her for my Y playthrough.

That was exactly the same case for me.

On my Y game, I played as the guy, because I am a guy and if I'm going to communicate with the rest of the world, I'd might as well use my true gender, but when I got my X game, I chose the female PC, mainly out of curiosity of what customization options she got (speaking of which, I wish those facial features, like freckles and the like, that you could customize your character with in the PR vids could be used for the rest of the game as well...), and I just found playing as her to be more enjoyable. Plus, in your profile, under the "What's you secret?" heading, you can say "I'm actually a guy/girl," so in the end, it makes little difference.

 

[PurpleTartan]

I tend to choose the gender of whichever one I like the look of best. In R/S/E I always chose the boy as I liked having white hair and he looked cool, but in Crystal I chose the girl because she had cool blue hair and it was nice to finally be able to play as a girl after so long of being a boy. In leaf green I was the girl and in Fire red I was the boy char. In the newer games it's the same. I chose a girl this time around because I liked how the default character looked, but when I get Y as well I'll probably play as the boy char.

 

[ignitusfire12]

Even though I'm a guy, I always go in a bit of a pattern when choosing gender, and name them their original names:
Boy/Red-R/B/Y, Girl/Kris-Crystal, if I ever got it, then Boy/Emerald-R/S/E, Bit off pattern Boy/Red-FR/LG, Girl/Dawn-D/P/Pt, Boy/Gold-HG/SS, Girl/Hilda-B/W, Boy/Nate-BW2, then when I get it, Girl/Serena-X/Y and Boy/Emerald-OR/AS

 

[Alexxander]

I choose male in one version and female in other version. The version with my male character is usually my main however XY very nearly shifted me to have the female character as my main due to the vastly better customisation options. The male character hardly had any customisation available and the few things he had to choose from were mostly terrible, even the hair options were a bad, I had to resort to short hair because the longer hairs looked weird and weren't styled nicely.

I will be having male as my main in ORAS because Brendan is one of my 2 favourite protagonists (other is Nate). I kinda have a disliking to May for some reason, I mean her outfit looks good this time but it's not enough to shift me to her being my main (even if Brendan wasn't the male protagonist)