Main character...male or female ?, Thought's. Options

[Lato]

Well I am a male, and I like to think that I have a open mind when it comes to having a male or female main hero, really either one if fine I think. But then again Terra really did kick ass as the main hero in FF6 if that helps.

[Twin Matrix]

Typically, most of my main characters tend to wind up being female, but that's probably due to me being female myself.

Same here. I don't care for male characters or movies with male protagonists. My favorite movies all feature female leads (Gin Gwai, Suckerpunch, The Others, etc.), and so do my favorite games.

I think it's all about being able to place yourself in the character's shoes (there's a word for that but I can't think of it right now). Straight male players tend to do this with male characters, and female or gay players tend to do this with female characters. Considering the market for RPGs is mostly straight men, it makes sense that most games feature male leads.

And don't get started on "it should be about the story, not the gender!", because games are first and foremost made for profit, and thus you need to keep your target audience in mind.

[LX_Theo]

If the game is good enough, it doesn't matter since the game should be able to pull in both genders no matter the main character's gender.

But it does tend to be easier to pull someone into a story if they can relate with the character you are playing more. Gender is a big thing for that.

Then you have to consider its relation to the story and whether the story depends on a certain gender or not.

[TheBen]

I'm afraid I haven't yet considered making a game with a female protagonist, but... wait, yeah I did... twice. Uh, never mind.
Generally, it doesn't matter to me if a character is male or female unless it's obvious that they're stereotypes - defined by masculinity, femininity, or physical features designed to titillate - or if the work is talking about gender roles and expectations.

I'm a little annoyed with Metroid: Other M's treatment of Samus Aran - without going into the details, she felt like a stereotype to me. On the other hand, in the other games, I'm glad that Samus is a woman - she's defying that same stereotype, which is "talking about" gender roles on an implicit level. She is, of course, not just defined by how she reacts to gender roles - if we did that, she'd be flat and even somewhat annoying (*ahem*) - but it is an important part of her as a character.

Really, unless you want gender to matter, be worried more about personality than gender. I guess it would be easier to write for your own gender, but like I said, personality matters more.