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Game-Favored Gender: Difference between revisions
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* Early forms of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' had different attribute caps for strength depending on gender, only allowing males to reach the human cap of 18/00 while limiting females to 18/50, with females never really getting anything to compensate. Then again, [[Honest Rolls Character|when a character is generated according to the rules]], even a male only has a 1-in-450 chance of getting above 18/50 strength, so this isn't much of a functional disadvantage.
* In ''[[FATAL]]'', men are favored to the point of outright misogyny. There's no benefit whatsoever in playing as a woman unless you really stretch the rules. Well, there are some details that could qualify as benefits but they're overwhelmed by the explicit (in every way imaginable) disadvantages. Weirdly enough, for all the time Byron Hall spent writing up rules about how women are functionally retarded and weak as kittens with scurvy, he didn't bother giving them a penalty to the urination skill, which... yeah. It's just that kind of game.
* ''[[The Spawn of Fashan]]'' has the same kind of problem. In this one, male characters roll their characteristics "normally"<ref>As the rules explicitly put it, unintentionally (probably) suggesting that being female is ''abnormal''</ref>, but a female character's strength, constitution and hit points are ''halved'', their charisma is multiplied by 1.5, and they automatically get an undefined ability called "intuition". The blank character sheet provided with the game also assumes your character will always be male, as there's no place on it to indicate your character is ''female''. (Meanwhile, elsewhere in the short booklet of rules, the author [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|vehemently insists neither he nor his rules are sexist]].)
* At least one [[Professional Wrestling]] RPG did this too, if your female fought a male. Oddly, the [[World Wrestling Entertainment]] licenced game only did this with weight. And as weight can be assigned (and substitutes for "race" in other RPGs), there really isn't anything (aside from snarky GMs) stopping you from building a heavyweight title contender who, while having Testicular Fortitude, lacks testicles.
* In ''The Greenland Saga'' by Avalanche Press, females get -3 Strength, +1 Dexterity and +1 Constitution, with a sidebar saying (not a paraphrase) that "Life is not fair. Deal with it."
* In ''[[Exalted]]'', in the West, men have an advantage in that the storm mothers usually don't hate them, while to avoid their ship-sinking attentions women have to have red hair, join the Tya, or - should they be Exalted - kick the crap out of any storm mother who screws with them until they get the hint.
=== Video Games ===
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* This was one of the main criticisms of ''[[Left Behind]]: Eternal Forces'', although it's very much in keeping with the values of [[Writer on Board|the books]] and [[The Fundamentalist|their writers]]. In the game, you can "convert" members of either sex to your cause and give them an occupation. While male characters can become Builders, Soldiers, Medics, Disciples, and Musicians, women characters can only become Medics (though not as effectively as males) and Musicians (more effectively than males, but not a [[Spoony Bard|particularly useful class]]). This meant the best strategy was to convert as many males as soon as possible, and only convert females when there was no other option. Later patches would grant female characters more abilities, but still not at all comparable to males.
* ''[[Disgaea]]''
** In the first game, there are two incredibly powerful unlockable character classes that eclipse everything else. One is male only, one is female only. The male class is unquestionably superior in just about every conceivable way. Note that in ''Disgaea'', you can [[Gender Bender|change the sex]] of [[Player
** In ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]'', generic male monsters have an advantage over the female ones as they aren't subject to gender specific Dark Sun effects, as well as some other ones that are supposed to affect both genders, due to the fact that they're erroneously considered to be genderless for gameplay purposes; a luxury that unique male monsters like Tink and Taro don't have. Oddly, they still get boosted by effects that increase the strength of males.
* Farming sim ''Shepherd's Crossing 2'' gives the male character up to 9 chances to run out of food and firewood and be redeemed. If he fails completely, he's "rewarded" with marriage to a character that can't be married any other way. The female character, on the other hand, will be kicked out immediately she first runs out of food. Marriage requirements are easier for male characters as well.
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* ''[[Age of Conan]]'' has female characters doing less damage because of slower attack animations, although the bug was eventually fixed.
* The third ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' game had different perks for both genders. The boy would get better at farming and using tools, but couldn't take care of some of the animals on his own, while the girl got better products from the animals and didn't technically need help with them or the fields, though she'd never get better with the fields. The girl was also the only one who could get sick, and while you could always get a game over from being a bad farmer only those who play as the girl get a game over if they marry someone.
* Skye, the female character in the first ''[[Lost in Blue]]'' game is irredeemably useless.
* Players frequently complained that the last few costume packs before the shutdown of ''[[City of Heroes]]''/''[[City of Villains]]'' tended to be top-heavy with options for male characters while giving female short shrift, with the Old West and Steampunk sets cited as particularly [[Egregious]] examples.
== Females Favored ==
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** A minor advantage for female characters in early editions is that some creatures have magic powers (mostly charm or beguiling) that works only on a specific gender, and those targeting males are more prevalent than the reverse. Thus, a woman would be immune to the influence of several feminine monsters (notably Kelpies, Nymphs, Nereids, Harpies...) while rarely the subject of such (like the hypnotic music of a satyr...). How much this would come into play depends entirely of the GM, of course.
** There are a few female-only [[Prestige Class]]es in 3.5 of varying quality. One lets you [[Joke Character|turn into a swan]], another gives you full wizard casting plus other nice abilities as long as you stay in one country... ([[Game Breaker|while there is spell that, provided you keep an acorn from a tree based there on your person, makes you always considered to be somewhere]]).
*** Note that the sole ''male-only'' Prestige Class, found in
**** There is another male-only prestige class. However it is in the licensed (and often banned) Dragon Magazine. Even if you do allow Dragon
* Many games that have hit location systems make men more vulnerable to a [[Groin Attack]]. In ''[[GURPS]]'', called shots to the groin have no special effect on females, but males get double the usual pain penalties.
* In ''[[Mekton]]'', the only mechanical difference between men and women is that (if psychic powers exist in your game) women have a slightly higher chance of having psychic powers.
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* For the most part, in [[Romancing SaGa 2]] things are fairly balanced. Gender doesn't factor too heavily into anything that can't be worked out, but females are inherently immune to Rocboquet's [[Charm Person|Charm]] spell. Only one male class, the male-exclusive Mole Men, has a natural immunity to Charm, and all other male characters need some some sort of protective measure.
* In ''[[Video Game]]/Persona3'', females get two gender-specific pieces of armour (High-Cut Armor and Maid Outfit), while males only get one (Shirt of Chivalry).
* ''[[Monster Girl Quest Paradox]]'' has male party members weaker in several ways. The vast majority of party members are female (when the game was first released, just two were male), so there's far fewer options with males. Additionally, all male party members are limited to the Human race (except the main character Luka, who has access to {{spoiler|Angel}} for plot-related reasons), which further limits their versatility. Finally, males are unable to learn and use sexual skills, due to the game's focus on the femdom fetish. The disparity was reduced somewhat with the release of the second chapter, which adds the option for Human party members to gain some additional races.
== Both Favored ==
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* ''[[Oracle of Tao]]'' has an interesting variation of this. The male version of this is played straight (for the most part) with the two warriors of the game, while females have more versatility. In the later game, with better levels and gear, men can come out ahead, especially with some of the combo attacks from weapons. Usually, though, physical attack is lacking due to weapon availability in the early game, while in terms of magical damage, it's just a matter of [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]]. Also, most of the females (and [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|one very androgynous male]]) have the ability to wear dresses, most of which provide elemental protection not found on heavy armor. Worse, many of the females can ''also'' wear heavy armor and use swords. So this would be technically a female-biased game, despite the advantages. The solution for male characters? [[Wig, Dress, Accent|Disguising yourself as a girl in a changing room, and then putting on the female armor.]] Doing this suddenly makes the game male-biased (if you can still call it that), since now they have the decent attacks, plus the decent armor.
* In ''[[3D Dot Game Heroes|Three D Dot Game Heroes]]'', males get extra sword power, and females get reduced casting cost for magic. Given how often you'll likely be casting the Freeze spell late in the game, this arguably gives males an initial advantage, and females a late-game advantage. And if you don't like it, you can change your gender any time you load a saved game.
* ''[[Demon's Souls]]'' is an interesting case. Judging purely from the number of gender-specific special armors, males have it better, with Saint set, Venerable Sage set, the badass looking Shaman set, Dark Silver set and the [[Awesome Yet Practical]] Old King set, which makes defeating that [[Optional Boss]] all the more rewarding. However, female-exclusive armors are easier and can be obtained earlier, such as the Old Ragged Robes set (minus the Witch's Hat), and if the conditions are right, a female character can access the powerful and lightweight Binded Cross set. The majority of armors, and especially the starting armors are unisex, and since starting classes only affects starting stats, any gender can become almost any build they wish. One can certainly see a female character dual-wielding Berserk-style [[
* ''[[Mabinogi (video game)|Mabinogi]]'' seems to favor creation of a female character more near the beginning of the game mostly by giving women fancier clothes, such as one shop where 2/3 of the clothing are for women, and there's one monster-slaying quest which rewards you with a pair of woman's gloves, ''regardless of your gender''. Later on store options cycle between favoring men then favoring women again.
* In ''[[Sword of Mana]]'', playing as the male protagonist allows you to complete a sidequest chain that the female protagonist can't (as the area where you pick up the [[MacGuffin]] you need doesn't open up until an event where the heroine is briefly captured by the enemy, and the sidequest is [[Lost Forever]] once the story progresses). However, only the female protagonist can experience the full story and get to learn about the antagonists' motivations.
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