Game-Favored Gender: Difference between revisions

Contrast with [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]. Compare [[Gender Incompetence]]. May lead to [[Women Are Wiser]] or [[Men Are Better Than Women]].

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* Early forms of ''[[Dungeons and 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.

* ''[[Warhammer Online]]''

** There are three specifically male-only classes and only one female-only class. [[All Women Are Lustful|(Which is, of course, slutty.)]] Then there's the entire greenskin race, which is genderless according to some fans, but the orcs and goblins are always referred to with male pronouns.

* Several ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]'' games give more benefits to women than men in terms of female-exclusive items. Your sex is whatever sex you actually are, but there are cards that [[Gender Bender|Gender Bend]] players. Official T-shirts, when worn by a player, can cause the player to be considered a specific sex while worn, overriding the primary effect of such cards. T-shirts are removable during play. Notably, this means the advantage here of being female can be assigned a rough real-world monetary value (probably about $18 U.S.).

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''

** 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.

* ''[[Combat Arms]]'' has the very appropriate "[[Groin Attack|nutshot]]". In previous versions it would instantly kill male characters, but [[Only a Flesh Wound|only count as a regular torso hit against females]]. It's more of an [[Easter Egg]] than anything else really, since the nuts have an [[Improbable Aiming Skills|incredibly small hitbox]].

* The ''[[Wizardry]]'' games did this, particularly starting around the sixth game. Not only did females have access to the Valkyrie class, which was generally better than the gender-neutral [[Church Militant|Lord]], but they also had access to a slew of armors and powerful accessories that males did not. In contrast, there is only one male-only item in the games.

* Any game that keeps track of characters' heights and weights may have unintentional gender-related consequences because men are ''on average'' larger than women -- these effects can and do work in both directions (Mounted character? Enjoy your mount being able to carry a few dozen extra pounds of gear if you are female. Want to [[Goomba Stomp|crush enemies with your weight]]? Extra damage if male.).

* ''[[Pokémon]]''

** When breeding [[Pokémon]], the baby is always the same species as its mother, but may inherit moves from its father. Thus, it is preferred to use the limited-quantity Technical Machines on males, so that other Pokémon can inherit the move. TM moves in Generation V still kept their inheritance qualities even though Technical Machines gained infinite use, making this largely irrelevant.