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Why are female survivors much more popular than male?

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Comments

  • Iron_Cutlass
    Iron_Cutlass Member Posts: 3,359

    I play the woman characters because I am trans...

    Yea that is about it honestly.

    Also Nea is pretty neat, I like their lore, also I like Jeff too. I know people like them because of (insert YouTuber here) but I just think they are neat... so yea.

    (Idk if you were expecting a well thought out response or not but I got nothing after spending 6 hours in the art studio and going through 1 hour of art history lectures.)

  • Krazzik
    Krazzik Member Posts: 2,475

    Female survivors are smaller and so have an advantage in-game. They also 'tend' to have better cosmetics, with a greater variety in styles and just in general more effort put into them.

    Also most straight guys prefer playing as women as they find them more attractive and most female gamers prefer playing as women because they identify with them more.

  • MikeStev
    MikeStev Member Posts: 384

    It's simple, most DBD players (or most gamer) are male and male like female

  • Nazzzak
    Nazzzak Member Posts: 5,851

    Yeah that's why I mentioned I always thought I was imagining it. But seeing other people comment on it has made me wonder whether it's actually a thing. It could still be just in my head!

  • RoastedGarlic
    RoastedGarlic Member Posts: 592

    for me specifically its because the male model is huge and takes up so much of the damn screen.

  • Nun_So_Vile
    Nun_So_Vile Member Posts: 2,438
    edited September 2023

    Cause they are all beautiful and there is no cake shaming in this house.

  • Nazzzak
    Nazzzak Member Posts: 5,851
    edited September 2023

    Wonder if it had something to do with most older games having male protagonists and so people just fell into that preference? I still remember as a child playing the original Super Metroid (showing my age) and how it blew my mind when my dad told me the protagonist was female. Most of the games I'd play were generally led by males, an exception off the top of my head being Lara Croft. And tbh, their sale approach for her was more about sex appeal than anything else.

    I'm not sure whether it's about caring more about female survival than male, like I think the Final Girl trope was more about the perception of women as weak and vulnerable. So they made the perfect counter to the seemingly unstoppable evil. Their fear was believable, the odds of them getting out alive were slim, but you'd see their development throughout the movie as they find their strength. I couldn't see the film industry back then portraying men like that, a sign of the times really.

  • crogers271
    crogers271 Member Posts: 1,918

    Wonder if it had something to do with most older games having male protagonists and so people just fell into that preference?

    So the primary example back then was World of Warcraft where players could choose the sex of their character. I barely ever played WoW so I'm just going off of what the presenter did as surveys of the gaming population, but his results was that players viewed female characters as weak. At the time I disagreed with him, I think we tend to overthink these things, but like I said I know very little about WoW.

    I still remember as a child playing the original Super Metroid (showing my age) and how it blew my mind when my dad told me the protagonist was female

    It's even more of a mind blow would you find out after beating the game. Given how clunky graphics were at the time, my seven year old brain was wondering why Samus was some kind of long haired surfer dude.

    I'm not sure whether it's about caring more about female survival than male, like I think the Final Girl trope was more about the perception of women as weak and vulnerable

    I think those two things are connected. We care more about women because as a society we've been conditioned to see them as more vulnerable, even if in the fictional scenario its not at all true.

  • Nazzzak
    Nazzzak Member Posts: 5,851

    That's true too. After posting my comment I reflected a bit more and realized that even when we do have male protagonists in horror flicks, they tend to be the vulnerable, bullied outcast. Even in Stranger Things - which I love - it's interesting comparing the development of the jock, Steve, to the outcast, Eddie. Steve has had great personal development, but he's always been portrayed as the hero and protector. Then you have Eddie, the awkward outcast, who is portrayed as scared and vulnerable until he finds his strength.

  • IamFran
    IamFran Member Posts: 1,616

    Because most male survivors lacks of charisma imo.

    The only excepcion are:

    • Vittorio: gigachad DILF.
    • Dwight: goofy meme character trope.
    • Felix: considered sexy by female players.
    • Leon: he is Leon from Resident Evil.
    • Ace: I don't know the reason, he's just Ace.

    However most of the female characters are either sexy, or cute or have some kind of charisma.

  • Smoe
    Smoe Member Posts: 2,972
    edited September 2023

    Used to main Claudette since the early days of dbd, now i main Nicolas Cage who has without a doubt become my favorite Survivor along with his perks.

  • Alen_Starkly
    Alen_Starkly Member Posts: 1,189

    This is a very interesting observation! It has never occured to me, but I think you're right. Shadowborn does "pull the character away" from the player, and make the character seem faster. I can definitely see how a similar effect might be present with female over male characters, due to their height!

  • Alen_Starkly
    Alen_Starkly Member Posts: 1,189

    Don't worry, I do appreciate your response and find it valuable, as everyone else's. Each outlook helps me form a bigger picture and gain more understanding. Thank you <3

  • Alen_Starkly
    Alen_Starkly Member Posts: 1,189
    edited September 2023

    Very good points, thank you for sharing. It's very interesting beginning to realize how different genders in gaming and other media have different influences on people. I can definitely see people attracted to females love playing as Lara Croft for her attractiveness, and people like me who are attracted to males love playing as her, but for other reasons - she's cool, an empowered woman, such a contrast of the preconceived notion of women being gentle and fragile and a badass powerful woman who defeats the bad guys against all odds, like you mentioned above. Very interesting!

  • Alen_Starkly
    Alen_Starkly Member Posts: 1,189
    edited September 2023

    Vittorio - yes! Omg I love him so much. What a great addition to the game. I'm utterly baffled though, why his popularity has sunk so much. I also agree about Dwight, I love him for his goofiness, quirkiness and cuteness.

    I do have to say that feeling the "charisma" is very subjective. You may see Leon just as a RE character (which is fine!), but to me he is absolutely adorable. His voice adds a lot of charisma for me. Cute, adorable, attractive, must protect him. I am very weak when it comes to Leon players and therefore tend to spare them a lot. <3

    Ace - most people view him simply as a smirky, cunning, cocky character. Someone who will be in your face and taunt you, while showing you how good they are. Also, most Ace players dress him in ways that reflect this view. I view him quite differently. To me, he is a very mature, experienced, charming DILF, very attractive and charismatic. His voice influences this a lot. I dress him in ways that show this side of him. Cute, sexy, fashionable, and charismatic. I know that I am in minority about this, but I view him in a very different way than most of people. But we all agree on him being a "bad boy", and a lot of us find that very attractive 😏

  • Horror games tend to be more popular with the male audience

  • Alen_Starkly
    Alen_Starkly Member Posts: 1,189

    Haha 😁

    My testosterone makes me choose guys though 😉

  • UntilValhalla13
    UntilValhalla13 Member Posts: 186

    I mean...



  • Ariel_Starshine
    Ariel_Starshine Member Posts: 937
    edited September 2023

    As a female I can say I always play females, especially ones that resemble me, so I feel immersed in the game. I usually stick to Claire, and Maria.

    In MMO I make the character look like me as well. Anything else and I feel like I'm not being me.

    If you want the psychological reason, it would differ person to person, I'd say. Very broad answer with a lot of theories depending on the individual.

  • DrDucky
    DrDucky Member Posts: 675

    But also Jane has other benefits putting her in a tier of her own in power.

  • Amaroq64
    Amaroq64 Member Posts: 109

    In addition to the other comments, I think there's also an "anime pfp" "4chan loli waifu" phenomenon.

    Some men don't want to grow up and become serious, adult males.

    Instead, they want to remain infantilized and child-like, and refuse to grow up.

    When it comes to self-expression, they will choose silly and childish means of expressing themselves, such as anime waifu profile pictures, and playing female characters in all their games.

  • Pepsidot
    Pepsidot Member Posts: 1,662
    edited October 2023

    (Most 😅) of the female characters are small, some even very small like Nancy.

    This gives the benefit of:

    • Perhaps the biggest benefit - the illusion of a smaller hitbox. The illusion can cause killers to not go for a close call swing since they think they wouldn't get the hit.
    • Since they're small it is easier to hide with them.
    • If you're chasing a chonky male survivor like David with a big Jacket (as an extreme example), he's going to be visible for longer when going around a corner in a loop. As a female, your character model disappears around corners faster in comparison to males, simply due to the size difference. This means females can be harder to track in a chase.
    • From a survivor players POV, a chonky male survivor takes up more of your screen. This makes it feel as if you have a smaller FOV. As a small female you can technically see more of your surroundings, even though you do not have a bigger FOV. For me, the difference is massive. It feels much nicer playing as a female character for this benefit alone.
  • HamsterEnjoyer
    HamsterEnjoyer Member Posts: 765

    I play survivors I think are pretty, cunty, serve, or slay or those I can relate to/have styles that resonate with me.

    I main Maria because she is ALL of the above, before her I mained Ada because she is pretty, cunty, serves, and slays (same with yun-jin).

    Id say the 5 survivors I play most are Maria, Ada, Kate, Feng, Yun-Jin fs because they all fit the categories above and statistically men CANNOT be pretty, cunty, serve, or slay. The only male character in gaming who fits this category is painter from Identity V he serves but thats where that train ends.

    So unless the men have different abilities (I main Bo Rai'Cho, Shao Kahn, and Mileena in Mortal Kombat) then I have no reason to ever pick them

  • HamsterEnjoyer
    HamsterEnjoyer Member Posts: 765

    Wasn't it confirmed survivors did actually have small differences in hitboxes but it wasn't said which was which?

  • ArthurVeloso
    ArthurVeloso Member Posts: 248

    Male survivors should be a shorter. They are too much tall and hard to play at first, specially on console.

  • Superyoshiegg
    Superyoshiegg Member Posts: 1,490

    Men, generally, are taller then women on average.

    Be pretty difficult to suspend your disbelief if every survivor was exactly the same height. There's already differences in height between those of the same gender anyway (Feng is noticeably shorter than most of the other female survivors, for example).

  • ArthurVeloso
    ArthurVeloso Member Posts: 248

    It is just a online game. It does not need to follow the same measurements of reality. Also, do you know that there are a lot of short men around there? So, why do we have a short male character?

  • Superyoshiegg
    Superyoshiegg Member Posts: 1,490

    I did not say that it needs to strictly adhere to the rules of reality. The whole concept of the game breaks that quite handily.

    Yes, short men exist, as does tall women. That's not something you really need to point out.

    Freddy, Ghostface and Trickster are on the short side. Some survivors are outright taller then them, so it's not like BHVR isn't aware of the phenomenon.

    My original point was that you said the male survivors are "much too tall", to which they really aren't. The majority of the killers already tower over them after all.

  • Alen_Starkly
    Alen_Starkly Member Posts: 1,189

    Very interesting point of view. It seems important to consider. Thank you!

  • xEa
    xEa Member Posts: 4,105

    They are smaller, gives a bigger field of view

  • Alen_Starkly
    Alen_Starkly Member Posts: 1,189

    Well that's definitely a valid point. 😁

    But here's mine:

    😁

  • whammigobambam
    whammigobambam Member Posts: 1,201

    Why I personally play female over male: Sally from the original Texas chainsaw massacre. I first saw this movie in my teens and her performance resonates with me still to this day so much so that I long for those clutch moments in horror games.

  • Caiman
    Caiman Member Posts: 2,960

    I play whatever survivor I find likeable. Their sex does not matter to me, and neither do their cosmetics because I do not have hundreds of dollars to waste on virtual clothing. I go with whoever seems like a nice person whom I would root for to survive if they were in a horror movie.

  • KA149108
    KA149108 Member Posts: 376

    Cute outfits.

  • HarlockTaliesin
    HarlockTaliesin Member Posts: 763
    edited October 2023

    Traditionally, female characters are seen as more "neutral" or "warm" than males, whether in fact or just perception. Male characters tend to be more aggressive or stand-offish by design or perception.

    Female players gravitate to them as both a feeling of being "safe", plus relatable, and can be viewed sexually.

    Male players gravitate to female characters either sexually, prefer a sense of safety, or just not wanting to be always-on aggressive.

    Then you have things that can be more mechanically/visually useful, such as female characters tend to be of shorter stature and less bulky to enable hiding better.

    Lastly, there's the cosmetic standpoint. Female characters in general almost always have more cosmetic options than male characters. So if you like to play dress up with your character, it's a solid bet picking a female character.

  • Phantom_
    Phantom_ Member Posts: 1,373

    My first survivor was Meg (because of her perks and being one of the OG ones). This might sound odd, but her movements feel a lot more smoother to me than that of any other character.

    I also play a lot of Jill, Leon, and Los. But Los feels SO bulky and weird lol, whereas Leon doesn't as much. Carlos feels like you're moving a block 💀 in comparison to how smooth walking, running, vaulting with Meg/Jill feels. IDK, does that make sense? You can compare it to how certain vehicles are in GTA, some are smooth as hell and others are horrendous and have you smashing the cheatcodes against the cops ya'know.

  • ArthurVeloso
    ArthurVeloso Member Posts: 248

    Yes, I need to point out because there is no representation for these type of short men. If there was a short male character with a regular voice volume, I am sure that he would be more played than any other male character.

  • Emoba
    Emoba Member, Alpha Surveyor Posts: 514
    edited October 2023

    Female survs being smaller equals less clutter on the screen which always is an advantage and just overall feels better. DBD also has a significant female playerbase and as we all already know, women rarely use non-female characters in video games.

  • Kaethela
    Kaethela Member Posts: 348

    I'm trans and being able to play as someone that better represents who I am is very important to me. That's it.

  • EmmaFrostyEyes
    EmmaFrostyEyes Member Posts: 685

    I can’t speak for everyone but i like staring at claires, jills, kates, yun jin, and janes booty when i play them for example. Im into women so i only play as women since i like to look at them

  • Alen_Starkly
    Alen_Starkly Member Posts: 1,189

    Thank you everyone, I really appreciate your feedback <3 Very interesting points.

  • Katzengott
    Katzengott Member Posts: 1,210

    Same reason as in all 3rd person games if i have to choose: I rather watch a female butt.

  • Vanishlord
    Vanishlord Member Posts: 555

    This is same for me. I also just love badass women as well. Particularly if they're from a franchise I like. I'm a Yui main I just love how much of a badass she seems to be but how kind she is too. I don't really like most of her cosmetics so I might chnage to someone with better cosmetics but is if I find them attractive. Survivors are just skins so its just really whoever you find asthetically and just generally pleasing.