History Main / PurelyAestheticGender

* ''MonsterRancher 2'' allows you to input your gender at the start of the game. However, since your character is TheFaceless (and even implied to ''just be you''), this has little effect. The only real thing that changes is that your assistant Holly will make a comment about how nice it is to work with a fellow female monster breeder for once.

Of course, [[TropesAreNotBad this is not necessarily negative]], as gender differences can lead straight to UnfortunateImplications, such as [[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon males being stronger]] or [[WomenAreWiser females smarter]] by default. Of course, even in real life, males generally tend to be stronger in upper body strength, while women tend to have stronger lower bodies, and there are some areas of intelligence for which girls tend to be a little smarter (like verbal skills) and some for which guys tend to be a little smarter (like spatial intuition). But that's just on average, not things you expect to apply to every male or female.

** Most Digimon do have gender but they can't have babies so what gender they identify as doesn't mean much in the long run. Most series take place in an AlternateUniverse from the last however, so in Anime/DigimonFrontier's and ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars''s universes, male and female digimon '''do''' have babies. The latter even has male and female versions of digimon who traditionally appear as one or the other.

** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that characters in D&D are supposed to be unique, exceptional heroes, so a woman who's two or three times stronger than the average man is par for the course.

* ''[[WorldOfMana Legend Of Mana]]'' gives the main character a PurelyAestheticGender, which only makes two differences to anything (besides the hero(ine)'s appearance): After various quests with a team of pirates, the captain will congratulate the hero(ine) as being a "true man of the sea", with another pirate protesting the captain's claim if the character is female. Another difference is when one of the characters remarks on your appearance as being phony (he believes you to be a thief). The male hero gets "Stupid Hat" while the female hero gets "Crazy Needles".

* This is the case in ''The Tomb of the VideoGame/TaskMaker''. The player can choose to be male or female, but the only differences are in graphics and sounds. The character creation box even makes note of this.

* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' plays this to the hilt, to where the LevelEditor for Foundry missions doesn't even have any gender-operated dialogue tags. Justified by the long tradition of (at least theoretical) gender equality in the setting.

** ''Magical Melody'' was an exception, but the only difference that came with pregnancy was your stamina dropped faster.

** Hundred year old men running around in the bodies of nine year old girls ? Creepy.

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' compensates for this by adding an equivalent perk (Confirmed Bachelor/Cherchez La Femme) that gives you extra damage against characters of the ''same'' gender. Note that all factions except two (the Legion and the Powder Gangers) have both male and female combatants, so the combat value of the male-damage vs. female-damage perk isn't quite as significant here. However, the majority of all combatants are still predominately male, especially considering that [[spoiler:the Legion is one of the two major factions in the game, and they only consider women useful in their capacity for making babies]].

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' compensates for this by adding an equivalent perk (Confirmed Bachelor/Cherchez La Femme) that gives you extra damage against characters of the ''same'' gender. Note that all factions except two (the Legion and the Powder Gangers) have both male and female combatants so unless you take both perks the combat value isn't quite as useful here.

* ''MegaManZX's'' first game gives you a choice of two characters - a boy and girl, neither of which exist in the story at the same time and are more or less {{Distaff Counterpart}}s of eachother, each existing in their own little world. The dialogue for each is different - the boy is a ClassicalAntiHero while the girl is a LittleMissSnarker -- but ultimately they play the same and have the same general story. The only differences are that the girl gets knocked back a little further but moves a bit faster, and one gender-specific mission, in which it's arguably better to play as the girl because she gets {{palette swap}}ping and he just gets a usable item.

* In ''SaintsRow2'' [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep The Boss]] can be a ScaryBlackMan, a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy, a DarkSkinnedRedhead, a {{Meganekko}}, a morbidly-obese gender-neutral pig-human ''thing'', [[GenderBender anything else in between]], and it literally affects ''nothing''. Not character interactions, not gameplay, not [[VirtualPaperDoll clothing options]], not even The Boss's views on stripper poles and their regular operators. Hell, returning characters from the first game will only comment on your "haircut", even if your character is female. (For that to make sense, please note that in the first game, the player character still had a wide variety of customization, but was always male.)

[[folder:Rougelike]]

* In ''RagnarokOnline'', a (very) few items are gender specific, and only male characters can become Bards, while females become Dancers. Bards and Dancers get different sets of support skills. Bards get mostly buffs, while Dancers get mostly debuffs.
** Furthermore, some of the buffs they can cast are used in conjunction with each other, as they require both classes to cast. (I.E. having a Dancer dancing to the Bard's music.)
** Bards also use musical instruments while Dancers use whips. There's probably an UnfortunateImplication there somewhere.
** Interestingly, gender becomes vital if a player wishes to get married: wives have different but complementary abilities to their husbands. Thus, there is no GayOption.
*** Depending on the server. There are a few private, unofficial servers that allow GayOption as an added feature. From a general point of view, Ragnarok Online's private servers community is very versatile - so much in fact that there's at least one [[http://ratemyserver.net/ website dedicated to private server reviews]].

* In ''MassEffect'' the only difference between the sexes is romance options, except for a few minor dialogue changes.

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' compensates for this by adding an equivalent perk (Confirmed Bachelor/Cherchez La Femme) that gives you extra damage against characters of the ''same'' gender. Note that all factions except one (the Legion) have both male and female combatants so unless you take both perks the combat value isn't quite as useful here.

* Initially, ''{{Terraria}}'' had no gender option, simply allowing a player to choose default features that made the character look male or female. A later patch introduced the option to be male or female, with existing characters flattening out into male. So there are a lot of crossdressers in ''Terraria'' now.

* There is no statistical difference between male and female characters in ''BaldursGate''. It does affect which characters may become your love interests, however.

*** Shar-Teel, a female evil potential party member with an intense dislike for males, will comment on the composition of the player's party, and will compliment the PC if it's an all-female party.

*** In case of Sugar she's ''more'' willing to do this with a female protagonist than a male one. When you summoned her the first thing she does if you are male is telling that you look like your father. And if you are female? She ''kisses'' you (Leading to the [[MemeticMutation well-known]] dialogue option included on [[RefugeInAudacity the back of the box]] "No no! I, uh, kiss other girls all the time!").

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games are an example of the former kind of game, where starting statistics are identical regardless of the sex of the character. The choice does have some noticeable impact on the game world, particularly in the second game, where it can affect the fate of one of the game's cities. Playing a female character also gives the player the option of offering sexual services to solve certain problems, which would require the use of diplomacy or violence for a male character.
** And at least once, this last point is reversed for male characters. And some sexual activities just ignore gender, even at one point allowing a player to rape a female NPC regardless of their PC's gender. The dialogue leading to this event is rather ambiguous, [[GuideDangIt making it possible that the player doesn't know what's going to happen until it's too late]], and an entire town turns hostile as a result.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has a perk (Lady Killer/Black Widow) that lets you do extra damage against characters of the opposite gender and get some extra dialogue options. This is much more useful for a female player character, because the bulk of your enemies are male.
** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' compensates for this by adding an equivalent perk (Confirmed Bachelor/Cherchez La Femme) that gives you extra damage against characters of the ''same'' gender. Note that all factions except one (the Legion) have both male and female combatants so unless you take both perks the combat value isn't quite as useful here.
*** Note that New Vegas also treats these perks as indicating sexual orientation, so Confirmed Bachelor lets you advance quests and other get extra dialogue by hitting on gay [=NPCs=].
** In Fallout's predecessor VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}, gender affects exactly one thing: which restroom you can enter. [[DoubleStandard Male characters can only enter the men's room, but female characters can enter both.]] TruthInTelevision, to an extent.
* There is no statistical difference between male and female characters in ''BaldursGate''. It does affect which characters may become your love interests, however.
** And there is at least one (female) sexist innkeeper in ''Shadows of Amn'' who'll react quite differently based on gender. In the first game, however, there are no romances and no-one that reacts differently. There are even a handful of female [=NPCs=] who seem confident in their ability to manipulate a female PC by being "seductive" just as they do with a male one.
*** Shar-Teel, a female evil potential party member with an intense dislike for males, will comment on the composition of the player's party, and will compliment the PC if it's an all-female party.

* Similarly, the "life partner" one chooses in the ''SummonNight'' games are the same for men and women, although dialog will be different.
** This produces highly amusing dialog in ''Summon Night: Swordcraft Story''. One of the guardian beasts, Sugar, wants to marry the player character. This story event occurs no matter what gender the player character chooses, because her former partner (the main character's father) promised his unborn child would marry her - apparently ignoring the fact that the kid could be a girl.
*** In case of Sugar she's ''more'' willing to do this with a female protagonist than a male one. When you summoned her the first thing she does if you are male is telling that you look like your father. And if you are female? She ''kisses'' you (Leading to the [[MemeticMutation well-known]] dialogue option included on [[RefugeInAudacity the back of the box]] "No no! I, uh, kiss other girls all the time!").
** Not to mention a line obviously meant for men: "A hammer forges a woman" is also pretty funny.
** As well in the sequel when Lynn said she wanted to pay you back for a favor with a kiss, and a mermaid very briefly falls in love with you after defeating a monster in her home. The dialogue for the latter ''does'' vary a bit; if the PC is female she will point this out, and the mermaid says [[IfItsYouItsOkay she doesn't care]].
* The ''{{Pokemon}}'' games work like this: The genders of the Pokémon one collects often has more effect on gameplay than the main character does, as which traits are passed on in breeding is determined by gender, some moves and abilities are affected by Pokemon gender, and some Pokémon evolve according to gender, but as of Generation 3, all non-breeding effects of gender are based on if a Pokémon's gender is the same as or different than the target.
** In the second generation when genders were first introduced, individual Pokémon with lower attack genes are female (Attack IV determines gender, rather than the other way around). This was done so the system could tell them apart, as unlike the later games, ''Gold/Silver/Crystal'' doesn't have its own variable for gender; this, in turn, was done in order to allow backward compatibility with the earlier games. Shiny Pokemon also had straight 16 [=IVs=] in everything for the same reason. This was fixed when the data structure was overhauled in Generation 3, which made "gender" a separate variable, independent of stats.
** The most obvious exceptions to GenderIsNoObject in the ''{{Pokemon}}'' franchise are where the male and female are different enough to be considered different Pokémon with different abilities, such as the Nidoran family.
** In the original ''Red/Blue/Green'' games, the player character was always male, which causes a problem when, in ''[=FireRed=]/[=LeafGreen=]'', the player character has to visit the [[PoorPredictableRock Grass-type]] gym, which is full of giddy young girls; they freak out at the intrusion of a male, and blushingly crush on him after he defeats them. The dialogue of these trainers was left alone, which means that a female player character turns the gym into an insular lesbian commune.
** Alternately, it could just be that Leaf is so hot EvenTheGirlsWantHer.
** From ''Crystal'' onward, players could choose their genders, and it did not affect the story save for the gender of a rival character (''Crystal'', ''[=FireRed=]'', and ''[=LeafGreen=]'' excepted); that's because in Generation 3 and onward, each player character model (male and female) is also an established character; whichever character you're not playing as becomes your rival. So in ''Ruby/Sapphire'', for example, the boy character is "Brendan" and the girl character is "May". But only one of them ever appears in a given playthrough, because the other's sprite-set is instead used for your character.
** There are minor dialogue changes between some of the main characters depending on your gender.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' also uses this - particularly notable in the first game, where aside from the protagonist gender simply didn't exist, making Attract a GameBreaker. The second game is better about gender and notes each Pokemon as being male or female, but still doesn't amount to as much as in the main-series games, the differences between the genders being different dialogue, a small accuracy boost for the females,a small critical rate boost for the males and gender related moves and abilities, (like attract or rivalry) .
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has five races, one of which is male-only, one of which is female-only, and the remainder allowing both genders. While there are differences in starting stats and stat growth between races, males and females of the same race have entirely identical stats and abilities.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' has a rather amusing dialogue mishap: although you can choose the main character's gender, the king refers to you as "Ortega's ''son''", no matter which you choose.
** Parodied/subverted in the remake, where he instead refers to you as "Ortega's son... I mean, daughter" if you choose to play a female.
* In ''TonyHawksUnderground 1'' you can play as either a guy or a girl, the only effect this has on the game is what your rival Eric Sparrow calls you at the end of the game. If you play as a girl you still have to pick up "chicks" for a party by impressing them with your skate skills, meaning all the women you run into must be [[EveryoneIsBi conveniently bisexual]].

* In the roguelike ''{{Nethack}}'', the gender chosen by the player for his or her character has only a few minor effects in the game. For example, men can be seduced by succubi, whereas women are seduced by incubi. (homosexuality isn't implemented, and people screaming for support for bisexuals are reminded that this would likely end up a GameBreaker.) Also, when polymorphed into an oviparous creature, females have the option to lay eggs - which, given the power of cockatrice (henatrice?) eggs, is actually quite a big difference...
** However, while females can gain allies by hatching only monster eggs they themselves laid, males can become the "daddy" of any egg that hatches. Also, using a cockatrice egg you laid yourself offensively does dire things to your KarmaMeter if you aren't very careful. Also, about 1 in 8 times you polymorph into a monster, you'll be the opposite gender anyway. The Dev Team has made great efforts to keep this fairly balanced.
** One role (Valkyrie) must always start female. You can change gender through magic, however, and continue playing as a male Valkyrie, with your title adjusted as appropriate. Even your home village doesn't remark on how you've changed.
* ''Disgaea'' averts this by having both male and female versions of creatable units, each having varying effects on gameplay. You also freely transmigrate a generated character [[GenderBender from one sex to the other ...]]
* In 3E ''DungeonsAndDragons'', females and males are identical, except for the random-height-and-weight generators you can optionally use which, still have no direct effect unless you planed on engaging in mounted combat (female's lower weight is helpful on your mount's encumbrance) or attempting to crush enemies with your weight (where males preform slightly better). There are, however, several female-only prestige classes. Meanwhile, the only male-only prestige class is the "Eunuch Warlock."
** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that characters in D&D are supposed to be unique, exceptional heroes, so a woman who's two or three times stronger than the average man is par for the course.
** Drow have their favored class based on gender (Wizard for males, Cleric for females), for societal rather than biological reasons. In 3E ([[{{Retcon}} but not 3.5]]), female Drow also had a considerable stat bonus where male Drow had a penalty.
** In 2001, a particularly facepalm-worthy FlameWar broke out in the letter column of the official ''D&D'' magazine sparked by one putz who said that in his games, he gave all female characters a penalty to Strength in exchange for the "ability" to get pregnant. Oy vey...
*** in the 1978 first edition of D&D, men and women had different ''maximum'' Strength scores (Men could go to 18/00, while women were limited to 18/50).
* ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'':
** In the older ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' games (and many other computer {{RPG}}s) a female character got a strength penalty, which was sometimes but not always offset by a bonus to another stat.
** In the newer ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII'', characters have no stat differences based on gender. In the first city (Monitor) you can have a short love subplot, which does involve a different partner depending on your gender, and has little relevance to the game (If you go to bed with the other party, they will reward you with a cloak useful for protection from cold later in the game). In the ''third'' city (Moonshade), you must have a love subplot with the mayor's wife to move the plot along, and this scene is no different at all if your character is female, making it a GayOption for an NPC.
** In ''VideoGame/UltimaVIII'', the female main character was dropped in production because of there was not enough space on the floppy disks to include her sprites. There wasn't even enough space to include the male character's face, for that, and the planned CD version (which may or may not have had the option, thanks to increased space) was cancelled. The CD version that did come out did not have the option of making the character female.
* ''MegaManZX's'' first game gives you a choice of two characters - a boy and girl, neither of which exist in the story at the same time and are more or less {{Distaff Counterpart}}s of eachother, each existing in their own little world. The dialogue for each is different - the boy is a ClassicalAntiHero while the girl is a LittleMissSnarker -- but ultimately they play the same and have the same general story. The only differences are that the girl gets knocked back a little further but moves a bit faster, and one gender-specific mission, in which it's arguably better to play as the girl because she gets {{palette swap}}ping and he just gets a usable item.
** The sequel, Mega Man ZX Advent introduces minor gameplay changes and divergent backstories depending on which character is selected. This is likely because Grey is a male ''reploid'', and Ashe is a female ''human'', so the backstory compensates more for the race than the gender.

* This is mostly the case in ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}} 8'', as the only real difference in character creation (with one exception) is having a different set of voices to choose from. The exception is that one of the character classes (Valkyrie) is female-only. Additionally, while it holds true most of the time during gameplay, there are a few items that are female only, including a rather useful necklace of stamina regeneration. On the other side, there seems to be only one male-exclusive item. Additionally, there is a male-exclusive quest option involving a demoness (which is possible with an all-female party, but without some amusing dialogue).
** There's also a case of dialogue not quite matching up. If a player allies with the Umpani military, the characters will usually be referred to as "ladies" by Sergeant Balbrak, regardless of sex. It's clearly intended to be an insult, but against an all-female party, it doesn't have the same effectiveness...
** The Lord class is male-only.
** Females could become Lords in the prior two games in the series, though there honestly wasn't any point in doing so, except for starting equipment. Valkyries learn all the same skills and spells as Lords, have easier entry requirements, and gain levels faster.

* Most {{Wrestling Game}}s don't have any statistical differences between male and female create-a-wrestlers (though there are huge differences between the men and women already in the game). For the most part, the only real difference is that women are not allowed to hold a World Championship, and men are not allowed to hold a Women's championship. The ''WWE Day of Reckoning'' series, however, has a much more strict restriction on female wrestlers: they are not allowed to participate in the story mode. At all. Because each game only has the one storyline, this does sort of make sense (as much as it cheats the player out of hot lesbian make-out scenes with Stacy Kiebler).
** Some of the Smackdown series of games took it a step further into this trope: while you could use whichever gender's base physique you wanted, your assigned gender was male, female, or '?'. Yes, '?'. This featured as far back as Smackdown 2, and apparently stopped in the Smackdown vs Raw generation. Sadly, games further along pull further away--[[SmackdownVsRaw SvR]] 2007 doesn't even let you put the men in dresses anymore. So long, GorgeousGeorge.

* ''[[WorldOfMana Legend Of Mana]]'' gives the main character a PurelyAestheticGender, which only makes two differences to anything (besides the hero(ine)'s appearance): After various quests with a team of pirates, the captain will congratulate the hero(ine) as being a "true man of the sea", with another pirate protesting the captain's claim if the character is female. Another difference is when one of the characters remarks on your appearance as being phony (he believes you to be a thief). The male hero gets "Stupid Hat" while the female hero gets "Crazy Needles".
* The {{roguelike}} ''{{Elona}}'' has an especially notable case of PurelyAestheticGender; the sex of anything but static {{NPC}}s is about as important gamewise as what they ate that morning, even in some jobs that make specific reference to an NPC's gender. It's entirely possible to get eggs and [[{{Squick}} milk]] from a male.

* ''[[VideoGame/StarTrekEliteForce Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force]]'' played this all the way through with a gender neutral name. This did not keep them from adding a hint of romance with a female team member to the ending, though, which makes ''Elite Force'' slightly more gay-friendly than the [[HideYourLesbians series that inspired it.]]
* Gender in ''{{Achaea}}'' is utterly irrelevant to gameplay, except for when it comes to 'bloodlining' (declaring a family relationship with other player characters) which is treated as biological rather than adoptive, so characters cannot have same-sex parents. However, marriage is gender-irrelevant. There are also two single-gender races, Sirens and Satyrs. (It's stated in the game documentation that the child of, for instance, a Siren and a Human would be Human if male and randomly Siren or Human if female.) Oddly, gender is the only aspect of a character which can't be changed under any circumstances - even though characters can change species at will.
* In the original ''OgreBattle'', the male and female Lords were basically identical... to the point that it's apparently common knowledge that the female Lord is interested in other women. (One area boss basically accuses you of being jealous of his power letting him get all the women, regardless of gender. As well, if you spare Deneb [who when you first face her, says you're [[HoYay pretty good looking]]], one of the towns will say you just did it because she was a cute girl.) The one time the gender matters outside of the overworld sprite seems to be a single town that mentions you are an ordinary women under your armor.
** Some of the endings were also gender exclusive. Both the male and female had a few.
* In ''SoulNomad'' your name is Revya. Your gender's only mechanical effect (Revya always considered male for items) is that one dialog option right at the start will increase your RelationshipValues with Gig 2 points if you are female instead of 1 (which only changes what ending you get). Your choices however, do matter. [[spoiler: Non-canon cameo appearance seems to suggest that Revya is canonically female, although only maybe because MostGamersAreMale]].
** The female apperance in {{Disgaea 3}} might be a compensation to the fact that stat-wise, the female Revya used to be male in the original game, being affected by male boosting/reducing items, not by female affecting ones.
** Or it has to do with the fact that Revya was male in her original incarnation (the one in Soul Nomad being the second), also the potential relationship between female Revya and Gig is just more interesting, and played with slightly in Disgaea 3.
* In ''{{Mekton}} Zeta'', the only difference is that females have a slightly higher chance of having [[PsychicPowers Psionic powers]] if those rules are used (due to HumongousMecha anime having more female [=ESPers=] than males)
* In ''VideoGame/PuzzleQuest: Challenge Of The Warlords'', the only differences between male and female characters are dialog-based: characters will refer to you as "lass" instead of "lad", etc and Princess Seraphine will openly flirt with your male character and refer to herself and your female character as "like sisters" (Both options annoy your character). The sequel, ''Galactrix'', removes even the dialog changes: no one refers to you by name or by gender - it's all "you" or "kid".
* Player characters in the ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}'' games are built with the same stats; the player determines their gender with names and icons.
* While the indie RPG ''{{Eschalon}} Book 1'' doesn't even provide the option of playing a female character, ''Book 2'' has a + 1 stat bonus on strength for men and dexterity for women. While this bonus is so minor it gets insignificant even in the short run, it led to a minor FlameWar around this subject.
* Gender is purely aesthetic in ''GuildWars'', but ''boy'' does the aesthetic difference have more importance than usual. Given the impressive amount of attention given to character appearance, customizing armor styles, and the like, gender is very important, as most armors look markedly different depending on the gender of the class wearing them.
** It bears mentioning that the armors in ''GuildWars'' don't look different based on gender as they typically do in [=MMOs=]. Females generally do ''not'' wear half the clothing that males do, except in the case of the Elementalist, and that entire class is out to look pretty.
** The same goes for ''GuildWars2'', and the Sylvari, a race of plants who only mimic the human form, take it a step further: they have absolutely no concept of gender as anything but an unimportant physiological distinction.

* In ''Culdcept Saga'' you can change your character's base appearance after you've beaten the game once. If you make your character female (or another species) they still have the same voice and love interest.
** In ''Culdcept'' for PS2, an apparent glitch makes it such that your gender has so little effect that ''everyone still refers to you using male pronouns.''
* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' has heroes of both genders for all races, but with the exception of important story characters in V, they all share the same (male) model. Knights and Demon Lords at least wear concealing armor, Necromancers wear hooded cloaks but everyone else apparently has very masculine-looking women. And of course, the gender doesn't matter gameplay wise (unless you count the hero specialty).
** ''Heroes IV'' at least has different male and female models for each faction, but with the elimination of specialties, everything about heroes of the same faction is purely aesthetic.
* In ''{{GURPS}}'' gender is a zero point feature but depending on the culture it may qualify one for a social stigma.
** Though males are at a slight disadvantage, being vulnerable to [[GroinAttack Groin Attacks]].
* In EclipsePhase gender is a VERY aesthetic choice. The gender of your mind is separate from the gender of your current body and you can switch almost at will (the limiting factor is money). So the gender of your morph is one piece of the puzzle telling the other people what kind of person you are.
** Hundred year old men running around in the bodies of nine year old girls ? Creepy.
* ''VideoGame/TheSims'' is very close to having this. Clothing and hair options are obviously different, and only female Sims can get pregnant, but for job interaction, skill building and social interaction the two genders function exactly alike. Also, all Sims in the same age category are the same height. Then again, it's kind of justified, since VideoGame/TheSims is ''supposed'' to be a simplified, idealistic version of real life.
** [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong With aliens that like to abduct and impregnate males.]]
* The new ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' game, at least for PS2. The PS360 version simply omits the ability to play as a female character.
* ''StarWars: [[DarkForcesSaga Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy]]'' lets the player choose his/her gender. Male and female characters have different voice-actors, but that's it. Same stat's, same reactions from other characters, and same animations. Your character even goes by the gender-neutral name "Jaden."
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' plays this as straight as it can, and even extends ito to entire species. A player's gender has no impact on stats, and the only changes between are a different voice (male or female), love interest (heterosecual only, for now), and [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything and a few gender-specific quips]].

* Later ''HarvestMoon'' games have allowed you to choose between playing as a male or female character. While these change who your potential LoveInterests are, nothing else changes. Your female character can even become a PregnantBadass (of a sort) by digging into 100-floor-deep mines while being the in-game equivalent of 8 months pregnant and suffer no ill effects!
** ''Magical Melody'' was an exception, but the only difference that came with pregnancy was your stamina dropped faster.
** In the Sunny Island games (''Island of Happiness'' and ''Sunshine Islands''), the character model of the gender you don't pick becomes an NPC that you can court and marry, unlike other games in the series where the opposite gender's model is unused.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda BS'' and the sequel, you can choose to play as a male or a female. This has no effect on the gameplay or storyline, however.
* In the rogue-like Ancient Domains of Mystery, the only difference between male and female [=PCs=] is which stat is used for shop prices. Males use Charisma, while females use Appearance.
* In ''SaintsRow2'' [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep The Boss]] can be a ScaryBlackMan, a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy, a DarkSkinnedRedhead, a {{Meganekko}}, a morbidly-obese gender-neutral pig-human ''thing'', [[GenderBender anything else in between]], and it literally affects ''nothing''. Not character interactions, not gameplay, not [[VirtualPaperDoll clothing options]], not even The Boss's views on stripper poles and their regular operators. Hell, returning characters from the first game will only comment on your "haircut", even if your character is female. (For that to make sense, please note that in the first game, the player character still had a wide variety of customization, but was always male.)
** However, you can pick male or female voices, and that changes the lines from the boss.
*** It should also be noted that Word of God has stated that if you play as a female Boss in Saints Row 2, she was a woman in Saints Row 1 canon-wise.
* ''SoulCalibur 3'''s creation modes (especially Chronicles of the Sword, which gave you your own plotline) mostly ignored gender, aside from pronouns and whether you were the King or Queen of Battle and heard someone call you "War God(ess)" once. Then again, it also ignored your weapon, always citing you picking up your sword regardless of whether you were in a class that had them.
* ''VideoGame/FableII'' allows the protagonist to be female, and this doesn't affect any specific gameplay. It does affect who's attracted to you and certain dialogue; in the gladiatorial arena, for example, the commentators may yell out "Ooh! Took that one like a man! ...even though she is, actually, a woman.", and [=NPCs=] react to the player using the "wrong" gendered title (for example, a female using the "King" title). There's also a sidequest ("Till Death Do Us Part") where the giver is the same gender as the player, and the target is the opposite gender.
** ''VideoGame/FableIII'' also allows the protagonist to be female, which introduces mostly cosmetic and dialogue changes (for example, you'll be referred to as "the Princess" instead of "the Prince", and the flavour of [[MostAnnoyingSound taunting gnomes]]' sexist jokes will differ depending on the character's gender). In addition, however, some gender-specific [=NPCs=] will be reversed, such as the couple in the "A Marriage of Inconvenience" sidequest (Similar to the "Till Death Do Us Part" in Fable 2), and your childhood friend in the prologue (who will always be of the opposite sex).

* In ''AnimalCrossing,'' you can pick your character's gender at the start. There's no real affect on anything to this--characters hardly ever refer to you by gender, even!
** There is one change of dialogue in the beginning, before the gender is even possibly chosen. When you tell Rover your name, you have the option of saying "Isn't it cool" or "isn't it cute". If you say the former, he assumes you're a guy. If you object, you get a tomboyish girl appearance. If you say the latter, he assumes you're a girl and the opposite happens.
* Similarly, ''MagiciansQuestMysteriousTimes'' (an AnimalCrossing clone) does something similar. Since this game includes wearable [[VirtualPaperDoll skirts and dresses,]] you'd think it'd have an effect--but no, [[WholesomeCrossdresser even males can wear the Princess Dress.]] However, it does affect who your LoveInterest(s) can potentially be.
* The Wii action-adventure game ''Brave: A Warrior's Tale'' lets you pick between a female and male character when you start the game. However, you don't even get to play as them that often--a lot of the story is told in flashback, where you play as male character Brave anyway.
* ''MonsterRancher 2'' allows you to input your gender at the start of the game. However, since your character is TheFaceless (and even implied to ''just be you''), this has little effect. The only real thing that changes is that your assistant Holly will make a comment about how nice it is to work with a fellow female monster breeder for once.
* The SimulationGame ''WanderingWillows'' lets you choose between male and female characters, but they still act the same. Males can even wear dresses, skirts, and other "girly" clothes. [[spoiler: This is actually a plot point, because one later mission has you making dresses for local WholesomeCrossdresser Art.]]
* ''PerfectDark'' has you playing as the female Joanna Dark for most of the game, but bonus missions let you play as male aliens Mr. Blonde and Elvis. Enemy chatter is unchanged for these missions, so your character will still be referred to using female pronouns.

* In early versions of ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'' the character's weight affected the chance of "Bashing" doors, chests or monsters. Since males tended to be heavier, females were given more starting cash to compensate. This no longer applies and thus this trope has returned in full force.

* In ''MassEffect'' the only difference between the sexes is romance options, except for a few minor dialogue changes.
** The same goes for [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the sequel]], with one addition: in the Kasumi DLC, when infiltrating Hock's party, male Shepard gets a future-tux, whereas female Shepard gets a LittleBlackDress. There's also the issue of insulting dialog thrown at a female Shepard in one case where no such equivalent exists for the male character.

** Most Digimon do have gender but they can't have babies so what gender they indentify as doesn't mean much in the long run. Most series take place in an AlternateUniverse from the last however, so in Anime/DigimonFrontier's and ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars''s universes, male and female digimon '''do''' have babies. The latter even has male and female versions of digimon who traditionally appear as one or the other.
* In ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds}}: Duel Transer'' (and possibly some other Yu-Gi-Oh video games), your gender affects what deck you start with, but other than that you have the same potential.
* In ''SyphonFilter: The Omega Strain'', the PC's gender does not affect their stats, although the female can be a ThirdPersonSeductress.
* In ''NanashiNoGame'', your choice of gender has a slight impact on a few early-game events, such as whether you meet a {{Yandere}} Bride/Groom and [[spoiler: which of your friends is secretly pining after you]]. Beyond that, there's no difference.

* Initially, ''{{Terraria}}'' had no gender option, simply allowing a player to choose default features that made the character look male or female. A later patch introduced the option to be male or female, with existing characters flattening out into male. So there are a lot of crossdressers in ''Terraria'' now.
* Gender in ''GodsEaterBurst'' determines what your clothing looks like. Note that what you wear has no effect on your character's stats or abilities. All of the voiced dialog assumes you are male.
* In ''WayOfTheSamurai'' male characters are the default. You can unlock the ability to play as a female character, but all but one of the [=NPCs=] will treat you exactly the same way, including calling you "he" and offering you sexual encounters with women.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}}'' series choosing a female avatar has no effect beyond changing El Presidente's appearance and voice: other characters will still refer to you as male, one mission involves an identical twin brother, and the "womaniser" perk is unchanged.

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has a perk (Lady Killer/Black Widow) that lets you do extra damage against characters of the opposite gender. This is much more useful for a female player character, because the bulk of your enemies are male.

*** Note that New Vegas also treats these perks as indicating sexual orientation, so Confirmed Bachelor allows you to solve one quest line by seducing the gay target.

* Temporarily averted in ''AgeOfConan''. For the first few months of play, due to a bug involving the way animation was done, female characters did less damage in melee than their male counterpart. This was later fixed to follow this trope, alongside a public apology from the game creators, as to not stand out as sexists.

* In the ''{{Tropico}}'' series choosing a female avatar has no effect beyond changing El Presidente's appearance and voice: other characters will still refer to you as male, one mission involves an identical twin brother, and the "womaniser" perk is unchanged.