Hmm… I'm in for a 9.99 prize, mostly because I feel like answering questions.

1) Favorite genres:

RTS: Forces me to think and spread my attention in more than one place at the same time.
RPG's: Honestly, the story is not what I remember most about an RPG. i figure the "building your character" part is the most attractive thing for me. Loot is cool too, adding a little "what you'll find" mystery to it.
FPS: When I don't want to think. It's actually relaxing for me to play shooters, since they're mostly an instinctive, trigger finger experience.

I'm not good at any of these genres or gaming in general mind you, but those are the ones I enjoy the most.

2) Least favourite genres:

Platformers: These require "controller skill". Tapping the right key at the right time, and they demand repetition when you fail. Repeat over and over if you fail over and over. At least, in strategy games you can try different approaches and let you save anywhere, but platformers demand you tap the buttons in a precise order and time to get past an obstacle and you save through checkpoints. Sure, there are games where you have choices, but most of the time, timing is everything.

Card games: Can't tell why I don't like them. There's strategy involved, sure, but I don't know. Maybe because there's pretty much no action. I guess I like my units to move and do things.

Racing: I don't hate it, but among the genres I like, it's the one I play the least. i suck at not crashing horribly and once again, I fear it's a "controller" and "timing" thing.


3) I almost always play as a dude. The few times I've played with a woman avatar have had to do with me trying something different with the game. It's rarely my first choice and looking at a nice, 3d rendered butt doesn't do it for me. Most of the time, I'll want to hear different dialogue or interactions with the character. Curiously, I'm currently playing Divinity 2 with a girl avatar, mostly because I already tried it with a dude, didn't get that far and didn't feel like repeating myself.

I've heard the argument "If I have to stare at an ass for 40 hours to finish a game, I'll stare at a woman's thank you very much," but I don't think that's a real answer. There's probably a deeper answer that someone's not giving.

By the way, I have heard that you never look at an avatar to determine a player's gender. You look at how close they are standing to another avatar. Close-standers are almost always women, far-standers are almost always men.

I'm amazed that men insult women. But I think it's just a base level domain-protection type of expression coupled with the anonymity and immaturity that the Internets can offer. I'm glad that the majority is getting more vocal and things like honor points and reporting can change those mechanisms.

When I was starting to play Xbox, I used to report anyone that said anything remotely off-color. I don't play games for people to scream profanity over the headphones. Now I rarely connect to someone who's social maladjusted.

To be honest, the WoW female dwarf is a rather ordinary model (and that was my point in selecting it), in fact I was occasionally told how ugly my character was. Then again I was also called a "white whale" as I heard rumors of only a handful of other female dwarf rogues on the entire server. Stat-wise, a dwarf rogue was slightly sub-optimal so they were uncommon and female dwarf rogues were exceptionally rare.

Not in, obviously, just posting to join the discussion. :)

On the whole, I don't really enjoy FPS games. Something about the mechanics just doesn't sit right with me. I don't like not being able to see my character on the screen, it makes me feel a bit nauseous. I'm also not a huge fan of MMO's. As someone else mentioned, I don't like the 'pay to win' aspect of some of them, and when I have a monthly subscription I feel like I'm wasting my money when I'm not playing. As I tend to go through gaming phases monthly subscriptions aren't really my thing. I might play the hell out of a game for two weeks and then leave it for two months. I do play SWTOR, although that one is rather hard to solo without being a subscriber. Luckily, I have another gamer girl friend who also plays it, so we play together every once in a while. I also bought the Secret World sometime back, and although I haven't played much yet, it looks like fun.

I think I've mentioned before that I prefer to play as a woman, mostly because it's just easier for me to identify with a character that way. I find that I can't get into playing a man as much as I can playing a woman.

That's why I asked the question. Having something pretty to look at for 40 hours is understandable, but as you said, there is sometimes a deeper answer as to why.

Unfortunately there are still many people who feel the need to demean women gamers, or gamers in general. I think for many, they just find something different about a person to insult. It could be that they are a woman, a different nationality, a newbie, anything that they can identify and use to insult. But those people are luckily the minority, most gamers are just nice people looking to have fun doing something they enjoy, playing games.

Not joining the giveaway but still answering your questions (and I identify as male so you can do some nice statistics as on the last giveaway)

Q1. What are you top 3 favourite game genres and why?
This one is really hard because it really depends on my mood and time.
I guess I go with FPS, JRPG and adventure games (like say Dreamfall).
But it really depends on my free time. If I do not have a lot, I will only play multiplayer FPSs and if I have time I prefer Adventures or JRPGs.

Q2. What are you top 3 worst game genres and why? (I'm interested to hear the ladies answer to this as well.)
Jump And Runs because by now I just cannot muster the time and therefore get frustrated very very fast.
ShootemUps: always thought that they are very boring
Do not have a third one.

Q3. If you enjoy playing as a woman in games, what is it about playing as a woman that appeals to you?

Well, first of all, woman look much more human then your average male hero. Seriously, does every male need to look like the hulk? Or be full of scars? or look like a stupid Emo? And the male armour always looks extremely stupid. So normally, my melee heroes are female and my mage heroes are male. Back in Guild Wars time, nearly all my heroes were female (besides one male mage) because they looked a lot better and as I said, more human than the stupid looking males.

If there is a difference besides the optical (lets say the female gets - Strength but + Intelligence) I will normally just min max instead of choosing one sex over another.

I hereby identify myself as a male. Check out my luxuriant pixel beard if you don't believe me :D.
I'm in for the $5.99 prize, but I haven't decided my second yet. Hope I can do it later.

I think I mentioned this in the other thread, my favourite genres being adventure games, rpgs and action/adventures.

Least favourite genres (although of course there are a few exceptions): management games, 4X/conquest games, sports games.

I have a female character I sometimes use in RPGs, a white haired battle-sorceress named Winter/Xsomething sometimes.

Not in but thanks for another nice giveaway!

I usually stick to female characters, providing she is not just a horrible stereotype. I will sometimes play male characters, usually to get a different prospective on a game, or most commonly because the game offers no female character. I have no problem playing male characters, but I can better identify with a female character and usually enjoy the game more.

For games like Diablo, I tend to favour male characters, mainly because I enjoy being a mindless barbarian/knight, smashing everything in my path. If I were to play as a female character, I think I would end up playing it more like myself, using magic and stealth and less hands on battling, not like a blood hungry warrior I can play when playing as a man.

I was wondering. What happens if I nominate someone that has already entered for himself as a second? Someone that hasn't chosen a second, yet. Because the previous sentence is confusing even to me, let me give an example:

I enter the GA for 5.99 but wait to nominate a second later.
Someone else does the same.
I then nominate that someone else.

If you enter now, for a $5.99 price, then at any time before the giveaway ends, you can nominate another guy who has also entered for a $5.99 game. It doesn't matter if he has nominated someone else or not. If you win, you will get a prize and the person you nominate will also get a prize.

So the world won't implode because paradox. ;) Great to hear!

I'm in. Put me down for the $5.99 prize.

Q1

My favourite genres:

1. Adventure
2. (single-player) FPS
3. Puzzle

I enjoy puzzle solving and really like first-person perspective.

Q2

I don't want to say worst, but these are genres I want nothing to do with:

1. MMOs
2. MOBAs
3. (multiplayer) FPS

As you can guess, I'm not a multiplayer type person.

Q3

If I have the option of playing as a female character, I almost always will. For the most part, it's a habit. I think the main reason is that I usually want to play as not-me. If given the choice, I'll usually play as a non-human race too.

I will be in for a $5.99 prize. I would like to nominate BillyMaysFan59.

My Top 3 Video Game Genres

1.) RPG - I love the in-depth stories and robust character development. I also like being able to tailor-fit a character to my exact preferences and play style. I typically play Japanese RPGs more than Western ones, but that is changing somewhat thanks to my time here at GOG.
Notable entries: Dragon Quest, Lunar: The Silver Star, and Final Fantasy VI.

2.) Point-n-Click/Adventure - What started as a love for text adventures evolved into a love for graphical text adventures and then, finally, into a love of point & click adventures. The narratives and characters in these types of games are second only to the RPG genre. Some games are series, some are silly, some are scary...there is just so much potential with games of this type.
Notable entries: Maniac Mansion, Broken Sword, and Shadowgate.

3.) 2D Platformers - From my very first game, Smurf on the Atari 2600, I have always loved this style of game. With such a simple gameplay mechanic, developers are able to introduce so many incredible twists and additions to the formula to keep things dynamic and interesting.
Notable entries: Braid, Megaman 3, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

My Bottom 3 Video Game Genres

1.) Sports - As a card-carrying nerd, the athletic world was never one I found interesting. I would much rather write a story, draw a picture or play a game than compete for dominance in the world of physical prowess. So, by extension, games based on sports get no interest or love from me.
Notable exceptions: NBA Jam, Mutant League Football, and Super Baseball 2020.

2.) Managerial - Whether it's a tower defense game or a RTS, the management of resources and focus on the minutia in these titles have never been appealing to me. These types of games are usually pretty lax on story and something like character development is practically non-existent. I would much rather follow a single character or small group through a specific series of events than worry about what the rest of the town, country or planet is doing.
Notable exceptions: N/A

3.) Shoot 'Em Ups - While this started out as a genre that I enjoyed as a child with games like Galaga, these games have evolved in a direction that I can no longer tolerate. When there are more bullets on screen than there is empty space, my body just tenses up and my eyes burn. Nothing about this impossible level of challenge entices me in any way.
Notable exceptions: Gradius, Dragon Spirit, and King's Knight.

Playing Female Characters in Games

My reasoning for doing this is fragmented at best. In tabletop role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons, I would sometimes play as a female character in situations where the only people playing were guys. In those instances, I did it to fill a void in what I feel is a complete party. In games where you have a choice of gender, but not a choice of appearance, I will usually choose a female. As I am not a guy covered in bulging muscles, I will more likely choose a female so I can play a character closer to my natural stature. In games where you have a choice of gender AND appearance, I will usually play a male character designed to my exact specifications (or as close to it as possible).

However, as Austrobogulator said above, when given the option, I will almost always choose to be a non-human character. Whether it's a robot in a sci-fi game, a lizardman in a fantasy game, or a demon or werewolf in a horror game, I enjoy being a creature that is as far from what I can be in real life as possible. My character backlog from my D&D days is chock full of weird entries: centaurs, gnolls, and golems galore.