However, I can't help but point out that one of the most popular video games of the moment, Tomb Raider, has a female protagonist, and hordes (brutish, sexist hordes!) of male gamers are playing it without issue.
Maybe it's not such a bad thing to learn to play as a character that is not exactly like you.
Girls have to play as a guy about, oooh, 90% of the time.
For woman, playing as a character like themselves is a really refreshing change.
(Numbers are pulled out of my ass based on years of playing games; the missing 8% are games with multiple character options that include a woman. If you're lucky there may even be two or three female characters to choose from out of a cast of about a dozen!)
I was mostly thinking about solo experiences. Which are... well, how many solo games can YOU think of that only offer a male character versus ones that only offer a female character or offer a selection to choose from? And how many that offer a selection have a lot more guys than gals?
Perhaps, but most male gamers don't have to do that a lot. Most playable characters are male. If "learning how to play as someone different" is a good thing, we should radically increase the number of female characters so men can play as women more, right? right?
(I'm being sarcastic, I think there should be more choice for everyone)