Basic Trope: One gender gets more perks from a game system than the other gender does.
- Straight:
- In Hope of Travtropia, certain equipment can only be used by females. Females are also the only ones who can access the classes Pretty Princess Powerhouse or Magical Girl.
- In Repvrot's Bane, only men can use the strongest armor and biggest weapons, or become a Warrior Prince.
- Exaggerated:
- In Hope of Travtropia, women are faster, better at magic, and have lots of nifty exclusive equipment and accessories to choose from. Men... can smash stuff.
- In Repvrot's Bane, men are naturally more powerful and can equip pretty much all the weapons and armor available, while women are regulated to supportive classes (which men can also have).
- Downplayed:
- In Hope of Travtropia, certain equipment can only be used by females, though the males can handle with standard equipments just fine.
- In Repvrot's Bane, only men can use the strongest armor and biggest weapons, but they wouldn't be able to use or handle magic if they do.
- The female-specific Breast Plate is just a sidegrade, providing no major advantage over male characters... other than variety, that is.
- Justified:
- Travtropia is set in a Lady Land.
- Repvrot's Bane is set in a Crapsack World where men are considered expendable and women face a lot of societal pressure to stay out of danger.
- The game is set in a historical setting in which one gender had less options than the other. So while X-treme Voting Simulator allows male characters to analyze and vote in elections from as early as 1776, female characters only actually get the ability to vote after 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment is ratified.
- Inverted: Both males and females have access to the exact same set of equipment.
- Subverted:
- One of the genders is described to have an advantage over another, but this advantage turns out to be negligible.
- Pretty Princess Powerhouse seems female-exclusive...and then we meet Adrian, who joins the party.
- Double Subverted:
- While gender offers no perks to a starting character, the Prestige Classes are gender-exclusive, with those offered to one being far better than the other gender's options.
- While stat and skill wise, both genders are mostly equal, there's also a clear disparity when it comes to equipment; as males may be able to equip the best armor, but only females can equip the best weapons.
- Parodied:
- One gender has access to a whole slew of options... that mean absolutely nothing and are just there for the sake of being there.
- The game flat-out says "you can only get the Game-Breaker stuff if you play as [Preferred Gender]!" on the character selection screen. If you should choose the other gender anyway, the game becomes Nintendo Hard at best.
- If you choose to play as a female character, the game berates you on "political correctness" and "forced diversity" and insists you're just a man who wears jeans.
- Zig Zagged:
- Both genders get exclusive equipment. Which equipment is better/easier to obtain depends on how far the player has gotten in the game, making the advantage swing back and forth. When DLC is released for the game, the first pack is skewed heavily towards men, but the second gives women even greater advantages.
- Each gender has their own versions of the best classes, armor, and weapons.
- One of the genders is described to have an advantage over another, but this advantage is only applicable to certain levels.
- Averted:
- Only one gender is allowed as player characters.
- Both genders can be played, but the gender choice is purely cosmetic.
- The advantages and disadvantages of each gender are perfectly balanced.
- Enforced: The main character is male/female, and the developers included extra equipment for that gender.
- Lampshaded: NPC's actually mention that only women can equip the accessory that prevents all status ailment/ only men can equip the strongest hammer in the world.
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited:
- Bob starts playing a Role-Playing Game and makes a half female half male party so he can equip both the best armor and best weapons.
- Tired of always being at the short end of the bargain, a character uses some kind Gender Bending Magic and/or Applied Phlebotinum to turn himself/herself into the opposite sex, so she/he can enjoy the nifty battle perks that come with it.
- Defied:
- During early beta testing, players were frustrated by the fact that in one level, male characters get an amusing Disguised in Drag subplot where they infiltrate a castle disguised as maids, while female ones get an annoying knight who tries to "protect" them. To avoid player annoyance, the annoying knight was demoted to a minor NPC, and female characters were given a Sweet Polly Oliver subplot where they infiltrate a castle disguised as footmen.
- All equipment in the game is unisex, meaning gameplay isn't easier or harder for either gender.
- Discussed: "What? You expected me to be angry because I Was Beaten by a Girl? When it happens a few hundred times, you just... stop caring. Trust me on that one."
- Conversed: "I'm gonna bet the whole G.I.R.L. thing started because games kept making the female protagonists' abilities better than the guys'."
- Played For Laughs: Bob starts playing My Tiny Princess and makes a male character, only to find there's hardly anything available for his little guy to use/equip/wear.
- Played For Drama: In-universe, the characters did not choose their classes, but had their classes chosen for them based on their gender at birth. Gender Bending Magic is in high demand among fighters, but people who successfully undergo the change have to hide their true origin from their officers; if they fail, they get sent back to their original camp and are (depending on how many times you can bend in the universe) forcefully reverted to their original gender or demoted to Red Shirts due to losing the perks that would fit their original class. It is actually possible to play as a character post-change who has to pay extra attention to their Relationship Values, lest you get a Non-Standard Game Over where those who dislike you tattle to the higher-ups.
- Plotted A Good Waste: When you play as the disadvantaged gender, later parts of the stories will have NPCs lampshading your difficulties and cut scenes will become much more dramatic compared to the other gender's storyline. You will also earn a special achievement for clearing the game that gender.
Back to Game-Favored Gender
