This does not only include the (as it seems to me, I might be wrong) preferring of male chars (for role-playing), but also the use of clich�s of women in games, or even the perception pattern of men in general (which I think might differ sometimes in some points, for example because women are - as it seems to me - rather fond of socializing (the Sims) than men.
I think you raise some very good points. Traditionally, developers at game companies have been male; very few in the past were female. This often skewed the presentation of both female figures (who were objectified as the Other, needing rescuing, etc) and males (who were rivals to the PC). Personally, I feel that CRPGs which required traveling in a party were better in this respect, at least when the CRPG atmosphere amounted to more than just a thin layer. (In games like Might and Magic or Wizardry, for all their brillance, the environment was very thin, indeed.) Although the PC in Planescape: Torment was male, it was required by the plot, and the spiritually strongest character in the game, a party member, was female.
But by and large, I would agree with you that CRPGs have been male preserves thanks to the limited perspective of their developers--game developers never being noted under any context for extremely broad cultural experiences. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> Perhaps this also explains why so many CRPGs feel less like authentic environments than they do like revisits to the LotR, with plenty of combat opportunities.
