[@Crazytrini85]

I don't feel like it's in the spirit of a discussion that's in the RP section, but why not? Here's why males play females in videogames:

-Females can receive better treatment and are more frequently gifted items in MMOs. Picking a female avatar helps sell the illusion. 

-Female characters often have access to more aesthetically pleasing designs, or might lean towards an aesthetic the player desires. This does not always mean it's sexual but it certainly can. 

-They want to see more kickass female leads in the world, so they make their own. Alternatively, said game is oversaturated with male characters. 

-Cis guys are guys 24/7/365. They may wish to pick a sex that is not their own because they are looking for escapism.

A more interesting question I feel is why woman [i]don't[/i] play as male avatars as much. This is so prevalent that Leauge of Legends has been releasing female champions pretty regularly. They discovered most female players weren't selecting male champions, like, at all. That's a game where certain abilities are tied to specific champions, so by not playing as certain champions you could hamstringing your team. There hasn't been a lot of discussion on why this is. But I digress.

I put no stock in twitter accounts dedicated to picking apart how some men choose to write woman. Most of the time the writing being "critiqued" is from a novice or the writing's intended audience is men anyway. People do have fantasies and sometimes wish the opposite sex behaved a certain way. Much like how men in harlequin romances are total badasses up until it's time for the female PoV to tame them. 

I'm going to side step the argument that men (or even most men) cannot write female characters. But I'll say from personal experience I get called "her" on nearly every message board I'm on. This is from people who have watched me write female and male characters for years. Even woman have make this mistake.