The Street Fighter II iterations and the Super Street Fighter II iterations are completely different animals, IMO. I'd hate to see them lumped together. I think Street Fighter II Turbo and Super Street Fighter II Turbo are pretty representative, though.
...I'm not sure I completely understand your point, to be honest.
That's the first time I've ever considered the possibility that character creation could be disturbing.
a) I like the freedom to create my own character, be it modeled after anything from much more badass version of myself to a gay cat person named Mittens (Skyrim, for the record). Worlds that change dynamically based on your choices are special IMO.
2) All games are at least a little escapist fantasy, aren't they? Why else would you play them? For the realism?
iii) Honest question: What does "male" have to do with it? Granted, my social network is not large, but for example many of my wife's favourite games are the "create-your-own" type. She spends hours on that stuff.
I mean, don't play anything that makes you uncomfortable, obviously. Play what's fun.
It's not a matter of realism or things being possible or impossible.
I appreciate when a world and narrative is created that communicates certain moods, charms, emotions, mechanics, and ideas, as if the creator is showing me something that they want to express creatively and is allowing me to interact with it, master it, and explore the potential of the mechanics in my own way.
However, when a creator is trying to appeal to our dorky and childish inner desire to be something else and try to patronize that, using the game as a sandbox/opportunity to let us live out a simulation of that fantasy, I have nothing but repulsion and resentment to that type of thing, and I don't find it rewarding or valuable for the most part.
It's kind of like how in Animes, you often have a main character shamelessly designed as a pathetic introverted loser (not that there's anything wrong with that) to patronize their target audience, and the events in the show exist to feed that fantasy, like "Hey! You can be the bad-*ss, be swarmed with women who are madly in love with you and bring you out of your shell, and you can become good at everything and be a winner!" That kind of thing really puts me off and feels disturbing. With certain types of video games that treat you like you really are the character, and give you full control of who that character ultimately is (or even what they look like), instead of the game creating well defined characters that are a certain way to serve an actual purpose, it's kind of the same idea.
I get that many games may ultimately be going for the escapist fantasy thing, but when I play the games I like, I don't play it feeling like I'm actually the character I'm controlling. I'm interacting with the mechanics, but I prefer my storytelling more removed and creator-controlled, personally. The less of the other stuff, the better, as far as I'm concerned.
It doesn't have to be a male thing, but it often seems to be.