Poll: Roleplaying Opposite-Sex Characters
- Thread starter The Apothecarry
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I can't speak for tabletop roleplaying, but roleplaying with a female avatar in games like WoW when you're a male irl is pretty frowned upon, even if you make no bones about stating you're male OOC (though really, why should that impact anything that goes on IC?). Even if you don't roleplay, in an MMO like wow people tend to treat you funny if you're a guy playing a girl character which i've always thought of as odd - if everyone played their own gender, we'd see a far more imbalanced representation! (ironically more balanced, but less realistically balanced of how the world would be is what i'm getting at)
It might have something to do with stigmas that you "must be a sexual deviant" if you want to portray yourself as the opposite sex, even though you're not portraying yourself, you're portraying a character. There might be something to be said about the whole "you always inject a part of your personality into your character or avatar regardless of how different and diverse they may be" which is what may lead people to jump to such an assumption. Maybe it's a different stigma of you trying to be something you're not; IE, thinking you have an idea of what it's like to be something as profoundly different as the opposite sex, including how they would socialise, communicate, react to situations, behave and so on, since men and women are probably going to respond to different situations in different ways.
-My £0.02
It might have something to do with stigmas that you "must be a sexual deviant" if you want to portray yourself as the opposite sex, even though you're not portraying yourself, you're portraying a character. There might be something to be said about the whole "you always inject a part of your personality into your character or avatar regardless of how different and diverse they may be" which is what may lead people to jump to such an assumption. Maybe it's a different stigma of you trying to be something you're not; IE, thinking you have an idea of what it's like to be something as profoundly different as the opposite sex, including how they would socialise, communicate, react to situations, behave and so on, since men and women are probably going to respond to different situations in different ways.
-My £0.02
Why would anything be wrong with playing the opposite gender? It's fun! And if you're particularly frustrated with a member of your opposite gender, it's a good way to blow off steam if they aren't involved and if you aren't too obvious. If they are and you are, then you're just being passive-aggressive.
It's also fun to get the DM confused when you are playing a female in the campaign when all of your friends know that you are 100% male. Of course the DM in that one game where I am the cross-gender PC has played more female characters in other games than I have. Go figure.dstreet121 said:
I used to think playing female characters made you gay... when I was like 10. Now I play female characters just as often as male. Maybe even more often.
The whole point of roleplaying is to play a role that is not you. If a desk clerk wanted to roleplay being a desk clerk, I'm not going to stop him, but what's the point? I'd rather jump into a role that is foreign to myself.
That being said, I do find it hard to physically act out the role of the opposite gender. This is why I usually play a male in serious roleplaying scenarios, and save female characters for single player or MMO's. Even when DMing I find it uncomfortable to seriously act out female NPCs. So whether it feels awkward or not is also a factor.
Does being comfortable playing a woman make you homosexual or "messed up in the head"? No, just the same as being uncomfortable playing a woman does not make me homophobic or insecure. Do whatever feels comfortable to you, and have fun. Just don't roleplay a desk clerk. It isn't worth it.
Oh and fantasy does not always mean desires. I have no desire to be an orc, but it's fun to act like one.
The whole point of roleplaying is to play a role that is not you. If a desk clerk wanted to roleplay being a desk clerk, I'm not going to stop him, but what's the point? I'd rather jump into a role that is foreign to myself.
That being said, I do find it hard to physically act out the role of the opposite gender. This is why I usually play a male in serious roleplaying scenarios, and save female characters for single player or MMO's. Even when DMing I find it uncomfortable to seriously act out female NPCs. So whether it feels awkward or not is also a factor.
Does being comfortable playing a woman make you homosexual or "messed up in the head"? No, just the same as being uncomfortable playing a woman does not make me homophobic or insecure. Do whatever feels comfortable to you, and have fun. Just don't roleplay a desk clerk. It isn't worth it.
Oh and fantasy does not always mean desires. I have no desire to be an orc, but it's fun to act like one.
Partly this. But to me I can't 'buy' male characters. When anything more complicated than the food-sex-beer triad comes up, the ultra macho, manly man flails around in this tacked on emotional exploration subdrama that totally breaks immersion for me. And it's more fun seeing a girl kick the ass of the pan-dimensional evil at hand.Khenal Baroney said:
I play a female character (opposite gender) when I feel like going into a more emotional depth with the character or creating a more prolonged story because I feel I can relate to the opposite gender better having lived in a house full of women my whole life.
I play male characters plenty too, though usually with my RPing a male character, they're pushed and pulled by societal pressures, trying to take control of situations when they can even if they don't want to in order to look as if they are self-sufficient and masculine and the like.
If I want a challenge, I RP someone with a totally different culture from my own, such as when I was playing an star wars RP server, I tried RPing an honorable wookiee from a clan-based system of government which holds very different ideals from that of your standard "human, elf, dwarf, etc." (and let me tell you, that was hard as hell, but worth it at the end of the day.)
I play male characters plenty too, though usually with my RPing a male character, they're pushed and pulled by societal pressures, trying to take control of situations when they can even if they don't want to in order to look as if they are self-sufficient and masculine and the like.
If I want a challenge, I RP someone with a totally different culture from my own, such as when I was playing an star wars RP server, I tried RPing an honorable wookiee from a clan-based system of government which holds very different ideals from that of your standard "human, elf, dwarf, etc." (and let me tell you, that was hard as hell, but worth it at the end of the day.)
Well, it is roleplay.
If you're doing it to gain another perspective you don't usually occupy and just shake things up from the norm, then those are perfectly valid reasons to play female.
Now if you're doing it just to try out the skankiest outfits and lez out at every given opportunity, you might want to reconsider.
If you're doing it to gain another perspective you don't usually occupy and just shake things up from the norm, then those are perfectly valid reasons to play female.
Now if you're doing it just to try out the skankiest outfits and lez out at every given opportunity, you might want to reconsider.
If you're gonna roleplay, it'd be pretty bloody boring to do it as something that's basically a clone of yourself. RPing as the opposite gender seems like a pretty good way to deal with that problem.
Personally: in games that don't have base stats dependent on gender, I just roll with whatever character I feel like making at the time. My unarmed specialist on Fallout 3 is woman (called Punchin' Judy, obviously) and on Fallout New Vegas I made a female character to run with the Mr House storyline (also obviously, she's called Allison Cameron). Yeah, okay, I totally made those gender choices just for the sake of those names.
Personally: in games that don't have base stats dependent on gender, I just roll with whatever character I feel like making at the time. My unarmed specialist on Fallout 3 is woman (called Punchin' Judy, obviously) and on Fallout New Vegas I made a female character to run with the Mr House storyline (also obviously, she's called Allison Cameron). Yeah, okay, I totally made those gender choices just for the sake of those names.
I think the roleplaying of any character can reveal some sub-concious desires, but anyone who thinks you're a crazy person for roleplaying a female in an RPG is just trying to find a way to justify their own discomfort with the situation. I can see why some would be uncomfortable with it, and with any multiplayer game I think it's important to reach compromises where all players feel comfortable playing, which it sounds like it might be an issue for you, but in general if it's not bothering anyone then go for it.
OK, piece by piece.
First, no, there isn't. As someone who has also mostly role-played female characters at many levels (tabletop, online IRC, MUSH, WoW, single player computer RPGs) I will happily tell you it can be utterly normal. Might it reflect an inner desire? Sure, perhaps. But if so, so what? You know yourself. There are plenty of good reasons to find a female PC more compelling than a male one. For instance...
o. Some classic archetypes are a lot of fun to play, and some of those are female.
o. Plot/story dynamics. If another PC is playing a guy, playing his sister has a very different dynamic to playing his brother, and maybe that's something you want to explore.
o. Visuals: Links into the archetype thing. I once played an Exalted game where my character was a tiny swordswoman (Dawn caste, for the curious) who had ridiculous fast sword draws -- real anime style don't-even-see-the-sword-moving-but-a-nearby-tree-just-fell-in-half kind of a thing. Sure, that could be a male character. But it's way more dramatic when she's a tiny girl doing it, because the reversal of expectation draws you in.
The issue is how you play one. The worst thing you can do is latch onto some awful stereotype (say, the slutty manipulator who wears barely any clothing and vamps around to get her way) and then give it no depth. Wanna play a courtesan in Castle Falkenstein? Go right on ahead! Or in Shadowrun, again, I once played a female character. (It was a weird setting, so that my character was a teenager wasn't my choice; all the characters were.) She was a sixteen year old elvish girl, incredibly pretty. Also very rebellious. She'd gotten it into her head that she was going to jump into 'the Game' as a slick con-woman, using her good looks to wile away marks. That's pretty close to the stereotype. But then I did two key things; first, I asked the GM to hold my looks against me. Think about it: If a somewhat attractive girl starts hitting on you at a bar, you think "Awesome!". But what if a supermodel did? Suddenly, your first question is, "Wait, what does she see in ME?" That's a bad trait for a con-woman to have. Second, I made sure she was at heart a teenager. She'd never seen any real violence. Her emotional maturity was barely developed. She was not nearly so clever as she thought she was. And suddenly, bam. What could have been a stereotype became (I hope) a well developed character.
So. Let's talk a bit about playing one, as well.
The fun thing is this: Most times? People adjust their views to match what you're purportedly portraying, as long as you bring the confidence. I once played a female troll childling (Changeling: The Dreaming) who was a total tomboy with a staggering Zorro complex. That's not very girlish and I didn't play her very girlishly. But I also didn't worry about it.
That's the key thing. Confidence. Just play like you're not making any mistakes and most of the time? People will miss the ones you make.
First, no, there isn't. As someone who has also mostly role-played female characters at many levels (tabletop, online IRC, MUSH, WoW, single player computer RPGs) I will happily tell you it can be utterly normal. Might it reflect an inner desire? Sure, perhaps. But if so, so what? You know yourself. There are plenty of good reasons to find a female PC more compelling than a male one. For instance...
That's a good one. It's why my Shepards are usually female and my Dragon Age wardens always are. (OK, OK. Also because Alistair is the most hilarious thing in that game, so I like talking to him most.) But it could also be other things:The Apothecarry said:
o. Some classic archetypes are a lot of fun to play, and some of those are female.
o. Plot/story dynamics. If another PC is playing a guy, playing his sister has a very different dynamic to playing his brother, and maybe that's something you want to explore.
o. Visuals: Links into the archetype thing. I once played an Exalted game where my character was a tiny swordswoman (Dawn caste, for the curious) who had ridiculous fast sword draws -- real anime style don't-even-see-the-sword-moving-but-a-nearby-tree-just-fell-in-half kind of a thing. Sure, that could be a male character. But it's way more dramatic when she's a tiny girl doing it, because the reversal of expectation draws you in.
The issue is how you play one. The worst thing you can do is latch onto some awful stereotype (say, the slutty manipulator who wears barely any clothing and vamps around to get her way) and then give it no depth. Wanna play a courtesan in Castle Falkenstein? Go right on ahead! Or in Shadowrun, again, I once played a female character. (It was a weird setting, so that my character was a teenager wasn't my choice; all the characters were.) She was a sixteen year old elvish girl, incredibly pretty. Also very rebellious. She'd gotten it into her head that she was going to jump into 'the Game' as a slick con-woman, using her good looks to wile away marks. That's pretty close to the stereotype. But then I did two key things; first, I asked the GM to hold my looks against me. Think about it: If a somewhat attractive girl starts hitting on you at a bar, you think "Awesome!". But what if a supermodel did? Suddenly, your first question is, "Wait, what does she see in ME?" That's a bad trait for a con-woman to have. Second, I made sure she was at heart a teenager. She'd never seen any real violence. Her emotional maturity was barely developed. She was not nearly so clever as she thought she was. And suddenly, bam. What could have been a stereotype became (I hope) a well developed character.
So. Let's talk a bit about playing one, as well.
I mostly concur with your basic point, but as you said, it's massive stereotyping. It can be helpful, but it shouldn't rule your portrayal. If you WANT to play a mini-gun toting gal, play a female troll! Awesome! Or have her geared out to crazy with the wired muscles!The_root_of_all_evil said:
The fun thing is this: Most times? People adjust their views to match what you're purportedly portraying, as long as you bring the confidence. I once played a female troll childling (Changeling: The Dreaming) who was a total tomboy with a staggering Zorro complex. That's not very girlish and I didn't play her very girlishly. But I also didn't worry about it.
That's the key thing. Confidence. Just play like you're not making any mistakes and most of the time? People will miss the ones you make.
Sure, I've seen my share of bad crossplay before (we're talking Tryst from the Goblins webcomic bad). But I don't think there's anything inherently weird, creepy, or wrong about crossplay. Nor do I automatically associate it with any degree of gender dysphoria.
If anything, if you can do it right, I'm more likely to trust you to be able to competently ref a game.
If anything, if you can do it right, I'm more likely to trust you to be able to competently ref a game.
That's a great point. If you're a good GM, you'd better be able to carry off both male and female characters. Or you'd be limited to single-sex only settings. (Which you could do, I guess. A game set entirely in an old-era military, maybe?)Farseer Lolotea said:
I always play as a male character in games (given the choice) or in table-top rpgs. There's nothing wrong or werid about it at all. It's a fun thing to do and exploring things that are different to real life is what RPGs are all about at least to me anyways.
Yes it is.The Apothecarry said:
Roleplaying is essentially like acting. You're playing a character. That means you're not playing yourself. You character can therefore be anything you want it to be (within the constraints of the world) and that includes any gender. Anyone who doesn't understand that simply doesn't understand what roleplay is (which includes most gamers, give the way people act in most MMORPGs).