Hello. I am writing a paper for my Writing 122 class with a topic of "speculating on a cause." I have decided that I will write on why people sometimes play a character of the opposite gender when they play roleplaying games, and I thought that the best way to gather information on that topic is to simply ask other people why they do it, whether its for the challenge, change of pace, etcetera. Any reply would be helpful.
Thanks!
Though I always play my gender (male), I have discussed this very topic with several of my friends. I also saw a segment on G4-Tech TV about this, but I don't remember the show...
What I've been told:
-Males enjoy watching a female character (if a video game) on screen more than a male.
-There are those who play several characters, often making both male and female for variety
-For years, there were no female characters in video games
-For some there is simply a sub-conscious urge to express oneself as the opposite gender. I saw this as similar to guys dressing in drag. Just my opinion though.
These points were primarily aimed at video RPGs... But most can still apply to pen & paper RPGs.
Also noted by female-gamers: "If her breasts are huge, it's most likely a male." Which I find to be utterly true, btw.
-Kurocyn
Creative Director
|
My editorial in Dungeon #144 is about this very topic. I almost always play female characters, as it turns out, and frankly I'm a little amused by how some players/DMs react to a guy who plays a girl character or a girl who plays a guy character, but then don't bat an eye when the 5-foot-tall guy wants to play an 8-foot-tall minotaur, or when the 7-foot-tall guy wants to play a pixie. Plus, DMs play opposite-gender characters all the time. Why let them have all the fun?
Plus, as I point out in my editorial, girls are lucky.
Oh, you started two threads about this subject...I and some other commented already here:
[url]http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/gaming/otherRPGs/whyDoYouPla yMembersOfTheOppositeSex[/url]
In videogames I do it every now and then because I get bored with the 'scenery'. Having to look at a guy's arse gets boring after a 100 hours or so.
In P&P, I usualy don't. Unless the rest of the party(including the DM) is really good at roleplaying and can keep everything serious. Big reason why I banned my PC's from playing any gender but their own. They tried, failed(numerous times) and eventualy you(as a DM) get sick of it. Playing a female char is fine with me if you're male but don't make a screwup that goes along these lines everytime you speak; 'He sho...I mean SHE should..'
My editorial in Dungeon #144 is about this very topic.
Funniest thing ever... I just read your editorial, and then I dropped my magazine (*Gasp!*). It turned to the back cover with the ad for Fantasy Grounds 2, and at the top, first thing I read was: "Feeling awkward when Joe plays that she-elf?" It took me a few minutes to calm down.
Hello. I am writing a paper for my Writing 122 class with a topic of "speculating on a cause." I have decided that I will write on why people sometimes play a character of the opposite gender when they play roleplaying games, and I thought that the best way to gather information on that topic is to simply ask other people why they do it, whether its for the challenge, change of pace, etcetera. Any reply would be helpful.
Thanks!
I have never done so, but play with several gamers who do. Some of their opinions on the subject over the years have included:
1 I want to try something different.
2 When I created the character I just saw it as a woman.
3 It makes for better stories.
4 I have a female side I like to express in the game.
Varied opinions, but from several different players. Good luck with the paper!
-Roth
I'd also not recommend overlooking the more obvious reasons for playing cross-gender, rather than hunting for psychological twists and yearnings. Some men (myself included!) play female characters to exploit the biases others hold for females, based on sex-based stereotypes (women are weaker, not as threatening, and should be protected/pampered more). Even with today's modern view of the sex roles, this holds true, and moreso in a gaming environment. By playing a female character, I have gotten anonymous donations of wealth and items in Online RP games, just because men liked "my look". I don't even troll for such gifts (usually), but the subculture is there. Besides, what better way to completely bypass well-thought-out defenses than with a "harmless" female's seductive wiles against a manly foe? It's almost cheating! (Oh, and the large-breast-is-a-guy-playing-her principle? Totally true! I've found that real female players believe much more readily my female persona if I tone the bust size down in the few games that allow such alterations.)
I find women play male characters, in the main, to be taken seriously. While the attention payed to female characters can be nice, it also generally comes with a price tag of a disbelief in one's ability; even if it is a slight difference, it can be a tangible one. Taking a look at two 20th-level mages, for instance, male and female, most people subconsciously will attack the male first. That male will also get picked an eyelash's width faster for a group to go adventuring. Also, women enjoy camaraderie that can be more restrained if the group isn't "all-guys".
Sadly, in role-playing a lot of cross-gender gaming only comes to a caricature of the gender role portrayed. Men can get hung up on their character's "that time of the month" to act completely crazy and irrational, and women who play men can be exaggeratedly oafish and overly stereotyped. There is nothing wrong with cross-gender roleplaying, but it shouldn't get in the way of the gaming itself.
I play female characters, not as much as male, but it's also not rare for me. I play opposite gender for three reasons:
1. It's something different.
2. It's more fun to sketch your character as someone you'd date if they were real.
3. It really freaks some people out.
|
I had a fellow gamer(male) who played a female who was pregnant once. I instinctively became super attached to the notion that my Barbarian absolutely HAD to protect this little lady and her unborn, to the point of using my rage whenever someone tried to get near her to do harm. I loved it for the roleplay options it opened up. My character was a bit on the dumb and unstable side so eventually he convinced himself that she was carrying his progeny, even though they never copulated. Fun roleplay. I myself have never played a female in P&P because I doubt that I could do the complex female nature any credit (and I just don't understand them, ask my wife, she'll tell you) but in any Electronic RPGs I like playing female characters because it is fun to watch a whole party of females trouncing evil without all the difficulty of trying to realistically roleplay them.
I think my next P&P character will be female though, just so I can see if I can pull it off realistically.
As a side note, and with the disclaimer that I am not throwing in any prejudices, every female gamer that I have gamed with played a male character that was a tank and huge racially (half-orc, goliath, and mul) and every male gamer that I have gamed with that DID play a female has played a squishy (caster) of a delicate race (elf, elan, and catfolk). Why? I have no idea.
Take from it what you will.
FH
Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games
|
I've played exactly one female character, and it was back in 2nd Edition. My DM doesn't like us to play cross gender because he doesn't believe any of us can do it well. However, the concept my buddy and I came up with allowed him to relent.
We went for full role reversal. I played a female Elf Ranger, and my buddy played a male elf Wild Mage (remember those?). We were brother and sister, and Sis served as her brother's protector for the early levels. It was quite fun turning the tables on gender.
I think the only reason I would do it again would be if there was another interesting way to portray it. I've seen some real bad cross gender portrayals at my game table, Gen Con, and Origins (and some good ones), and I'd only do it again if I could do it in a way to make the character really come through.
Here's something you might want to include in your paper as a counterpoint: why do men play male characters? Is it simply because they're easier for them to identify with? Is it because that's what's expected of them? Or is it because of some conscious or subconscious need to reaffirm their own heterosexuality?
The whole point of roleplaying is to pretend to be something you're not, whether it's a knight in shining armor, a crafty wizard, a member of a nonhuman species, or (gasp!) a member of the opposite sex. I don't see why the latter should be different than any of the former. Sometimes there is, however, a homophobic knee-jerk reaction to question the motives of a gamer with a character of a gender other than their own.
I've been playing D&D for 18yrs now, and I've always had female characters. SOme of they guys that I played with in the begining gave me crap about it, but we were 15 at the time, so it wasn't a very mature response.
Part of the attraction to female is that I find it easier to build certain types of characters as women. Thief/ assassins, mages, psions, bladesingers. It tends to be classes that require alot of grace, and finess. (Though I will at times run a huge amazon too.)
I don't have problems with going back and forth between gender, because I'm our groups primary DM. I play male and female NPCs all the time and given that I have a drama background from high school I do voices and accents for different characters, so that my players can quickly identify who their talking to even if I don't say their name.
Aesthetically I tend to invision all of the characters as physically appealing. I do character sketches, and all PCs and NPCs that I sketch have chisled muscular bodies. The human(oid) body is beautiful and I don't want to be staring at some hideous little chud with a hunched back and crossed eyes. (If I wanted to do that, I'd just walk around downtown.) At the same time, I don't make my characters anatomically impossible.
I have some players that play both genders, and others that only feel comfortable playing their own. Most that play both genders don't do it very well for the opposite gender, turning them more into fantasy sterotypes, than solid charactes. The ones that play only their gender, In the case of my wife, It's the skin that she feels comfortable in. With some of my male players, the thought of playing a female character is a threat to their sexuallity. The fear that by playing a female character they will some how seem gay. It's really stupid.
|
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
|
I've never been a fan of cross-gender RP in P&P gaming because when I look at a male player, my mind has an easier time associating it with a male character and it makes identifying the player/character relationship much easier. When I hear a male speaking, it strains the imagination to envision that tone and cadence coming from a woman. If the male in question is a particularly talented voice actor, it makes it easier... but I don't know any of those.
Honestly, our group is 50% female anyway so there is really no need for cross-gender roleplaying. We seem to be pretty happy sticking to our own genders and it makes for a wonderful gaming experience.
Well I have rarely played the opposite sex (which would be female) in P&P games. I have about a 50/50 ratio for online MMORPGs mainly because you don't need to role play there and because since I actually have a visual representation I can come of with female concepts easier. The one P&P character that sticks out was actually male, but was cursed (a Central Castings thing) to switch sexes during times of high stress. It was an interesting role playing experience since the change was really out of my control. Each sex had it's own name and look, although they both wore purple since I felt the color works for both genders. The curse was finally lifted but the purple wizard is still talked about to this day.
I rarely play female characters in PnP as well, and one story illustrates poignantly why. We were gearing up to play a GURPS game, and most of the other players were using characters pre-made by myself or friends of mine in previous GURPS campaigns. I decided I wanted to do something new, so I made a character based on Jennifer Garner. An actress with some martial arts skills, a whole lot of charm and not a lot of brains (I mean she dated Ben Affleck, come on) who played a spy on TV.
I thought it was a clever concept and started to earnestly make the character but all the guys in the group started making jokes about hitting on her and making out with her, and I just couldn't handle it. It was kind of creepy. I realized that despite their education, background and largely matriarchal families, these guys were basically pigs, and they were going to use an opportunity for mature role playing to work out their excess testosterone. I dropped the concept and went with Agent Mulder instead, who avoided being hit on or being made out with quite nicely.
I haven't played a female in this group since, and while a few female characters have been bandied about by other players, they are almost all universally unattractive (a half-orc barb/fighter who thinks she's a bear, a half-orc rogue, etc...) and crass, almost man-like. I can't offer much else in the way of help on this topic, although I will say it is harder for me to play a woman without resorting to stereotypical memes.
I can play a broad variety of male characters, but all my female characters (including DMPC's NPC's etc) all wind up seeming a little less 3D than my males. I am sure in a group with more mature, responsible RP'ers, I would feel more comfortable trying to play a genuine female character, but all in all, I think I will stick with male characters for my current group for the foreseeable future.
The Koga only did once, and it was completely by accident. We were randomy assigned character sheets and someone meationed a girl's name (can't remember it now, it was one of those open-ended type of games) and The Koga was all psyched and was going to flirt with her.
Till The Koga realized he was her! And there was another girl in the party but now it was futile to even try!
Needless to say The Koga spent alot of time just selfishly hording and doing his own thing. Without girls, what's the point?!
|
|
In addition to some of the other motivations already listed here (variety being the major one), there are two other motivations that I've seen for playing opposite-gender characters.
The first, coming from when my friends and I started playing around age 12, is the idea of having control over an attractive member of the other sex. As pre-teen nerds, D&D was about as close as we were going to get to just about any member of the opposite sex at all.
The second, which is an approach taken by people I play with now (age 23), is that playing a character of the opposite sex creates some distance between player and character. This gives the player some more freedom to roleplay without feeling self-conscious - if you make a mistake or don't roleplay particularly well, you can attribute it to the fact that you don't understand the gender of the character.
Here's a related question that's interested me: when someone in your group is playing a member of the opposite sex and others tend to stick to characters of the same gender, has there ever been in-game romance where the players were both members of the same sex? I ask because I've never seen it happen personally.
|
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
|
Here's a related question that's interested me: when someone in your group is playing a member of the opposite sex and others tend to stick to characters of the same gender, has there ever been in-game romance where the players were both members of the same sex? I ask because I've never seen it happen personally.
I've never seen an instance of in-game romance REGARDLESS of the genders involved unless the players were actually romantically involved themselves. Even then, its pretty thin. Romance doesn't seem to fit well in our group.
I often play same sex (male) characters, because it's easiest and I'm quite lazy. However, sometimes I'll follow inspiration-- sometimes the desire to run a character that is a book character with filed off the serial numbers encourages me to run cross gender.
I do tend to play cross-gender more as a player in groups with fewer females. My girlfriend often plays neuter or male characters with people's she hasn't already played with previously, to avoid the female character issues mentioned above.
I don't play female characters, and I generally dislike it when other males do (although I have seen some do it well) because, frankly, I don't think I can do a female justice. There are certain aspects of being a female that I don't think I could perfectly capture, nor could I incorporate the subtle nuances of a woman into my playstyle, I think. So I will just stick with something easier for me to understand; which, strange as it seems, might include a 8 foot tall minotaur, since I think my life experience proves I know more about minotaurs than women.
That being said, the reason I dislike most guys playing females is because often times, with no real idea on how to act feminine, or how a woman would treat a situation, they fall back on being a whore. Many guys cannot define a female beyond her sexual purposes in RPGs, and therefore act out in the way they wish the females they knew would.
So generally, no good. But I have seen it done right a few times.
[
Here's a related question that's interested me: when someone in your group is playing a member of the opposite sex and others tend to stick to characters of the same gender, has there ever been in-game romance where the players were both members of the same sex? I ask because I've never seen it happen personally.
Not to side track to much, but I have had two pc of opposite gender get “married” to each other. They even went as far as having a kid, but I guess they just drifted apart. In the end they ended up hating each other and getting a divorce. The fun really started over the custody rights of the child npc. With my pc who was LN getting to decided who got the child. It was fun to role play, but it gave the game an odd feeling which led to its end. I’m not fawned of pc romance, but I guess it’s all up to the players and the DM.
Fizz
I play female characters for a number of reasons. Usually when I'm making characters, female character concepts just pop into my head. I'd say I have a strong feminine side and I wondered if I was gay for a while (I'm not), but I also like cute things. Pink is one of my favorite colors. Playing a female makes me feel 'free.' I can be perky and pretty or grumpy and sarcastic, and it somehow just works better for me. I've played a few male characters, but the female characters were my favorites. I did once play a male half-elf who was actually gay and kept making passes at one of the other PCs. It was mostly just for laughs and to watch the other guy squirm, but he took it well. I play with a young, open-minded crowd, so there's lots of openness to cross-gender roleplaying and homosexuality. Also, most of my characters tend to be a little bit silly. There's the Baklunish female bard who dresses in pink cowgirl leathers and acts like a Japanese pop star. There's the female halfling cleric of Yondalla who thinks that apples are symbols of her diety's divine love.
I don't generally worry about playing females "right." I just play the character that's in my head. My opinion is that men and women are pretty much the same in every way that matters, and if we'd actually just stop to listen to each other, we'd understand each other a lot better. I don't talk in falsetto or anything. People occasionally mess up their pronouns, but no one actually forgets that my character is female.
Here's a related question that's interested me: when someone in your group is playing a member of the opposite sex and others tend to stick to characters of the same gender, has there ever been in-game romance where the players were both members of the same sex? I ask because I've never seen it happen personally.
Not truly, although I've experienced something close. One of my male players once went on a date with my female NPC, though it never really went anywhere.
The player claimed he was bi, which may have made some of the others nervous, but I have my doubts because I never even saw him so much as look at another guy other than in the face. Oh, and his girlfriend played with us.
I've always come up with characters of different genders in my imagination, and never really saw the need to analyze it. It's really not that different from liking and empathizing with a female character in a book.
I suppose I got used to playing NPCs of both genders as a DM, which made it easier to try it out in a gaming group as PC. I remember rolling up female characters in high school when we played first edition, but using them mostly when we played one on one, with one person DMing and the other running a party through a dungeon, so there wasn't really any serious roleplaying. In my current group, we alternate between campaigns and I have three female characters. Don't know how it happened--just the character concept that popped into my head for all three was feminine. They aren't all squishy spellcasters--a druid, a sohei, and a fighter. Other guys in our group also frequently run female characters. The whole point of make-believe is to explore things you can't explore in real life--the roleplay may not be that realistic, but I don't find us falling back on stereotypes like the seductress or the vulnerable female in need of protection, either. My sohei, for example, is celibate, and is modeled at least partly on some cool characters in Chinese martial arts fiction. Her gender is there, but I don't play her as over-sexed. The fighter is kind of butch, but that doesn't mean she's a Lesbian. When I DM, one of the guys plays a prissy upper-class female wizard, and another plays a tomboyish swashbuckler.
OK, sometimes we make very male OOC jokes about our characters (our own or someone elses), but we crack similar jokes about our male characters to, and the jokes are all in good fun, not making fun of guys who play female characters or women who play male characters. Nobody in the group is at all self-conscious about playing the opposite gender--maybe because we're mostly middle-aged men who are reasonably open-minded and aren't at all insecure about our own gender identities or sexual orientations.
I think it's kind of silly to get overly hung up on "realism," or to say that a guy can't make a reasonable stab at roleplaying a woman or vice versa, since both genders encompass a very wide range of personalities. Occasionally romance or seduction comes into the game, and this might make some people uncomfortable (whether or not they are playing opposite-gender characters), but it's not usually the main focus of the game (at least in D&D). I've never actually thought about how my females handle "that time of the month," but then we don't spend a lot of time roleplaying other bodily functions either, and not all women are regularly crippled by PMS. Anyhow, some priestess has probably discovered an orison that takes care of it much better than modern medicine. ;)
So, the short answer to the original question: Why the hell not? It's all about fantasy, after all.
|
Creative Director
|
To pull back from the RPG scene, what about a novelist who writes a novel about an opposite-gender character? That's not THAT much different than playing an opposite-gender character, since you're still that character's voice. Is it "weird" when Stephen King writes a novel like "Dolores Clairborne" or "Lisey's Story" in which the main characters are women?
Anyway... in reading the above posts, two more reasons that struck me as why I usually play female characters caught my eye:
1) There's certainly a certain amount of the "scandal" factor. Playing a transvirtual certainly gets you more attention, and makes for some humorous roleplaying opportunities.
2) (And this one's actually a fairly major reason for me.) It's more challenging, and by extension, more fun, to play a transvirtual, because you can't just get lazy and think of the character as yourself. And since it's more challenging, your skills at roleplaying (aka: acting and creative writing) will (in theory) increase faster than if you were only doing a relatively simple character by playing a PC who's more similar to you than anything else.
One final note: It REALLY helps to play a transvirtual character if you know the other players well and everyone's relatively mature about everything. I've had characters who've become pregnant and had children (and have gone on to play the children as PCs in follow-up campaigns), but I don't think I would have been brave enough to try a stunt like that with a brand new group of strangers.
Spot on. As the usual GM for my group I have had to play hundreds of characters over the last 22 years and had to learn how to play female characters by extension. Telling my mostly male player groups "there are no women in this entire campaign" is not usually an option. Since then I create characters (both PC and NPC) with an eye toward realism and genuine character. I have found that if you can manage playing a character realistically (and by that I don't mean that you have to write a novel about thier experiences in kindergarten, but rather that you know their goals and what motivates them) that your other players will tend to start thinking more about their own characters and about their role-play. Eventually this can lead to some cool moments that you would never expect. I had a group characters meltdown after years of real time gaming after over hubris. Something like hubris bringing down the heroes is not a novel idea, except perhaps in role-playing where it should be an obvious hazard.
To answer the question about in character romances between same-sex hetrosexual players' characters, yeah it happens. In fact over the years I've made it a habit to use my own RP femine wiles to subvert numberous PCs into doing what my character wants them to do, and just as often the character is being sincere to throw folks off, but I'm a manipulative bastard like that.
GGG
|
Here's something you might want to include in your paper as a counterpoint: why do men play male characters? Is it simply because they're easier for them to identify with? Is it because that's what's expected of them? Or is it because of some conscious or subconscious need to reaffirm their own heterosexuality?
The whole point of roleplaying is to pretend to be something you're not, whether it's a knight in shining armor, a crafty wizard, a member of a nonhuman species, or (gasp!) a member of the opposite sex. I don't see why the latter should be different than any of the former. Sometimes there is, however, a homophobic knee-jerk reaction to question the motives of a gamer with a character of a gender other than their own.
I think that last may definitely be a factor and I find it a little ironic, actually. In my own gaming, and in that of other gay gamers that I know, I actually see fewer instances of opposite-gender roleplaying than in straight players.
Especially in MMO's: for the same reason straight guys make female characters to be easy on the eye.
It's probably a different story for gamers who are actually transgendered, but I don't know any of those.
In my own gaming, and in that of other gay gamers that I know, I actually see fewer instances of opposite-gender roleplaying than in straight players.
I used to game with a gay guy, and now that you mention it, I don't remember him even once making a female character.
I'm male, but oddly enough, to date *all* of my favorite characters (after over two decades of gaming) have been female. Why do I play them? No reason in particular, but I enjoy playing odd characters - wierd races, different sexes, etc... I just like the variety of perspectives and attitudes, I guess.
[
has there ever been in-game romance where the players were both members of the same sex? I ask because I've never seen it happen personally.
In our group, we have characters mated all over the place: hetero couples, same sex couples, polyamorous matings. We also have characters now that are 3rd generation children of other characters. Gender of the players doesn't matter, though I HAVE notcied that no two males have mated their characters together, even though two of the three have several female characters.... hmmmm...
As for a Romance, none of that is played out other than perhaps a stronger reaction when a mate is severely hurt or killed. It's all storyline stuff that's sometimes just talked about and agreed on, sometimes written as a short story, depends on what the players involved want to do.
i tend to play female characters because, being an artist, they come easier for me to draw/play them than males. in MMORPGs i play females because, well, its easier to stare at a nice ass rather than some big burly dude for hours on end.
Years ago while playing a chic on a fighting game on playstation 1, afriend asked me why? My reply, "Look at her!" After that others began using women characters in the game. We used to like getting different chics fighting. Then tomb raider came out, and every (hetero)male understood the reason for playing a women on a video game.
Anyway, if given a choice I will play a female in a video game, because I like looking at the female form.
I do play women characters when I play D&D from time to time. I think all PCs are fantasies, and the female PCs I have played have some qualities I am attracted too. MY PCs also mimic behavior and characterisitics I have observed in people both in fiction and real life. So playing female PCs gives me the chance to explore female characterisitcs and behavior I have observed.
Like tequila sunrise, I like shocking people to. You want to freak some guy out, have your female PC flirt w/ his male PC.
Currently I play a female character Abigail Applebottom (the name say it all). A wizard trained in a We Jas convent. SHe is a blonde who dyes her hair black (to make here look more Goth) Eventually she will mature and be herself and let her naturally blonde hair grow out.
Well if my female PCs have characteristics I find attractive, I wonder if my male Pcs do?
My editorial in Dungeon #144 is about this very topic. I almost always play female characters, as it turns out, and frankly I'm a little amused by how some players/DMs react to a guy who plays a girl character or a girl who plays a guy character, but then don't bat an eye when the 5-foot-tall guy wants to play an 8-foot-tall minotaur, or when the 7-foot-tall guy wants to play a pixie...
This strikes a chord with me. I never play white male humans (that's what I am) -- on a couple of occasions, I've played female characters (they were also non-humans). In fact, I don't think I've played a human since high school, which was a long time ago -- unless the game offered no other choices.
I can't speak for others, but I like playing types that aren't at the table, as players or characters. If there's a woman at the table, I'm not interested in a female character; if there's an African-American at the table, I don't play that racial type.
I just like getting outside the box (whatever that is for the current group).
Sci-fi games are easy -- I always play aliens. The more alien, the better. In Traveller I favored Hivers, for those who know the game (asexual aliens, I might add).
All that said, I've played with a couple of creepy, pathological types along the way. One had a quite unwholesome focus on female characters, either playing one or surrounding his character with a retinue of beautiful, buxom, babes. Considerable time and effort was put into detailing them and giving attention to them, but it was better than the experience of watching him roleplay a female PC.
My two cents -- don't spend it all in one place :)
To pull back from the RPG scene, what about a novelist who writes a novel about an opposite-gender character? That's not THAT much different than playing an opposite-gender character, since you're still that character's voice. Is it "weird" when Stephen King writes a novel like "Dolores Clairborne" or "Lisey's Story" in which the main characters are women?
For the sake of discussion, I think you're describing a different phenomenon. Gamers are, to a large extent, assuming the role of their characters. Author's don't do that (I guess -- I'm not a writer).
There's certainly a certain amount of the "scandal" factor. Playing a transvirtual certainly gets you more attention, and makes for some humorous roleplaying opportunities.
I'm quite fond of this scenario, and will take advantage of such opportunites -- it's great fun :)
...transvirtual...
Nice word, but smells too much of political correctness for me :P
One final note: It REALLY helps to play a transvirtual character if you know the other players well and everyone's relatively mature about everything...
How very true :)
Regards,
Jack
This has to be the most refreshingly honest and healthy response I've ever heard on the topic:
Years ago while playing a chic on a fighting game on playstation 1, afriend asked me why? My reply, "Look at her!" After that others began using women characters in the game. We used to like getting different chics fighting. Then tomb raider came out, and every (hetero)male understood the reason for playing a women on a video game... I think all PCs are fantasies, and the female PCs I have played have some qualities I am attracted too. MY PCs also mimic behavior and characterisitics I have observed in people both in fiction and real life. So playing female PCs gives me the chance to explore female characterisitcs and behavior I have observed...
Personally, I can't really get into the 'female' mindset. As much as I love playing out all the other fantasy tropes, that is one area where I just don't get it. I've made a few female characters, but never *really* played them.
Two of the players at my table fairly consistantly play opposite gender characters. It's odd, but I've gotten used to it.
In the Werewolf Larp I go to, one of the elders is a metis (kind of like a mule; it's what happens when two werewolves mate) with the deformity of hermaphroditism. And with hir 22 Social traits... let's just say that that's like a 35 Charisma in D&D terms. The player is female, so new players are always confused when we refer to her as him, then say her in the next breath.
In the Werewolf Larp I go to, one of the elders is a metis (kind of like a mule; it's what happens when two werewolves mate) with the deformity of hermaphroditism. And with hir 22 Social traits... let's just say that that's like a 35 Charisma in D&D terms.
So when you were all by your lonesome and went into heat... what happened then?
So when you were all by your lonesome and went into heat... what happened then?
S/he has, er, seduced a couple of the characters (notably our wereraven), but so far Gregory (my character) hasn't had the dubious, er... honor of hir attentions.
So when you were all by your lonesome and went into heat... what happened then?S/he has, er, seduced a couple of the characters (notably our wereraven), but so far Gregory (my character) hasn't had the dubious, er... honor of hir attentions.
My curiosity was focused upon aspects of hermaphroditicism and a heat cycle that strikes when no suitors are to be found. If I so suffered I'd do what everyone's been telling me to do all these years.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Now that my sides hurt... Let's get back on track.
I've played female characters before (I'm male) and never considered it anything odd. Some characters are just female, and as a writer I just go with the vision. it does have to be witht the right party. Let's face it, some people despite age are not mature enough to allow it.
As for it being a Freudian release? Sometimes a characer is just a character. ;)
Personally, I can't really get into the 'female' mindset. As much as I love playing out all the other fantasy tropes, that is one area where I just don't get it. I've made a few female characters, but never *really* played them.
I feel the same way (and many do), which is rather funny. Why is it we think we can pull off playing an entirely different species?? :/
As for it being a Freudian release? Sometimes a characer is just a character. ;)
Why don't people remember that? I have a player in my group that won't so much roll dice on behalf of a female NPC in the game -- it's come up before.
I feel the same way (and many do), which is rather funny. Why is it we think we can pull off playing an entirely different species?? :/
I think I'm fair when roleplaying lizardmen (there, I said it) or pixies and such. I decide what the parameters of the alien race's mindset is then, abiding these, attempt to go deep when speaking and acting for them.
As for it being a Freudian release? Sometimes a characer is just a character. ;)
And sometimes a cigar is just a character. ECL +2 due to construct traits and the ability to cause cancer.
I think I'm fair when roleplaying lizardmen (there, I said it) or pixies and such. I decide what the parameters of the alien race's mindset is then, abiding these, attempt to go deep when speaking and acting for them.
Interesting point of view -- I never thought of it that way, though you're completely right.
To pull back from the RPG scene, what about a novelist who writes a novel about an opposite-gender character? That's not THAT much different than playing an opposite-gender character, since you're still that character's voice. Is it "weird" when Stephen King writes a novel like "Dolores Clairborne" or "Lisey's Story" in which the main characters are women?For the sake of discussion, I think you're describing a different phenomenon. Gamers are, to a large extent, assuming the role of their characters. Author's don't do that (I guess -- I'm not a writer).
Not sure it's as different as you think. The main difference is that in writing you don't have to publicly present yourself as someone of the opposite gender--you have the mediation of the written word which somehow distances the opposite gender character from you, in your own mind and in the reader's. But either way you have to try to get into the head of someone who is quite different from yourself, at least if you want to be convincing. I think the key is that you have to have a certain kind of empathy--an ability to imagine how other people, quite different from yourself, experience the world around them. Most of us have this ability to some extent--some of us have developed the ability more than others. (I'm not a published writer, but I enjoy writing, as those of you who have read my campaign logs have probably guessed. So I've thought a little bit about the problem of imagining and representing characters of the opposite gender. Novels and stories would be much less interesting without them.)