I don't see this as much anymore. When I was a kid, I remember that it was fairly common for RP'ers to create opposite sex characters. I think it's because RP'ers saw their characters as something separate from themselves much as a writer creates characters. Because of the influence of mmorpg's, I wonder if more RP'ers see their characters as themselves in a fantasy world. I'm curious what others think about this.
i just have a personal preference to play with my gender cuz i can't do the voice right if its not my gender...
Honestly, when we were younger, simply pretending to have boobs was fun...
o_o
..now that we're all grown up we have boobs of our own! :D
>.> On other people..
...aaah never mind.
We were about 12-13 at the time.
We had a group going in secondary school... ..all boys grammar school - lots of geeks thrown into a mixing bowl, lots of egos, lots of smart arses playing at being top smart arse, lots of brains bashing together, lots of... ..jerks.
We used to play in the canteen during lunch. Lots of people all around, eating, talking etc.
We had one friend that would occasionally join our games - this was when he wasn't attempting to engratiate himself with the powers-that-be, abusing his position as Head of Charity or otherwise trying to play politician.
Anyway, this friend would always roll up a female character who looked exactly like Gillian Anderson/Scully from the X-Files...
...and he would play her like a sex crazed hussey, hungry for man/woman/misc love.
The rest of us grew tired of these Gillian Clones and his attempts to sate his lustings at our tables. Luckily he didn't know the system, simply the basics of how to play the game.
So, after yet another steamy encounter at the local tavern, we fudged a few rolls and informed him his character was pregnant.
He was shocked. So shocked that he kicked back his chair, stood up and shouted 'WHAT?! I'M PREGNANT?!''.
The entire canteen went slient.
He looked around and saw that everyone was staring at him.
We nearly wet ourselves laughing >_<
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Maybe I'm the odd one out here, but my group sees unwillingness to play an opposite sex character as a mark of a poor roleplayer...and this is from a group that does usually see characters as "self avatars" in an MMO style. It's also a group that sees the inability to identify with both sexes as the mark of someone not secure in certain personal aspects of themselves.
Personally, I (being male) tend to play more male characters than female, but sometimes the concept I'm playing with just begs for a female character, often times because the male version of the same theme has been done to death, but the female one has not.
One of my favorite characters from all of roleplaying is my Knight of the Rose and Cross from 7th Sea. She was a chivalrous, adventuring knight, who often played the part of the considerate and honorable gentleman even though she didn't really have a claim to the "man" part.
...and no, she was never disguised as a man, or even made it ambiguous.
I roll a die when making a new character, even for male, and odd for female because girls are weird. All seriousness though it does not really bother me one way or the other. As well as finding it fun to challenge gender role ideals against some more chauvinistic members of my gaming group.
I generally play male characters as I myself am male. Depending on the mores of the campaign worls a female adventurer may not be feasable. However my pet character at this time, Ulaeniir, is a female elven diviner.
i am a 21 year old male and i like to play mentally advanced underage girls for some reason unknown to myself. maybe it's all the anime i watch.
Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but as a transexual girl, I play female characters pretty well exclusively. Back in high school when I was still figuring out who I really was, I think it helped me specifically because it let me play "myself" in a fantasy world and be treated the way i want to be treated (at least socially - not so much on the wanting to be a fireball target >_> <_<).
And no, I never played "hussy" characters...I did play a succubus once, but she was a paladin in a "redeemed monsters" game.
Funnily enough, the DM (a high school guy) always used to put me in "damsel in distress" situations, so my characters were constantly getting captured by DM fiat. There were more than a few instances of the "helpless damsel" rescuing herself and saving the rest of the party who had come to try and rescue her but gotten in hot water, all with whatever gear (and clothing -_-) she managed to get her hands on mid-escape.
I have no issues with it. I am a guy so normally play males but For me it's about concepts. If the concept and background make the pc a female then I make her female and play her as such. I am playing a female pc now in an eclipse phase game as that is just how she came out{ even though that game gender is dependent on the day sometimes :)}
I play a mixture,always have and have never had many problems..thought the Submissive Masochist I had in a Conspiracy X game freaked out my Table top group a fair bit.
In my friends group (all guys), all but 1 in 7 have played female characters as far as I can remember, but they overall tend to be playing male characters primarily, I think it is more of a concious choice to play an opposite sex character while the same sex is default.
Otherwise I think it is just easier to identify themselves in a male character and sex wont complicate the purity of the character concept further.
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I see it from time to time. I know some guys that often play girls, some that do it about 50/50, some that do it rarely and a few that never will. On the flip side I have never meet a girl that never played a male character personally. But then I know about 5 to 1 at least more male than female players too.
I don't have a problem with those that want to or those that don't. The point of RPG's is to play pretend basically and explore things you normally can't. Weather that be slaying dragons, flying a spaceship or be the other gender. To me it's all the same.
Me personally I mostly play female characters but sometimes if just want to play a male as a change of pace. Or sometimes when i did pickup games I would, till I got to know the group better.
People play what they want to play, I see no reason to call bad roleplaying or anything judging on what gender any given player prefers to play.
As a male myself I prefer playing males, although I am the DM more often than not so I don't really have a choice but to play female characters every now and then. But to me that's different from playing a female pc.
I was going to play a female when our group at the time decided it was time to play some Eon instead of DnD/WHFRP. However, my character idea was totally screwed over by the insane character generation tables in that game, and that together with the horrible "adventure" (seriously, that DM was one of the two lousiest DM's I've ever played with) sort of tainted my 'crossplay' experience and I haven't felt a need to play female pc's since.
I never actually played with a female gamer that played a male character though I only know of a handful personally, from my limited experience it would seem women are less likely to play opposite gender, even though most seem in general more focussed on rp than the guys.
On the flip side I have never meet a girl that never played a male character personally.
I know one girl that plays male characters exclusively, usually elves and androgynous 'bishies'.
I roll a die when making a new character, even for male, and odd for female because girls are weird. All seriousness though it does not really bother me one way or the other. As well as finding it fun to challenge gender role ideals against some more chauvinistic members of my gaming group.
Machella Lives!
On the flip side I have never meet a girl that never played a male character personally.I know one girl that plays male characters exclusively, usually elves and androgynous 'bishies'.
I know a bloke who made a female character enchantress/transmuter. She/he/it (gah) was researching the mating habits of various creatures, first hand.
o_o
''Say, where's your mount?''
''Celeste said she'd stable it.''
''She's be gone a while, hasn't she?''
''Well, yes, why? ..oh ... OH!''
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On the flip side I have never meet a girl that never played a male character personally.I know one girl that plays male characters exclusively, usually elves and androgynous 'bishies'.
I know two girls like that actually. They have far more male characters than females.
I always play males myself and have never played a female as a PC but plenty as NPCs. When it comes to playing a character its a fantasy to me and I enjoy having characters I can relate to in some way. Its just easier for me to relate this way.
Polled my wife and my brother's wife, and they both can't see playing a male character. Wife tried once but it didn't stick.
I often play a female though usualy human/elf/half elf. Any of the other races I will play male.
My wife's first character she made was a male half orc barbarion. Right now in our CoT campain she is playing a human male rogue.
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I'm totally a sexist pig. Depending on what sort of character I play determines whether or not it's a boy or a girl. Clerics can be either. Wizards are usually female. Fighter types are usually male. It's completely arbitary, but I've noticed my gaming buddies are the same way, often playing female clerics, druids, rogues and wizards, but male fighters, barbarians, monks, paladins and rangers.
In games that are more heavily invested into the role-playing and might delve into adult matters, such as Vampire: the Masquerade, I'm more likely to play a male, as I've been playing that role all my life and am more comfortable in those shoes, and the characters I tend to play for the longest times and remember the most fondly are the male ones (with the rare exception).
I am the only member of my EQII guild with a cross-gender main character (although many of us have a few of each), and there's always that flash of awkwardness at our annual guild-meeting (which I am at now, halfway across the country, currently 45 lbs into our 75 lb beeftip supply and having filled three trash barrels with bottles and cans...) when I meet someone new and have to say, 'Ian, also Helsdottir, the ugly troll chick.'
Wizards are usually female. Fighter types are usually male.
Naturally.
Fighting is MAN'S WORK!
..and reading is for girls.
:D
I tend to play female characters though I'm one of the males in the group. Still annoys my best friend, so it never gets old;)
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I'm male... but my characters are overwhelmingly female. Back in the Top Secret days (even before the SI was added), we discovered just how useful it was to have a female agent in the mix... and that started the trend.
I've never really considered any character (male or female) ME IN THE SETTING. I've always viewed it more from the author/protagonist perspective (even if I'm not a professional author... I had one roleplaying article published and wrote for school newspapers in high school and college). I guess, when my mind's eye is picturing a scene, I just prefer to see a female form doing whatever I'm imagining.
The characters I play are never harlots nor overtly sexual. They're not raving feminists, either. I guess I need to maintain my respect for the character most of all. I don't want to make a caricature out of her by putting her into any sort of role where I can't maintain my respect. That isn't to say they're all vestal virgins, either...
I'm totally a sexist pig. Depending on what sort of character I play determines whether or not it's a boy or a girl. Clerics can be either. Wizards are usually female. Fighter types are usually male. It's completely arbitary, but I've noticed my gaming buddies are the same way, often playing female clerics, druids, rogues and wizards, but male fighters, barbarians, monks, paladins and rangers.
Pretty much the same here.
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Bet this turns into one of those topics where there 300 post on the thread 48 hours after the topic started.
I tend to run a lot of female characters and I'm male. I think its part of the fact that I tend to play characters with vulnerable backgrounds i.e. half elves that have problems growing up in a human environment, sorcerers who get rejected because they are freaks, a peasant takes a sickle to the local lord's son who tries to rape her, flees into the forest and returns a Druidess.
I don't think I consciously thought about it til now, but I think the sex is a magnifier on subconscious level.
All the best,
Kerney
I don't have a problem with cross-gender playing.
After all, no one at the table is an elf, or a dwarf, or a Jedi knight, or a medieval archer, or whatever, and yet we project ourselves into that role for the sake of fun. It's no less alien to roleplay an opposite gender character than it is to roleplay someone of an alien race or radically different culture or occupation.
The problem arises, and it's not necessarily really even a problem at the table, when a person plays a character of a different gender as an excuse to bash that gender (i.e. a guy who only plays females as raving sluts or violent man-hating amazons). That sort of person may have issues that need to be dealt with, but it's not something that an armchair psychologist should attempt to "fix" at the game table.
In general, a character's gender has no greater impact in game terms than their hair color or eye color. Men and women aren't so alien from one another that cross-gender playing should be seen as something freaky or taboo. Again, the only problem arises with people who have issues with one gender or another, and passive-aggressively use their character at the game table as a way of expressing those issues.
And here's the other thing... the DM *always* has to engage in cross-gender roleplay, unless every single NPC in his or her game world is the same gender...
I don't think I have played a female character yet (except GMNPCs).
I just never saw the necessity really.
I have seen it done, though, and most of the time, it works more or less well.
One time, it was a mess, but that was mainly because the guy who played that she-paladin was absolutely incompetent when it came to roleplaying.
Since I GM more than I play, yes, I play :
1) Male adults.
2) Female adults.
3) Male kids.
4) Female kids.
5) Female dominant amazon lesbian pirate captains (that one was fun, see below).
6) Male cross-dressing sorcerers.
7) In-Betweens who had an accident research blue magic (sex magic).
8) Creatures who have no discernable sex (or that if you know what sex they are, you have much bigger problems than your own sex).
9) Anything else that seems appropriate.
On the rare times I do play, I tend more toward males than females, but that's more me trying to avoid a perceived stereotype that was going around when I first started gaming. That of the 'lonely geek playing females because it's as close to one as he'll ever get'. That avoidance kind of stuck with me, so I tend to do 5 or 6 males for every female I make over the years.
NOTE: For #5 above, it was great, as the party Rogue/Warmage was pimped out for diplomacy and every other personal interaction skill. He kept trying to seduce the captain to get her to let him out of the cage he was being kept in. She kept smiling and turning down his best lines (and best rolls, even the natural 20). One of the crew finally burst out laughing at a comment of his that he just needed her to give him a chance, that's when he figured out the female Captain had a female first mate for a reason. :)
I've played a mix about 50/50, male to female characters.
some character concepts I do just scream male or female in my mind.
I spend a lot of years as the DM, so when I get the chance to play I try to make the character memorable, not just a one hit wonder.
one memorable female character was a half/elf Wizard/Thief/Fighter from 2nd edition, that was the unintentional child of a Elven Spellfilcher and a Wu-Jen.
Crossing gender for the players at our table is rare, at best. One female player played a male dwarf once, and I played a female witch once. That's all I can remember right now.
As a transgender girl, I'm a bit biased, but I almost always play female characters, except when GMing.
And for some reason this thread reminds me of an old idea of mine...where all the elves are female and the dwarves are male. The two are actually one species, but they're somewhat embarrassed by it and try to keep it secret. You never see dwarven 'women' about, and elves are somewhat ambiguous to begin with, so...
I'm just reminded of this old Phil and Dixie comic...
http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20070812
I play about 50/50, although I don't think I've ever played a female half-orc or a male elf.
I've played all manner of characters in my years of playing. I'd say my ratio is about 75%/25% male-female. I play female characters sometimes, but more generally play male characters.
That being said, one of my longest running characters was a Priestess that I took to level 23 back in the days of 2nd edition.
a lot of the "Loli" characters i play are rather chaste (sometimes Celibate or abstinent), i don't know what that would say about myself.
Because of the influence of mmorpg's, I wonder if more RP'ers see their characters as themselves in a fantasy worldI'd say that if anything, because of MMOs more Players are cross-gendering than previously. There's no way that many girls are playing WOW :-)
As for myself, I usually play my gender, but then again I rarely Play. As DM I'm routinely playing all combinations of creatures and races and genders, plus I'm a writer, so it's not really an issue.
In the past I've run female characters, and it's been a problem for some groups (one of mostly "townies" when I was in college assumed I was gay) but not others.
In my own groups where I DM, I've always tended to have strong RPers as well as 1/3 to 1/2 female Players, so the "it would be useful to have a female in the party, particularly a Charisma-oriented Rogue or Bard" thing was never an issue. Curiously, my attractive GF routinely plays low-Cha. characters ... go figure.
However, I've seen all combinations. Mostly, people in my groups play interesting characters without excessive regard to race or gender (though they do usually play their gender, just for simplicity). I had a Player once who was transgendering at the time, and unlike most who've commented so far, chose to play their old gender ... simply because the character concept was so intriguing.
FWIW,
Rez
Frankly I know quite a few more girls playing WoW than guys, even though I know more guys that are into gaming and fantasy stuff.
On MMO's in my experience many more guys play women than women playing guys though,
Wizards are usually female. Fighter types are usually male.
Naturally.
Fighting is MAN'S WORK!
..and reading is for girls.
:D
My female Crusader/Paladin and her heavy flail would like to have a word with you :P
I counted it up once... my characters in NWN and WoW are predominantly female, my D&D characters are about 50-50 with a very slight advantage to female. Never really sat down to think about why.
got to love women wielding big equipment, kinda like my women in more traditionally credible rolls though.
Like archer, caster, rogue, bard..
I'm a male and I've played male and female characters. I think I've actually played more female characters than males in recent years. Part of it, I think, is I tend to draw PC inspiriation from my art collection, and I have a much greater collection of women than men.
One of my favorite PCs of all time was a female human wizard/sorcerer.
I see it more on play-by-post games. probably because it is easier to roleplay there when you aren't actually looking at the hairy dude sitting across the table from you. :)
Someone mentioned that the only time that cross-gender characters are a problem is when someone has a personal axe to grind. And that may be true in that person's experience, but I don't think that is the only time in general.
For example, my personal preference both as a player and DM, is for players to play the same gender they are. Not because I have anything against cross-gender characters, it just makes it easier to keep the pronouns straight. When you ask Bob, "Is he hurt." and he replies, "No SHE is fine." It can get annoying.
I wonder though, reading the comments, if peopole that prefer warrior-types, prefer playing male characters irregardless of their own gender on average, and if they prefer playing spellcasters if they prefer playing female characters.
Some people always play warriors and some people always play spellcasters, I wonder if that plays a part in their gender prefrence as well.
In those cases, getting the players with characters not their own gender to have a piece of character art or a miniature to hang onto near themselves at the table can help a lot. The other players can just glance across, see the picture/miniature and remember.
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In those cases, getting the players with characters not their own gender to have a piece of character art or a miniature to hang onto near themselves at the table can help a lot. The other players can just glance across, see the picture/miniature and remember.
An index card with a picture of the character's face and their name can help as well, and can have vital info on the back (AC, saves, CMD).
I find that particularly useful at conventions, where you are generally sitting down with a half-dozen strangers and don't have more than a few hours to get used to their in-game personas.
Some people always play warriors and some people always play spellcasters, I wonder if that plays a part in their gender prefrence as well.
That's an interesting thought. I've noticed in online games that female players are more likely to play priests and rogues, while male players are more likely to play tanks and mages.
I go with healers and mages, so I'm apparently confused. :)
Director of Game Development
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My very first character was female. My favorite character was male. My two current characters are male, but I've played both genders. I tend to get a character concept and don't really even think about the gender as the inspiration comes all at the same time and the characters pretty much make themselves. Some of the guys I've played with have played female characters and sometimes the way they've represented them is terribly annoying. Some folks are better at playing opposite gendered characters than others, that's for sure.
I get lots of practice role-playing female NPCs as a DM. Most of my PCs are male. I tend to come up with personality concepts before mechanical ones, and those usually lend themselves to the male gender. However, I do have a couple character ideas sitting on the back burner that will be female when I have an opportunity to play them: a fighter, condottieri style, and a half-orc barbarian/druid.
I've played both. It doesn't really have that big an impact on the game.