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What's your thought on Males playing females, and females playing males?
Me, I like to change it up on every new character. I.E. my last character was male, I'll play a female this time.
Is it aloud in the society games? should it be?
what's your take on this?
It can be done by creepers, but much like kitsune and catfolk, I don't assume someone is a creeper if they play whatever gender.
EDIT: Personally, I developed a habit of playing as a female in video games, so when I got in to pathfinder, it was a bit hard to think of my character as a male, but I didn't pick it for the same reason I try not to pick races that have any amount of fur or vaguely Asian origins. The ignorance of others, that is.
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It's perfectly acceptable in Society, and in Pathfinder in general. There are even several gay, lesbian, and genderqueer NPCs in the game. I'll be playing a genderqueer character for the first time this Monday, actually.
It's a nice break from reality, roleplaying as someone or something you aren't (or wish you were).
Play what you think you see the character as.
I generally prefer males, because I am one. It is mor ecomfortable to me. I do have a female character, but there are times when it is akward for me.
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Personally, you will never find me gender swapping. It's just not my cup of tea. If others want to do it though, knock yourself out.
Although we did once have a table in a living greyhawk game some years ago where the guy at the table who was playing a female courtesan rogue did a damn fine job of creeping us all out until we told him to knock it off.
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Most of my characters are female, well actually half my PFS characters now, despite that I am male.
I feel it's much easier to come up with names for female characters then it is for male characters, and female characters tend to have more meaningful names.
My first PFS character was male, Lafethalyn, a half-elf witch, he died.
My second PFS character is female, Andraste, Aasimar Oracle of life, she is now level 6.
My third PFS character is female, Rinne, Human Razmirian Priest (wildblooded Sylvan sorcerer), she is now level 4.
My fourth PFS character is male, Talfryn, Aasimar Gunslinger, he will be level 2 next time I play him. This one is a bit of an oddity because depending on how I go with him, he might end up being a drag-queen on occasion, but only if I rebuild him to be an Arshea worshiper.
However, the characters I play in PBP here on the forums are more often then not female. This likely has to do with that I like female names better, and that I tend to play different female characters, where most of my male characters end up having a personality closer to my own (with a few tweaks here and there). My female characters however are not simply me gender-swapped, they tend to be much more developed and fleshed out, and in an essence, they tell me who they are.
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I'm like you. I switch every other character. Don't know where I picked that up from.
When I play video games, I do pick female avatars tho. My friend summed up why best. Her reply was "if I am gonna be staring at something for hours, it's gonna be something that is hot". She of course picks male avatars. In a few of the games we play together, we have hurt some people's brains tho with this. Quite funny.
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I'm like you. I switch every other character. Don't know where I picked that up from.
When I play video games, I do pick female avatars tho. My friend summed up why best. Her reply was "if I am gonna be staring at something for hours, it's gonna be something that is hot". She of course picks male avatars. In a few of the games we play together, we have hurt some people's brains tho with this. Quite funny.
I pick female avatars in vids for the same reason. Plus they tend to fill up less of the screen in behind third person mode.
Reviewing my characters it seems I have no female characters with higher than a 6 charisma. Hmmmm
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I'm male, and 4 of my 14 PFS characters are female. I normally go with male PCs by default, but if I have a reason for wanting to make one female, I go with it.
For instance, my first character was a male barbarian with a back story about having 6 older sisters. Two of my female characters are among his sisters.
In another case, I was just hunting for minis for a particular PC type and couldn't find a male version I liked, but found the perfect female mini for the concept. Also, that one had a detail that reminded me of a female TV character, so I made the PC female, named her after that character, and use that mini.
My latest PC (not yet fully created, though she already has 1 XP from a GM credit) is female, because it's an oddball race, and I decided to base her mostly on the only fictional member of that race I've seen (Celia the sylph from Order of the Stick).
Never had a problem with players playing characters.
I have had problems with player attitudes.
Sums it up really.
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I am male in real life, and have two female characters.
The first is a gunslinger (Kestler) with overbearing mother issues. She never wanted to be a Pathfinder, but with her mother identifying that Pathfindering was a fast route to become nouveau riche, it was a sacrifice she was willing to take.
The second is a Dwarven Grandmother (Granny Edelsteen) who has pathetic offensive capability but brilliant tanking ability. She treats all the Pathfinders as her 'little sweeties' and will draw the enemy attacks and aid another to allow her 'sweeties' to deliver the finishing blows.
While 'being female' is not the beginning and end of their personalities, I've found that making female characters complements the character concept far better than it would as male characters. Also, there seems to be no end of Varisian NPCs who implicitly trust whatever a female Pathfinder with a positive charisma has to say.
I'm a female player with ten characters, four of which are female, six of which are "male" (one of the male-pronoun-users looks fairly masculine, but is technically intersex). The only problem I've had is that a lot of players and GMs automatically assume all of my characters are female just because I am. Mostly, I've found the genders of my characters aren't truly relevant when doing anything at all, but it does somewhat bother me when my male characters are referred to as female because of reasons outside the game world.
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I see the subject header, and immediately wonder 'which other sex'?
Back when I was a male player, I rigidly alternated the genders of my characters.
Now that I'm a female player, I only play females. When my son asked me why I never play males any more, I tell him I already did that for 30+ years.
I am seriously thinking about rocking an Inquisitor of Arshea one of these games, though.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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For me, a big part of crafting a character is wrapped up in my mental image of them (what they look like, and what they can do). There's a concept I'm considering right now where I was originally planning one race, but I started picturing a different one (no idea why), so if I go with it I'm gonna switch.
As a male player, most PCs I make get visualized in my head as male. I only recently found myself creating a PC who was in my head as female for the first time. Only played her twice, but having fun so far. :)
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I have one female character so far and several of the female players in our local group have at least one male character. No one really finds it awkward or anything, thoguh sometimes it is difficult to remember which set of pronouns to be using to regard a character, since you forget which character the player is using and go back to the default use based on the players gender.
Most hilarious situation to come up so far with character/player gender difference? One of the female players had her male character stick something down his shirt for safe keeping. We had to explain that with a man doing that, its not really going to keep anyone from going in after it...it was funnier at the table than its sounding now as I type it. :P
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Well I'd been playing Ksenia and Mayim a lot of late, so people were kind of caught off guard that I was playing a male PC in Among the Living...
I've had that happen, too. As mentioned above, most of my PCs are male like me, but when I first moved to this area, I happened to play two of my female PCs with the same GM. So I think he expected me to always play females, and was surprised to see me play a male character next.
I am male and I often let percentile dice decide my gender- though all of my male PC's tend to be uncharismatic...and die alot (though non of my female PC's have died yet-strangely enough.)
If i want a character with a serious background i play female. If i want a comedy character i play male because Favio orc would not be the same if he was female.
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I'm a female player with ten characters, four of which are female, six of which are "male" (one of the male-pronoun-users looks fairly masculine, but is technically intersex). The only problem I've had is that a lot of players and GMs automatically assume all of my characters are female just because I am. Mostly, I've found the genders of my characters aren't truly relevant when doing anything at all, but it does somewhat bother me when my male characters are referred to as female because of reasons outside the game world.
It's understandable that they'd default to that, given that most players don't cross-play.
If you want to avoid that, print some artwork that better represents the PC, and have it stood up front and out there. Pick a mini that matches your mental image.
All of my characters that have lasted any appreciable amount of time have been female. The few male characters I've played, their games died quickly for one reason or another.
I tend to come up with character ideas based off art, and I don't have much male art on my computer to look through. This is kind of a self-perpetuating cycle, as most of the time when I'm browsing DevArt or elsewhere and go "Ooh, that looks like an interesting character design, maybe I'll play that sometime, or use it for an NPC", it tends to be female. Though having to stock some male NPCs for a recent game has helped offset that, so it's a little closer to even now.
(And no, me having a ton of female art isn't an issue of ogling, I prefer characters to be reasonably well covered up and not showing a ton of skin. =P )
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I often find NPC names in scenarios very uninformative.
Same with the names some people give their PCs.
With a real-world name, there are cues you can use, to recognise gender, social class and culture.
When your told an NPC's name, or that of a fellow PC, and that name seems to be random vowels and consonants?
Is that NPC male or female?
Is it even human? Demihuman?
Animal, vegetable or mineral?
I tend to rely on BehindTheName for character names these days. The only time I really tend to just throw sounds together is for something that's supposed to have a nonsensical-ish name, like an aberration or a dragon.
I associate certain real-world cultures with certain species. My Elven and other Fey-ish races names tend to be Celtic, Gaelic, or Irish. Orc names tend to be Scandinavian. etc. etc. etc.
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A creepy player can play a no nonsense human fighter with a longsword of the same gender as the player just as much as they could be playing the transgender kitsune ninja-magus born of an angel and a demon with a cursed eye that lets them see into the realm of dreams. Having poor social skills is rarely reflected in one's character (except perhaps how the character acts). And its easy to point at someone's "gimmicky" character and claim its a sign of their poor social skills--but more often than not its just coincidence.
TL;DR: Even non-mechanical character traits have never been intrinsically bound nor mutually exclusive to one's lack of social graces.
I've played both male and female characters. My two favorite all-time characters are one male and one female. I tend not to play to gender stereotypes or tropes and just try to create interesting characters.
Interestingly, I played a female night-elf rogue in World of Warcraft. I originally built the character because my daughter wanted to play the game and I wanted to see if the rumors I heard about sexual harassment were true. After a few months playing the rogue, I decided that the environment was suitable for my teen daughter. However, in the meantime, I had grown to love the rogue above all other classes and ended up playing the female character as my primary WoW character. It did create some interesting conversations once I got to raiding, which involved using a microphone and real-time speaking, and people assumed I was female because my character was.
I've tried to play female characters on occasion. Sadly, they all end up being some variation on Aliera e'Kieron from Steve Brust's "Vlad Taltos" novels. I don't mean for it to happen; it just does. So generally these days I stick to males, until my acting ability catches up with my ambition.
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Though having to stock some male NPCs for a recent game has helped offset that, so it's a little closer to even now.
I suspect there is a direct correlation between that section of the gamer population who think 'playing outside one's own gender is wierd', and the population who have rarely (if ever) acted as GM.
I have not yet played a female character in Pathfinder, either for PFS or in home games
I do not mind at all, however, regarding those who do play the opposite gender, sexual orientation, etc
Have fun, contribute to the table fun and do not be a jerk
Though having to stock some male NPCs for a recent game has helped offset that, so it's a little closer to even now.I suspect there is a direct correlation between that section of the gamer population who think 'playing outside one's own gender is wierd', and the population who have rarely (if ever) acted as GM.
I wouldn't be surprised.
At the same time, I've seen a few people who could do fine doing so from the GM-side running NPCs, but had comfort issues doing the same as a PC, so *shrug*
I would feel awkward playing a woman.
Also, I don't feel I understand women enough to make an accurate and/or flattering portrayal. I don't want to offend the female gamers at my tables. I understand being a man, so that's what I play.
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Also, I don't feel I understand women enough to make an accurate and/or flattering portrayal.
Do you understand half-farspawn tieflings well enough to make an accurate portrayal? Granted, there are fewer of them around to object to how you portray them, but still...
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What's your thought on Males playing females, and females playing males?
I'm a male and my thought is that it is perfectly normal and acceptable.
I've predominantly played female characters for over 20 years now and don't see any harm in it. In my local game, a couple of the male players play female characters and a couple of the female players play male characters. I'd say it works out to about 40% of the characters being of the opposite gender from their player.
IME, it is completely a non-issue. TBH, I don't even think about until a thread such as this one arises (usually a yearly occurrence here on Paizo).
I only play males myself. I feel more comfortable doing so and I'm not fond of cross playing from me or others, though I've never told someone at the table nor told them they were doing wrong*. I think its perfectly fine, just not what I'm comfortable with. I also believe roles can be filled by any gender equally though, and I don't actually see the point in playing the other gender, though I'm sure not everyone agrees with either of those ideals.
I'm male, and I play female characters about half the time.
The two characters I'm currently playing are both female. (A human cleric of Desna, and a gnome sorceress).
The three PCs I'd played before those were male.
It's never been a problem in any game I've played in.
I tried playing the opposite gender a few times; it only really worked the first time. I guess it made sense for that particular character, but the others felt... fake.
In other words, I'm less comfortable playing cross-gendered roles. I don't have any issues with fellow players playing opposite gender in itself (hell, I work in theatre!), but I get annoyed when the roles get "forced" or parodied. It doesn't matter if the role feels "forced" because of its alignment, class, culture, race, archetype (not Paizo's class-archetype but real, conceptual archetype) or gender; I prefer roles that fit a player naturally (or that the player can role-play skillfully).
But that's because I'm getting old and know myself well enough to say that I'm a R-P snob.
I tailor characters to fit the game I'm in and yes that sometimes means I play females. On the boards here I currently play 2 female and 4 male characters
I'm a female player with ten characters, four of which are female, six of which are "male" (one of the male-pronoun-users looks fairly masculine, but is technically intersex). The only problem I've had is that a lot of players and GMs automatically assume all of my characters are female just because I am. Mostly, I've found the genders of my characters aren't truly relevant when doing anything at all, but it does somewhat bother me when my male characters are referred to as female because of reasons outside the game world.It's understandable that they'd default to that, given that most players don't cross-play.
If you want to avoid that, print some artwork that better represents the PC, and have it stood up front and out there. Pick a mini that matches your mental image.
Heh, I'm a casual artist who draws their own characters, and would totally do that if I had a color printer. I occasionally show character portraits off my mini-laptop if I'm using it, and I usually am, but I don't have enough properly finished pieces of most of my characters to really show them off. As for minis, well, the artist thing plays into that as well - I have such an accurate mental image of what most of my characters look like that I'll never find minis to match.
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In Pencil and Paper games I've only run females a few times. Each time something uncomfortable has occurred either for myself or another player, though almost always against my will*; fortunately most of them have been exceedingly minor.
Added to that, when we run one-on-one games, I usually have male characters as "Romance Options" for my wife (or visa-verse) and for general comfort-level reasons, cutting down on the total number of female characters I play as well.
Thus, I really don't play many female characters in Pencil-and-Paper. Of course I run female NPCs as a GM, and usually that doesn't really turn into strange situations (with the notable exception below).
In video games with dialogue option trees, I'll end up playing female characters if not just as often, then a fair amount (such as my currently running Dragon Age: Origins** female noble dwarf character); in these cases, I completely avoid ending up in situations people become uncomfortable, so it really doesn't matter one way or the other.
All that said, none of this is really a conscious choice on my part. Usually, like Laithorn notes, it's not really an "issue" in specific, so much as just the way things tend to happen.
I have no personal problem with anyone playing any kind of character, so long as they're not a jerk at the table.
** Yes, I realize how far I am behind the times. No, I don't care. :)
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I think a lot of the issue with playing differing genders is probably based on gaming groups. I know I've played with some players who don't care for the practice, but others have no problem with it.
When I first started playing a female druid in our core group game the immediate reaction was for some of the players to make jokes about it. Most of the jokes were the typical gender stereotype jokes. As a player I just mostly ignored it, unless a joke was actually pretty funny, in which case I'd laugh with everyone else.
As a character though, my character took her gender as seriously as I think most people take their own gender. After a couple of incidents involving her animal companion "protecting" her from unwanted advances, the rest of the party got the hint that she wasn't interested in "extra-curricular" activities. Besides the fact that she just wasn't really into that whole thing, there was the additional fact that she wasn't really into inter-species gender studies. After proving herself in battle and generally demonstrating that she was quite competent in other ways, the whole gender thing became a non-issue. Every now and then a joke or comment would be made, but again, for the most part I, and/or she, considered them to be background noise and we just kept playing.
It is probably worth stating that our group is pretty much a PG rated group from a gender perspective. Our games can be quite bloody and violent, but the closest we've ever come to role playing any slap and tickle activities was having some extra NPCs show up in a PC's room overnight, and leave in the morning.
For groups that delve deeply into R or X rated activities, it might be a bigger issue. I would definitely not be comfortable role playing those sort of activities even for my own gender, much less for a different one. I guess I'm just too old school to be quite that open about such things.
It is probably worth stating that our group is pretty much a PG rated group from a gender perspective. Our games can be quite bloody and violent, but the closest we've ever come to role playing any slap and tickle activities was having some extra NPCs show up in a PC's room overnight, and leave in the morning.
For groups that delve deeply into R or X rated activities, it might be a bigger issue. I would definitely not be comfortable role playing those sort of activities even for my own gender, much less for a different one. I guess I'm just too old school to be quite that open about such things.
Same all around here.
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I always like to describe my home game as "An R-rated game set in an NC-17 world." There's all kinds of stuff going on off-screen (ranging from kinky to warped to downright horrible), but only the things the players shine a flashlight on get more than a mention, and none of the really nasty stuff happens as part of the game.