played vs. real gender

[Khayankh]

Basically, I'm wondering about people who have characters who are different genders from them, and how that is impacted by sexuality, personality, and game environment.
Two examples (from people who I talked to in my D&D group about joining WoW):
'Dan' is the DM, and on WoW he plays a girl because 'my character is eye candy' and 'people are nicer to you and easier on you if you play a girl, because they think you're weaker.'
'Kayla' always plays a guy in online games because 'people don't make sexist assumptions about you or try to flirt with you nearly as much.'
Neither of these people are seeking online relationships in game, but would that affect gender choices at all? Also, to what degree is in-game sexism a reflection or exaggeration of real life?
I played a girl on RuneScape, but I've quit mostly because it is annoying and I was sick of everyone asking if I had a 'bf.' I don't want to date anyone desperate enough to ask. If we're having an intelligent conversation and the subject comes up, maybe.

[Logic]

I normally play male characters, because I identify with them more easily. However, if I get a really cool character concept that would be better suited to a female, I make a female character.

(I play mostly Pen and Paper RPGs over Computer or console ones.)

[Cobra_Ikari]

...I've played female characters on occasion...mostly because people are more willing to accept a huggy female than they are a huggy male. *sighs*

EDIT: Oh, and what Logic said for most of the time.

[psychoduck14]

tehlolzors... I play males because I am one.

[Rex Idiotarum]

Usually when I can choose, my initial character to a game is likely female, like my character in Morrowind that I actually played through both expansions and main plot with. Mainly because in most games chicks look hot, but there are benefits, lost, gender-specific plots exist in a few games.

With D&D I tend to allow my characters to form themselves. Sometimes male, sometimes female, and I play the character as they are meant to be played. So, I won't hesitate to play as a member of a different race, why should I hesitate to play as the opposite sex?

[Midnight Son]

I haven't played the pen'n'paper version in years, but I'd have no problem playing either gender. It would definitely be more difficult to play famale though. On DDO, I have made up 6 characters so far. Two of them are male. When they come out with Half-Orcs, I'll probably roll another one. I will admit that much of that has to do with the whole eye-candy issue. I'm staring at a screen for hours sometimes, and it's nice to have the major focus of the screen be female. I even put down money to get a voice changer to better stay in character. Problem is, it eats up too much of my resouces. Good thing I'm getting a new computer later this month.

[Dhavaer]

If it doesn't make a difference, I'll play a female character. If it does, it depends what the difference is.

[Pink]

Depends entirely on my mood, preference for the game, and character concept. I play what I want and don't particularly care if the gender does not match up. If it's fun to play it's fun to play regardless right?

[Da Beast]

I normally play male characters, because I identify with them more easily. However, if I get a really cool character concept that would be better suited to a female, I make a female character.

(I play mostly Pen and Paper RPGs over Computer or console ones.)

What he said.

[Syka]

It's all in the character concept for me. Some I picture as being female (such as my bubbly blonde Dread Necromancer, or my incredibly curious and studious male Archivist). Generally it tends toward female, because I am one, but about a third of the characters I've rolled up have been male. I really have no reason other than the one stated above. It's all about the character.

[DarkLightDragon]

For WoW, I usually play female characters because I'm female, but I do have a couple of male characers.

When I played Runescape, I had a male character because you could start with cooler-looking clothes and hair.

For D&D, depends on how I imagine the character.

[Extra_Crispy]

I am just adding to what everyone else has said, depends on the story and character. Most of the time I play male characters, because I am one and I think up good backgrounds for them easier then I can for female characters. That said I have played female characters with outstanding (at least I think so) backgrounds and were very fun to play.

[averagejoe]

I basically look at RPGing like storytelling, and as such I have no problems with either gender, depending on what I want to do. That said, I find myself increasingly playing females, probably because there tends to be large amount of males and I hate it when every character feels the same (gender is by no means the only way I do this, but it is the most obvious.) Either way I do try to stay away from the "hott chick" thing.

[Scribbler]

When I come up with a character concept, the character usually has a gender. The gender doesn't really have anything to do with it usually, but the character is already fully-formed. If I end up changing the sex, I'll usually change other things along with it, both mechanically and in the story, because that's a different character. I think I have about equal, though I've had a few female characters in a row lately.

But then I write outside of role-playing, so I have to have both male and female characters whose heads I get into.

[Lemur]

During the time I played WoW, I played both male and female characters, usually male. I never noticed any real difference between how I was treated in game based on gender. Also, pen and paper is an entirely different world from online gaming (I get the sense you're mainly talking about online interaction, so that's what I'll adress).

Online, people generally assume you're a male, regardless of your character, just because it's probably true. I've never noticed that people think you're "weaker" or are noticeably nicer to you if you use a female avatar. Ultimately, the gender choice for your character is almost entirely cosmetic in a game like WoW.

Anyway, online sexism, as I've seen it, is almost always facetious. You're probably familiar with the mantra "no girlz on teh intarweb" which deals with the tendency for online games to be dominantly male.

As a result, I've noticed that people are a bit more relaxed about sexist humor (generally, the "make me a sandwich, woman." variety), if that bothers you. In the end, I always get the sense that people who tell sexist jokes are doing so ironically, and don't actually believe any of it themselves. Beyond such humor, I don't really see much real discrimination of sexes, although perhaps I'm just oblivious to it.

Girls do have to worry about being fawned over, but that's why games have an "ignore" function. If people know you're female in real life, they will treat you differently, but it won't be based on your avatar so far as I can tell.

[Castaras]

I always play female characters. And if asked I openly admit I'm female. But the only MMORPGs I play are the ones with an Ignore feature.

Although they've left a bad taste for me with the people who play just so they can find Cyber and stuff and annnyway.

So yeah, I play female. Because I'm comfortable with stating it online, and I'm more comfortable with a female avatar.

[The_Librarian]

On World of Warcraft, my character has always been a female, red-headed paladin (first a human one, then a blood elf one). I like to play something close to myself if I can.

My dad's first character was a female night elf druid, and his second was a little female, pink-haired, blue-eyed gnomish rogue (because, he said, there was something delightfully disturbing about this sweet, child-like creature slitting people's throats).

As for my brothers, they always play male characters, except for where they've taken over my dad's characters. My older brother plays a red-headed rogue, so I'm guessing there's some similarity between him and me, whereas my younger plays white-haired dwarven hunters for preference (he likes the pets - including a huge hairy boar he named after me).

In the town, the red-headed paladin and rogue still exist, but I spend a lot of my time (and lately more of my time) playing a male, green wolf. I never really given much thought to why I find Greeny more fun to play as - in character, he's more mischievous, less serious, and quite cute in a wolfish sort of way.

[Cobra_Ikari]

...pally? Ally?

*stabs Libris*...I'm sorry...but I can't let you get away with that.

[InaVegt]

...Stabbing Libris?

*stabs Ikari* ...I'm sorry...but I can't let you get away with that.

[Ceska]

Totally depends on the type of game. On the computer I only play female characters. First off, it's no real roleplaying. I don't need to feel female, I'm not really the character there, this is of course different in real RPGs. Also, most males there look like degraded gorillas (well, most males do so in real life too, but that's just my opinion), if I play a game I want to look at least reasonable. Now I'd just have to find a game with women with reasonable curves *hates too big breasts*. Also, I prefer the concept of a heroine running through the world saving it to a cliché hero. But then again I can't change my sexual preferences, either she is lesbian or asexual.

Anyway, apart from the computer I play males. It's just far easier for me to roleplay it.

[Exachix]

Heh.

I play, in town, 2 females and 3 males. Even though I'm male myself. It's so it fits with my roleplay. Save Mitsuya, who's just for fun.

On Runescape, I was male because I am male =)

On Anarchy Online, I play... 3 males and 1 females (2m 1f roleplay characters) +1 male (testlive).
(1x Male Fixer, 1x Male Doctor, 1x Female Keeper, 1x Male Adventurer).
In fact, most of the time when playing my Keeper I'm not harrased. I guess it's because I have her hooded, robed, and with a Scythe. That may have something to do with it.

But I play males most of the time because it's easier to roleplay that (as I am) male). I've never had the chance to really play Pen-and-Paper RPGs...

[Nevrmore]

I'm exclusively male because most of my characters tend to be insane and sadistic in some way, and if it were a female instead of a male, it would just turn sexual instead of scary.

[Prustan]

Depends. With most computer and Pen 'n' Paper RPGs I tend to play half my characters male and the other half female - though my initial one is just about exclusively a female Paladin of some sort. With the online games, I started under the handle of Sherradalla - before I started actually talking with people and decided to remove any funny ideas the other people might get.

[Dispozition]

I'll keep a healthy balance between male and female characters in games. Although I've never had a chance to play pen and paper D&D...So I don't know how that would turn out...

[Telonius]

Once upon a time, back before AOL roleplay chatrooms had all completely lost any value to humankind, I was in a Tolkien-based roleplay. It was pretty free-form, but did have some dice mechanics to it. I had been playing this wise old Wizard-guy named Quenambar. Eventually I got a little tired of him, and decided to make a villain. I wanted this to be the most insidiously evil character I could come up with. One of my RP buddies, Ken, was playing a Ranger, basically an extremely chivalrous Paladin/Archer type. He didn't want me to turn to the Dark Side. He said he'd have his character personally hunt down and kill whatever bad guy I came up with. (I think he was only half-joking). So, I had to figure out 1) what kind of a truly evil character concept would work in a 4th-Age Tolkien world, and 2) somehow make it so that Ken's paladin couldn't kill it straight off.

So, what did I come up with? An evil priestess, a Black Numenorean from one of the unknown places East of Mordor. Her mother was the High Priestess (the country she was in is ruled by the priestesses). She was brilliant, beautiful, and truly believed she was serving her gods in everything that she was doing. And because she was a woman, Ken's idealistic, chivalrous Ranger wouldn't kill her. :sabine:

EDIT: I almost forgot about that part, but yeah, I never got so many propositions in my life. :smallbiggrin: I ended up putting, "Mun is MALE" in big letters on my profile. (Mun is short for "mundane," an old AOL word for "player").

[Ikkitosen]

I'm in 3 PbP games now, 2 ladies one bloke - a male cleric, a female wizard and a femal battle sorceress (going paladin for gishy goodness). I have no problem playing female characters it seems!

[Glaivemaster]

Depends, as with most people. If I'm aiming for quite a subtle character, such as a rogue (my preferred class), I go for a female, usually. Somebody who is very in-your-face, such as a warrior or barbarian will generally be male. Generally, if I'm making a character to test some wacky idea I've had, it'll probably be a male, because that way I don't have to concentrate too hard on RP and the new idea at the same time

[Nerzi]

I only play online RPGs at another forum, although I'm in many diferent ones and have an almost even balance of male/female characters I find it easier to write, and prefer writing, my characters of the opposite gender. I end up somehow getting bored of my characters that share my gender and have to put in some real effort to make them interesting (at least for me, other players seem to like them), with the opposite gender characters it just comes much more easily.


I'm exclusively male because most of my characters tend to be insane and sadistic in some way, and if it were a female instead of a male, it would just turn sexual instead of scary.
Pah! one of my favourite 'villains' I wrote for an RP (she was an NPC but I was about the only one ever controling her) was very, very sadistic, but there was nothing sexual about her at all. She was fun to write, wish that RP was still going.

[Ikkitosen]

On the subject of butch female characters, Lost Sage is playing a female barbarian in a game I'm in and is doing a really great job. If anyone wants to look it up she's called Thora and the game is The Deserts of Ha Treen.

[Nevrmore]

Pah! one of my favourite 'villains' I wrote for an RP (she was an NPC but I was about the only one ever controling her) was very, very sadistic, but there was nothing sexual about her at all. She was fun to write, wish that RP was still going.
Nope. My sexist streak makes me unable to believe that.

[bosssmiley]

I only play males. I can play other species fine, but simply can't make the mental leap into thinking that shoes are that important. :smallamused:

[Castaras]

I only play males. I can play other species fine, but simply can't make the mental leap into thinking that shoes are that important. :smallamused:

Bah. Talking about make-up, shoes and clothing for five hours is overrated.

[AmberVael]

Anyone who sees me in Town will realize that I have no problem playing characters of either gender.
Honestly I was always a bit afraid that I wouldn't do it correctly, but people seem to think I'm doing an okay job...

[Scorpina]

I play girls, most of the time, particularly in tabletop games because well... it's easier. Sometimes I play guys, thought. Particularly when I used to go onto the RP servers on WoW. *shudders*

[Midnight Son]

Now I'd just have to find a game with women with reasonable curves *hates too big breasts*.The fun of cliched online games. All men are major he-men with huge pecs and all women are lithe goddesses with big bazooms. :smallamused: Don't know if the gameplay's your style, but try DDO Stormreach. The women are still fairly lithe (humans, elves and halflings anyway), but the bodies are fairly proportionate. So are the weapons. That's been my beef with a lot of MMOGs; Itty bitty sexy woman carrying a sword twice her size.

[Cubey]

I've played many characters, both male and female. In "tabletop" (playing by internet counts here too) games it's mostly male, and about 50% each gender at MMOs. It all depends on the character concept, and I believe I'm able to roleplay both genders with equal ease. Some people were rather surprised to find that my characters were played by a guy in real life.

And no, my female chars are not focused on clothing, make-up and boyfriends. It's a stereotype, just as saying guys are all about beer, football and sex.

[Ceska]

The fun of cliched online games. All men are major he-men with huge pecs and all women are lithe goddesses with big bazooms. :smallamused: Don't know if the gameplay's your style, but try DDO Stormreach. The women are still fairly lithe (humans, elves and halflings anyway), but the bodies are fairly proportionate. So are the weapons. That's been my beef with a lot of MMOGs; Itty bitty sexy woman carrying a sword twice her size.
Well, I still have to find the one game where I can play either a two katana carrying small elf fighter (or half elf, I don't know why but I like half elves) with dark brown hair and blue eyes or red headed human druid with green eyes.

Ah well, preferences. Anyway, my most hated cliche in the whole RPG industry is female armour. Screw saving liver, sonoplexus, lung or heart, save the boobs! Bah, give me proper armours at least more than once (Sacred had normal armours I think, apart from the Seraphim that is).

[Midnight Son]

Well, I still have to find the one game where I can play either a two katana carrying small elf fighter (or half elf, I don't know why but I like half elves) with dark brown hair and blue eyes or red headed human druid with green eyes.

Ah well, preferences. Anyway, my most hated cliche in the whole RPG industry is female armour. Screw saving liver, sonoplexus, lung or heart, save the boobs! Bah, give me proper armours at least more than once (Sacred had normal armours I think, apart from the Seraphim that is).
Again, look to DDO. All the armor is fairly realistic. None of this, "My armor covers less, so it obviously protects me better" nonsense. No katanas, but you can dual wield. (If you decide to dual wield scimitars, though, I will hunt your character down and slaughter him mercilessly.) No half-elves or druids yet either, but rumor says they're coming later this year, along with half-orcs.

<---Is excited to play a half-orc.

[Ego Slayer]

I played a girl on RuneScape, but I've quit mostly because it is annoying and I was sick of everyone asking if I had a 'bf.'
I've played both male and female characters on RS. My main gets switched around when ever I get bored with looking buff.:smallwink: It's interesting to look at the way people act depending on your gender. I've stuck with being a guy. Being a girl got me too many "u wanna b my gf?.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Well, I'm male, and to be honest I like playing both genders (with a slight preference towards females).

However, if I'm playing a video game, then I have to go with female. Because, if you have to stare at one character for hours on end....

[Midnight Son]

I've played both male and female characters on RS. My main gets switched around when ever I get bored with looking buff.:smallwink: It's interesting to look at the way people act depending on your gender. I've stuck with being a guy. Being a girl got me too many "u wanna b my gf?.Ego, no offense, but what do you really expect from a game populated mostly by 12 year old boys? Nothing wrong with the game itself, but that's what "free" will often get you. Same issue with Guildwars. Love the game, but playing as woman gets you hit on fairly often. Pick up a game with a monthly fee. It's usually only $15, but I find it worth the cost to have a larger population of mature players.

*Attempts to seduce introduce Ego into the joys of DDO*

[Scorpina]

...WoW had a monthly fee. It gets you significantly worse stuff than 'do u wanna b my gf?'. Particularly on the RP servers.

...ew...

[Ceska]

(If you decide to dual wield scimitars, though, I will hunt your character down and slaughter him mercilessly.)
Don't get it. Anyway, I don't really like online RPGs, don't really know why though. And Druid would just be my type of playing, mid range with beasts standing in front and me using them as distraction.

[Khantalas]

You make discrimination between genders when it comes to playing?

That's new. I play both genders quite often. I thought everyone did that.

[Midnight Son]

...WoW had a monthly fee. It gets you significantly worse stuff than 'do u wanna b my gf?'. Particularly on the RP servers.

...ew...
Never played WOW. EQII and DDO: Stormreach both are fun to play. While you still have the occasional idiot, I find them to be fewer by far. if they get too annoying, invite them to PVP and anhialate'em

[RationalGoblin]

I play male almostly exclusively on tabletop and on computer, because of a few reasons.

1. I have no clue on how to roleplaying an engaging female character.

2. I feel uncomfortable playing a female, because I'm afraid everyone will see me as a pevert.

3. Even though I don't fall into the WoW syndrome, (I.E less clothes, more armor bonus) I still drool at the description of a female character. (even ones that don't seem that attractive to me.)

[Khantalas]

...WoW had a monthly fee. It gets you significantly worse stuff than 'do u wanna b my gf?'. Particularly on the RP servers.

...ew...

I have the overwhelming urge to try that and say yes. I have absolutely no idea why. But the sheer hilarity will kill me till I'm dead.

[Tom_Violence]

I play only male characters. I've never seen the point of playing a female - nothing about it appeals to me. I can almost understand the 'eye-candy' argument, but not really. Partly because game characters don't really do it for me, but perhaps also because I tend to identify to some extent with my characters. Which would then lead to me being in some way attracted to myself because I've got boobs. Not a thought that sits too comfortably.

This thread reminds me of something that happened on a NWN RP server I used to frequent, involving a young guy who perhaps liked female characters more than he should, and another that perhaps found it too hard to resist taking advantage of that for the sake of some rather twisted kicks. I'll leave you to fill in the blanks on your own.

[ZeroNumerous]

Pen'n'paper? Male, usually. It's just easier to imagine them as their gender when you're looking at someone.

WOW? Female. I'm going to be staring at the screen, watching a human run around, what would I rather look at?

[Cyrano]

If you are gonna be running around blindly roleplaying, say, an elf, whom you have only heard about second hand, and have never actually experienced BEING an elf, why not go all the way and play the opposite gender?

[Catch]

I tend to go about half and half, mostly because my male characters usually turn out to be way too much like me, and I'd rather have a little bit of a challenge. It's a whole new hand of cards to work with, and I like the diversity.

Also, I blame Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time series practically injects gender diversity into your head.

And my friends always tell me that I look girly, so I s'pose I might as well embrace it once in a while. :smallamused:

[Lykan]

I'll do either or, but I tend to have male characters. It's like 70% male and 30% female.

It's not that I prefer either gender, it's that I know how to play a guy correctly, and I don't want to do something that would be insulting to the opposite gender if I were to be playing a girl. :P

[Reptilus]

I most often play the "hott chick" stereotype in PBP. . . with male characters. I have seriously had some of the prissiest characters I have ever seen, all male. One was a fighter who was horrible un-optimized so he could put all his points into charisma, and used the longest reach weapons he could find so he wouldn't risk getting his clothes and hair messed up in direct combat.

On CRPGs, I end up playing female characters a lot of the time, because the faces/portraits/voices for males are just unbelievably ugly. This has mostly been true of the Baldur's Gate/IwD/NWN strain of games, and only applies with humanoid races. I play Argonians, for instance, in the Elder Scrolls games, and play males with them. I play Male in WoW so long as I'm not playing Alliance.

[Baeleck]

I play either or. It's about a 50/50 split for me. In the town atm, I have 6 male and 4 female characters. And on the subject of CRPG's, I agree entirely with Reptilus. Male humans often look rubbish, especially with some types of armour and stuff on them.

[Prustan]

Someone mentioned the 'less is more' female armor stereotype. Diablo 1 was pretty good with this, as the better the armor, the more it covered. Been so long I don't remember if Diablo 2 continued it though. The Elder Scrolls series is also fairly good with this too.

[Mr. Moon]

I play guys and girls equaly. Some genders just fit roles better. *shrugs*

[Ego Slayer]

@Midnight - I really don't expect much from the predominant age range of RS players... Uhm, I mean... wtf shut up u choob. ^_~

I do need to add that in HALO, all my accounts imply that I'm female. It's so much rewarding. I've so far, on my most recent account name, been asked twice "r u really a girl?", which upon my affirmative reply, was promptly followed by "r u hot?", and twice my answer has been "that's a stupid question."
Pfft. Men... :smallamused:
*headshot*

[Scorpina]

I think "Pfft, boys..." would be more accurate.

But perhaps I'm being too generous.

[Lykan]

I do need to add that in HALO, all my account imply that I'm female. It's so much rewarding. I've so far, on my most recent account name, been asked twice "r u really a girl?", which upon my affirmative reply, was promptly followed by "r u hot?", and twice my answer has been "that's a stupid question."
Pfft. Men... :smallamused:
*headshot*

Must resist making a comment involving Ego handling guns... >_<

[Catch]

I think "Pfft, boys..." would be more accurate.

But perhaps I'm being too generous.

Rarely, if ever, is there a difference.

[Scorpina]

Heh, I think there is. The downside is that actual men are hard to find, as "the average male is never a man, not even for ten minutes in his entire lifespan."

[Captain van der Decken]

Heh. More than a few times I've seen people ask "are there any girls here?" It's fairly normal.


...WoW had a monthly fee. It gets you significantly worse stuff than 'do u wanna b my gf?'. Particularly on the RP servers.

...ew...


I really, really have to ask. Why ew? Not to far a stretch to guess.. but..

[Catch]

The downside is that actual men are hard to find, as "the average male is never a man, not even for ten minutes in his entire lifespan."

"Women want mediocre men, and men are working to be as mediocre as possible."

[Scorpina]

I really, really have to ask. Why ew? Not to far a stretch to guess.. but..



..."r u a girl? wanna cyber?"

That's what you get in the non-RP servers. One the RP servers they do that while trying to RP an elf or whatever, which is actually worse.

[zeratul]

I pretty much play both equally, really just depends on my mood that day.

[Ravyn]

I've been trying to balance my RP more, since I'm doing this to learn to write and I can't write if I don't know all sides, but I still seem to end up with mostly female characters. The last two, though, weren't entirely my fault. One, my ST quietly requested I cover another PC's love interest, and since I like ST collaboration, I said sure. (Amusingly enough, my original concept had been male, but I didn't have too much on him... and besides, I got my revenge for having my concept tweaked by creating the most utterly manipulative character I've ever put pen to paper on.) The other one... well, at the time I was conceptualizing, the only other female character put forth for the game was--giving me massive stereotype threat, let's put it that way (and from a female player, no less!). It was my duty to play someone who'd sweep in and induce competence and the growth of a backbone.

[Aramil Liadon]

I play mostly guys. I'm more comfortable with them, in pencil'n'paper games it makes the others less uncomfortable, and I have a very strong irrational fear of screwing up. I can play a race that doesn't exist, a gender that doesn't exist (yes, I have), but not a gender that does exist which I'm not a part of. At least not comfortably.

[Ikkitosen]

Rarely, if ever, is there a difference.

"Women want mediocre men, and men are working to be as mediocre as possible."

Wow, where do you find this stuff? Judging all men like this is like, well, some of the generalist comments about women in this thread. Let's try to keep it to "yes, I can play members of the opposite sex, I find it easy/hard/challenging/rewarding" rather than tar-brush gender bashing.

[PsyBlade]

My females tend to be only on non-online RPG video games.

Ergo, I RP almost exclusively male.

I just can't bring myself to pretend to be anything else to the world.

[Logos7]

He probably found it the same place that scorpina found

Originally Posted by Scorpina http://www.giantitp.com/forums/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2405218#post2405218)
The downside is that actual men are hard to find, as "the average male is never a man, not even for ten minutes in his entire lifespan."


as for the I play an elf so why not a chick, the races are types of people in a way that gender is not. I'm small and lazy = halfling I'm big and brutish= Half Orc. If it's on a Comp whatever because it's all eye candy at that point but in RL games i dont allow it when i'm dming, not because I have something against it , but because i feel it doesn't contributue anything and sets up misogynic/Andronic? oppurtunities. But my character's a female thats how i concieved her, or do you mean feminine? I fail to see how gender is important in a game where you can't possibly emulate the things that make gender important (Rather than acting feminine, being a female acting feminine for the culture that they where raised in is rewarded) because quite frankly the versimliitude isn't there to surport it, unless its a pale rip of todays society which isn't versimlitute so much as deffaulting.

I find it amusing that so many people are like MY CHARACTER CONCEPT IS FEMALE, when we can't even decide who is or ought to be female. and even if they are feminine, why do they have to sex that is opposite yours and proobably make everyone else uncomfortable,( and no I asked it did thats why i started the rule). Look at the chavilier D'eon and Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbery colonial governer of new york and new jersey, both where feminite ( to the point of living and being taken as women )but they both not sexually women ( Much to many people's surprise, especially the Chavilierr, who's doc didn't even figure it out.

( Old Book, but its what i got at hand [Money, sexual signatures 25-30] )

anyway, pet peeve of mine, Good day to you all, and please don't forget it's not just men who can Miso if you know what i mean

Logos

[Midnight Son]

Heh, I think there is. The downside is that actual men are hard to find, as "the average male is never a man, not even for ten minutes in his entire lifespan."
Heh. My sister moved to my town for a while a couple years back. She wanted her own place, so I helped her with buying the things she would need to furnish it. After we were done, she turned to me and said, "I like that you know when to be a man."

[Scorpina]

He probably found it the same place that scorpina found

Originally Posted by Scorpina http://www.giantitp.com/forums/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2405218#post2405218)
The downside is that actual men are hard to find, as "the average male is never a man, not even for ten minutes in his entire lifespan."


...you mean Dogma?

[Ikkitosen]

He probably found it the same place that scorpina found...

I guess I accept women bashing men a little and vice versa, but when it's one of your own...sheesh! :smalleek:

Does that make me a sexist? :smallcool:

[Reptilus]

(If you decide to dual wield scimitars, though, I will hunt your character down and slaughter him mercilessly.)
To be fair, dual wielding scimitars is a fairly rational thing to do, given their ridiculous critical chances and slashing damage. (Hence why they're superior to the piercing Rapier. Also, Rapiers are lame.)


Anyone who sees me in Town will realize that I have no problem playing characters of either gender.
Honestly I was always a bit afraid that I wouldn't do it correctly, but people seem to think I'm doing an okay job...
Once, in an online campaign when I didn't post my gender, I accused of not knowing how to roleplay a Male. >.>

[Icewalker]

Yeah, I'll play either, depending on what the character idea fits. I play WoW, have a million characters, and more male than female ones, probably because I am, but I do have several female characters.

[Catch]

I guess I accept women bashing men a little and vice versa, but when it's one of your own...sheesh! :smalleek:

I know, I know. Off-sides, right?

My stance isn't that of general disdain and dismissal of the typical male. Really. I'm just a tad more open-minded and critical. I'm usually the ear my female friends come to when they're itching to voice their complaints about us, and when enough voices say the same thing, you start to consider the reason why they're saying it.

It's not that I've 'quit the team,' just that I think most of the players need some coaching on their performance on the field.

No more sports allegory from me, or I might just explode in a shower of testosterone.

EDIT: Oh, and I just went and ate a huge steak. Can I stay in the club now?

[MellowMelon]

I just realized that I have never played a female character...:smalleek:

I didn't think that I have a problem roleplaying the opposite sex but apparently I do. :smalltongue:

[Silkenfist]

I play females about 40% of the time. I am oftenly trying to create characters with personalities unlike mine, so gender changes are not that much of a stretch. However, if I am new to a particular system or gaming group, I will rather choose a male character with personality traits that I can access easily. That way I can focus more on other aspects of the game than consciously suppressing my mundane behaviour.

I have found one rather interesting bias, though: My male characters tend to become mostly lawful and my female characters become mostly chaotic. I guess this is because I consider myself to be strongly Lawful (I've yet to score something other than LN on those fancy alignment tests) and I aim to make my female characters as different from me as possible.
I'm just picking up the PbP so it is probably only a matter of time until I get one of the female Barbarians out.

[ishi]

Unless my character concept really needs to be one or the other, I end up flipping a coin for it, because I really don't care too much. Most of my characters of either gender end up being too much like me or one of a few personalities anyways...I gotta work on that.

[Madmal]

well, i don't play mush online games due to the fact that most of the good ones cost money...and i'm broke...

i've played female characters on NWN 1, mostly because males only have one acceptable face, and i hate all the buffness they got.

about RL pen&paper games, i have so far, used male characters only (either human or dwarf), but i must take into account that my group rarely games together, and we rarely keep up with a campaing....usually, the guys stick to male, and the gals to female (yes, we can have more than one, with some luck) and normlly using elves, humans, dwarves....

on PbP games, i haven't played much, but all of them have been male...

[NecroPaladin]

I always play males just out of not wanting to decieve anyone, but if I have a really good concept for a female character (like in City of Heroes or just normal D and D, say), then I might make that character, if not play her outright.

[Aramil Liadon]

...you mean Dogma?

I don't care how off-topic this is, or how little sense it makes, I just want an opportunity to say:
My Karma ran over your Dogma.

Thank you, carry on.

[Cobra_Ikari]

I know, I know. Off-sides, right?

My stance isn't that of general disdain and dismissal of the typical male. Really. I'm just a tad more open-minded and critical. I'm usually the ear my female friends come to when they're itching to voice their complaints about us, and when enough voices say the same thing, you start to consider the reason why they're saying it.

It's not that I've 'quit the team,' just that I think most of the players need some coaching on their performance on the field.

No more sports allegory from me, or I might just explode in a shower of testosterone.

EDIT: Oh, and I just went and ate a huge steak. Can I stay in the club now?

That allegory sound more like they need to improve their...performance...in the...field. If that makes sense.

It's a shame there isn't more male maturity out there... :(

[EloquentRune]

I mostly play males but I have recently started playing female charactors in my rpgs

but saddly all of the pc's i make are basically meat shields even the chicks

[Telonius]

I know, I know. Off-sides, right?

My stance isn't that of general disdain and dismissal of the typical male. Really. I'm just a tad more open-minded and critical. I'm usually the ear my female friends come to when they're itching to voice their complaints about us, and when enough voices say the same thing, you start to consider the reason why they're saying it.

It's not that I've 'quit the team,' just that I think most of the players need some coaching on their performance on the field.

No more sports allegory from me, or I might just explode in a shower of testosterone.

EDIT: Oh, and I just went and ate a huge steak. Can I stay in the club now?
Hmmm. I dunno, it's iffy. Either lift something heavy with a female within 30 feet of you, or spend a half hour watching Spike, and I'd call it even. You're lucky it wasn't anything more serious, or you'd be looking at at least one feat of auto repair.

[Scorpina]

but saddly all of the pc's i make are basically meat shields even the chicks

Heh, I love how there are gender stereotypes in RPGs. You don't often see female meatshields or male healers (this is less the case in D&D, but moreso in say, Final Fantasy).

It's quite fun to subvert such stereotypes.

[Catch]

That allegory sound more like they need to improve their...performance...in the...field. If that makes sense.

It's a shame there isn't more male maturity out there... :(

I didn't not say that. But hey, let's keep things PG anywho.

[Midnight Son]

Heh, I love how there are gender stereotypes in RPGs. You don't often see female meatshields or male healers (this is less the case in D&D, but moreso in say, Final Fantasy).

It's quite fun to subvert such stereotypes.I was going to say, "But my pally/warrior on DDO is a woman and my Cleric is a man." Then I saw the "Except D&D" part, so nevermind.

[Timberwolf]

I generally play female characters unless there's an overwhelming reason (like the story demands it) I seem to do an ok job. Hell, until not that long ago, most people here semed to think I was a girl.

*sniggers*

At least I never had anyone come on to me like poor old Rama Lei did.

I don't think I've made my characters talk about shoes yet though. Perhaps that's for next time.

*evil grin for Town possibilities*

[Ikkitosen]

I think that once you have some experience of the opposite sex, and some roleplaying experience, it isn't hard to put the two together.

As for stereotypes, I've played a LOT of different P&P systems and I'd say that the lines are more easily blurred in more futuristic systems (generally those in which being bad-ass is less reliant on muscles). That said most characters still end up being male since most players are male and only those of us wanting more than "kick-in-the-door" play tend to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones and try to see things from
others' perspectives.

[slapdash]

I play both genders because I'm equal opportunity awesome. Men, consider yourselves lucky. Ladies, that goes for you too.

[nivek1234]

In D&D characters, I play exclusively male as I am more comfortable role playing a male character.

As for computer games like Neverwinter Nights and Guild Wars, I will play female characters if I do not like the way the male character looks (e.g. male rangers in GW).

I can't speak for other games, but GW does not particularly care what gender you play. Although when it does happen, it is at the lower level missions. As you get to more difficult missions, you meet people who care only about your ability to play.

[wxdruid]

Mostly I play females with red hair, because I am one. :-) Lately though in Town I've introduced an evil male character. You can see my list in my sig. Gwen was the first and it just went on from there. I started playing Jaric simply because his character is more fitted for a guy than a girl and I wanted to gain experience/roleplay the other gender. It's been quite interesting...

[Hranat]

From a roleplaying perspective I find the idea of playing another gender an interesting challenge and simply 'something different.'

I'm not very good at it, though.

[Nerzi]

I play both sexes in RPs (not the D&D type) though I find I generaly have a preference for male characters I find them slightly easier most of the time and think I'm better at writing them, despite being female myself.

[AslanCross]

Although I haven't played PnP myself, I've designed a bunch of female character concepts that I really wouldn't mind playing myself.

I have played female characters in CRPGs and I didn't really mind. Admittedly I don't have much of a connection with these characters.

A friend of mine once said that he always plays as a female in CRPGs because he'd rather stare at a girl's rear end for several hours instead of a guy's. Though I would not phrase it as crudely as he did, I'd be inclined to agree.

[Triggerhappy938]

In online play I play near exclusively male, only because I don't want to have to explain to some hormone driven moron that the player behind the avatar he's speaking to is male. It's just simpler that way.

In tabletop, I've played a female once or twice. Every once and a while I have a concept that I just think works better female. Overall, I don't feel my grasp of the female psyche to be well off enough to play female. Understanding an elf's mindset? Easy, I've got a book with a couple paragraphs explaining that, and if I need them, there are other, more exhaustive books available. No such thing exists for the female psyche, and if such a thing existed, using it to play a female character in a role playing game would not be my first priority.

[Hell Puppi]

Mostly female, though I have a male WoW character.

I'm not allowed to play a male character anymore in my D&D group -_-;;

[Saithis Bladewing]

I show a bias towards female characters but I try to bring myself closer to a 50-50 balance when I can.

[ForzaFiori]

i almost always play a male character, simply b/c its easier to roleplay, as i'm male. However, on some MMORPG's, such as Runescape (which is the first one i tried this one), i have played a female character, as you can get ppl to give u free stuff easier, XD.

[ForzaFiori]

In online play I play near exclusively male, only because I don't want to have to explain to some hormone driven moron that the player behind the avatar he's speaking to is male. It's just simpler that way.

In tabletop, I've played a female once or twice. Every once and a while I have a concept that I just think works better female. Overall, I don't feel my grasp of the female psyche to be well off enough to play female. Understanding an elf's mindset? Easy, I've got a book with a couple paragraphs explaining that, and if I need them, there are other, more exhaustive books available. No such thing exists for the female psyche, and if such a thing existed, using it to play a female character in a role playing game would not be my first priority.

man, i know why there isn't a book on the female psyche.

to write a book on the female psyche, someone would actually have to understand it.

[Zarrexaij]

In the games I play, I tend to play male characters. I don't play any online games, but I do play TES III: Morrowind and TES IV: Oblivion where you can select your character's gender. I have one female character, and that is it. I just find it more fun to play male characters because I'm not your stereotypical female teenager. Translation: I don't relate to other females all that well. I find guy characters, well, more interesting, usually. I have a tendency to make my female characters either, well, err, strumpets or women who are bent on proving themselves to men, and I don't like playing those stereotypes.

The few times I've actually played PnP games as a player (I'm mostly a DM/GM), they were male characters. I tend to play them more naturally. I prefer to roleplay, rather than to play myself.

[Lemur]

I'm not allowed to play a male character anymore in my D&D group -_-;;

Question mark question mark? I is intrigued.

[Hell Puppi]

Question mark question mark? I is intrigued.

I freaked out the GM. In my defense it WAS a chaotic neutral character.

[Yiel]

I would say I fall at the 70/30 mark. :smallsigh: I have both female and male characters in both computer games and tabletop games... but more females.

I have to admit that my male characters in tabletop games have a habit of being lecherous though. :smallredface: Its far too much fun.

[Xuincherguixe]

I play female characters on occasion. But it's the male ones that are the unnerving ones.

[ForzaFiori]

I freaked out the GM. In my defense it WAS a chaotic neutral character.

i'm trying to decide whether or not to ask how you freaked out the GM.
i'm kinda scared of what the answer will be though.

[SDF]

I get an idea in my head and I go with it. My favorite 4 characters have been split 50/50

A male, monk, pirate that I modeled after Vin Diesel, ended up getting a triple crit on a kraken that should have put him into the bottom of the sea.

A misanthropic, female, tiefling, eldrich knight who had amnesia, pink hair, dragon blood, and went on a weird campaign involving demonic mold...

A wide eyed, female, elan, psion who multiclassed to Brass and back in order to become that sensate prestige class, she was about 98 years old, but looked about 11. She had an INT in the mid 20's and a WIS of 8, so I played her really naive. The party ended up forming a college on Sigil.

A LN, human cleric who schemed for about 10 sessions maneuvering himself to get into a position of influence finally performing a political coup d'etat taking over the most powerful city in the area without getting into a combat once.

It's all about concept and how I play it for me. Not a lot of preference, though I do tend to play males more often.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Have another thread on this in the Gaming section.

Basically for me I seem to play half and half. I consider my character like someone from a book. I feel no stranger playing a female than writing one into a story. In fact, its the exact same thing for me. Some genders just seem better played by one or the other.

Now, granted, I tend to lean towards female characters who aren't going to hop aboard the next handsome guy, but in general those of either gender tend to have some reason not to get into a relationship.

Those I currently play are Happily Married, forced to remain celibate to care for a fey child, and lastly because he has the vow of chastity after he unwittingly caused the suicide of one he loved.

[Delaney Gale]

In D+D, I tend to play more females than males if only because I feel some sort of weird obligation to make sure there's a female in the party and my guys tend to overwhelmingly choose males (except Scott ^^ yay naive immature elven archer!). However, my best character in recent memory is a male, and I've done males for one-shots that I wouldn't mind playing again.

In computer games, I tend to play male, 1) because the current game I'm playing is Baldur's Gate 2 and no one loves Anomen, and I'd rather stick sharp sticks in my eyes than have him romance my Bhaalspawn, 2) to screw with my friends (in Pokemon Diamond, I'm a boy named Delaney), and 3) it just suits my personality better.

In text-based, I'm overwhelmingly male. Out of my current 'main' characters, I have five male and two female. I generally have to go out of my way to create female characters, and even then they aren't that traditionally feminine. I just get into male's heads better, I guess.

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

I always play males except for my WoW night elf, because the male night elves are just too ugly for me.

[Korias]

For DND? Male. I feel much more comfortable playing them.
For Video Games? It doesnt matter. It really doesnt matter, as MMOs dont require as much RP.

[0wca]

Basically, I'm wondering about people who have characters who are different genders from them, and how that is impacted by sexuality, personality, and game environment.
Two examples (from people who I talked to in my D&D group about joining WoW):
'Dan' is the DM, and on WoW he plays a girl because 'my character is eye candy' and 'people are nicer to you and easier on you if you play a girl, because they think you're weaker.'
'Kayla' always plays a guy in online games because 'people don't make sexist assumptions about you or try to flirt with you nearly as much.'
Neither of these people are seeking online relationships in game, but would that affect gender choices at all? Also, to what degree is in-game sexism a reflection or exaggeration of real life?
I played a girl on RuneScape, but I've quit mostly because it is annoying and I was sick of everyone asking if I had a 'bf.' I don't want to date anyone desperate enough to ask. If we're having an intelligent conversation and the subject comes up, maybe.

I used to play Lineage II and I learned that 90% of male players that used female characters did it because they "liked looking under their skirts."

Also I heard that most people use female characters because they make people think they are real girls playing the game and then they get more respect (WoW).

Is it just me, or is that just pathetic? :smallconfused:

[Eladrinstar]

My old DM could never play a female NPC. Our Rogue and Incarnate were the only females in the multiverse, apparently. :smallsigh:

[Xerillum]

Every paper and pencil RPG party should usually have a female. It can get you out of a lot of sticky situations...:smallwink: no not THOSE kinds of situations...

[Azrael]

I have to admit that my male characters in tabletop games have a habit of being lecherous though. :smallredface: Its far too much fun.

Funny how if I outright stated that I played my female characters as sluts, because it's far too much fun, that I'd be the sexist bastard...



I play a fair balance between the two genders. Very rarely do I RP with such great fervor that I don't think I can do a "female mind" justice.

[Vampire包子]

Anything I have to roleplay, I will be a male. Just couldn't do a female justice, I'd roleplay stereotypes instead of doing something worthwhile. Simply better ways to expend energy roleplaying, I think.

Online, in a game like GW or Lineage II, I'll pick whatever happens to look better. I'd say game/graphics designers tend to put more time into making female avatars look good, based on their target demographic.

From there, it depends on the game style. GW, the classes I played, the females tended to have cooler armor, so most of my non-PvP chars were female (they were all used in PvP, granted, for competetive advantages offered by equip swaps and such at the time). Heck, I designed my monk to be a small and hard to manually target as possible for click-to-target players, know of a couple people who swore on vent when they had to tab to select me, even though I was strafing on their screen.

But looking at all my chars now, I think I just went with what I thought would look coolest. Most melee/heavy weapons characters are males, fulfilling that stereotype, while my clerics/support/casters (even one necromancer!) tend to be female. Purely aesthetic taste.

Does that make me a sexist bastard, who subconsciously defines and supports gender roles?

[Nightgaunt]

I go both ways baby. But I'm a DM; so if I didn't learn to role-play a believable female character I feel like I would be forced to hang my head in shame. I do admit though, that this has on occasion caused a bit of surprise when new people join my group; I try to play every relevent NPC to their mannerisms and form. If this includes overt feminine side-glances and movements, then color me pink...


Also I heard that most people use female characters because they make people think they are real girls playing the game and then they get more respect (WoW).

Is it just me, or is that just pathetic? :smallconfused:

I don't MMO anymore. But when I was playing 5-6 years ago on UO I would play a female character for EXACTLY this reason. It's amazing how much free gear I could get based solely on the gender of my avatar.

The madness.

[The Great Skenardo]

Both sides of the coin, for myself. In person, however, I find it difficult to play a lady, just because I can't do a passable voice which, to me, is a very large part of the performance.

On these boards, however, I tend to err on the side of badass when playing women.

[Santanya]

I've played both in pencil and paper and MMO's to be honest. It truly depends on the character concept for me. Yes, there are times that the female character gets 'benefits' but that's not why I do it. Sometimes the concept does just strike you as 'should be female'.

Sometimes its for a specific reason, sometimes its just because that's who the character is. I've always tried to let the character be themselves though. That said, its sometimes scary when the character starts 'doing things' that you yourself wouldn't necessarily do, but that's beyond the scope of this thread. :smalleek:

[Jimmy Discordia]

I like to subvert stereotypes. I like to come up with a character concept that works perfectly in a purely stereotypical medieval-fantasy milieu, then give it a little twist... sometimes, that twist works out to making the character a different gender than you're expecting. A lot of these posts say that the gender they play depends on the character concept... it's fun to take a character concept that "fits" one gender, change the gender, and see how to make it work. Say, a buff, female meat-shield, not so much like a beautiful Amazon in armor that doesn't really protect anything, but more like "Brienne the Beauty" from A Song of Ice and Fire. I'd say that Brienne works perfectly in ASoIaF.

With that said, I play male characters more often, but by no means exclusively. I think of it as a role-playing challenge to pull off a really convincing female character... I could make the obligatory joke about how incomprehensible women are, but really, people are incomprehensible. And I'm a Psych student... the more I learn, the less I understand. :smallconfused:

Online, I tend to play male characters, since people assume you're male online anyway (and in my experience, you get fewer "wanna cyber?" propositions). But I don't play MMORPGs (yet), so my experience in limited to MUDs. I've been looking for games in an online-tabletop environment... I'll probably play a female character in at least some of those. It might be easier to get into character when people can't actually see me or hear my (rather deep) voice.

Thinking more on this, I'd love to play an unabashedly-gay male character (assuming this fits in the setting). By "unabashedly" I don't mean "campy," but you have to admit this does break some fantasy stereotypes. Especially if he's the barbarian. Or the paladin. :smallbiggrin:

[Leon]

60/40 i think would be my ratio

In WoW all my Main Server Characters are male (with the exception of my Bank Toon), lesser servers it varies - i have a Female Dwarf hunter on a RP server, never made a thing of it (aside from not getting on Vent) - just play how i think a self reliant dwarf hunter would be regardless of gender

In Other RPGs, again it its almost equal - mostly down to asthetics

in Actual Roleplaying, typicaly more male but not always - particulay if ive based the character of another source such as a picture or mini.

it doesnt make to much of a change regarding what gender i play, i play most characters the same way - quiet and resouceful with minimal attention seeking


One game i play occasionaly you get no choice, every one is a female PC - quite fun given what the end object is: impress the male leader enough that he favours you over the others

[GreyRat]

I usually play female, although if the character concept just naturally come out as male, I go with it. People I play with always seem to refer to PCs by their player's gender, no matter how many times you correct them, so cross-playing doesn't seem to accomplish much.

If I played a MMORG, I would probably make up a male because I'd get rather tired of watching a plus-size heaving breasts for long periods of time. I also tend to use male minis, just because the females all seem to have Barbie's measurements and Baywatch's wardrobe. :smallmad:

[palindrome]

I don't understand women in real life, so I'm not going to bother trying to play one.
I did have a player play a female elf paladin once, because only female elves can have a unicorn as a mount. That was the only reason. We gave him a lot of flak for that.

[Stijl]

Pen & Paper RPGs, I was traditionally male (probably 90% of the time). Then again, I'd have to confess a certain lack of creativity in characters between my main characters (Paladin / Anti-Paladin in D&D 2nd ed and a Crusader in Vampire: Dark Ages and the Masquerade).

The only MMORPG I've played is WoW to this point. My first three characters (horde) were all male. After a hiatus, I started up alliance characters and started a female - male - female - male pattern to my new characters. My first alliance character was a female night elf (because I just can't play a male night elf...) named Mikka. Due to a lack of foresight, I'm now known as Mikka on three WoW servers and about a dozen vent servers.

Just talking with people in text, males tend to assume I'm male, females tend to think I'm female. I don't know if I just have a gender neutral typing style, or if in the face of no evidence, the default is to assume you're talking to the same gender as yourself. Either way, I haven't tried to garner any favors by pretending to be a girl, and will readily admit I'm male if asked.

[sktarq]

First off-I am a total ROLEplayer (rollplaying never did it for me) who prefers tabletop. In fact I've never even been interested in Guildwars, RS, WOW, etc. I tried once, with a male persona, but was bored to tears and quit. Also I don't LARP. Thus I can't comment on gender roles within those kind of games etc. (Edit: we also use poker chips not mini's so no way to visualize from there either)
Sometimes I make characters VERY different from the real me on purpose. Characters that stretch my ability to get into their heads. I have players Nationalist Bigots, Total Followers, Faithful priests and laity, evil sadists, total saints, the batwing crazy, homosexuals, a female transexual halforc (with 15 cha), things that don't qualify as humanoid or mosterous humanoid types (including a flumph in 2e hence the avi), barbarians, the undead, and whatnot (though a ghost stuck in a satilite blackberry was an odd one). Gender is one aspect of this stretch instinct. I have learned allot about how I feel about a grip of different issues by playing characters with a very different point of view. I didn't realise I was doing this at first but once I did about 25% were a stretch on purpose.
Over time I became more used to playing female characters and they just started popping in occasionally. Perhaps the character was too "safe" as it was, or perhaps the party had a theme, or I just woke up on that side of the bed that morning (which is annoying-I hate benchpressing the bed at 5 AM).
Overall I'd say 5-10% of my characters are female. For along time I awlays had female players in my group who were often female characters which may have had something to do with it.
I've noticed over the years that experimenting with character gender is something more with mindbending type players more often. I haven't seen many homosexuals play the opposite gender (ignoring one trassexual I know) but my sample on that is far too small to make any generalizations. Mostly I find it is either people rather new or highly experienced that switch their genders. Also I have to say I've seen it MUCH more in groups that have been together for a long time-mostly years of little to no change in membership and several characters.
My favorite female character was a human swashbuckler (the group included 2 other females and 3 males all matching their players) who had a thing for useing every stupid female stereotype against her foes (and yes she was beautiful and blond)-to the female players vast amussment.

[nephtis]

I usually play female character since I'm female - at least tabletop.

It's easier having fun in a group if people don't stumble across the pronoums and that usually the case if the gender played and the gender being differs. ("It's her... wait his... turn.")
But I tried a male character once. Simply because minotaurs are always male, but I do have to admit that I did have problems playing him.

Mainly because...
Well, we are an adult group and minotaurs being all male have to breed with other species. So far so good, no problem.
Theoretically...
I thought I was fine with the idea that this kind of interspecies relationships were most likely non-consentual when writing up a character concept, thinking it would never figure into game-play.
But when we had made a prisoner and the one interrogating her threatend to 'let the minotaur have his way with her' and I was supposed to back up this threat...
I just couldn't.

Call it female solidarity or whatever, but that was a border I wouldn't cross (neither IC nor OOC in acse you wondered). Although it's not per se a 'playing a male character' problem but a 'playing a bad ass minotaur' one, I guess.

[BrokenButterfly]

Wow, I play cross-gender way too much I think.

Dungeons & Dragons: I think the first character I ever played was male, and then every single character since has been female. Five against one I think. I play female characters in D&D because that's what I'd rather picture in my head, sort of like mental eye-candy. I feel more for my female characters than I do my male ones, I care about them more, in some odd chivalrous manner too. Then when I've developed them in my mind I doodle them everywhere...I suspect that in my gaming group I'm the only person who actually knows exactly what their character looks like...

Gaming: In WoW I have one male main character opposed to four alts. It's mostly eye-candy, but again I also get more attached to my female avatars and skins than male.
That's a pattern I follow across the board, from Jo-Beth Casey in Timsplitters: Future Perfect, to Seung Mina in Soul Calibur, I like the female characters more than the males, so I use them more.

[Tough_Tonka]

Online, I tend to play male characters, since people assume you're male online anyway (and in my experience, you get fewer "wanna cyber?" propositions). But I don't play MMORPGs (yet), so my experience in limited to MUDs. I've been looking for games in an online-tabletop environment... I'll probably play a female character in at least some of those. It might be easier to get into character when people can't actually see me or hear my (rather deep) voice.

Thinking more on this, I'd love to play an unabashedly-gay male character (assuming this fits in the setting). By "unabashedly" I don't mean "campy," but you have to admit this does break some fantasy stereotypes. Especially if he's the barbarian. Or the paladin. :smallbiggrin:

Aww but revealing your a guy when you start a "cybering" and hearing the exit IM sound is one of the best parts of MMOs:smallbiggrin:

In my current campaign. which I'm playing unstead of GMing for a change, I'm playing a female cleric and an amorous one at that. Yet now that I'm a high charistma female it seems employeer we have or somewhat handsome male with a position of power is either gay or has E.D. I'm pretty sure the GMs doing this out of spite, but who I feel gets the worst this deal is our 18 charastma male Warlock. Heh heh heh

[PhallicWarrior]

When I DM, I portray male and female characters without thinking. When I'm a player, however, I play male, without exception. I don't know why, but it feels good when I have something in common with my character, especially when they tend toward the magic-user type classes.

[Tarnag40k]

you know what..I don't know why but all my characters in GW are female, and it all started off with a bet for no reason. WoW it's about 50/50, and in D&D they've always been male, althought I was going to play a blind female ranger in my school clubs game, but then came along a little thing called work...

[phantomhermit]

i play male characters [dnd] with the occasional female [wow] thrown in. I only choose female if the avatar looks badass. sometimes women in video games look more badass than the guys. as far as sexism goes, several people got booted from guild for hitting on one of the rl girls in the guild. if there is sexism in wow, wherever it is, i pity it, because it is gonna get its teeth knocked in along with whoever said it. now onto "relationships" i think you said. my gf and i met on xanga. who said having a wonderful background and a really cool alias is a bad thing? and if i end up online with a unisex sortof environment and i am attracted to someone, i just ask. now that this post is one long rabbit trail, i think i will conclude it. cheerio.

[Aotrs Commander]

I think roughly my characters are about even, perhaps with a slightly higher proportion of males on tabletop. For me, gender is simply a minor character issue; slightly more important than hair or eye colour, but generally less so than race and/or class. I don't honestly see much of a difference between males and females characters in practise.



By odd chance, I have a tendancy to catch more female Pokemon than male, at least everytime I take stock, anyway. Go figure...


Heh, I love how there are gender stereotypes in RPGs. You don't often see female meatshields or male healers (this is less the case in D&D, but moreso in say, Final Fantasy).

It's quite fun to subvert such stereotypes.

I tend to automatically try and reverse or circumnavigate common tropes as a matter of principle, given and option. I like varity for it's own sake, and formulaic adherence to stereotypes bugs the hell out of me. In any medium, including real (un)life.

[Sean92k]

I play a married couple, best of both worlds http://www.giantitp.com/forums/images/smilies/smallstick/smallbiggrin.gif

[Zaragon]

My old DM could never play a female NPC. Our Rogue and Incarnate were the only females in the multiverse, apparently. :smallsigh:

As a DM, I've noticed that I tend to play a lot of female characters. I'd like to think I'm halfway decent at it; my women friends IRL have informed me that I have the mood swing part quite down pat, at least :smalltongue:

It's something you get used to when you run enough different games, especially when most of your players are male (or in the case of my last game, the players weren't all male, but the characters were). Otherwise your run into the aforementioned "so, why hasn't humanity died out if there aren't any women around" problem. As far as important PCs in my current game go, I wouldn't be surprised if it's almost 80/20 in favor of women.

In my game, the High Constable of High Dale, the general in charge of High Horn, the Princess of Cormyr's pet assassin, the most powerful cleric of Selune, the strongest druid of the Reaching Wood, and two of the party NPCs (an ex-cleric of Kelemvor who didn't survive undeath with her faith intact and a farmer's daughter-turned-adventurer) are all female. The closest thing I have to significant male characters are the high priests of Tyr's and Torm's faith, and several of the nearby dwarves. Oh, and a lot of the bad guys :smalltongue:

Oddly enough, I've noticed that bit characters tend to be a lot closer to a 50/50 split, so I'm starting to suspect I might be overcompensating for a perceived derth of strong women in fantasy literature. Oh, and mine ran the gamut from really nice people to total bitches, with most of them being somewhere in between. Including an Aasimar (the ex-cleric of Kelemvor) who just doesn't think in the same way that normal humans do.

Online, I tend to play probably a 50/50 mix of male / female--tending towards male if the persona is supposed to reflect me (say, my online name for playing WC3), tending towards female if the persona is a wholly created character (such as in Diablo, NWN, and other similar games).

[Keymort]

In online games, I will usually create two characters, a girl and a boy, and play them variably depending on how I feel.
If you have a girlish name (not an over the top girly one like Britney), I've found that you get alot more respect from people, even if I act totally normal, compared to when I use a boys name. When people are confused about your gender,(e.g. you have a girls name, say Mae) and you act, slightly, but not immature 10 yr old masculine, people don't seem to know how to react to you, and d-heads usually leave you alone, while scratching their heads (not that I can't deal with those) and you get approached by more intelligent people, who have easily figured out your gender, but choose to role-play with you, so you can have much more fun.

It's also really challenging to Rp a girl (when just talking normally to people) at least for me. So it makes it kind of fun to ave that bit of extra zing in a game.
(It's also really tricky to exploit your "gender" with people that are like "OMG GIRLS!!!! I'VE NEVER EVEN SEEN ONE IN RL!" subtly without anyone figuring out that you are a guy, being a girl, only as a tactic to make things easier on yourself)

If someone hit's on me: "Dude... I'm a dude." and they get all embarrassed that they made such a stupid mistake, and usually stay away from me for the rest of the game. But being a guy, it can be REALLY funny, when you act so convincing, other guys start to digg you.

I seem really... I can't think of a word for it. Extortionist? Sexist? after that post. lol.

Ooh, I forgot to mention the "I am a guy... You are a guy... I AM MORE MACHO THAN YOU!!!!!!" factor. It's really boring, and if you use a girl persona, you usually don't hjave to go through that kind of crap.