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.

EDIT: I almost forgot about that part, but yeah, I never got so many propositions in my life. 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.