What are your thoughts on males playing female characters and vice-versa? Do you have a preference? What makes the determination for you?
As an aside, do you have problems with people who tend to "gender swap" with their characters?
Discuss. :)
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What are your thoughts on males playing female characters and vice-versa? Do you have a preference? What makes the determination for you?
As an aside, do you have problems with people who tend to "gender swap" with their characters?
Discuss. :)
In theory, people can play whatever they feel like as far as I'm concerned. When it comes to Trek aliens whose gender differences aren't necessarily the same as humans anyway it really shouldn't matter.
In practice, for basically human species I think most people are better off playing the same gender as themselves only because playing a different person is hard enough, much less trying to swap genders. Of course I could be biased because most of my friends barely stay in character anyway :)
Well, I made the experience that males playing females usually end up with cliches and not a real character. I think it takes at least some experience to play such a role, because at least for some females are as "alien" as Andorians ;)
I stick pretty much with male characters (I think I've only played two female characters in the past 20 years). Mainly for simplicity's sake. One familiar aspect of the character helps ground me enough to play the other differences...Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Mappin
Generally speaking, no. However, I've only met two guys who can play convincing women out of the dozens of people I've gamed with. Not very good odds. But if they're willing to try... ::shrug:: Maybe I'll meet # 3.Quote:
As an aside, do you have problems with people who tend to "gender swap" with their characters?
In the most memorable and lasting of the few times I've roleplayed, everyone was their own gender, not neccessarily counting the Narrator. But one quick game I was involved in every player was male and we were told to be female elves, apparantly because they had better abilities. I guess this was to be just a dungeon crawl, I created the character but wound up not actually playing.
Since I almost exclusively GM nowadays, I'm obviously required to occasionally cross-gender. I think I do a decent job of it (especially since I normally don't need to go into much psychological detail for most of the NPCs I run); which reminds me...I should make one of my upcoming antagonists a female knight... :)
However, I'm certainly more comfortable in my own skin, so males are certainly easier to play for me. ;) But, I've played a couple female characters in my time (considering I've been playing for 25 years, I've had quite a few "lives" :cool: ), just to do something different.
Personally, it doesn't bother me to have players playing across gender, as long as they're not offensive about it.
Pat had to have been one. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Doug Burke
I enjoy playing more unexpected female roles -- like a tough-as-nails female dwarf fighter in D&D (whose catch-phrase has become: "I might be a she-dwarf, but I've got balls!") or a female Tellarite counsellor who thinks she’s hot stuff (and is, in Tellarite terms). I think I do a good job on my cross-gender characterisations, certainly better than the average male playing their female character as a lesbian.
As for females playing male characters, the two female gamers in my group can rather convincingly play male characters. In fact, one of their PCs, a male Ferengi, is perhaps the most chauvinistic persona I've ever seen! Very nicely done.
Yeeeaaahhh... Wait. I mean, no. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Mappin
I play, unintentionally, an exact 50/50 split of male and female characters. My group accused me of only playing females so I wrote down a list of all the characters I'd ever played and surprised them ^_^
Honestly I never put much thought into gender. I tend to just assign a gender to a character based on a whim or because the idea of a character suits one gender better than the other, or if I'm playing a character based on another I tend to switch the gender from the original to give the new one a bit more originality.
Mostly I play male characters, but occasionally I've played a female - mostly Elves.. there's just something about being an Elf that suits being a woman.. mostly 'cause I'll get called one eitherway :D
For some reason my female characters have a reputation for being psychotic and mercurial - can't think why? :D Actually one of my current females had the unfortunate incident of being killed then reincarnated, as a Bug bear :D She got changed back eventually (and I even managed to wangle keeping the bonus attributes with a miracle spell!) But everyone still insists she sounds like Babs of babs cabs in the leage of Gentlemen :D (You just have to be British to get that one :D)
Played both. My favorite character was a woman. And no...they weren't all lesbians.
I've found cross-gender stuff works fine for certain player, not for others...
Figured I should answer my own question. :)
I have no problem with males/females playing the opposite gender, as long as there's a defining purpose. I've gamed with several men (by example) who tended to play female characters...badly. By the same token I've gamed with multiple male gamers who played extraordinary females...and no, they weren't lesbians. (Strangely, the most notable lesbian or "bi" female character I've had in a game was played by a woman.) :)
Personally, I enjoy playing female characters. It adds a new dimension and "difficulty" if you will. In fact I enjoy it so much that I sometimes find myself setting quotas for future characters. "Okay, the last two have been female, my next character -- in whatever game -- should probably be male." Yea, it sounds silly but I don't want to be like that first example up above. :)
Mostly I enjoy exploring some of the RP relationships that have arisen. I've been married, had twins, lost a daughter, avenged a husband, lost a fiance, and suffered from multiple personality disorder (no, not all the same character). Sure, I could have done it with a male character but I'm not too sure it would have been as interesting. As a male I'm all too aware of the pressure of society to put on a straight face and suffer pain in silence.
For those that absolutely refuse to try a character of the opposite gender, I can respect their desires. I would also encourage them to give it a try; you might be surprised.
I think it is the strength of the player. Not everyone is as strong as other players and not every player can play every concept. It is like acting. If you can play a role great and if you can not it sucks. When someone is playing an RPG character that they can not play. It tears down the game and the player's fun. This goes for Gender Bending. Not every male can play a decent female and not every female can play a decent male. I have doubts with all the gender bending on both sides of my game, I am running. I am not sure anyone can play the PCs they are playing then again I have not played with them yet. I am giving them a chance. Gender bending is the same if someone can play any concept. Player can do it great. If player can not change character.Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Mappin
I play my strength. That is what I play. I experiment all the time. I have played both genders and I preffer one over the other. Infact my preference my GM's/ST's etc preffer me to play.
What determines should be the strenght of the player and if the ST is willing to give someone a chance. I like giving chances then seeing what people can do. People surprise but mostly disappoint. I like to see what someone is capable of. You need to test them in gaming to find out.
My favorite character was a cross gender and to this day one of the best characters I ever played. Character was not gay or anything but grew up and evolved in the 4 years I played it. It was fun and to this day no character has ever come close.
Yes, but I think that is something that you find with experience STing someone. Once I see if they can and can not play it. I won't let them. Yeah it is being stern, but if people are blowing concepts so badly they are not having fun it takes away from their fun and others. Trust me I have seen it way too many times.Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Mappin
Personally I always play male characters, although I did have a point where my AD&D Drow Fighter-Mage had put on a girdle of masculinity/feminity. That did not last too long, but was an interesting diversion.
The only exception I can remember is when I played in an all-lady superhero group in a very short-lived Marvel campaign. The players were a mix of women and men.
As a GM I have to play all sorts of role, and we tend to find that gender is less of an issue. As I have been around a while (34 this year!) I like to think I have as good an idea of what women are like as it is possible for a guy to have to role-play one convincingly. Well, at least well enough so that my players dont roll their eyeballs heavenward at every chance! :rolleyes:
I have only gamed with a handful of ladies, and I must say, they tend to have the best developed characters. Some of the guys are of the "there's a bunch of numbers, that will do" way of thinking, which pretty much p*sses me off. I much prefer rounded characters, with real personas and motivations.
Cheers
Tas
All my characters so far has been males. On the other hand, the number of campaigns where I have not been a GM could be counted on one hand. But I will probably try it, if the circumstances is right (Why bother if the gaming session is almost entirely OOC? :rolleyes: )Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Mappin
If the player has an interresting character, they are welcome to do it. But the same things applies to non-human character (I am probably less harsh about gender swapping ;) ). I.e. I would want to know they understand the mindset of a Vulcan or a 700 years young wood-elf.Quote:
As an aside, do you have problems with people who tend to "gender swap" with their characters?
Well. I used to have a rule (back when we were kids) that players had to play their own sex. Simply because I believed that it would not be realistic to play cross-gender.
I grew out of that one, at about the same time I realised that an RPG was not Narrator vs. the players. Somewhere around age 16.
I think that the level of maturity does have a significant effect over the characters. There are players I know who, if they were to turn up with a female character, would cause a wince of prospective p[ain, as all they really want to do is pretend to get sexual gratification, and run a gauntlet of barely obscene toilet humour. While others can be fairly convincing.
On the whole most female characters tend to be just like the boys, apart from their basic chromosones (on paper), and I feel fairly comfortable if this is the worst it can be.
To be honest, these days I have no problems with gender swapping, after all, we game so rarely now, that any escuse is a good game. Although my favourite character in our current on-off Earthdawn game is the female windling, played as the equal to a 13 year old girl. Who my elven Woodsman is quite protective of.
For myself, I have played 2 female characters in my life, a Star Wars Rebel Pilot and a Vulcan Security Officer. The Pilot ended up very similar to the role that eventually appeared in BSG as Starbuck, as a hard-drinking, hard-fighting, sexual predator with a chip on her shoulder (there was a good solid background story, along with the feminist issue, after all, did you see any other female pilots in Star Wars?). While the Vulcan was a typical emotional cold fish and barely counted.
Now, one thing that I do not recall anyone ever playing in our games was an openly gay character (male or female), it sounds like there have been plenty of Lesbians out there, but how many male gay characters? And how well played, or did they end up overly camp/butch?
We've have a few gay characters show up...one played by a gay friend. The big bi characters were an Andorian married quad with a 'party marriage' where all of the spouses were involved with each other, not just a male/female pair of couples. The men and women were in love with the other three (although the one PC [played by the resident homophobe] was less interested in the other male character.)
I've always wondered how Andorian 4 way mariages work ! :D
sexuality and homosexuality are very rarelly dealt with on PC and children Firendly shows like Startrek, with a couple of noticeable exceptions, the TNG episode witht he J'nai, which was pretty sensitivelly handled, and the original Trill episode :)
I've never played a female PC. (NPC's, of course, are another matter) I've never had any trouble with other players gender-bending. I was once changed from a male 3rd level half-elf Ranger into a female 0 level dwarf fighter by something the GM called "The Ride of Your Life". Had to get a wish to change back. And dodge male dwarves. Not really the same thing, though.
I think I really would have trouble getting into character if I played a female.
I have played female characters over the years, but I don't do it often, simply because it's hard for me to imagine what it would be like to be female. I don't want to play a character badly, and I have seen female characters played badly by male players (I'd imaging most everyone has a story or two like that). But it would likely be a growth experience, in terms of developing new skills.
I like clichés. I think they definitely have a place in role-playing. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Evan van Eyk
For the record, I know one male player who ALWAYS plays females (usually bisexual), and a female player who ALWAYS plays males (usually bisexual or gay). Go figure.
As for myself, I've occasionally tried cross-gender characters but ultimately decided that I prefer to play my own (usually hetero or bisexual, BTW), because that's what I can best identify with*. Evan is right, females are sometimes very alien to me.
It's interesting to see that each player, GM or group seems to have different experiences. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, as the Vulcans say.
* Is my grammar OK? English is not my native language.
Excellent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Turloigh
And I like cliches, too. we call it "having a schtick..."
Your doing better than some of us English speakers.
You're too kind! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix
I generally play whatever gender suggests itself when I create a character. While I do not profess to know all there is to know about women, I can portray one with a reasonable degree of realism. Heck, I do not profess to know all there is to know about men, and I have been one all my life! :)
Yo, jak...like we be down widda ebonics, yo, 'cause it be like annuder langumage fo da homies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix
:rolleyes:
An once again, you have a school district in California trying to pawn that crap off as a "new language..." :mad:
What in the name of the Great Bird of the Galaxy does that have to do witht he topic at hand? Gender Roleplaying = Ebonics bashing? Wow... now that's connecting some distant dots.Quote:
Originally Posted by black campbellq
Back on topic, I don't allow men to play women or women to play men, I find it all too disturbing at the table... I once allowed Don to play a female in an IRC game, that was less disturbing, since I wasn't looking at a man while it was happening ;)
Althought I did a few RPGs I prefer to play woman it's easier for the role play.
I would infer from the comment you're female...Quote:
Originally Posted by Dax
Ack. Had one of these threads flame up over at the RPGNet forums.
My short answer is that, due to some very-very-VERY bad experiences and practically NO good ones, I impose an implacable, unyielding, never to be exceptioned ban on cross-gender characters in any games that I run.
I don't play in games run by other GM's that have cross-gendered PC's in them.
All my older players are quite comfortable with that. The few who strained against the ban just moved on to other groups and passed into the fog of history.
The newer players I've gamed with seem much more puzzled by my "quaint prejudice", but respect my gaming abilities enough that they "humor" the old guy.
Mind you, I don't give a damn about the sexual preferences of PC's. No problems with any of the possible permutations. But I just can't stomach cross gender play.
My whole RPing group is female (the players, not the characters).
Where I live it is very, very hard to find men who are into gaming. And the six of us just kinda got together out of our mutual love of Star Trek and started gaming.
Now we play all kinds of games, including FGU's Privateer's & Gentlemen- an RPG set during the 18th century and usually in the British navy.
Needless to say we all RP both guys and girls. And I'd say we do about the same either way, as far as getting into and staying in character.
I have certain characters I can stay in easier- some male (Omega, the Android- if an android counts... or Captain Northcote) and some female (Baxala the crazy Betazoid pilot, or Chief Engineer Kristine McBride).
I think it has to do with how good of a character you're playing- how well developed they are- and whether or not you can identify with the character.
I've been RPing a lot longer than my "Ladies' Adventuring Club" has been going- since... my gosh... nearly 20 years... and I've RP'd with a lot of guys too.
And if I can say so without offending any of the guys here, I think men have a harder time adopting a female role than women do a male. I'm not saying this is 100%... it has just been my common experience.
Wow. Did not know there were places on Earth where you could find more female than male RPG players ;) Around here RPG ranks slightly below belching contests in the category of disgusting male-only behaviours.Quote:
Originally Posted by FASAGrrl
(then again, this is France we're talking about, the country where Star Trek is known as the crappy old series with the pointy-eared Venusian guy :o)
I've noticed that female players tend to roleplay more realistic males than male players for females. Usually female characters played by males tend to be either completely asexual or on the contrary some variant of a femme fatale (or less respectable). Male characters played by female tend to be much more balanced.Quote:
Originally Posted by FASAGrrl
Though this tend to change (for the better) as the ages of the players rises, I must say.
I've got to agree: men generally do not rp female characters well. I've tried it once, and will never be persuaded to do it again. Maybe it's just so difficult to figure out the female psyche. :D
Or maybe we're just blockheads.
I've never understood why an unsexualized female character, played by a male, was a problem. Most people, in my experience, play unsexualized male characters all the time...
I've never really noticed a problem having players play opposite gender characters. Of course most players I've had experience with had some form of stage acting (schools or community theater).
We've had a much bigger issue with Deltans and homosexual relations than with player/character gender.
That would depend on the guy - any I have ever dated, yes... the blockhead flaw definitely applies !Quote:
Originally Posted by Nolmir
Probably why I don't do that anymore...
I think it does depend on geography. Despite my claim of living on the Orion Homeworld in my profile, I actually live in the southern US.Quote:
Originally Posted by C5
I've been gaming for nearly 20 years (since I was 16) and it always seems the majority of the people I've played with have been other women, or guys who are not necessarily the most masculine of men. Which is cool with me.
And on line, in the e-mail RPGs I'm on (which are really interactive writing games and not true RPGs) I'd say 90% of the players are women.
Really? Not to sound sexist or ignorant, but I've played rpgs for probably about five or six years, and I've never actually met a woman that liked rpgs. I've played in games with one or two on pbp games, but that's it. Like C5, my experiance has been that most women don't seem to "get" what is fun about rpg's. Then again, most guys don't either. ;) But more guys seem to enjoy it than women.
I've met a number of woman gamers over the last 28 years or so since I've been in the hobby. I've even been in a few groups with some of them. Women bring a totally different mind set and view point which I've always enjoyed. it's just been rare that I've been able to experience it. They do seem to be a rare sighting, but that could be age dependant as well. I'm playing a female in a long running Exalted game. Only reason being is because the gm started us with the premades and she was the only thief/ranger type charater. I play her pretty much asexual as sex isn't a part of the game.
Now I also play World of Warcraft and there the mix gets alot bigger.