Are you a Gender-bender

[Baajikiil]

I'm way over 35, & I always play a Male character if given the choice. How about you ???

I've been playing tabletop rpgs for ~10 years now, as well as several MMORGS and similiar games. In general I've found that male players enjoy to genderbend, and female players do it often to simply fit in with the general populace. Personally, I'm a 23 year old male, and only choose female characters if it will allow me to experience more of a game then otherwise. For example, the female classes of diablo, the *slightly* different take on things for each gender in Baldur's gate/fallout, ect.

In our tabletop games, I've only played a female character once, and it was quite interesting to attempt proper roleplaying. Currently we don't allow any players to roleplay characters of the opposite sex; we decided it just can't be done properly. I suppose the only exception to this rule is the storyteller(gamemaster/dungeonmaster/whatever).

[Lady Vashj]

Diablo II: My two favorite chars are Amazon and Barbarian. But I like zons better, so no.

WarCraft III: I like the Night Elves best; perhaps not coincidentally, they have the most female soldiers.

Civilization: I always play as a female ruler (like it affects gameplay).

Alpha Centauri: I play mostly as the Gaians.

Yeh, that about covers all the games I play that have such an option.

[--Pete]

Hi,

For something different, we would occasionally roll for all aspects of a character. Discuss them, then put together a brief bio. Then start the game and try to play the role. Some can do it better than others, but usually it worked out pretty well and was a blast.

--Pete

[Cryptic]

It depends on the game type. In real role-playing, I play a roughly equal mix of males and females, because it increases the challenge and the variety. Can you convincingly roleplay an old dwarvish matriarch, a cleric, whose clan was wiped out because she ran away from battle?

In MMORPGs, people usually select their own gender. If they choose the opposite, they're either "really" roleplaying, they're using the game as a kink experiment, or they're meta-gaming. (Female meta-gamers play male characters to fit in, males play females to get preferential treatment.)

In behind-the-character adventure games (Tomb Raider etc.), people go through an interesting divergence. Some people feel they are controlling their character, so they don't care about gender; other people feel they *are* their character. Lots of interesting dynamics here in the middle-ground.

In forced-gender games (Diablo series), players often attach no significance to gender, because they are "forced" to play a male or female if they want a certain skill set. This encourages males to take female characters seriously, but it also depersonalizes the experience. (Many people think, "Yeah, whatever" and play an Amazon, but never, ever think of their avatar as a female representation of themselves.)

[--Pete]

Hi,

but never, ever think of their avatar as a female representation of themselves

And that is about as good a (negative) definition as I've seen of role playing. Which is why most cRPG's aren't. The role has little or nothing to do with the game or the story. One can role play, but usually one doesn't need to.

Not too sure where this is going, but I think it has a lot of bearing on the topic. If one is playing a first person game where the role playing is minimal, gender hardly intrudes. If one is playing a "strong" role playing game where one has to put on the character of their avatar, then gender (but also alignment and to some extent race) become much more important. Worth some thought, I think :)

--Pete

[Baajikiil]

Some can do it better than others, but usually it worked out pretty well and was a blast.

This is true, we had one member of our group who would become completely immersed within the role of whomever he was playing. Even the women in the group admitted that he played an excellent female, or for that matter an excellent male. Just playing with someone so attached to their role improved your own connection with your character. Some of our best sessions were those that revolved around good roleplaying.

Unfortunately, he left due to RL concerns(he's trying to break into an acting career of course), and the rest of us are not quite as good at playing the opposite sex. Thus the rule of same sex roles only. We haven't really found it a limitation though, as there are endless variations either way.

[Guest]

does anyone know about the clan of girls POA??

[roguebanshee]

Got to agree with you WarLocke, if I have to stare at someones backside for several hours on end I much prefer it to be a female backside. And if the game in question has any form of extended travel then I will more or less have to look that character for a while. During combat I'll look after baddies and possible teammates of course but I will also have to look at my own/main character too to see if anything is affecting him/her. I very rarely roleplay online and if someone attemps to make a pass on one of my characters I'll just ignore them (and probably permanent) unless it's very clear that they are roleplaying and they are doing it well.

If I'm playing a pnp then I'll usually play a male though.

[AtomicKitKat]

Just a small suggestion, D&D Hax. You might want to remove that signature.

[Bolty]

DBD_Hax, please edit your signature - we try to keep things clean here.

-Bolty

[Occhidiangela]

Methinks he's outta here.

[Lady Vashj]

Joined March 29, banned by March 30. Gone in under 24 hours. Impressive.

[NiteFox]

Seems I missed something.

That'll learn me for sleeping :)

[Lady Vashj]

Technically, I missed it too, not having seen the sig that got him banned. But I pick up cues quickly.