Genders - Males Playing Females and Females Playing Males

Wudgeous · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Wudgeous** on Fri Sep 16, 2011 12:07 pm

I play both genders, rp-wise. I strongly believe in trying to keep the number of my males and females equal, and having a full range of ages, personalities and motivations for each. I do, however, find it easier to play men.

Diverting from the topic just a smidge, I feel that it's harder to create (emphasis on the word CREATE) a genuinely good and well-rounded female character, not just for me, but for every roleplayer/writer regardless of gender. How "in tune" you feel with a character is a completely separate issue I've no problem with (though there's such a thing as being TOO in tune; I won't get into that). I don't often find good and well-rounded female characters. I really don't.

I theorize it's because of the two social roles engrained into the society of women over time--the helpless (often swooning) baby-maker and the RAWR I AM A MISS INDEPENDENT GUT REACTION TO THE FORMER CATEGORY!!!! No one is free from trying to run from or embrace one of those two types, and often times the roleplayer will have a bias one way or the other. When the character's basic structure leans too far in either (or both, it's possible :|) direction(s), but not far enough and/or with enough self-awareness to be satire, it falls into the pit Stereotypical Female. You can't relate to a stereotype without a crapload of work. Many people won't even see said work that needs to be done on their character, and don't see how they have to bitchsmack both the stereotypes in the face.

So, generally I prefer men just because they're less complicated to make good; but like I said, that doesn't mean I avoid making women. Sure, you could argue that society's categories for men could affect male character development too, but ehhh I don't think it applies nearly as much. How many awesome sensitive, questionably male characters do you know? How many awesome overly macho men characters do you know? Both have been subjects of satire, so much that they mostly lose their grip on creating biases when it comes to characters.

LOL DID THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE

madscirat · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **madscirat** on Tue Sep 20, 2011 2:15 pm

Genders are a funny thing because they are often at odds with human nature. For example, culture tells us, and there is some amount of biological evidence backing their claims, that the sexes act and think differently, each in their own particular idiom. However, lying at the core of human nature is the very strong compulsion to look at anyone who says you should be such and such and give them the finger.

My personal opinion is that many of the elements we associate with gender behavior are actually not biological in any way, but cultural. Meanwhile true biological differences lay buried beneath layers of learned behavior. For example, women are biologically superior marksmen due to the earlier maturation of their visual cortex, but since culture labels hunting and shooting as masculine, few Annie Oakleys actually develop. Archaeology also bears this out with evidence of cultures with gender roles backwards from what we understand. The prehistoric civilizations of Europe were almost certainly ruled by women due to the evidence of female pantheons and an artistic style which focuses entirely on feminine attributes, birth, nurturing, fertility. Hence the idea of men being the 'natural leaders' is completely fallacious. Also many graves have now been found filled with the military trappings familiar from Norse warrior tombs but housing female not male skeletons. Analysis of these bones showed in some cases the tell tale signs of a life lived in a saddle, the horse at these periods being the primary weapon of war. In other words, the myths about Amazons may have been far more than myths and the idea that only men can be warriors is completely fallacious.

In short, I think people have the power to create themselves but more often than not this power is commandeered by their culture making the genders reflect the values culture has given them rather than their inherent capabilities.

Oh and I usually play females because there is far more cultural baggage heaped upon their shoulders and I get a kick out of dismantling it.

Ceur'Caelesetos · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Ceur'Caelesetos** on Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:36 pm

Woo I'm in the minority!

I'm a guy who likes to play as females, mostly because I find them easier to make and play as. I would say this because I focus on women's personality more then men.(Because I'm straight lol) Also in my experience women are more interesting characters then men, simply because I live as a guy and getting into the head of a girl is always an interesting experience.

It must also be said that my male characters tend to either be based off my personality rather then their own (I respond to their experience how I would respond), or be what I wish I was like. Therefor my male characters are almost always "Gary Sues".

My Female characters tend to be a blend of two writing styles(She is a female version of myself and a girl I would like to know) which always ends up being a unique individual. I honestly couldn't tell you why this happens only that it does.

Does this make me strange?

ChaoticMarin · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **ChaoticMarin** on Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:54 pm

I am a female who almost always plays females for the sole reason that it isn't a big deal and I avoid some minor problems by doing so.

Those problems being embarrassing typos of pronouns (Excuse me, when did he become a girl?) and the fact that I am a human who plays humans meaning that just like real humans my character's sex plays a role, sometimes subtle or minor, in their history or personality. It's all a part of making my character believable.

I've no problem with others who are more comfortable crossing that boundary. It's just not one I gain anything out of crossing most of the time.

Romaneck · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Romaneck** on Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:09 pm

Im revisiting this after someone remarked a fact of it.

I am a male and so far I think i have more female characters than males because the males more often than not share traits with myself on a much greater basis, more often than not they are good willing, strong and willful and badass in more than one way.

However with females I can explore more traits, be it wickedness, an oportunistic outlook on life or maybe something that I myself would not agree with.

It has come to my attention than on Videogames, my male characters are much more calm, centered and tend to look at the greater picture, while the women are much more emotional and have an explosive behavior they are fierce and more often than fair.

Just throwing my 2 cents there

Ersatz Creed · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Ersatz Creed** on Wed Nov 09, 2011 11:00 pm

In video games and Roleplays, I prefer female characters and I am a guy. I've done it since I was a little kid (boy did my friends make me fun of me) and I never really knew why i just liked female characters more.... o.O

Kestrel · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Kestrel** on Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:07 am

As a roleplayer I do not possess a gender. I've been told I portray either fairly well.

Patcharoo · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Patcharoo** on Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:00 am

Kestrel wrote:As a roleplayer I do not possess a gender. I've been told I portray either fairly well.

I've always found player gender an irrelevant factor, short of the fascination of the user.

Romaneck · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Romaneck** on Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:06 am

This is silly I know, but upon seeing the results I realized that the females outnumber the males, at least in the playerbase.

The gender of my fellow RPers rarely affects their work as I have found, but it does has become an annoying sight to see the "Looking for 2 male chars" titles on some interest checks threads, as if the sex of a person was its most utmost and definitive characteristic

Animality Opera · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Animality Opera** on Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:46 pm

I'm female~ A vast majority of my characters are male. I'm fully capable of playing both genders, but I find my male characters frequently have more depth to them, and I find them more fun to play overall. I can't help but wonder if maybe this is some kind of deeply embedded psychological thing considering I was raised by a single mom and thus in an all-female household, lol idk my bff jill.

When I first started roleplaying, in AOL chat rooms, I started mostly playing male characters specifically because there was a lack of quality male characters in the community. Quality female characters were running around... without a lot of options. xD So, rather than be one of those with limited choices of a love interest, I instead decided to contribute male characters(~~and have my pick of the ladies..!~~ ;D ).

Patcharoo · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Patcharoo** on Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:48 pm

Animality Opera wrote:When I first started roleplaying, in AOL chat rooms, I started mostly playing male characters specifically because there was a lack of quality male characters in the community. Quality female characters were running around... without a lot of options. xD So, rather than be one of those with limited choices of a love interest, I instead decided to contribute male characters(~~and have my pick of the ladies..!~~ ;D ).

You excellent person.

Alphadean · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Alphadean** on Sun Dec 04, 2011 11:10 am

Roleplaying for me is different than writing a story. I'm a man and I play male characters when I"m a PC. Yet I also write and have extensive experience dealing with women. I will also do research thru the women I know in order to help flesh out the characters.

ViceVersus · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **ViceVersus** on Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:31 am

I'm a female, and I play males almost exclusively. When I make a character, I prefer it to be male. I don't know why. Somehow, I find males easier to write, especially when concentrating on character interaction. Women characters, to me at my level of writing, struggle to find some sort of niche. I feel when I write a female character, I have to make a note on how attractive they are, their hair, their body, that sort of thing. When I write a male character, I can just get straight to the good stuff.

Not sure how I think about that. xD I do like Alphadean's point through, from roleplaying to prose.

TheJen. · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **TheJen.** on Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:28 pm

This is very interesting. *adjusts glasses* :B

I'm female, and I play majority females, but I have been easing towards males. I'm naturally dominant in life, so I find as I get older, I have more of a desire to play dominant/non-nice male characters. I've only played one male that was considerably 'normal', but he was no touchy-feely kinda guy. I don't think I'll ever play a touchy-feely character, to be honest. Maybe when I get old and uninteresting. Heh.

Another reason I started playing males was because all the places I used to RP were quite overrun with females. Ain't that the way the world goes? Gotta admit, it's fun to be the unobtainable male in a pit of squealing females. You guys have all the fun.

Sandbear · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Sandbear** on Fri Dec 16, 2011 8:08 pm

When I'm roleplaying, I don't usually pay attention to the gender of the roleplayers. But I don't think I've seen any male roleplayers with female characters until I joined this site.

Something I noticed: All the girls I roleplay tend to make their female characters strong, independent, and tomboyish (but sexy) while their male characters are quirky and funny.

As for me, I think I can play both genders just fine. I don't really have a preference. Like Queen of Ice, I just go with the gender that I think the story needs.

Scumbag_Brain · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Scumbag_Brain** on Fri Dec 30, 2011 8:48 pm

I am a male and often play female characters because there are more boundaries to break with a female character. Society generally accepts that men can excel at anything (apart from crying and childbirth) where as women, not so much. Its therefore fun to punch some much needed holes in societal preconceptions and score one for the unlimited potential of the individual. Also girls are sexier when swinging a broadsword around.

#Chance · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **#Chance** on Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:21 am

As much as I like to play strong, macho men I can't very well. I excel at playing the feminine male aka the 'trap'. In saying that I also play females as well and as people have stated above, I like to keep the balance between genders as equal as possible including a range of ages and personalities.

xiaotuanzi · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **xiaotuanzi** on Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:13 am

I have no problem with males playing female characters, as long as they're not grossly oversexualized. Other chats I've been to, this has been the case 9 times out of 10. At least here, with the limitations on romance and sexual content, you don't see that as much. And actually, the more blatantly sexist posts for female characters I've seen are by FEMALE players.

Shanatos · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Shanatos** on Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:53 pm

xiaotuanzi wrote:I have no problem with males playing female characters, as long as they're not grossly oversexualized. Other chats I've been to, this has been the case 9 times out of 10. At least here, with the limitations on romance and sexual content, you don't see that as much. And actually, the more blatantly sexist posts for female characters I've seen are by FEMALE players.

The core problem with the typical "male roleplayer playing a girl" is that to that type of person, a woman is some kind of exotic creature. Something that belongs in the "Monstrous Manual" rather than a playable race, so to speak.

Needless to say, that's the wrong sort of thinking.

InsaneCriminal · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **InsaneCriminal** on Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:00 pm

In my opinion, It's your personal bussines if you are going to play the opposite gender. This depends on your personalities, and if you know you can play both genders it's good.Not everyone can do this, like me.I will roleplay female roles because i'm a girl but if I have to rp a boy, I'll give it a shot. You don't know, till you try..As i said , it's all about your personality..

Genders - Males Playing Females and Females Playing Males

a topic in Game Design Workshop, a part of the RPG forum.

So what gender do you normally go in roleplaying here?

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