Character Genders

[TrassiusQuill]

I'm just curious as to what people think about playing opposite gender characters. Is this just looked at as a person getting their jollies? Do people do it for a role-playing experience? Just curious what the general consensus is. Do members of this guild ever play opposite gender characters while grouping with the guild?

Personally, I don't see a problem with it. To me, it is a role-playing experience, but I can certainly see a problem if someone is trying to build sexual fantasies with said character. Platonic grouping and killing monsters should not be frowned upon with opposite gendered characters in my opinion.

[zero]

Hehe, as a male, I find in single player RPG's I often play a female, depends on what type of character I'm trying to create. But in MMO's I feel kinda weird socialising with people when I'm playing as the opposite sex. I guess in MMO's I see my character as a (way cooler) version of me personally, instead of roleplaying like I should be!

[Alisae]

I've always wondered what the actual percentages are... as far as how many female toons are actually females. I agree with a lot of what Zero said, and do the same with the "way cooler" version of me.
There have been occasions in a couple games that I've rolled up a male toon just to be left alone. I get so tired of the "ur cute" tells... I've started replying "lolz, i'm 13m IRL." that shuts them up!

[Tulgar]

Back in the old text based MUD days, I played female characters but like you guys got sick of all the tells asking if I was a real girl.

Gave me some insight into how hard girls got it in games. hopefully not still so bad these days with more girls playing.

I would like to think its all about RP so mixing up the gender was never an issue for me personally.

I think these days, I don't really notice or think about gender in games anyway (character or RL). Is this a sign I am getting old??

[Drac]

I almost always play female characters in MMOs. If I'm going to stare at someone's ass for hours on end I know which sex I'd prefer to be looking at...

Actually, the main reason is that most MMOs paint males as beefy, muscley, blokey-blokes, and I just can't roleplay those kind of characters. Seriously, the costume, body-types and hair selections for males in almost all MMOs I've seen really, really, sucks. City of Heroes is about the only one I've played that had passable male character options, but even then it could be better. As for other guys trying to hit on me thinking I'm actually female (and most everyone does), I usually drag them along like lost puppies for as long as I can then slam them with the truth. I figure it's one only way they'll learn to ease up on the real women playing MMOs.

The only downside I've found is that some women seem to take great offence to a male posing as a female. I'm also yet to discover any females playing male characters, then again I very rarely break character and would hazard a guess that most others who play cross-gender do the same so there are probably a lot more out their then I realise.

[TrassiusQuill]

I can completely understand the points of views here. I've frequently thought about doing a study of how male characters react to a male controlled female character. I like the role playing aspect of MMOs (even if many players don't RP). Like Tulger I like to mess with people, but have been reluctant to actively RP a female character for fear of being looked at like I'm a freak by those who know me to be a guy.

[Drac]

Originally Posted by TrassiusQuill

have been reluctant to actively RP a female character for fear of being looked at like I'm a freak by those who know me to be a guy.

Bah, If you think like that you'll never have any fun! After all, most writers craft both male and female characters in their stories, roleplaying is and shouldn't be any different.

Some of the most well know female cult-icons in fiction from the past decade have been created by men; Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the soon to be Wonder Woman movie have all been penned by Joss Whedon (he also wrote Firefly). On the flip side, some of the most well know and loved male pop-icons in fiction have been crafted by women such as Harry Potter.

If those writers are to be considered freaks, then I'd be glad to call myself one as well.

[TrassiusQuill]

Whedon is doing WW? I'm so going to see that.

[sschrupp]

I usually have one of my healer characters be female, and the rest are male. Sometimes I'll make another female if there's a decent model to create a very large and ugly female (like trolls or ogres).

[Monde]

I have never played a female character and have never wanted to. No real reason that I can put my finger on but I prefer playing a male.

Friends of mine play female characters all the time and they can't explain why they do it. But I have never felt the need or want to.