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+--- Thread: Your Gender vs. Your Character's (/showthread.php?tid=20219)
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - ZOMGodzilla - 08-26-2017
I'm a male that plays mostly female characters. I couldn't say exactly when it had become a habit, but there certainly was a time many years ago in which I'd started to play (almost exclusively) female characters, and I think it had simply become custom for me. Self-perpetuated until I became more comfortable playing women than men. I couldn't say for certain how well I play them, but I'd like to think I've picked up good "habits" and conceptions on how to play the opposite gender better over the years.
I've also developed, thankfully, an ability to separate my sexuality from my characters', so I don't experience much trouble with having my female characters pursue relationships with men (IC/OOC or otherwise).
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - ExAtomos - 08-26-2017
Some things I've noticed over the years:
- Maturity makes a hell of a lot of difference in how someone RPs.
- Empathy makes a HUGE difference between someone who can only "roleplay" as themselves or actually portraying a character that is different from themselves to the point that they can play multiple characters and you wouldn't realize it's the same player behind the screen (this is what I always strive for).
- Skill at storytelling and writing can make a huge difference too.
- How you talk in ooc chat can clue people in to who you are irl faster than anything and will affect how they respond to your character. (I tested this myself by hiding the fact that I was the same person behind two different characters for a while in my old FC.)
- My FC back on Atomos was about 1/3 female players (fewer server wide); Balmung seems to be about 1/2.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Parvacake - 08-26-2017
Years ago I used to main male characters in games like WoW, Rift, and on some old forum RPs. I didn't like the attention I got on some of them and how people would get the wrong impression about myself as a player (that because our characters were involved, suddenly the players and I were dating being a common misconception. Or, as a runner-up, that I was pretending to be a dude irl and 'tricking' others because many of my characters had ding-dongs).
I noticed that I had less of these problems on my female characters and that the problems I came across while playing a lady were waaaayyyyy easier to handle. So I swapped and never went back.
I do have some male characters both in-game and in other RPs. I have a male xaela whose design I'm immensely proud of, but he's still level one.
Maybe one day I'll get comfortable enough to actively play male characters. Until then, however, I'm content to stick with my ladies.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Faye - 08-26-2017
I am a woman who mostly plays female characters. They're more fun to dress up, and in general I relate to them and enjoy writing them more. I will admit that playing a female character, it can be hard finding other female characters for her to really connect with on anything above a surface level. Granted, I suppose the trade off is that while finding male connections for her is much easier, most of them are just after ERP or an IC and/or OOC romance which isn't that great, either.
But I do still enjoy playing male characters and having some male eye candy, so I usually keep around a couple male alts. My experiences on them can sometimes be a little uncomfortable, I guess? I've met female characters in RP who have been very pushy about romance, and I feel like would have lost all interest if they knew I was a woman IRL. I've met new players with female avatars who asked me for help and proceeded to flirt with me the entire time. I'm presuming they assumed I was a man IRL. I don't know if they were actually women, too, or dudes playing female characters who thought they'd get some gil and items out of me if they e-batted their eyelashes at me thinking I was some thirsty nerd dude lol.
I guess either way, I feel like I am assumed to be my character's gender, but it gets to me more on male characters, not necessarily because that assumption is incorrect unlike assuming I'm a girl because I'm on a female character, but because I feel like if I said I was actually a girl, I'd get flak for "deceiving" people when I never tried to present myself as male OOC? That's mostly anxiety talking since I've never tested it outright, but the feeling is there.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Frederique - 10-21-2017
I'm a female, used to only play female in MMOs, but RPed as men in other RP platforms.
Then one day I picked up a male elf mage in WoW and I haven't really be able to go back to a female since. XD
The lines are starting to blur a bit. My main male is definitely a man, but he has a lot of 'feminine' qualities, another male is very much a testosterone full man, but he has no concept of feminine or masculine. I really wanted him to wear a dress when I first started with him for no other reason than he thought it looked good on him, but sadly, no dresses for men. The one female I play dresses exclusively like a man.
I usually refer to someone by their character gender, but more recently been giving a they/them/their pronoun. There have been a few times I outright ask what they prefer to be referred as and not once have I been berated for asking. Even been thanked a few times.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Rance - 10-24-2017
I play both genders and I swing towards both genders, so is a win-win situation for me and everyone involved.
Of course, whenever I feel like playing a different type of character it also opens plenty of options.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Fearthainn - 10-26-2017
As someone who crossed the gender/sex line from one to the other and played both Male / Female characters - The most people who have an issue with what you play are the kind of people who either themselves are insecure or been too easily influenced by others with negative opinions regarding it.
Regardless of server or person I speak to, I always address them as - Character is a female, then it's a she. Character is a male? Then it's a he - Unless otherwise stated of course, like if I meet another one like myself, then I will always refer to them the way they want to be.
So with that out of the way:
Always play whatever it is you want, and roleplay it to your heart's desire.
You never know what you may find out about yourself, and in the end it will be a learning experience.
As for people giving you flak well, that's their problem as I mentioned above.
If you are an aspiring writer, you definitely need to look at things from a multitude of angles.
Personally, I tend to avoid playing Male characters because to me, they are a part I left behind and I find that most Male characters I play just tend to end up shitty. Of course I can write interesting male characters ( I think at least? ), I'm just not good at acting one. So my characters are all Females.
So.. So there!Â
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Shofie - 10-29-2017
I'm nonbinary and my main is female, but I have male characters I rather enjoy as well. I am comfortable playing either.
I've not really run into problems with it, but I'm pretty reclusive and shy, and my characters aren't interested in finding romantic RP (one is married, the others I just don't do it with) so that shuts down a lot of people, I think, since they aren't looking for hookups or anything with my characters or me.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Kaiverta - 10-30-2017
(10-29-2017, 04:37 PM)Shofie Wrote: I'm nonbinary and my main is female, but I have male characters I rather enjoy as well. I am comfortable playing either.
I've not really run into problems with it, but I'm pretty reclusive and shy, and my characters aren't interested in finding romantic RP (one is married, the others I just don't do it with) so that shuts down a lot of people, I think, since they aren't looking for hookups or anything with my characters or me.
I actually prefer to NOT get into romantic relationships, mostly because the other person is always unreliable >.> Characters can be together for a week (after knowing each other for months or years), or months, and then suddenly they'll 'get busy' (which is fine, ofc) and then don't message at all to at least let me know what the characters would be getting up to. Or what's going on with the relationship. Takes two minutes. >.> And it's especially suss when they're online but either don't message you, or are on another character but they are 'too busy' to give you two minutes to OOCly talk about what the couple are up to? Bah. Anyway, that's a different rant. xD
So yes, I prefer to not get into romantic RP relationships but sometimes it's difficult. I like to let the characters write themselves, and when they've known each other for months and years and have had consistent interaction, sometimes that's just the way it develops (just like in real life, naturally).
I haven't played a female character for... yeeaaars. Unless you count NPCs. I write those every so often. xD
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Dis - 10-30-2017
I tend to be very flexible when it comes to my own gender. In-game, it's pretty much the same. I have male characters who are very much male, I have females who are very much female, and I have males who present feminine, and females who present more masculine. I tend to play based on the character and concept more than the gender.Â
That said, I've had people convinced I was two different individuals, one of each gender, after RPing with one of my male characters, and one of my females. I literally had to log out of one and into the other to prove I wasn't two different people.
I'm always of the opinion that people should RP whatever they want. If only because the gender of the player doesn't matter nearly as much as the gender of the character during IC interactions. Sadly, there are still some people out there who use RPing as a means of 'hooking up' IRL, and that leads to unfortunate and uncomfortably awkward situations.
I sadly speak from personal experience.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Nero - 10-31-2017
For my "main" characters, I've only ever roleplayed as males, though the reason I play only males is really just for the sense of aesthetic since all my MMO characters are male. I'm far too lazy to have alts, especially just for the sake of roleplaying.
That said, I am somewhat wary of writing female characters, mostly because I'm not particularly good at narratively expressing traditional femininity; most of my female characters invariably end up as masculine characters that happen to have tits. In other words, if I don't have a specific reason to make a character female (e.g. approaching feminist themes through the lens of a character necessitates that said character be female, otherwise it runs the risk of being decidedly condescending), then I just make them male for the reason of aesthetic.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Damien - 10-31-2017
For FFXIV I just have the one male character, and being male myself it's pretty standard.
I've RPd in the past on female characters though - I began it partly because I was already on an RP realm and RPing, but if I wanted another character of the same race I already had a male of, I'd make the character female for some greater visual disparity, different animations etc. I'd like to think any of my characters could work well enough as either a male or female, they still have an identity that better suits one or the other.
On that note, I've never felt like there's a knack to playing a man or a woman and personally I don't think it need be anything complex. The fact that my male characters are male is no more relevant to who they are than it is to my female characters being female.Â
As for the risk of lashback you might get for being opposite to what you are in-game, if you think about it, there's just no getting around the fact that some people are just going to assume, which is fine. But for the sake of a good story it doesn't matter if the author is male or female, and so it shouldn't really matter who's behind the character.
This isn't as much of an issue if you don't get involved in romance or ERP, unless you don't mind. You could either be up front about it all the way and just tell people, or just tell no-one. Personally I'm in favour of the latter; the less people know about you OOCly, the more they know you as your character and not a player.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Cammi speed - 11-01-2017
While I haven't started RPing in XIV yet, I've RPed on various other things like IMVU and MSN to name a few. And I always choose female. But I never thoguht about it other than - Oh I can make characters in a 3D program.- I also draw and write comics so the character gender doesn't matter to me as I can write for both. But it's more fun and whatnot to make female characters in games for me. - alot of that has to do with males just suck when it comes to options for me. Plus I liek making cute characters that kick butt.-Â
hmm to make a clearer answer I've just always made females in games if I had the option. It's fun to make them up and get inside their head and exploring who they are. This is for any character, their gender doesn't REALLY matter. But they really do give females better animations and options for clothes. A female monk/miqo'te looks so much more cool to me.. almost like it was the default.
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Kaiverta - 11-01-2017
It's great to see that this topic is still going. I had no idea it would elicit such a big response.
Thanks, everyone~
RE: Your Gender vs. Your Character's - Alexandra Leyland - 02-01-2018
I'm a woman, and I usually play female characters. I had more men than women for a couple years, but now... literally every character I have in FFXIV is a woman, so maybe it was a phase?