Your Gender vs. Your Character's

[Kilieit]

(from here)

 

There's no pattern, haha. Aghurlal is unequivocally my main and has been for a while now, but before that, the character Medic is based on was my RP main in WoW for years. The halfling edition of Caiden has been my Pathfinder Society Organised Play main since 2007 (yes, I've been on the slow track since it was introduced as an option, why do you ask lol). Cinu-a is similarly based on a character I roleplayed regularly for about two years before beginning to play XIV.

 

As for my gender OOC? ...I'm nonbinary, which means I'm not strictly male or female. In a sense, none of my characters have the same gender as me, despite there being a variety (even Shuu - they're completely agender, and I am not).

 

I guess that's probably not the perspective you were looking for, but it's the one I have to offer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Nebbs]

Hi all.

 

I'm a woman and I have almost always RPed male characters. They're just more fun for me to write, they get better attention (my female characters always got bitchy attention), and they flow more nicely for me personally.

 

 

Switch the genders and that me. This has been my experience over decades of RP from Tabletop, BBS and MMOs. Even when I wrote stories my head-space was always better in the female view (imo). I would say my split is around 70/30 Fem/Male overall.

 

I play to RP more than anything else, it is a channel for my creativity and I feel folks should go with what works for them and not what others would want to impose on you (for whatever reasons). In fact my ideal RP would be 100% RP interactions and relationships, or close to that. Though because of game and organization stuff I have to OOC with folks.

 

I don't care what gender the other persons are in RL and don't expect me to fit any traditional RL type. I am what I am, And what I am needs no excuses

[Kaiverta]

Hi all.

 

I'm a woman and I have almost always RPed male characters. They're just more fun for me to write, they get better attention (my female characters always got bitchy attention), and they flow more nicely for me personally.

 

 

Switch the genders and that me. This has been my experience over decades of RP from Tabletop, BBS and MMOs. Even when I wrote stories my head-space was always better in the female view (imo). I would say my split is around 70/30 Fem/Male overall.

 

I play to RP more than anything else, it is a channel for my creativity and I feel folks should go with what works for them and not what others would want to impose on you (for whatever reasons). In fact my ideal RP would be 100% RP interactions and relationships, or close to that. Though because of game and organization stuff I have to OOC with folks.

 

I don't care what gender the other persons are in RL and don't expect me to fit any traditional RL type. I am what I am, And what I am needs no excuses

 

Hear, hear. Well said. Indeed, who cares what we are? We're here to have fun and be what we're not (even if we're female playing female or males playing males, we're still not playing who we are). And if we make a character who is exactly like we are IRL, that's okay, too. I would be fine with a 100% RP environment, too. RP is awesome fun.

[Zhavi]

I've played both. It always makes me happy to see someone play a character opposite of their irl gender and play it well. In my forum community we had a gentleman whose first character was female; we usually could tell when men were playing women and vice versa, but for him -- we thought he was a chick for over a year (he didn't have a mic/cam for a long time, so our voice chat get togethers were no help) before he finally said in chat one day, 'you guys know I'm a dude, right?' Ooooops.

 

We were quite embarrassed but lauded him for writing his character so well!

[Kaiverta]

(from here)

 

There's no pattern, haha. Aghurlal is unequivocally my main and has been for a while now, but before that, the character Medic is based on was my RP main in WoW for years. The halfling edition of Caiden has been my Pathfinder Society Organised Play main since 2007 (yes, I've been on the slow track since it was introduced as an option, why do you ask lol). Cinu-a is similarly based on a character I roleplayed regularly for about two years before beginning to play XIV.

 

As for my gender OOC? ...I'm nonbinary, which means I'm not strictly male or female. In a sense, none of my characters have the same gender as me, despite there being a variety (even Shuu - they're completely agender, and I am not).

 

I guess that's probably not the perspective you were looking for, but it's the one I have to offer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well that confused me a bit but so what? Thanks for a different perspective on things. I'm not asking for any one specific perspective, so it's all good.

[Kaiverta]

I've played both.  It always makes me happy to see someone play a character opposite of their irl gender and play it well.  In my forum community we had a gentleman whose first character was female; we usually could tell when men were playing women and vice versa, but for him -- we thought he was a chick for over a year (he didn't have a mic/cam for a long time, so our voice chat get togethers were no help) before he finally said in chat one day, 'you guys know I'm a dude, right?'  Ooooops.

 

We were quite embarrassed but lauded him for writing his character so well!

 

That's awesome.

[Ellmida]

I tend to play characters to my gender but there was a good 2-5 year period where I had nothing but male characters. I play the gender to my character rather than the reverse. I don't feel awkward rping against someone playing the opposite gender as long as the gender is portrayed respectfully and most people are really good at that.

[Crystal Chronicler]

I tend to play characters to my gender but there was a good 2-5 year period where I had nothing but male characters. I play the gender to my character rather than the reverse. I don't feel awkward rping against someone playing the opposite gender as long as the gender is portrayed respectfully and most people are really good at that.

 

I found that best way to portray the opposite gender is to play as a person first and foremost. They're gender is secondary and largely not all that important.

[Kaiverta]

I agree with Crystal, there. Play as a person and then gender-specific things can come later, as they need to.

[Aaron]

I'm a guy, I play a guy.

[Askier]

You know what they say:

 

MMORPG - Many men online role-playing girls

 

And

 

MMORPG - Many madains online role-playing guys

 

Lol. On topic though. Dudes. I roleplay mostly dudes cause am one and the woman psyche is a mystery that defies my attempts to probe and reveal the secrets there in. And the females I make do make tend towards evil cause apple and gardens and I'm not creative cause evil easier. Lol xp

[Kieron Lohengrin]

back when i rped a lady salad i made her as pretty as possible. also she suplexed bears and had smoldering anger issues

 

[Kaiverta]

You know what they say:

 

MMORPG - Many men online role-playing girls

 

And

 

MMORPG - Many madains online role-playing guys

 

Lol. On topic though. Dudes. I roleplay mostly dudes cause am one and the woman psyche is a mystery that defies my attempts to probe and reveal the secrets there in. And the females I make do make tend towards evil cause apple and gardens and I'm not creative cause evil easier. Lol xp

I actually didn't know that they said that but FFXIV was my first, and is essentially my only, MMORPG so it makes sense that I wouldn't. It's awesome.

 

Thanks for an entertaining reply.

 

I've tried evil characters but I always feel bad for hurting innocent characters so I fail >>

[Edvyn]

i'm like, some kind of formless energy being but i switch between male and female characters almost on the fly - in this particular game i play a chick, but in other games i've played a dude and in tabletops i try to alternate between campaigns to keep a sort of ratio going

 

my character gender choice in MMOs in particular is a matter of aesthetics, and in some cases whatever the hell my friends tell me when i ask which of two characters i've made looks cooler

 

at times i'll have a story in mind already, and that story might be a dude's story, might be a chick's story, it all changes with my whims - change is good

[Firefly]

I honestly love RPing AI.

 

But I never get a chance to these days =(

 

Serious answer: Both. I tend to create female characters as my 'mains', purely because I find it quicker to relate to them; but as a GM, I create a lot of side-characters for my plots/campaigns, and they're coin-toss f/m. I treat them with as much depth as my mains, but I usually don't RP them as much.

[Ellmida]

I tend to play characters to my gender but there was a good 2-5 year period where I had nothing but male characters. I play the gender to my character rather than the reverse. I don't feel awkward rping against someone playing the opposite gender as long as the gender is portrayed respectfully and most people are really good at that.

 

I found that best way to portray the opposite gender is to play as a person first and foremost. They're gender is secondary and largely not all that important.

Yeah that was probably worded wrong initially. Worded better, we have the same feelings about it.

[xelliexell]

I play both male and female characters, and I'm female in RL. My last main was male (with my primary alt being female), and my current main is female (with my primary alt being male.)

 

My male characters tend to get a lot more attention. My male characters tend to get hit on more, and complete strangers are more likely to send me a random /tell with a positive comment about their appearance. One time I was crafting at the guild with my male alt, his search tag totally blank and wearing default crafting clothes, and someone just started RPing with him, haha.

 

Part of that may be because I inherently make males that I find attractive and enjoy looking at, while my female character's appearance is more closely tied to their concept. I designed my main to be somewhat plain/cute, because that's what I envisioned for her.

 

Playing each gender is a different experience, and it's interesting to note the disparities! I can't really comment on how "convincing" I am in playing a male, but I strive to make my posts entertaining for my RP partner/s regardless. I just try to make sure my RP partner is having just as much fun as I am, and keep their enjoyment in mind with almost all RP decisions that I make in a given scene. It's a collaboration, after all!

[Maril]

I am a woman irl, I currently play one of my gender (My main) and two guys (My main two alts). 

Bar some initial struggles with remembering to write the right pronouns, I haven't had much difficulty immersing myself into a different gender role. I like the personalities they've become, completely on par with how I like and have liked my female characters of the past and present. 

To me it does not matter if a person doesn't play the gender they are, I don't tend to make assumptions - just like I don't assume that someone is an assassin irl because they happen to roleplay one, or even condone evil actions etc. IC is IC and OOC is OOC. What I do end up doing however, if referring to people oocly with the gender of their character (because it's easier) - It's a super old habit, and persists even when I know people are the opposite gender.

 

I have however experienced multiple times that people, upon discovering that I am a female (It's not something I go out of my way to hint at, or to hide.) have decided to basically overnight drop the roleplay. It severely sucks, because it's a lot of wasted efforts, time and plots, but at the end of the day it's also something that's probably alright. I mean, if they were in a mindset where my ooc gender plays a role in their interactions with me, by how I figure things, they probably weren't there just for the roleplay - and I have no desire to hang around people who want to cross the IC/OOC line like that.

[QalliFlower]

I'm over thirty and generally like playing characters who are well into their adulthood.  That tends to skew me toward male characters simply because you can make them look that old more easily.

[Dravus]

I'm a guy in the real world and the characters that I play are men as well. If I play a female then it's usually for the sake of a temporary plot/background NPC but given how difficult it is to actually create temporary characters on Balmung I don't really bother.

[zaviire]

I'll skip over the mucky issue of my own gender because ain't no one got time for that. That said, I almost always write male characters. I'm not sure exactly why; I part of it might be that I find them easier to design. I do have a few woman characters under my belt, but I've rarely if ever gotten as into them as I have the men I've written.

 

It might have more to do with the type of character that I enjoy writing the most: the tall, dark, and broody guys dressed down in either pinstripes or leather...? Depending on setting and tone, of course. (Leonnaux is of the former variety. I think. He's a good deal more bookish than I guess the archetype usually implies, but he's got the brood down-pat, I think.) When I try to do it with my woman characters, it usually comes off as... I dunno, kind of fake? They fall kind of flat, but I don't think it's for lack of trying. I've written a good share of woman characters who fit that mold, but either because of the overarching story that I was trying to tell or whatever else, I couldn't really get into them. Maybe the trick to writing more would be to find a stereotypically-female character archetype that I enjoy.

 

What I do end up doing however, if referring to people oocly with the gender of their character (because it's easier) - It's a super old habit, and persists even when I know people are the opposite gender.

 

I do this too -- but I try to be better about it! I guess for me it's probably a little bit because I associate names with pronouns; if I see a character name then it's kind of like an automatic thing. Thankfully with people I'm close to OOC I usually have (or pick) a separate name to refer to them by, so it's more of an issue with people I don't talk to (or about) OOC very often.

[Kaiverta]

All your responses are great. Thanks very much for joining the discussion. :3

[Kaiverta]

I'm a guy in the real world and the characters that I play are men as well. If I play a female then it's usually for the sake of a temporary plot/background NPC but given how difficult it is to actually create temporary characters on Balmung I don't really bother.

 

 

Fair enough. I've never had the privelege of RPing on Balmung but by all accounts, it seems like a decent server.

[Kallera]

It's funny, we have a shortage of male characters in our RP group!

 

My character is female, though I sometimes wonder what the difference would be if I plaged the other gender, maybe be a bit less worried about social standing, a bit more "energetic" with a more "rouse and rile" method of cheering people up.

[Kerrath]

I'm male and my character is male. I've only ever RPed as a male character as well. Before I got into RP, my character was fantasia'd female a few times. 

 

There are two primary reasons why my character is male--one is that my girlfriend wanted our characters to be a couple, and the other is that I'm not terribly interested in emulating sexuality from a female POV & I think sexuality is a major component of character development.

 

Other than that, though--I do have a little interest in writing a female character. I'm a huge fan of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I think that there is an aesthetic to a female action hero who combines the best features of masculinity and femininity to create a hero that can inspire anyone. A hero who nurtures their comrades when they're weak but pushes them harder at the same time. Someone who is simultaneously patient but decisive. I really like that as an aesthetic.

 

If my girlfriend quit FF14 or something i'd consider playing a female character. Though, on the other hand, if she quit FF14, I probably would too, to play whatever she went off to. (unless it was another moba, in which case she can fuck off and play by herself)