I think it's fairly traditional for players to swap genders for their characters so playing someone with ambiguous gender, no gender, nonconforming gender, trans, or intersex would be something I'd like to see more of. Â People who are straight play as gay and gay people play straight. Â People roleplay different races routinely.
The key is being respectful and not using it as the sole reason for the characters existence and their central motivating feature, in my opinion anyway. Â I read a lot of young adult books and one of my pet peeves is the "issue" stories. Â Be it gay or trans or class or race or mental/physical disability, it is almost always the focus of the story. Â There wouldn't even be a story without that focus.
I much prefer stories where the character has something but it's not the star. Take Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. Â She is missing part of her arm and has made for herself a working mechanical had. Â It's never directly part of the story, we are left to wonder how she lost it and how she made her prosthetic. It does not get in her way and she does not seek sympathy or whatever else.
Issue stories should exist, I think. Â They are important. Â But I don't think they should be the ONLY stories told or the ONLY focus of roleplay.
The key is being respectful and not using it as the sole reason for the characters existence and their central motivating feature, in my opinion anyway. Â I read a lot of young adult books and one of my pet peeves is the "issue" stories. Â Be it gay or trans or class or race or mental/physical disability, it is almost always the focus of the story. Â There wouldn't even be a story without that focus.
I much prefer stories where the character has something but it's not the star. Take Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. Â She is missing part of her arm and has made for herself a working mechanical had. Â It's never directly part of the story, we are left to wonder how she lost it and how she made her prosthetic. It does not get in her way and she does not seek sympathy or whatever else.
Issue stories should exist, I think. Â They are important. Â But I don't think they should be the ONLY stories told or the ONLY focus of roleplay.
Carne armum ergo sum.
