Kaiverta

different kinds of drama. heterosexual rp might open up to thirsty boys who want to be your girlfriend ooc in addition to ic. Ohh, so you mean if she, being a woman, plays a homosexual male, who gets involved with another homosexual male, then hopefully that other character is played by a homosexual male, or a girl, thus lessening her chances of being sought after OOC?

Ha! Wow, that's so strange. I've seen two women (who were married IRL) who played two guys in a gay couple. Nothing wrong with it - it's just strange. I guess it's just like hetero people playing a guy or a girl in a hetero couple. How is there drama with hetero romance but not with homosexual romance? People are people regardless. I'd like to know how she avoided the drama, though... That's always nice.

Thanks SicketySix for your order!

Thanks for the answer, guys. Knowing what MOBA means, I can say that I don't see too much of a point in that sort of game. There are obviously heaps of people who like them, but... not for me. By using the title 'Your gender vs. your character', just meant to ask if your gender matches your character's, or if you switch it up, and if so why, and if people have given you grief over it. I used to get grief in the past in my first MuD I ever played, but I think that was because we were all younger and more emotional, and perhaps it wasn't as widely accepted that people play characters of the opposite gender - or at least not as widely known. Yep, I definitely play male characters because I just 'like to' a lot more. It helps that I can design my own characters too, so they'll always be appealing to me aesthetically because I'm not limited by a finite selection of facial, hair, body, etc options.

Shortened it so I don't spread my answer too long down the page. That was a really interesting read. I wouldn't say that it came across as particularly feminine or masculine, but it was intellectual, and sensible. I have no idea why I feel more comfortable playing males, even though I'm a female. Maybe it does have something to do with the fact that my female characters often got belittled by other female characters, but likewise, I feel like that's not a sufficient enough reason to cause my cessation of female-playing overall. If I liked female characters, I'd play them regardless. Male characters are just more relaxing (to use your words), and words for them flow more freely. I'd love to know the psychology behind it. I don't fall into the trap, per se, but I do respond to people as if they're the same gender as their characters--Male character's player gets called 'he, him, his', and vice versa), unless I already know otherwise, or they tell me otherwise. I just feel like it helps keep things from getting confusing. Ha! Hysterical. It's nice to see that there are people who stick to their gender, as well as people who can easily branch out and play the opposite. There's a good mix of players here. What is MOBA, by the way (forgive my ignorance--I usually stick to console games)?

Commission list updated! Thanks Edvyn for being my first customer on the FF forums~

I WAS listening to Linkin Park pretty solidly, but right now I keep looping FFXV's soundtrack because I love it so muuuch. 4pE2odTbrKI

Wooow, your art is awesome. Very dynamic.

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

That's how I'd use the word 'immersed' too, yep.

I agreee. And look at the girl with the freckles and crazy hair. Aaah, so adorable.

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

Oh wooow, she's absolutely precious. <3

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 >>

I can wholly immerse myself in my character. I'm a creator through and through - from my art to my writing. I don't often have to think of how my character would react because he's so ingrained in me (I have been playing this particular one for about seventeen years) that he writes himself. It's really rewarding. You also have to make sure that you can disconnect IC from OOC, though. If something happens to your character, it isn't happening to you. And that's easy for me to do. I think it comes from years of practice and the fact that I'm an old lady these days lol. To what Firefly said... I completely know my character, inside and out.

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

That's awesome.

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.

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.

How is that surprising these days?! Honestly, the only times I see that happening is when they had intentions to develop something IRL. I did get rather stunned when I found a few guildies on WoW were women playing guys because they played it pretty solidly, but it's often best to assume the chick is a dude until proven otherwise, and even better so if one has a more lecherous mindset of trying to progress something IRL and instead just trying to be your friend. Personally I simply refer to anyone by their characters gender until I hear them in voice. Perhaps my quote there didn't have enough background. I was referring to a time in Tera when I played an Elin. For a few months I was in a guild but didn't use voice chat. So when I joined everyone was surprised. Not that its fun to do it intentionally but its amusing and satisfactory when you can play a character well enough of the opposite gender. Oh yes, I do the same thing. Unless it is stated otherwise, I refer to the person (if communicating OOCly) to the same gender as his or her character. I'd like to RP with you sometime and witness your awesome female skillz for myself. I just... need to get back into the game. >>

That sounds DREADFULLY adorable. I'd love to interact with you. Hopefully I'll return to the game soon and can do so. Welcome back!

Well said. We're all here to write stories that essentially have nothing to do with US as the writers. Some people do still get emotional and overreact to OOC things that really shouldn't affect their IC situations, but all in all, it's a positive thing.

Awesome reply. I agree about the dwarves. And maybe what you said rings true for me, too. Maybe subconsciously, my base self prefers to look at a male character than a female one. Being an artist, though, I think it doesn't matter much consciously at least. I love looking at either gender. If the design is well done, it doesn't matter if it's a he or a she.

ERA'SAE: That is an awesome story! Ha. Your poor friend. It's a compliment that people still thought he was a woman when he said that he wasn't, enough to speak about their female problems to him, but also very awkward. So interesting! It seems like more female characters in MMOs are played by males than by females. In the MuDs I play, the female characters are almost always played by females. I agree with what Niamh said. As long as there's no malicious intent behind choosing the opposite gender, then it doesn't matter what/who you play. It's great to be able to explore different personas that are impossible to properly explore in real life. I've been told by very womanly RPers (who were my friends at the time, and married to men) that I play killer guys, so I think that helped reinforce my decision to keep playing them. It's not a conscious effort to NOT choose females... I just always go straight for the male. I also prefer storylines in movies, games, and anime that are propelled by a male for the main character and whoever (male, or female, or all) for supporting characters. It just appeals to me more.

Thanks everyone for the answers so far. All very interesting reads. Nothing wrong with playing a character of the opposite gender! There's no need for people to have an issue with it, but I think when they do, maybe some of them sort of bond to the person playing the character, as if that person is the character, too. In some ways, we are our characters because -some- parts of us do shine through them, but it's not to the point where people can be disappointed if the person behind the screen isn't the same as the character on it. I had fun playing my female character waaaay back but was inspired to give a male character a try by... I actually can't remember what it was. That first character didn't go anywhere, but then I watched Beyblade in 2000 () and Kai Hiwatari totally floated my boat, so I created a character based off him. Over the years, Krice (my silver-haired OC in my avatar image) has developed to become his own man who doesn't resemble Kai even one iota. Krice has essentially played himself throughout the years. I haven't made a female character since him, actually. And wow, Cocotsu, it sounded like you totally described my OC right there. Minus the god-modding. <3 I haven't RPed in MMOs before so I haven't had the pleasure of hearing people's shock when discovering that your female character is played by a guy, but that sounds hilarious.