Cross-gender Roleplaying - by Arislyn on 14:17 20 Aug 2004
I found this to be a fairly entertaining article about cross-gender roleplaying (i.e. a man playing a female character or a woman playing a male character).
It's weird. When I play on messageboards, I have no problems going back and forth between male and female characters and I think that is because it is a written venue. I, personally, don't have to actually "be" the character; I'm simply writing about him/her.
However, when I'm doing tabletop, I almost exclusively play female characters. I think this is because in a face-to-face situation, I fall more into the "acting" category of roleplaying style. In order for me to get into the character, I have to think and feel like the character...and I've never been a man so...(Of course, I've never been a willowy, elven enchantress either.)
What is kind of hard for me to work out, though, is the fact that in order to write well, I need to feel and think like my character, too but I have no problems in that medium. I think it may be because I can write, decide if that is correct, re-write, edit and write again until my heart's content. You can't exactly do that in tabletop.
Now, I find that I can't roleplay at all in an electronic medium that offers avatars, like an MMORPG. I find that with the visuals, I can't let me imagination run like it should. I can't get away from the mechanics of the game and just become the character, so male or female just doesn't matter. Heh. In that case, I just play whichever looks cooler.
I found this to be a fairly entertaining article about cross-gender roleplaying (i.e. a man playing a female character or a woman playing a male character).
It's weird. When I play on messageboards, I have no problems going back and forth between male and female characters and I think that is because it is a written venue. I, personally, don't have to actually "be" the character; I'm simply writing about him/her.
However, when I'm doing tabletop, I almost exclusively play female characters. I think this is because in a face-to-face situation, I fall more into the "acting" category of roleplaying style. In order for me to get into the character, I have to think and feel like the character...and I've never been a man so...(Of course, I've never been a willowy, elven enchantress either.)
What is kind of hard for me to work out, though, is the fact that in order to write well, I need to feel and think like my character, too but I have no problems in that medium. I think it may be because I can write, decide if that is correct, re-write, edit and write again until my heart's content. You can't exactly do that in tabletop.
Now, I find that I can't roleplay at all in an electronic medium that offers avatars, like an MMORPG. I find that with the visuals, I can't let me imagination run like it should. I can't get away from the mechanics of the game and just become the character, so male or female just doesn't matter. Heh. In that case, I just play whichever looks cooler.
Cross-gender Roleplaying - by Brad on 19:30 21 Aug 2004
I've never played online, but I can play a female NPC as the GM but I cannot play a female character as a PC. I guess as a GM I don't identify with the character that much.
I've never played online, but I can play a female NPC as the GM but I cannot play a female character as a PC. I guess as a GM I don't identify with the character that much.
Cross-gender Roleplaying - by din on 01:24 22 Aug 2004
I play either male or female .. most of the strong character traits usually aren't based on gender, at least not how I play them . The only time they are is if I'm playing a stereotypical character 'dumb blonde', 'valley girl', 'frat guy' etc, but that makes it even easier.
NPC are about the same, I usually have motives worked out for them, either something they want to get across to the characters or a defining trait. ie, poor but proud or cynical. If I can find a statement or action from a NPC that conveys that quickly it is usually all the character development I feel I need to do. In a pinch I just base the character off of somebody I know that the players don't.
I think the only two hurdles for me playing a female character are the voice. My voice is deep enough not to be mistaken for a woman's by any stretch, and a M.Python falsetto would just be silly. The other is having male players with male characters having there characters hitting on/flirting with my female characters. It sometimes leads to those 'If somebody walked in right now and heard this conversation there would be rumors'
I think i have the opposite problem than Ari, when writing I have the more difficult time with female characters, because I'm explaining not only what they are doing but usually the narrative has why and there is a gender POV that is sometimes hard to recognize or explain.
I play either male or female .. most of the strong character traits usually aren't based on gender, at least not how I play them
. The only time they are is if I'm playing a stereotypical character 'dumb blonde', 'valley girl', 'frat guy' etc, but that makes it even easier.NPC are about the same, I usually have motives worked out for them, either something they want to get across to the characters or a defining trait. ie, poor but proud or cynical. If I can find a statement or action from a NPC that conveys that quickly it is usually all the character development I feel I need to do. In a pinch I just base the character off of somebody I know that the players don't.
I think the only two hurdles for me playing a female character are the voice. My voice is deep enough not to be mistaken for a woman's by any stretch, and a M.Python falsetto would just be silly. The other is having male players with male characters having there characters hitting on/flirting with my female characters. It sometimes leads to those 'If somebody walked in right now and heard this conversation there would be rumors'
I think i have the opposite problem than Ari, when writing I have the more difficult time with female characters, because I'm explaining not only what they are doing but usually the narrative has why and there is a gender POV that is sometimes hard to recognize or explain.