Quote from: Levi Kornelsen;382630Oh, and there was a game where the ladies of the group got together and collectively played the barbarian in the joke-adventure Pleasure Prison Of The B'thuvian Demon Whore.  Which was hilarious.

LOL Yeah. Tom Lommel's a good friend of mine. He's playing the DM in the original vid, Fear of Girls, from which the module came to be. That's awesome, hilarious stuff.

Generally I discourage it with a couple of exceptions;

A> If everyone in the group is doing it. (and I mean everyone)

B> If the lady wants to do it.

The reason for B is I could understand that perhaps someone doesn't want to put up with (caricaturized) bullshit that they already put up with in real life.

Case in point, my lady wife played a game , she played her same sex. Because she wanted to be a suave pirate she got called a slut by the gamemaster before the second session.

(who rightfully stepped up and said he shouldn't have said that ,etc ,etc. But still it happened).

I could see not wanting to put up with that.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Do you?

Yes.

Quote from: Benoist;382550How often?

Every time I run a game, of course.

Seriously, are there referees out there who fill their worlds with nothing but same-gender characters?

And I've run one or two female player characters over the years, but the overwhelming majority were male.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Do you consider yourself any good at it?

Never had any complaints.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Why, or why not?

I start with wearing the appropriate undergarments, and the rest just kinda falls into place.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Do you know people who regularly play the opposite gender at the game table?

I have over the years.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Do they suck at it, or are they really good at it?

Most were fine, a couple were odd, one was disgusting.

Quote from: Benoist;382550What do you think about playing an opposite gender?

*shrug*.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Is it cool, or does it rub you the wrong way?

I don't have strong feelings about it one way or another, to be honest.

Except for the undergarments part. Provided they rub me the right way, of course.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Why?

It's a roleplaying game. Gender is part of the role. So play the role.

Playing female characters has never held any special allure for me as a player, but I try to fill my game-worlds with women who are believable and interesting. Usually I end up basing the characterization on a woman I know, such as a friend, a co-worker, or an ex - the latter work well for villains - and play that person as the character. It's a handy shortcut for me.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Do you? How often?

I don't think I've ever played a female PC.  However, I usually GM, so I've role-played quite a few female NPCs.

QuoteDo you consider yourself any good at it? Why, or why not?

I guess I'm probably about average.  I wouldn't say I'm particularly better or worse at playing females than I am at playing males.  For the level of role-playing and character development we're talking about, I don't think any deep or nuanced insight into female vs. male psyche is required (or beneficial).

QuoteDo you know people who regularly play the opposite gender at the game table?

Nope.

QuoteWhat do you think about playing an opposite gender? Is it cool, or does it rub you the wrong way? Why?

I'm cool with it unless they're creepy or weird about it, making a big deal of gender and sexuality all the time and trying to push an agenda.  Then it would annoy me.

Hey, I did play that nun in the Arkham Horror boardgame.  I had the shotgun, some whiskey, and a motorcycle.  And I was blessed.  It was pretty cool.

Quote from: Benoist;382550Role Playing the Opposite Gender. Men playing women characters, women playing men characters.

Do you? How often?

Rarely, but it's happened. Generally for me I'll do it if there's a fun twist involved that defines the character (i.e. the small woman who's actually a physical powerhouse) or if there's something fun in the game that requires the character be female (Burning Wheel has some pretty cool Lifepaths that require the character be female.)

QuoteDo you consider yourself any good at it? Why, or why not?

Not especially good, but not especially bad. Mostly, I'm okay to do it in fairly gender-neutral contexts, if that makes sense. In settings or situations where gender isn't a non issue. If it was a touchy issue for any reason, I probably wouldn't be that interested, for fear or botching it or trivializing an important issue. The other way I've played it is to have the woman PC simply be strange or odd enough that gender is a secondary issue.

The one exception to the above was a con game of Kagematsu, which I was hesitant about going, but turned out fun. However I did consciously dodge the sexual aspect of that game by making a character for whom that was not directly an issue--an elderly grandmother type.

Quote from: Silverlion;382588I usually prefer people play their own gender--because it allows me to keep pronouns straight.

This.  I have no problem with a GM playing female characters and have played through romances both as a GM running a female NPC and as a player with the GM running a female NPC, but it just seems to make things a lot easier in terms of remembering pronouns and visualizing characters if the players are playing characters that match their own sex.

I GM a lot, so of course, I play everything.  When a PC, I usually have male characters, but sometimes will have a female if a concept hits me or I randomly roll a female character.  I think all of my players have done it at one time or another, never met someone who was weird about it or was trying to push some social agenda.

Fundamentally, there´s no problem whatsoever. In reality, there are no good reasons to play an opposite gender, if the game is worth anything in the first place. From that it follows, that if someone wants to play the opposite gender, something is rotten:

1) the game, for making sex and sexual orientation anything even worth considering
or
2) the player, who was 'malicious' intents of making the game more about the sex and sexual orientation of the character than is warranted

Quote from: Settembrini;382772Fundamentally, there´s no problem whatsoever. In reality, there are no good reasons to play an opposite gender, if the game is worth anything in the first place. From that it follows, that if someone wants to play the opposite gender, something is rotten:

1) the game, for making sex and sexual orientation anything even worth considering
or
2) the player, who was 'malicious' intents of making the game more about the sex and sexual orientation of the character than is warranted

I disagree, to an extent. If you have a very impersonal, goal-orientated game, like a straight-up dungeon crawl, then I'd agree with you. Those games exist and can be a lot of fun.

But if the game has a lot of characterization, then gender becomes more of an issue. Men and women are different. Even in an action style game, a bad-ass action woman will have a different feel than her male counterpart. People enjoyed watching Charlie's Angels for a reason.

A player who wants to play a female character is, I agree, often "malicious." There are lots of dudes out there who want to play out their sexual fantasy of a Lesbian Stripper Ninja, or their hate fantasy of showing how bitchy all women are, or they only play women as characters in porn movies.

I like playing female characters, because they are a bit different. You have to play something "different" in a way that is much more real than playing an elf or robot.
But, as I've said before, I don't usually do it in live games. It feels a bit embarrassing and I get self-conscious. I generally reserve it for chat based games, where I have a bit of distance, and can feel more like an author writing a character.

Brian

Quote from: Benoist;382550Role Playing the Opposite Gender. Men playing women characters, women playing men characters.

Do you? How often?
Do you consider yourself any good at it? Why, or why not?

Do you know people who regularly play the opposite gender at the game table? Do they suck at it, or are they really good at it? What do you think about playing an opposite gender? Is it cool, or does it rub you the wrong way? Why?

I can't remember the last time I played a female PC, though I'm sure I did it some time. But I'm not interested. Nothign against it, though.

I have some girlsd who like more to play male characters when playing historical games where sexism may be a pain in the ass, for example, my last RQ Vikings game. Two of the girls wanted to play warrior types, so they got guys. Not a big deal. They played them right.

Over all, I have nothing against it, it usually goes well. It happens rarely, to be true.

Quote from: Settembrini;382772Fundamentally, there´s no problem whatsoever. In reality, there are no good reasons to play an opposite gender, if the game is worth anything in the first place. From that it follows, that if someone wants to play the opposite gender, something is rotten:

1) the game, for making sex and sexual orientation anything even worth considering
or
2) the player, who was 'malicious' intents of making the game more about the sex and sexual orientation of the character than is warranted

Oh please, there are plenty of good reasons to play a character of the opposite sex without there being something rotten.

My last female character was an elderly Bene Geserit in Dune. On the surface she acted like a sweet old lady but deep inside she was totally ruthless. Simple concept, but it worked.

Did I capture "elderly lady" to perfection? Probably not. Was the characterisation as shallow and amateurish as any of my male, alien and robotic characters? You bet!

Well, you can´t play a male Bene Gesserit, can you?

The rotten part is exactly the part where the game itself is "about characterisation", or characterisation plays a major role. It´s an unhealthy element in the game best downplayed, ignored or de-emphasised.

In such an envioronment, playing female characters (because that´s what we REALLY are talking about) is okay for men.

My ex-wife used to play male characters all the time. But eventually she came out as transgender and is now living as a male.

Quote from: Settembrini;382772In reality, there are no good reasons to play an opposite gender, if the game is worth anything in the first place. From that it follows, that if someone wants to play the opposite gender, something is rotten:

1) the game, for making sex and sexual orientation anything even worth considering

So you are saying that any game that has a setting where males and females have different social roles and expectations is rotten and not worth anything and that any historical or quasi-historical game setting should always have anachronistic indifference to the sex and sexual orientation of the people living in the setting?  And no game set in a historical or quasi-historical setting should exhibit enough "characterization" that it ever matters?  Huh?