Answering a question - playing the opposite gender

[gentleman john]

Back on the S&S forum, Atomic Ray posted the following. Rather than derail that thread with an off-topic discussion, I thought I'd set up another thread so that I could answer his questions and provide an opportunity for discussion. I shall post my response below this opening post. After that, it's a free for all.

Gentleman John...this next question is not some kind of attack or any such...first the observation, I have been RPG since 1976, at 11yrs old.

Since then I have experienced the following a dozen times or so...and in the last month three times...

Guys playing female characters

Purely on a personal note, the aesthetics of it are not my cupa to be sure.

I can grasp a twisted weirdo mutant, a brain in a jar, or a starfish alien...but playing a female is just nothing I would consider.

So my question, and it is strictly because this is what I do for a living...I collect data and create processes with the information...so it is second nature to ask questions that I do not have answers for.

"Why would you, why did you choose a female character?"

Again there is no right or wrong, and I am not judging...I am driven by pure scientific curiosity.

I am 100% all for whatever the player wants, just asking.

And you can tell me to steam off lol...I just find the selection process of any complex system interesting.

[gentleman john]

Tell you to "steam off"? No such luck! In the spirit of enquiry, I'll answer your question. The short answer is "Because I can." However, <Jedi>this isn't the answer you're looking for.</Jedi> So, you'll have to sit still for the loooong answer.

While I haven't been on the gaming scene as long as you have (I started in 1980 at the same age as you did), we've both got a lot of experience under our belts and have probably been around the block more than a few times - gaming wise at least! In my time I've played humans, elves, dwarves, mutants, superheroes, super villains (that was a wild MSH campaign!), wizards, warriors, rogues, barbarians, toons … If I haven't done the lot I'll be surprised. Twisted mutant weirdo? Check. Brain in a jar? Check. Starfish alien? Only if Hivers count.

I've also been a referee for a lot of games. As a result I've had to play NPCs of all stripes: both intelligent and non-intelligent. The NPCs, without a doubt, outnumber the PCs. After all, you can only play one PC at a time in a session. However, a referee has to deal with multiple NPCs. And, in all that time, some of my NPCs and some of my PCs have been female.

When I started out, I played in exclusively male groups. The players were male, the PCs were male and the NPCs were (with very few exceptions) male. Hell, I even went to an all male school (gender segregation is still big in the Northern Ireland education system). However, when I left my home for university, I was introduced to a wider world. I still kept up my gaming, but there were females! While the girls didn't outnumber the boys, there was a ratio of 2:1 boys:girls in the gaming groups at university. As a result, I found myself having to balance my refereeing more. I started including more female NPCs in my games, mainly as a response to the female PCs, and I got criticised if my female NPCs did not measure up to certain standards. I literally had to raise my game.

Post-university, I found the ratio of females to males in my gaming groups increasing, until there was one fateful group where I was one of two males in a group of seven! Ever heard of peer pressure? Well, when you're gaming with a majority female group (one of whom was my wife!), you get a lot of it. Ultimately, I ended up playing my first female PC (an AD&D enchantress, IIRC). This time I was really up against it. I was playing a female PC as a male in a group of female players.

Now, in most game systems it doesn't matter mechanically whether you are playing a male or female PC. Referring back to the wisdom of the Traveller LBBs: you can play any race or sex with the dice rolled. The scores rolled have no bearing. Where it matters is in the roleplaying. And that's the key to the matter: the roleplaying.

When I game, I game for recreation. I like to be somebody else, living in an imaginary world. I want to try on different personalities and see what fits. Today I want to be a half-orc barbarian. Tomorrow I want to be a tentacled mutant. The next day I'll be something else. To me, playing a female PC is just another set of clothes to try on. No more. No less. I am used to playing female characters, and it's not something I consider unusual.

Now, why did I decide on a female Vulcan engineer? Well, I'm an engineer for a start. I chose my career based on the encyclopaedias at my grandmother's house, and because I admired Lt Commander Montgomery Scott. It also helps that James Doohan's parents used to run a pharmacy in my home town (hint! hint! ). I chose a Vulcan because Vulcans are the alien race that makes Star Trek for me. Now, why a female? I chose to play a female because I wanted to add something to the character that was not stereotypical. Most people have an idea of how a Vulcan should be and will play accordingly. However, I'll lay odds that most of them will play a Vulcan male. Playing a Vulcan female gives me a handle on a character, makes it different and presents me with a chance to play something that isn't me.

[Atomic Ray]

Great response and thanks for not reading any insult as none was inferred or intended

The issue with female characters, I have found, is that weird things happen to the players when this situation comes about.

I was giving this thought earlier today and another consideration hit me...no gay characters either...again, not a problem in any way, just a choice that presents certain issues in given situations.

Now in my games I am 100% not interested and will derail any sexual directions...a simple "I am seeking female/male company for the night" will suffice...no need for success rolls or reputation boosts/falls...this is not an aspect I seek in a RPG.

There in is the problem. I have found that most guys portray a girl/woman/female character as the "virgin...giggle", the "whore", or the "angry man hater".

Not sure why, but this has been the case in my limited experience.

Your experience with so many female players is great, color me green...I can count female players on one hand...and by players I do not mean the misc girlfriend that shows up and paints her nails as we played, there were plenty of them.

I guess the curiosity comes from the way the female characters were played not so much that they were female.

I have had the unfortunate experience to see, the male player portraying the female character with the "oh I will seduce the guard to get him out of the way" or "I know an easy way to make some gold pieces"...as my stomach turned and I usually left the game.

So I am sure you can see my trepidation on a personal level.

But again, a great response and I expected the same.

Because I want to and it seems like a fun exercise in character play...works for me!

I do appreciate the time and consideration to respond with detail...quite useful and insightful.

PS
Yes, starfish alien was a Hiver

[Atomic Ray]

Was thinking about this some more...and as a GM I have doled out input from NPCs; including female ones to be sure...my worlds are not male centric or populated lol.

Maybe it is the theater arts training, growing up around women, and having three daughters...but I have always tried hard to not portray the females in one of the three stereo types, unless required by the situation.

I think perhaps it has been more of bad role playing than the actual gender choice that tainted my vision of player characters...good topic none the less...good stuff indeed.

PS
Bangor, County Down...

[gentleman john]

Aha. The Long Hole. Looking down the coast along the Ballyholme Road, from what is now called the Eisenhower Pier.

That only shows the edge of the town. If I had a way to attach photos, I'd show you a better view

Edit: Found a way. Only the photo is rather small. This is the view of the main seafront. The view you posted is to the left and behind the breakwater.

[gentleman john]

Anyway, back on track.

I can understand your reluctance, given the way that you have seen male players take on female characters. I can also understand how these gamers came to consider these stereotypes as being valid. Bad fantasy novels are full of those stereotypes, and they are the kind that would appeal to the more juvenile gamer given that those stereotypes are so easy to game. I do admit to reading John Norman - and worse! - in the past, but I like to think I've grown out of it

On the subject of PC sexuality, I have come across three gamers who have deliberately played LGB characters. In one case, it was totally expected given that the player in question was an out (and sometimes rather militant) lesbian. I don't think it counted as roleplaying for her. In the other cases, one was a reader of slash fiction, the other was a writer of slash fiction. Both of those players were female. Go figure.

Like you, I don't think the issue of sexuality in characters is an important one. It may colour in-game relationships, but that is about it as far as I am concerned. Again, it has no impact on the mechanics of the game. And this from a man who bought the "Book of Erotic Adventures". My games never go beyond PG-13 as nobody else has seen it as an issue worthy of table time.

[kipper]

I play in a lot of PbP games, and I'd estimate that about 50% of the time I choose a female character.

The main reason is mainly just to be different, most RPG players are male and most choose male characters. So I like to throw a female into the mix now and then. Variety for myself as well as for the party as a whole.

I honestly don't get super-into the "role" playing aspect, I'm more of a "gamer". My in-game posts are normally quite short and action-based, rather than dwelling on the character's feelings and motivations. I don't base my character's personalities on their gender so much as just the role I want to play in the party.

[gentleman john]

Given that there are only a handful of games where being female makes a difference (Runequest, Pendragon and FASA Star Trek for specific races spring immediately to mind), then it sounds like this decision is mainly a cosmetic thing as far as you're concerned. I would agree that a character's personality has more to do with their role in a party, as that is usually something that is given more attention in systems such as D&D and LL. Although, strictly speaking, that should be the other way round from the PC's point of view