Cross gender roleplay

[JimB]

I mostly see people crossplaying online. The vast majority of it is men playing hot, bisexual or gay women. I don't think the general community has a problem with it, because I never see anyone complaining about it, but it sure bothers me just how badly it's being done. Oh, well.

What's FATAL?

Here [http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14567.phtml] ya go.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Simple, keep the facial hair... Wait this is about Cross Gender Roleplay? I thought this was about cross gender cosplay.

Is this still an issue? I certainly don't think so.

 

[Lieju]

I don't see why this would be an issue in any way?

To begin with, in many games with RPG-elements you might be forced to play as a guy, or the female designs are so horrible I'd rather go with a guy.

It's not like I have a problem playing a guy generally speaking but if there are cool female characters available I'll go for that since so often I am forced to play a guy.

If you mean DnD or something, again, why not? I especially don't necessarily play a character that's supposed to be like me, or even some fantasy-fulffillment, but rather interesting.

If you mean sexual stuff, again, why not? I guess the only way it could be wrong is if you purposefully lie about yourself and pretend you're in real life something you're not, but if it doesn't harm anyone...

I sort of accidentally pose as a guy on many forums I guess, since many people assume you're a guy automatically.

It's been years, but I actively lied about that on a one forum once.
I never mentioned my gender, but people assumed, and I never corrected them, and since there was some homophobia there as well, I just ended up actively pretending to be a guy so I could talk about how some female characters were hot in peace.

 

[Goven]

Edit: Ah, a bit late to post it seems.

[sub]*It should be noted that extreme sexual deviancy is totally ok for characters if you're playing FATAL. Though if you're playing FATAL, then what the fuck is wrong with you you sick bastard?[/sub]

out of curiousity? whats FATAL? Is that a term in tabletop RPG's or something? (Or Im just being dense haha...) checked it up online and all I get is the definition of the word fatal.

It's an infamously horrible tabletop RPG, I won't give a full description but instead give you some facts about it:

Rolling for stats is 10d100/5-1 (roll a hundred sided die ten times, sum the results, divide by five and subtract one)

All seventeen stats have four sub stats, meaning more than one hundred rolls

At one point it calls for a roll of 1d10,000,000

It OUT RIGHT FORBIDS characters not being white

Urination is a skill

Fruit growing from your genitals is a status effect

Determining if a characters pregnant requires QUADRATIC FORMULAS

It presents a ludicrously outdated psychology theory as fact (four temperaments)

Charactar sheets are ELEVEN PAGES LONG

Page two consists of the following measurements: manhood length, manhood circumference, anal circumference potential, vaginal circumference potential, vaginal depth potential, areola diameter, nipple length, cup size, tongue size, hymen resistance, areola hue, foot size, fist circumference, head circumference, handedness

During combat you must roll to avoid ACCIDENTALLY RAPING YOUR ENEMY

Items include: Chastity Belt of Cursed Impregnation: The wearer is knocked up. The difference between this and the uncursed version is that the cursed version always makes the unborn child a girl. Really.
(weapon) of Ravishing: The user will occasionally try to rape random women with the weapon, which will somehow impregnate them with another rapist-weapon (that kills them upon giving "birth" to it).
Armor of Jewy Jewbacca: "Whosoever dons this armor will acquire a nose twice the size and a manhood half the size. Further, the wearer will become extremely greedy and fight to the death for one silver piece. Finally, the wearer acquires 2 inches of hair all over their body, resulting in halving their Facial Charisma and Bodily Attractiveness. While hairy, the wearer must bathe every 1d6 hours or smell foul."

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Hang on, when you say "roleplay" are you talking about roleplaying in RPG computer games, tabletop roleplay, or bedroom roleplay?

(I'm guessing it's one of the first two, but hey, might as well cover all the bases.)

Because each of those could get you very different answers.

The first two. This is the games forum after all. The third one would kind of go somewhere else.

Well, this is probably the most moderate responses for this topic in a while. Seen the same thing discussed in a few other forums, and....its just cringe worthy. Between the 'u must be gay if u play a girl' and the dozens of questions about manliness and statements lack of it. Not to mention the 'why would anyone want to be a girl?' crap.

Its so common its hard to pick which are serious and which are shit stirring..


Anyway, on topic, I dont see the issue with it. Pick a character which matches the story you're telling for your time with the game. If that character isnt a reflection of yourself in person....who cares?

I have to admit I am a little surprised by the response as well. I was imagining all kinds of negative comments, but people seem melo to the idea and that is kind of nice.

 

[Dalisclock]

Don't see the problem, unless you're going on a dating website and pretending to be something you're not. That's just not cool.

I'll play either gender, though when I play Saints Row 2-4, I usually play a female. When you have a character creator and clothing options that robust, why the hell not?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

At first I read this as cosplay but I take it you mean playing as a female character in a game? I'll go with male if I have the choice. But I don't mind playing as a female character at all. Jade, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, Heather Mason, Lara Croft, Catwoman, the girls from Kuon and Fatal Frame, whatever.

 

[Objectable]

[sub]*It should be noted that extreme sexual deviancy is totally ok for characters if you're playing FATAL. Though if you're playing FATAL, then what the fuck is wrong with you you sick bastard?[/sub]

out of curiousity? whats FATAL? Is that a term in tabletop RPG's or something? (Or Im just being dense haha...) checked it up online and all I get is the definition of the word fatal.

Imagine playing a game. That game is based off of Aristocrats jokes.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Simple, keep the facial hair... Wait this is about Cross Gender Roleplay? I thought this was about cross gender cosplay.

Is this still an issue? I certainly don't think so.

Well some forms of roleplay would involve cosplay. I had a friend who did some live action roleplay. I think it was called dagart.

I don't see why this would be an issue in any way?

To begin with, in many games with RPG-elements you might be forced to play as a guy, or the female designs are so horrible I'd rather go with a guy.

It's not like I have a problem playing a guy generally speaking but if there are cool female characters available I'll go for that since so often I am forced to play a guy.

If you mean DnD or something, again, why not? I especially don't necessarily play a character that's supposed to be like me, or even some fantasy-fulffillment, but rather interesting.

If you mean sexual stuff, again, why not? I guess the only way it could be wrong is if you purposefully lie about yourself and pretend you're in real life something you're not, but if it doesn't harm anyone...

I sort of accidentally pose as a guy on many forums I guess, since many people assume you're a guy automatically.

It's been years, but I actively lied about that on a one forum once.
I never mentioned my gender, but people assumed, and I never corrected them, and since there was some homophobia there as well, I just ended up actively pretending to be a guy so I could talk about how some female characters were hot in peace.

I can't speak for your experiences directly, but I think there is a element of the double standard. Back in the day the rule was it's OK for girls to want to be boys (because who wouldn't want to be a boy), but if a boy wants to be a girl there is something wrong with them (Because who wants to be a girl). At least that is how it looked from my angel. Most of the debates I watched on the topic of CGRP always assumed it was a male playing a female character because back then we almost never considered that girls would like D&D.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I wish we had some more specified parameters to answer in the OP question, but the short answer is: it's fine by me and everyone I've known.

Table toppers I play with frequently play both genders depending on what they want their character to be like in the game and in the group. In single player - who cares but you? In MMOs it is pretty common.

The only caveat for me was, when I was running an RP guild in an MMO, the cross gender player had to disclose that's what they were doing to the group so that, in the event of any RP romances (which were only permitted to members who were not minors - we were a 20 something average aged guild, but there were a few 'kids' of 13 etc. that I basically just had to watch out for in case a bad apple ever wandered in) turning into something more substantive there wasn't a "surprise I'm really a -guy/girl-" situation that might result in problems for the people, the group, etc. No one ever had a problem with the rule or didn't understand the reason behind it.

 

[HalfTangible]

I like to roleplay female characters more than male, since it's easier to separate myself from them and craft an original character and avoid a self-insert. 'course, I mostly play free form play-by-post rpgs, so (edit: switching gender)'s not even close to an issue for me. (Heck, I control more female characters in my most recent games than male).

Predictably, the less I've written male characters the worse I've gotten at it, so then i write more female, and then I get worse at male, and get stuck in a loop and... this has nothing to do with the OP question.

Unless you're in a chat service that's meant to be your real self, I don't see any problem with it. For MMOs and other forms of online roleplaying, it's okay. If your character gets involved in a romance plot, the least you should do is disclose what gender you are IRL, especially if the distinction between character and player is blurred. It's like being polygamous IRL - it only MIGHT be a problem if you tell them before the romance starts, it'll DEFINITELY be a problem if you wait until after you've been banging for six months.

 

[DEAD34345]

It seems ridiculous to make an issue of it to me.

An average guy roleplaying as a murderous barbarian, or a space fighter pilot, or a magic elf is all perfectly fine as long as they don't try to play as a *gasp* giiiirrrrllll!?

I vaguely remember a time when people really were slightly worried about things like World Of Warcraft because people could falsely represent themselves when playing the game, but everyone seemed to get over it pretty quick. I'd only expect it to be an issue at all these days in more sexist places than where I am, or with extremely old/technophobic people who don't really understand the situation to begin with.

 

[bishopzz]

It is strange to me that people have a problem with it. I mean it's cool to play a Blood Elf Mage, as long as it has the same gender as you? I guess some people are just a little squeamish about that kind of thing.

 

[Pink Gregory]

To be honest, I haven't played a single character-creation game yet in which the choice between male and female is actually distinct enough for it to be an issue.

Does it need to be distinct? Depends on the context of the game, being treated differently by NPCs or whatever isn't ultimately going to affect the meat and potatoes mechanics.

It'd be like trying to make puberty a game mechancic without being deliciously abstract about it.

Sure, you could create a vidyagaem *story* concerning these things, but to me that's only half a house.

 

[DementedSheep]

Hmm? seems pretty normal to me. You don't really have a lot in common with the experiences of most game protagonist anyway. I'm not, for example a mindlinked plant person who dropped full grown off a fucking tree so I don't see how playing a male plant person is any weirder.

The only time I find it a bit strange is when it's a second life type game which is more social media then they pretend to be the opposite gender.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Depends on what I'm doing:

Creative writing: I tend not to write my character's actions according to their gender.

Gaming: Given the option, I will always play as a female. I'm a guy on a daily basis, I play games for fun and escapism. It's a nice change of pace and it's always interesting to view things from a different perspective. Plus females are underepresented in gaming in my opinion.

Cosplay: Get in a dress? Sign me the fuck up. I refuse to feel shame for outdated perceptions of what people should/shouldn't wear. Besides, I'm doing it for fun...isn't that what cosplay is all about?

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Depends on what I'm doing:

Creative writing: I tend not to write my character's actions according to their gender.

Gaming: Given the option, I will always play as a female. I'm a guy on a daily basis, I play games for fun and escapism. It's a nice change of pace and it's always interesting to view things from a different perspective. Plus females are underepresented in gaming in my opinion.

Cosplay: Get in a dress? Sign me the fuck up. I refuse to feel shame for outdated perceptions of what people should/shouldn't wear. Besides, I'm doing it for fun...isn't that what cosplay is all about?

It is very hard for me to imagine a way I could cosplay as a female character and get away with it. It would be neat be able to throw on a dress and not have to care about outdated perceptions and whatnot, but I don't know how that could actually work in my real life.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Depends on what I'm doing:

Creative writing: I tend not to write my character's actions according to their gender.

Gaming: Given the option, I will always play as a female. I'm a guy on a daily basis, I play games for fun and escapism. It's a nice change of pace and it's always interesting to view things from a different perspective. Plus females are underepresented in gaming in my opinion.

Cosplay: Get in a dress? Sign me the fuck up. I refuse to feel shame for outdated perceptions of what people should/shouldn't wear. Besides, I'm doing it for fun...isn't that what cosplay is all about?

It is very hard for me to imagine a way I could cosplay as a female character and get away with it. It would be neat be able to throw on a dress and not have to care about outdated perceptions and whatnot, but I don't know how that could actually work in my real life.

Understandably, it's different for every person and not everybody will feel comfortable. Plus I can completely understand if it might portray a confusing image to friends and family. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Perhaps this is just me, but you also don't necessarily have to get away with it in the sense of "looking good", sure that can be a personal factor for others, but I'm in it for the fun aspect. I just don't think that it's much of a big deal and therefore don't take it too seriously, but I can understand if others might think otherwise.

Cosplay to me, is about personal expression by showing dedication/love/passion or care for a character and the intricacies of costume design. It can also just be about goofing around with friends and enjoying the ridiculousness of the situation. Regardless, I like to think that there's a character for everyone.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Depends on what I'm doing:

Creative writing: I tend not to write my character's actions according to their gender.

Gaming: Given the option, I will always play as a female. I'm a guy on a daily basis, I play games for fun and escapism. It's a nice change of pace and it's always interesting to view things from a different perspective. Plus females are underepresented in gaming in my opinion.

Cosplay: Get in a dress? Sign me the fuck up. I refuse to feel shame for outdated perceptions of what people should/shouldn't wear. Besides, I'm doing it for fun...isn't that what cosplay is all about?

It is very hard for me to imagine a way I could cosplay as a female character and get away with it. It would be neat be able to throw on a dress and not have to care about outdated perceptions and whatnot, but I don't know how that could actually work in my real life.

Understandably, it's different for every person and not everybody will feel comfortable. Plus I can completely understand if it might portray a confusing image to friends and family. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Perhaps this is just me, but you also don't necessarily have to get away with it in the sense of "looking good", sure that can be a personal factor for others, but I'm in it for the fun aspect. I just don't think that it's much of a big deal and therefore don't take it too seriously, but I can understand if others might think otherwise.

Cosplay to me, is about personal expression by showing dedication/love/passion or care for a character and the intricacies of costume design. It can also just be about goofing around with friends and enjoying the ridiculousness of the situation. Regardless, I like to think that there's a character for everyone.

I was mostly talking about getting away with it in the sense of avoiding abuse insults and other bits of unpleasantness. That is what I imagine happening, but at the same time I do exaggerate and blow things out of proportion in my mind. My perception of what would happen may just be skewed or clouded by things.

 

[BanicRhys]

My current DnD character is a female so you know what I think.

Although, she is a dwarf so there's not much difference.