Do you find playing a character of the other gender awkward?

[GonzoGamer]

In videogames I tend to go female when they are prettier (Games like Fallout 3 or elderscrolls for example I dont, because the women are ugly) , because I like looking at ass and tits, and I'm not the kind to rp by myself.

My first playthrough of Fallout 3 was male because I couldn't get a female face out of that thing that didn't look like a Disneyworld Hall of Presidents automatron if our presidents were inbred.

Then when my wife played, she played around with the face for like 45 mins (we play the sims games too so that part is actually fun for us) and got a supermodel. So on my second playthrough, I played around with it for a little longer and with my wife's help, was able to get someone who wasn't altogether unattractive. I did the same in New Vegas, and got a supermodel myself. So, you just got to play with it a while.

I essentially feel the same way you do. I don't exactly project myself on to these characters, so if I'm going to be looking at someone for hours on end, I find the female form more attractive; not that I have anything against people who feel the other way. If you prefer to project yourself it's fine but if playing a female character in a game "awkward" I think you're putting too much into it.

However, I never played a female character in analog RPG except when GMing of course.

Well, I guess I didn't try hard enough with the chargen. The fact that there are no especially attractive NPCs either made me think its probably not possible to do.

And all the mods for Bethesda games that involve women make them look like anime characters out of DOA...

Yea, a lot of the mods seem out of place.
Yea, I thought it wasn't possible either after meeting/killing/eating quite a few women in Fallout 3 but I guess they didn't want to spend too much time in their chargen setup either...or maybe they just thought that most everybody in a post apocalyptic hellscape wouldn't be too attractive.
Doesn't explain ElderScrolls though. I have one companion who is kickass but it's too bad she looks like David Bowie in that video where he does all that creepy drag modeling.

 

[Daniel Janhagen]

No, I prefer playing female characters, generally. It feels like the people who design their look have more freedom, so you don't always end up with gruff guy with shaved head every time. It's not only that most male characters are the same, though - it's also that that one model they have is so fantastically boring to begin with. Some female characters are uninteresting and unexciting as well, but it's not the norm.
Plus, video game time is fantasy time! Could I be a gorgeous woman in real life? No I could not. Could I wax my chest and shave my head and start talking in hoarse whispers? Yes, I could. So in videogames, women ftw. (women ftw in meatspace as well, actually, but that's not the topic)

edit: also, see my forum avatar!

 

[A Weakgeek]

In videogames I tend to go female when they are prettier (Games like Fallout 3 or elderscrolls for example I dont, because the women are ugly) , because I like looking at ass and tits, and I'm not the kind to rp by myself.

My first playthrough of Fallout 3 was male because I couldn't get a female face out of that thing that didn't look like a Disneyworld Hall of Presidents automatron if our presidents were inbred.

Then when my wife played, she played around with the face for like 45 mins (we play the sims games too so that part is actually fun for us) and got a supermodel. So on my second playthrough, I played around with it for a little longer and with my wife's help, was able to get someone who wasn't altogether unattractive. I did the same in New Vegas, and got a supermodel myself. So, you just got to play with it a while.

I essentially feel the same way you do. I don't exactly project myself on to these characters, so if I'm going to be looking at someone for hours on end, I find the female form more attractive; not that I have anything against people who feel the other way. If you prefer to project yourself it's fine but if playing a female character in a game "awkward" I think you're putting too much into it.

However, I never played a female character in analog RPG except when GMing of course.

Well, I guess I didn't try hard enough with the chargen. The fact that there are no especially attractive NPCs either made me think its probably not possible to do.

And all the mods for Bethesda games that involve women make them look like anime characters out of DOA...

Yea, a lot of the mods seem out of place.
Yea, I thought it wasn't possible either after meeting/killing/eating quite a few women in Fallout 3 but I guess they didn't want to spend too much time in their chargen setup either...or maybe they just thought that most everybody in a post apocalyptic hellscape wouldn't be too attractive.
Doesn't explain ElderScrolls though. I have one companion who is kickass but it's too bad she looks like David Bowie in that video where he does all that creepy drag modeling.

Well judging from how the characters tend to be personality AND look wise, Im guessing Alduin/Mehrunes Dagon/Dagoth ur had a Greater staff of uncanny valley, that they cast on the land to make the hero less inclined to save it.

 

[runic knight]

Not really. Given a choice between equal genders (none of that slight stat variation for me), I'd choose male just because, but nothing bothers me at all playing a female character in a story or even using a female character in an rpg play-through. Seems a silly to me that I would ever be upset about such a thing.

 

[Beliyal]

Nope. Given the choice, I'll play as my own gender first, but I don't feel any awkwardness if I have to play with a male character. If the game is interesting enough and I can chose a gender, I'll certainly try playing as both genders.

 

[Reyold]

Can't say I have. Heck, I don't think I've ever really given any thought to it until recently, what with the recent prominence of gender politics.

 

[VanQ]

Ever since I signed up for Tibia back in 2000, I've always enjoyed playing a female character more. Dunno why, I just do.

Yay someone still remembers Tibia!

Of course, man. I still remember when Tibia had a level cap. That was also before the massive invasion of BRs, too.I wonder what the level cap is now and if they still continue to raise it... It was over 300 when I quit in 2004.

 

[Rattja]

A female character kicking ass just looks that much cooler/elegant/badass. At least in my opinion.

 

[TheCrapMaster]

I´ll go with male character´s whenever possible, speacialy if it´s a roleplaying/multiple choice game.

Reason to why is that i want the character to reflect myself in a way or that i want easier to see it in their shoes. I have a hard time to immerse myself into a game when playing as a female character in those type of games where the female characters are sexualised and all you see are breasts and ass.

I HATE fantasy games where the female version of a male is a armor/clothing where the protection is a plate bikini and trousers. I would be okay with this if the females of that world can only die by getting stabed in the tits or something like that, because then there would atleast be a explanation to why other then sexing the game up.

Tho i have no problem at all when it comes to heavy scripted story games seeing it´s not to reflect how "you" would have acted but it´s a story about a character, tho here it also depends if it´s a "normal" female character or another teenage boy´s fantasy dream.

 

[J Tyran]

No not at all I never understand why it upsets people, never understand why people get upset over a characters sexuality either.

 

[Daft Time]

How do feel about playing characters of the opposite gender, whether it be in a video game or table top pen and paper RPG's?

In a video game environment, not at all. I actually prefer playing a female character most of the time despite being male. In my life, nearly every man I've met has been an abusive thug - and I can't help but feel a sense of unease whenever a video game character that I'm playing does something even remotely questionable. It's a particularly unpleasant experience that somewhat limits my selection of games. It's not so bad that I wont play as a guy - but it's certainly a draw back.

When it comes to more social environments - like MMOs, table top RPGs, etc - the issue can become awkward. Not everybody likes the idea of cross-gender characters and it can make the group dynamic some what tense. Not even intentionally either, a few jokes about how "you're playing a chick, dude!" and the situation can become awkward. So I typically have more swing between genders with my characters in these cases.

 

[Echopunk]

Up to probably KOTOR I, I picked characters based on gameplay options. The Rogue was an interesting second playthrough character in Diablo, while the Sorceress and Assassin characters in Diablo 2 ended up being more fun than my Barbarian main. The stories didn't make a distinction between male and female, just gameplay styles.

Never had a problem playing as Terra or Celes in FF6, either. In Terra's case, some people wanted to posses her, others wanted to protect her, and she had this mama wolf section protecting some kids. Aside from a couple instances of her being called a witch early on, the story wasn't all that gender specific. She had power, so the Empire wanted her. People who worked against the Empire wanted to protect her and keep her away. Wanting to protect the children ie the future isn't that hard of a sell for a guy either. Celes was even less entrenched in gender roles, being a general and powerful warrior, although she did get the whole opera house routine.

The female Alex Denton was pretty much functionally identical to the male. After a couple trips through the game with one gender, I'd swap back to the other for a while. It was a purely cosmetic choice, as far as I can remember.

In the original Fallout games, gender only effected possible starting stats and which sibling you would end up married too after a shotgun wedding. Playing female vault dwellers or chosen ones never felt much different from the males, especially in Fallout 2. I always made a b-line for Navarro as soon as possible and spent the rest of the game locked in one variation of Power Armor or another, rendering the aesthetic impact of the gender choice moot.

When I played Kotor the first time, I decided I would do light and dark runs for both male and female characters, just to get the whole experience. Again, aside from pronoun swapping, there wasn't much impact on the story, aside from the romance option.

I do male and female runs through most Bioware games, usually because I enjoy the game in question so much that I just want another excuse to play it.

My technique with the character creator in the recent Soul Calibers is to make female characters next to which Ivy stands forth as a model of restraint and decorum. If I'm going to play against someone who is immature enough to get distracted by pixel breasts, I'll take that advantage and beat their chosen avatar into a bloody stain on the arena floor.

In non rpgs, I have even less of a "problem" playing a female character. As someone mentioned above, if it isn't a "create your character" kind of game, I'm not playing 'me', I'm playing that character and going through her story.

 

[Blunderboy]

It's never been an issue for me in the slightest.

 

[The Almighty Grigard]

How do feel about playing characters of the opposite gender, whether it be in a video game or table top pen and paper RPG's?

I have no particular feelings about it. I have made/played both male and female characters in both, as have most of my friends in my RP group.

I do have one friend, while awkward wouldn't be the right word for it, he has no qualms about playing a female character (had a rather strong amazon build on Diablo 2 if I remember), but if given the option he will make a male character. I think that springs from when he would DM, if a male player made a female character, he had them try to mimic the female voice. we eventually abandoned this practice as too many times we would forget, and had a female character with a male sounding voice.

I 'cross play' a character in a Pen and Paper RP. As in I'm male and playing a female character. There hasn't been any problem at all (relating to gender) within the group, quite possibly because my character is defined by her personality and ability instead of her gender. I thought up the kind of character I wanted to play and then afterward I decided that she would be female.

I do however do the 'girly voice', but mostly just making it slightly altered and more 'airy' and aloof. Our GM did do a fucking awful voice when portraying an old crone. We all agreed that he should stop though.

I'd imagine that problems could arise though. If someone wants to get flirty with their character it's going to get awkward quite fast, unless the group can handle that or are used to it. Does anyone in this thread have any hilarious/horror stories about their GM forcing them into flirty talk or roleplaying a sexual encounter?

 

[Mister K]

I don't mind. And if it's a well-written character I even *gasp* LIKE playing as a lady.

 

[Amanda Diamond]

I prefer to be female characters, but most of the games I've played put me in the role of a male character. I don't find it weird, but then the characters are always fully fleshed out with their own lives thought and goals. It always strikes me as weird the people say a female character can't carry a game, or a movie.

 

[baconmaster]

I don't mind at all. When I get a choice I actually like to choose a female character, just for a change of pace. I do make some exceptions depending on the game, though. Like if the female character designs or voice actresses suck.

 

[verdant monkai]

Going to be honest and say its not awkward, but as a man I find it harder to relate to my women characters rather than men. But! thats just for the personality less rpg custom types though. As for real characters it doesn't really as long as they are well written.

Only case where I would definitely find it awkward would be if she were some kind of in your face dominatrix.

 

[Gunjester]

Used to find it weird, but I don't anymore. It's just a different role, and I actually get excited seeing female badasses now. And not just horny-excited.

That being said, I tend to choose male characters because I play them "better" but I occasionally make female ones, and it doesn't stop me from playing if the set main character is a woman or girl.

 

[the December King]

I'd imagine that problems could arise though. If someone wants to get flirty with their character it's going to get awkward quite fast, unless the group can handle that or are used to it. Does anyone in this thread have any hilarious/horror stories about their GM forcing them into flirty talk or roleplaying a sexual encounter?

As a DM, I had a game some time back that involved some veteran characters, all getting back together in their hometown after years of adventuring abroad.

A series of villains chose that time to retaliate in a surprise attack, that led to romantic/sexually charged individual confrontations - the male hero halfling (played by a male) had the major hots for a vicious sorceress in thrall to a vampire, but she was confused by his need to 'save her' from herself, even during imminent combat; the male warrior (played by a female) was being stalked by a shapeshifted female white dragon bard, who definitely wanted him and only might have killed him afterwards; and the male paladin (played by a male) was being hit upon by the vampire, himself quite enjoying making the knight blush, and causing the holy man no small ammount of discomfort.

I don't recall being uncomfortable- I don't even think it occured to me to be so, as a DM.

It was quite a night!