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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 2529518" data-attributes="member: 7240">Everybody has different criteria for suspending disbelief. No person's criteria can be "wrong." I think that one of the things that forges strong, long-lasting gaming groups is a set of shared criteria for suspension of disbelief. People I enjoy gaming with have ideas about culture that would make it hard for them to suspend disbelief in the examples you offer above. Maybe you game with people who have different ideas about culture or different ideas about suspension of disbelief; good for you. The fact that you have lower standards for suspending disbelief or just don't care about it doesn't make your play style any better or worse than ours. Just different.Gender and personality exist in the context of culture and are conditioned by it. For many of us, playing in an RPG lets us mess around, in a fun, non-academic way, in cultures different than ours. If that's not part of what you find fun in gaming, fair enough. I think this really depends on what kind of male player you're dealing with. I find there are basically two types who want to play female characters:(a) those who think it would be kind of cool but haven't really thought through how much work it is; and (b) those to whom it is important because they are using the character to work through out of game issues. People in group (a) tend make play less fun because they don't really do the work needed to make their character believably female. A lot of the time, in fact, they "forget" they are female unless the character is in a highly charged social or sexual situation and then they do a mediocre, unsophisticated job of being female. When you tell people in group (a) that you have this house rule, they typically shrug and make a male character who is more believable and fun than their first choice. People in group (b) tend to make play less fun because it takes on a sexual and therapeutic character. When they are informed of such a house rule, they are likely to find themselves another game. So, I find my house rule works very well: it gets better play out of group (a) and keeps group (b) out of my game.</blockquote>

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