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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mistergone" data-source="post: 749061" data-attributes="member: 9647">Not that there's anything wrong with that...Funny how these topics pop up and everyone brings out their magazine collections (issues...tehe). My own experience, which I've been told on these boards "does not mean what I think it means", whatever that means, is that players playing characters of opposite genders is SICK AND WRONG.Oh no wait... wait... no, that's LARPs that I find SICK AND WRONG. D'oh! (tehe again)Well, anyways... I think the most important thing here is the original poster's concern: It kinda sorta maybe bothered him that a guy was gonna play a female character that would not only be (obviously) very opposite his gender, but a rather stand-out example of oppositeness (not only female but a high-charisma female bard that will most likely enter into some intense roleplaying situations). He said it sort of "freaked him out" looking at this bearded guy that will be acting like a female in character. Well, man, if it freaks you out, DON'T DO IT. I mean really. It's just a game, not an exercise in testing your moral, eithical, and emotional limits. (Sure, some folks may act like it is, but it's not... it's just a game.) If you aren't comfortable with it, don't allow it in your game. Because you are the DM, you actually CAN say "I'd rather not anyone play a character of their opposite gender, because I'm not particulalry comfortable with it." If your players don't like that, then talk to them. I don't think you're killing anyone's creative soul by asking them to play a character of their own gender.Me personally, I don't allow it in games I run. It's just a personal preference. I've not seen it work out well before. I even prefer to have female players play females. Part of it is the whole "lesbian evil dominatrix" thing that a lot of guys do. Another is that I've seen twice from different people, guys playing females and then flirting with other player's male characters just for the sake of making the player squirm and be uncomfortable. I've even seen a female player use a male character to do the same thing. Cross-gender roleplaying just, to me, has too much potential for abuse. When I game, I like the players to have fun, ALL the players, and if the actions of one player, due to gender issue or otherwise,  cause other players to not have fun, it's a problem.Now, the only thing outside of the original poster's concern I otherwise feel the need to address here is the notion that some people have that "not allowing a player to play a character of opposite gender from themselves is wrong and close-minded." That's ENTIRELY your opinion. But you knew that, eh? It's a lot like saying "not allowing a player to play a half-dragon half-celestial because that's the only type of character that they have fun playing is wrong and close-minded!" Or insert any other type of character, "evil", "undead", "ninja"... It's all DM's caveat, totally. You can't argue against that. If you don't like the way someone runs their game, don't play in it. With the apparent width and breadth of types of players and tastes, it seems that you can find the type of game you want to play in somewhere. Cries of "roleplaying-oppression" are such a non-issue to me, I cringe at even bringing it up. There's always another game, kids.So, to sum up: If it makes you uncomfortable, there's probably a reason, and it might be a good reason, but a game ain't the place to figure out why.The DM is the Man (or the Woman), and it's their game, they run it, you play it, and while meeting people halfway is good and fine, it's still the DM's game.If it walks like a woman and talks like a man, and you like it, hey, that's your thing, and it's okay. But don't expect everyone else to think it's okay.</blockquote>

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