BelenUmeria said:
It happens in my games, although I am never that comfortable with it.
IME, males or females who play a character of the opposite gender usually cause minor problems. People tend to refer to the character with the pronoun that connects with the player rather than the character. It requires a bit more thought with NPC social interaction etc.
None of these problems are huge, but they do tend to cause a disconnect with the game. I find it much harder to get into the game when someone plays a character opposite their gender.
This is pretty much the problem I have with it. Not enough of a problem that I'd stop a player who really wanted to from playing a cross-gender character as a GM and not enough of a problem that I'd walk away from a game with such characters as a player, but enough of a problem that I'd prefer not to have it in the games that I'm in if given a choice.
And, frankly, I find the idea that anything but indifference to cross-gender character is a sign of mental illness or deep seated psychological problems a bit offensive. It's as offensive as being told that one is mentally ill because they don't like spinach or want a car that's blue rather than a car that's white. Not every aesthetic preference is caused by a childhood trauma or deep seated emotional problem. Really. Stop trying to psychoanlayze people over the Internet, especially if you've never even met them.
For the record, I have had no problem GMing romantic relationships between NPCs and male players. I have had no problem role-playing romantic relationships between my characters and NPCs run by a male GM. I've played in games with a gay player and games with a lesbian player. I've played in games with cross-gender characters and I've GMed them and, mainly, they often just wind up being a hassle at best and an disruption at worst. They didn't generate feelings of discomfort, anger, or confusion. They simply detracted from the quality of the game more often than not.
Yes, I can understand why people want to do it. Yes, I can understand why some people would use the word "challenge" instead of "hassle". Yes, I can understand why some people are indifferent to it. No, I've never been traumatized by the worst sorts of portrayals of cross-gender characters. No, it has nothing to do with role-playing romantic scenes with a person of the same sex. And, yes, I do find it easier to imagine the man sitting next to me as a male dwarf, elf, or halfling than a female human in many cases. Why? Among other reasons, because the pronouns don't change for the male dwarf, elf, or halfing and do change for the female human.
What about GMs and NPCs, then? The fact that it's a necessity aside, in my experience, the problem is reduced for NPCs. Among the reasons, in my experience, are that a GM provides more "markers" about the characters they are portraying, which helps the players keep them straight. Basically, the GM needs to let the players know which NPC is speaking or doing something. And a player talking in first person about what their character is doing won't provide gender clues about their character while a GM giving a third person description of what an NPC says or does will, because English has gender in the third person pronouns but not the first person pronouns.
That doesn't mean that problem isn't there. In fact, I got to see that particular problem in action in a game that I'm currently playing in. Despite a good attempt by the GM to role-play a scene through, the impression I got of his NPC was very different than what he intended. Either he was having a real problem properly portraying playful romantic banter or I was having a real problem picking it up. Needless to say, I had to simply ask him what his intent was because the impression I was getting of his NPC was very different than the impression he was trying to send.
Maybe if I role-played in Japanese (which provides some strong gender markers in the first person) or Finnish (which doesn't provide any gender markers in the third person), I'd have a different experience. But, alas, I role-play in English.
