You and Your Characters: Gender and Sexuality

[Fox Lee]

Something I am enduringly curious about. My guys (even the best roleplayers amongst them) tend to stick to male characters when making PCs. On investigation, it seems that this is less because they are uncomfortable playing women, and more because they want to avoid the stereotype of male gamers playing awful female characters. I, on the other hand, choose roughly a 50/50 male/female mix, but I can rarely bring myself to play a PC who doesn't have a similar sexuality to my own (that is, I have almost never played a character who identifies as 100% straight or 100% gay).

What about you? Are you uncomfortable playing PCs who don't match your own gender/sex/sexuality? Do you actively try out different things? Are there patterns in your group as to who does what?

If we can, let's remember that this is a personal thing, and maybe avoid any arguments about what people "should" do. That would be swell

 

[AstroCat]

As a male I feel more comfortable and have more fun rp'ing a male character, just that simple.

 

[jonesy]

I play male characters about 70% of the time, and female characters about 25% of the time. Then there's the odd 5% where it either never comes up, isn't relevant, or is something else entirely. And I threw those numbers out of an imaginary hat, so they're rough (and the kind of numbers you want to meet in a tavern so you can recruit them to be your front line fighters).

 

[Morrus]

Generally characters match my own gender. I've done otherwise a few times (but not for long-term characters) and obviously plenty as a DM/GM.

 

[jonesy]

...and obviously plenty as a DM/GM.

That's a good point. If I consider all the characters I've done as a DM the ratio turns pretty much even.

 

[Fox Lee]

Yes, I did mean to refer only to PCs It's hard to imagine a GM who has never had an NPC who didn't match their gender, even if they didn't care to roleplay that person directly.

 

[Psyga315]

Yeah, I mainly play males in RPGs, though for the most part, since they're crossover RPGs, they mainly come from Tokusatsu (pretty much Power Rangers) and a large focus is on male characters. I have tried to break the mold a few times, but I've stuck to male for most of the time.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I'd say about 50/50. The first time was when the only female member of our group at the time pointed out that it felt a bit awkward for her character to be the only female travelling arond with a bunch of macho males (the characters, not us!) We all volunteered, but I ended up with the part, and have played whatever since.

 

[Ahnehnois]

The perspective of this poll seems to focus on players who play a single character at length rather than DMs.

Personally, I play my PCs same-gender in part because of my DMing experiences. As the author of the world, I find it important to include diverse characters, but most of them are characters that are nothing like me and that are really inappropriate for me to play. Even very good professional actors are cast based on their gender, race, and observable physical characteristics.

To me, exploring a variety of different personalities is interesting, but trying to adopt a perspective I truly don't understand is futile. And, having an academic background in gender issues, I'm keenly aware of how different the sexes can be, and how poorly I do trying to emulate the opposite sex.

If others are able to explore playing characters that differ from themselves that much, I think that's great on one hand, but on the other I don't get how it's done.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What about you? Are you uncomfortable playing PCs who don't match your own gender/sex/sexuality? Do you actively try out different things? Are there patterns in your group as to who does what?

Avoiding the DM/GM issue, as a player, I play PCs as I conceive them and i do seek out the unusual. If the concept demands female, so be it. If the concept is bisexual or homosexual, that's the way the PC gets designed & played.

Only a couple of others in my groups over the decades have done likewise- most just stick to their own gender, sexuality, and general mindset.