On playing Gender roles in Roleplaying games
So as you know my current game of choice is World of Warcraft. I've been having a ball on a roleplaying server and have created several characters. I've made several online friends through guilds and playing. But most recently I decided for a change of pace to create a Male Paladin. All my other characters have not only been female, but also very feminine and girly girly, so this would be a "switch" to say the least.
After creating my character I started thinking of his background story and decided it would be easiest to make him the younger cousin of my Priest character. It would enable him to make instant relationships with all of her friends rather than start out from scratch. I contacted my priest's guild leader who is also a Paladin and we talked about how my Paladin "Branon" could start out as the guild leader's Squire. I've always been into the idea of the young protegee learning the ropes and it also helps me learn as I go how to play my characters.
Now...here's where it get's interesting. One of the other characters in my guild is a Female paladin...being played by a Male player. We both know each other's RL (real life) gender so I thought it might be amusing to turn the tables on him and really play out the male role. On the way I realized several things about Male/Male and Male/Female interactions.
Obviously the majority of people who play WoW are male. People will assume you are male IRL before they will assume you are female. (There are no women on the internetz afterall). A LOT of men play female characters. What's so funny about this, is that it often boggles their mind when they find out a female might be playing a male character.
I wandered around IC (In character) for a while and when I got to a certain level I started recieving duel challenges from other boys. Usually I decline these. But this time I was ridiculed for being weak. I consulted a few guy friends and they said to accept the challenge and kick their butts. The first thing that happened was I got my own butt handed to me by a level 56 Dwarf Hunter. He feined death and that left me nothing to attack but his pet killer pig. I went down like a chump. I expected to be ridiculed again but instead he said "gf, gg" (which apparently means "good fight" and "good game".
Then it began to dawn on me how to play my character. I started thinking...Alpha Male. So many male/male dynamics are about jockeying around for the spot of Alpha Male. I realized the more secret my real gender was at this point the more successful my journey into virtual manhood would be. I began to roleplay with my guild leader (Arahath) and the other guy who was playing a female character (Velaney). While Velaney was around Branon (my character) would be the perfect gentleman. He would offer his arm to walk with her, he'd shoo away unwanted male attention from her, and he'd pull out her chair for her so she could sit. Meanwhile when she was gone and Branon was only around Arahath he would scope out other females including NPC's (Non-player character) such as the waitress in the tavern.
So I'm building my character to be somewhere between Luke Skywalker and Han Solo with slightly more Luke for now until I get used to the role. As the interaction between Branon and Velaney builds he begins to try to gain her interest. Part of me wonders if either I'm doing a really good job at RPing a male or Velaney is making it easy on me. (probably the latter).
Velaney and he begin talking about Fishing and Branon tells her that she should go with him sometime to his home town of Southshore and fish. She asks if he fishes and he says yes but that he's a little rusty. This whole conversation leads to them setting a date in the future. Score! It made me smile to think of how real men must go through hoops in order to gain our attentions. There is definitely more risk involved and I can see why men enjoy chasing rather than being chased.
Well we shall see what happens in the future for my young Padewan.
James Jacobs has an
James Jacobs has an editorial on "transvirtual" characters in his editorial in Dungeon 144. It seems that he has been playing female characters in D&D for years now.
Of course the fact that a man is talking about playing a woman in a magazine called Dungeon would really cause more of a stir outside of the Realms of Geekdom.
Transvirtual-Transgender Tendancies
Oddly enough, from my experience over the past 2-3 years, I've noticed a few interesting trends. While with culture it is excepted that females may be masculine (tom-boys anyone?), males are largely frowned upon for being feminine (panzy?). You therefore don't see "feminine" men, but you see plenty of "masculine" women. Meanwhile... within gaming the opposite is more common. Males playing female characters are a dime a dozen. Do you find many females playing male characters? Hardly.
Granted, if you take in account that the majority of players are male, that may rig the end-results...
Food for thought.
I would be more inclined to
I would be more inclined to play male characters if the rest of the players wouldn't constantly refer to my character as her/she because I'm female. I mean, technically, it is so much easier to find decent pictures of male characters or male figures. Though, to be fair, there are better female figures coming out now than even a few years ago.
I mean, I've tried. I played a male thief, a male ranger, and currently a male fighter. Perhaps it's too taxing on the player memory to think of me as male. I dunno. I just go with female to make it easier
Can you get me a link to
Can you get me a link to that? I'd love to read it.
There is a thread about the
There is a thread about the editorial here:
http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/generalDiscussion/archives/transv...
I'll have to try and remember to bring the original magazine that it appeared in to game night next time.
You've hit a lot of the male
You've hit a lot of the male psyche. Every guy notices attractive women even when he has a girlfriend or wife. Though most of them won't openly try to pick up another one.
I'd say you're playing the typical guy right now, especially when you consider Brenan's age and the fantasy setting in which he lives.
You know, the part where you
You know, the part where you talk about being a total gentleman when the female character is around, and start scoping out other girls when she's not made me a little icked out. Not all guys are like that. Seriously. And it almost sounds to me like you're playing an electronic version of the Nice Guy(tm). If you want to know why that's a bad thing, I can point you to several web articles.
Like the first commenter said, remember you're supposed to be playing a person, not a charicature (which I have probably spelled wrong).
Gender, Relationships, & Game-time
As far as checking out other girls, nudging elbows with your buddies and goofing off... yes, that happens. Is it always malicious? No. And while I'm sure you can link to several articles, the point is that (as one of my friends says) this is a pretendy-fun-time game. Also, a little OOC goes a long way. And if your character is going to get involved with another you *HAVE* to have OOC communication about just where the boundaries lie and what each of your expect out of it. Without it, you're setting yourself and your character up for some headaches and heartaches.
). What matters, is that there is no one else you would rather be with than that person you are courting/dating/seeing/married-to.
And now that Mike has snuck in and posted some of what I was going to address... (NINJA!) Just because you are with someone, committed to them, love them... doesn't mean everyone else on the planet disappears. There are attractive people out there and they will walk into your LoS ( Line of Sight for those non-WoWers
*But!* -yes, as you said, just because they walk into your LoS doesn't mean you're scoping them out, that you're eyeing up something else to go after.
(If I've read you wrong, please let me know!)
And as for RP... not everyone in RL is perfect, and neither should your character be. Your character should have flaws! It gives them somewhere to progress and all more an accomplishment if the RP leads them to grow and overcome those flaws. (Unless you have an evil character, in which you would progress said flaws.)
I might be tangent-ing now... I'll post this and see if I misread you.
I'll address you and the
I'll address you and the other guy at once.
No, once you're in a relationship all other people don't disappear, and yes, you're still attracted to them and check them out. And if you're lucky enough to be with or be one of a pair of super understanding spouses, it doesn't have to end there.
I think mostly I'm with the other person who warned against playing a cartoon of "GUY" instead of an actual person.
Gender Bending
Welcome to the few, the proud, ...the Fempeens (tm)
It can be very interesting and eye-opening.
I started quite some time ago (over a year now... year & half!) and it has been a blast. It was especially so playing my namesake here, a male rogue. He's become fairly well known on the server and I can't count how many times someone has finally heard me on Vent and said "You're not a guy?!" or something very similar. I take it as a high compliment for my RPing. At this point I think Will's cover is blown, but several of my alts are still unknown to the greater populace.
What a man can say and do is different than a female. I think you're starting to see that yourself. My advice is to not go to any extreme and avoid things that are obviously feminine. The word "cute" for example. Otherwise, remember this is suppose to be a person, not a caricature.
Have fun Shosh!
P.S. if you want more advice or tales of my escapades, let me know.
The Tightrope and who thinks what
Hey all,
I'm new on here, but when I saw this topic I just had to read and reply.
Many years ago in college, I wrote a sociology paper on Gender roles in role playing games. Back then, there was only a few DOS based MUDs and while campus did have a few RPG female gamers, most were of course men. They played women ranging from silly to realistic, then rambo-like. It was interesting to discover and interact with. I've often wondered if I should write a thesis on this topic - especially now with the growth in gaming (computer and RPG).
As for myself, I've rarely played a male character in RPG games but have in online games. I've found that it happened more when it's just me and 5 or 6 guys where group dynamics come to play and having a female perspective could be very useful. And I agree that to be true to your character is a must and to be "realistic" its important to "act" and not create just a coloring of what you think - this goes for men as well as for women. Now you can play silly if you want - just depends on your group.
As for OOC interactions, well it depends on the gamers involved as well as the setting. When LARPing at GenCon, I've found myself playing off of characters that I connected with OOC more than those I just met.
There are as many types of gamers as personalities. It depends on what you are looking for in a game - silly, serious, funny, or a mix.
Laters all,
Til the seas carry me to port,
Mistress Jingles
SilverTongue Adventurers
aka Angela
Chameleon of Fandom
"I am Wonderful, Enchanting, Notorious, Challenging and Happy...
call me WENCH for short!"