PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Illysia on May 11, 2007, 05:45:04 am
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I'm just curious as to what makes a guy want to roleplay a girl character? Forgive my ignorance but this is something that has been nagging at the back of my mind for a awhile now. :P Me personally I wouldn't feel in the slightest bit interested in roleplaying a guy character, but then again I don't even have alts. Everything goes into developing Illysia.
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Some people just like staring at a female on their screen moreso than a male ;) For others it can be an interesting challenge to play a character that is not of their own gender. Those are the two most common reasons I have encountered.
As for why girls may sometimes roleplay a guy - much of the time, it's to escape unwanted attention ::)
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I think it's the same thing that makes a male writer want to write about female characters. Role Playing is really an extension of story-telling, and there's no reason to limit your creations based on reality.
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I figure things like this are good to understand so you can better understand RPing and better understand the other characters you encounter. :D
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As for why girls may sometimes roleplay a guy - much of the time, it's to escape unwanted attention ::)
I have heard of guys playing female characters for that exact reason. Do female characters really get free stuffs? ::|
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You can avoid the who issue and play a kran! Of course the figure is fairly masculine but that isn't something you notice in first person viewpoint which any real role player uses as a matter of course, right? Well, there is no escaping the picture in the inventory screen which is kind of too bad as it is just wasted space to me. As far as I am concerned it could be a lot smaller. Hey maybe that is a reason for taking a female character is its picture smaller?
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I wasn't talking about PS alone - but here, too, I've had moments where I thought "I should have begun as a male character."
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Female players do unfortunatly at times get unwanted attention. As my female character has endured a stalking and many inappropriate remarks. It is disappointing that some players don’t use there brains. Those players are very few, still it does happen.This is not at all enjoyable and makes you want to never play again. Be aware of conversations around you and step in if you feel someone is being harassed. It is not a joke there is little you can do in game on your own to stop it. When other players do step in it helps loads.
As to playing a female character I chose a female for both the reasons the very wise Karyuu has mentioned. My experience in RP has been amazing and I now have a really good sense how my character feels as I’m going through the RP with her. I understand how females feel about not wanting to be a female character If you deal with people like that all day..then why would you want to at night? On the other hand I do feel players go out of their way more often and are much more likely to help. I am now comfortable in having a female character and really think it made RP that much more fun. Part of playing a character is to escape from reality for a bit and I think it really helped because it forces you to stay IC.
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I'm just curious as to what makes a guy want to roleplay a girl character? Forgive my ignorance but this is something that has been nagging at the back of my mind for a awhile now. :P Me personally I wouldn't feel in the slightest bit interested in roleplaying a guy character, but then again I don't even have alts. Everything goes into developing Illysia.
Well I'm one of those who do, I play and RP both Male and Female characters.
As for why.. different points of view. Male and Female characters do the same things the same way for the same reason but completely different motivation, in general of cause.
So gender is just something else that I think about when I start brewing a new character, and whatever I chose it puts the character and personality in a different light.
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Male and Female characters do the same things the same way for the same reason but completely different motivation, in general of cause.
Oh, of course. I was a bit skeptical but then I read that you only meant it as a generalization.
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An OOC pretext so I won't have to bother with people that insist on roleplaying "romantic relationships", because I'm not here for a cyber-date with avatars :P
First characters I created were male, and my first main that "worked"(And still is there) was male as well, I would say it's also a bit of aesthetics, besides from the klyros(congratulations to the creator of the skin and models as it's definitively the best one on Planeshift now) most aren't well polished... and well, I for some reason don't fancy much walking around with a male character wearing only loincloth too...
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I think it is the same thing that makes me playing for a dwarf even I'm 197 cm tall.
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I'm just curious as to what makes a guy want to roleplay a girl character? Forgive my ignorance but this is something that has been nagging at the back of my mind for a awhile now. :P Me personally I wouldn't feel in the slightest bit interested in roleplaying a guy character, but then again I don't even have alts. Everything goes into developing Illysia.
I have been a text-based role player, a table top role player, and have tried various graphics-based RP games. Text-based is by far the best for people truly interested in the role playing aspect of a game. In my role playing experience I have played both male charries and female charries. Playing a male character was a challenge at first -- mannerisms, manner of speaking, the way a male carries himself and reacts to others is (obviously) quite different from a female. After a couple weak starts, I actually found myself enjoying playing an occassional male character because it allowed me to step fully outside myself and not carry my own quirks, preferences, etc into the game.
Favourite male charrie I ever played was a particularly twisted Malkavian (from VTM) named Berlioz who was incredibly fun to play.
*modified for typos
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i tell you what made me use a female char
evil ness!!
i chose klyros race when its only gender was unknown
but oh no they can't keep it that way oh no they make me female :o
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I'm just curious as to what makes a guy want to roleplay a girl character? Forgive my ignorance but this is something that has been nagging at the back of my mind for a awhile now. :P Me personally I wouldn't feel in the slightest bit interested in roleplaying a guy character, but then again I don't even have alts. Everything goes into developing Illysia.
I have been a text-based role player, a table top role player, and have tried various graphics-based RP games. Text-based is by far the best for people truly interested in the role playing aspect of a game. In my role playing experience I have played both male charries and female charries. Playing a male character was a challenge at first -- mannerisms, manner of speaking, the way a male carries himself and reacts to others is (obviously) quite different from a female. After a couple weak starts, I actually found myself enjoying playing an occassional male character because it allowed me to step fully outside myself and not carry my own quirks, preferences, etc into the game.
Favourite male charrie I ever played was a particularly twisted Malkavian (from VTM) named Berlioz who was incredibly fun to play.
*modified for typos
Malkavian = Instant irrevocable win.
NOTE: My opinion is probably tainted by the fact that my RP 'Quirk' that finds its way into many of my better characters is.... mental instability. Ranging from Eccentric, to completely batshit.
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A longish article on playing opposite-gender characters:
http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/gender-swapping.txt
I did try playing a bearded dwarf here in PlaneShift for a bit and found it interesting to see how differently things went. That character was instantly part of the "boys' club", and was not complemented on appearance or hit on by other characters, despite much careful grooming of the beard. ^_^ I've found that even a female character whose description clearly states that she's slovenly and is even a bit smelly still draws admirers. ::|
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^_^ I've found that even a female character whose description clearly states that she's slovenly and is even a bit smelly still draws admirers. ::|
:D That's true, With Midisa I only have to say ouch and people will look what happened, Though when Socius sas that nobody will even notice it :-\
And Of course, "thank you pretty lady" and all other compliments ??? As a guy the best thing you can hear is "Oh you're so charming" X-/
;D But Now I kinda know what is anoying so Socius won't make that mistake :P
And as I do with most (Single player) RPG's I play with different races/genders(if available)/classes {like in Diablo II one can only be a female assassin) So i thought why not with PS ;) This way you get an overall experience!
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I've always figured a guy just wants to know what he is missing out on. I mean.. Us girls.. We are pretty rad.. If you ask me. Of Course. I have NEVER seen a girl rp a guy.
K.
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I've always figured a guy just wants to know what he is missing out on. I mean.. Us girls.. We are pretty rad.. If you ask me. Of Course. I have NEVER seen a girl rp a guy.
K.
Chances are you've seen plenty and you just didn't know it.
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Why on earth shouldn't a girl RP a guy, or vice versa? Just like any other kind of role play, the whole point is to experience other points of view. In a game like PS it is not usually clear whether the player is male or female, and it doesn't actually matter, since we should all treat others with equal respect.
Does anyone seriously imagine that a dwarf character might actually be played by someone of diminished stature? Surely not.
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i dunno, I just figure its down to some lonely pathetic dude staring at somthing tits for a while ....
Except I'd actually take some of the guys in PS palying chicks in PS as general role playing. its the 1337 kiddies in most other games that i fugure its just somone getting their rocks off occasionally.
Why? because occasionally in some better games and most of the time in bad ones you get some guys constantly going up to the first curved polygon they see and whip out the e-penis. its like an automatic reaction. And my automatic reaction to this automatic reaction is to give thanks that I'm a normal ^(*%ing person! Seriously if I could automaticlly punch these people i probably would.
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So, is a male's automatic reaction to a female figure an involuntary or a learned response? I'll tell you, it's involuntary.
However, the behaviour that follows is learned, and can be un-learned (modified). It's called maturity.
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Well, I RP a Kran, a Male and a Female character at various times. I dont do it for any ther reason other than to see what PS is like from all its perspectives. I hadnt noticed my female characters getting much more attention than my Male or Kran characters. It seems perfectly reasonable for someone to RP a different gender as much as its normal to RP a different race, occupation or age.
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i dunno, I just figure its down to some lonely pathetic dude staring at somthing tits for a while ....
Except I'd actually take some of the guys in PS palying chicks in PS as general role playing. its the 1337 kiddies in most other games that i fugure its just somone getting their rocks off occasionally.
Why? because occasionally in some better games and most of the time in bad ones you get some guys constantly going up to the first curved polygon they see and whip out the e-penis. its like an automatic reaction. And my automatic reaction to this automatic reaction is to give thanks that I'm a normal ^(*%ing person! Seriously if I could automaticlly punch these people i probably would.
Offtopic: That is weird, why would these 1337 get that way if there are tons of "fr33 p0rn" with real nude woman on the net?
And by the way, I prefer first person view for most cases, because the model and skins don't reflect the way my characters should look. Now something that really happens, I don't think I would like to roleplay a 20 years old male college student, and there aren't colleges in Yliakum anyway...
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So, is a male's automatic reaction to a female figure an involuntary or a learned response? I'll tell you, it's involuntary.
However, the behaviour that follows is learned, and can be un-learned (modified). It's called maturity.
Does an idiot do stupid things involuntarily or with intent?
Answer: Both.
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i dunno, I just figure its down to some lonely pathetic dude staring at somthing tits for a while ....
Except I'd actually take some of the guys in PS palying chicks in PS as general role playing. its the 1337 kiddies in most other games that i fugure its just somone getting their rocks off occasionally.
Why? because occasionally in some better games and most of the time in bad ones you get some guys constantly going up to the first curved polygon they see and whip out the e-penis. its like an automatic reaction. And my automatic reaction to this automatic reaction is to give thanks that I'm a normal ^(*%ing person! Seriously if I could automaticlly punch these people i probably would.
Kaerli's (IC) reply to those types: "You have just stepped over a line in the sand. Step back now, or else there will be 1 head rolling on the floor: YOURS."
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Kaerli's (IC) reply to those types: "You have just stepped over a line in the sand. Step back now, or else there will be 1 head rolling on the floor: YOURS."
I wonder, why the head would roll over the floor if there is sand around? :D
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i dunno, I just figure its down to some lonely pathetic dude staring at somthing tits for a while ....
Except I'd actually take some of the guys in PS palying chicks in PS as general role playing. its the 1337 kiddies in most other games that i fugure its just somone getting their rocks off occasionally.
Why? because occasionally in some better games and most of the time in bad ones you get some guys constantly going up to the first curved polygon they see and whip out the e-penis. its like an automatic reaction. And my automatic reaction to this automatic reaction is to give thanks that I'm a normal ^(*%ing person! Seriously if I could automaticlly punch these people i probably would.
Kaerli's (IC) reply to those types: "You have just stepped over a line in the sand. Step back now, or else there will be 1 head rolling on the floor: YOURS."
I crossed that line years ago. But please tell me why you want to decapitate me?
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Greets,
I think part of the whole roleplay idea is that people can play a character different from themselves. So I see nothing strange with guys playing female chars or vice versa, as long as the char is played well. Personally I tend to concentrate on male characters, as they're easier to play for me and thus seem more realistic in-game. I do have an occasional female "alt" though. Sometimes they're just to reinforce the story behind the main char, sometimes to provide a different viewpoint to the game world.
What comes to visual pleasure, I enjoy art well done, regardless of it's gender.
Regards,
- Cherppow
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Raliegh, if you would like a collegiate sort of environment, there is a guild that's sort of structured that way. At least I think it is- it's the Knowledge Seekers.
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I once made a female character to check how much the oh-so-poor girls get harrassed by oh-so-evil macho players (yes, players - not characters).
During that month I had not even one bad experience...
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Raliegh, if you would like a collegiate sort of environment, there is a guild that's sort of structured that way. At least I think it is- it's the Knowledge Seekers.
You didn't get what I meant, did you?
I meant that the least thing I would like to do in a roleplaying game is a character that resembles me in almost everything that happens in my real life, if I wanted to do that, I would "roleplay" in something called MSN Messenger with my RL friends instead, the chat tool for a game named First Life.
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a game named First Life.
Wouldn't want to get the "Game over" message in that game ;)
And about the topic. Woman are almost always pushed to play men in Games :ban:
:@#\ Even in Freaking Fable (the lost chapters)! Almost every FPS, and the biggest amount of units in RTS are men (only special units are sometimes woman)
[DON'T start about Tomb raider, everybody knows 'Kain' Is a way better action game serie, and again only men are playable :@#\ ]
So don't go wondering why a Girl would play a guy, It's because of the lame ass devs of good game who can't come up with games with women!
Praise they oh mighty PS devs for having playable woman! :flowers:
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So don't go wondering why a Girl would play a guy, It's because of the lame ass devs of good game who can't come up with games with women!
Praise they oh mighty PS devs for having playable woman! :flowers:
Go play The longest Journey or its sequel. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
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This is a great topic and there have been some really great respoces! All of my charachters have been female, I am not so sure I could play a male, yes it might be kinda fun to play around on but I dont thinik I would want to make that my main char. mainly because I think it would be harder to play the oppisite gender :P and as far as males being harrasing or whatever to me, I have had a few from *pats the kitty on the (I dont think I can say the word here fill it in yourself :P )" to my Yilian char that got a "nice rack" tell just from some random stranger. but I just took in all ic. I guess it kinda makes it all more realisitic I mean some kran comes up and touches my butt while my husband is standing there, then gets hit butt kicked and sent to the DR--man that's just like real life, (well execpt for the whole dying part, hehe but you the point) your gonna have jerks that walk up to you and do such things, it sucks none the less but thats just life. And as far as the nice rack went my guild and I had a blast laughing that one up, a new guild member would join and I'd intorduce myself as "hello I'm Kelate, with the nice rack, pleased to meet you" or whatever, I guess I just like to laugh at peoples sillyness more than anything. oh and for all you ladies (and guys too if you experience this), if something is to vulgar or out of line, there is always /ingnor and even /report, kinda like filing a sexual harassment charge :) but many of my male firends play fenkis and thats cool, I admire thier talent, I am just not sure it's something I could do, however after reading this post it might be a fun challenge to try it sometime :D okay that's all I have to say for now hehe :)
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This is a great topic and there have been some really great respoces! All of my charachters have been female, I am not so sure I could play a male, yes it might be kinda fun to play around on but I dont thinik I would want to make that my main char. mainly because I think it would be harder to play the oppisite gender :P and as far as males being harrasing or whatever to me, I have had a few from *pats the kitty on the (I dont think I can say the word here fill it in yourself :P )" to my Yilian char that got a "nice rack" tell just from some random stranger. but I just took in all ic. I guess it kinda makes it all more realisitic I mean some kran comes up and touches my butt while my husband is standing there, then gets hit butt kicked and sent to the DR--man that's just like real life, (well execpt for the whole dying part, hehe but you the point) your gonna have jerks that walk up to you and do such things, it sucks none the less but thats just life. And as far as the nice rack went my guild and I had a blast laughing that one up, a new guild member would join and I'd intorduce myself as "hello I'm Kelate, with the nice rack, pleased to meet you" or whatever, I guess I just like to laugh at peoples sillyness more than anything. oh and for all you ladies (and guys too if you experience this), if something is to vulgar or out of line, there is always /ingnor and even /report, kinda like filing a sexual harassment charge :) but many of my male firends play fenkis and thats cool, I admire thier talent, I am just not sure it's something I could do, however after reading this post it might be a fun challenge to try it sometime :D okay that's all I have to say for now hehe :)
Sexual harassment is a bannable offense in this game, and rightfully so.
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The only problem with the /report is that usually the person who harasses you usually does it once and then you can't report it, unless you just keep the chat log from it? So far I've only had 2 or 3 instances of someone commenting or touching my female Ynnwn.
Wish I had kicked him or something, but I'm a slow responder. Like all things, there's advantages and disadvantages to being a female character, like stated in the above posts. It would be fun to play an evil male character just for the heck of it.
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/report is a retroactive command - which basically means that it records backwards and forwards. The last 50 messages that you sent or received will be logged for GMs to take a look at, as well as the next several minutes after the report was started :]
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I'm just curious as to what makes a guy want to roleplay a girl character?
Could it be.. Perverts that like watching their Fem characters from the rear camera potision move around?
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Could it be.. Perverts that like watching their Fem characters from the rear camera potision move around?
Is the rear view of a PS character so fascinating that players want to spend the entire game watching the sight? I doubt if such players will make much game progress.
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Haven't you noticed all those Fem characters running around like headless chickens? Most of the time running in circles but like wise those traveling from Oja to BD(visa versa) only to turn right around after getting there. That's how you spot the Pervs. Game progress is in the eye of the beholder, RPer's by the number of friends, Explorers by knowlege, Leveljunkies with the goodies they got, and for the Pervs how large of a bulge they have in thier crot...Ummm, Yeah..
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X-/
IMHO pervs have better places to go, ever seen an elementalist dancing in her underwear in GW?
and besides, if one only looks at the meshes of their char, is he/she then Roleplaying it?
Cause the topic says Roleplaying, not playing ;)
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You people have an interestingly low opinion of your peers.
I highly doubt somebody would spend so much bandwidth and disk space so they can watch a half dressed fenki run around.
More likely than not they just want to be noticed or, perhaps, have some urge to be female...surprised Seperot doesn't have a slew of female characters, actualy.
Or, in the case of those who continue playing their female characters, they just enjoy having a female character. They get to experiment with how women think and the like.
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Cadoras, i know you love me, but please dont bring up my name everywhere :P
anyways I only play a female when the male char's are so badly done it makes my eyes hurt.
Or in the case of single player games when your promised a different game from it... like KOTOR and fallout, then i play both sides.
I think sometimes your right cado but sometimes guys just play females to attempt a different prespective...
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I highly doubt somebody would spend so much bandwidth and disk space so they can watch a half dressed fenki run around.
If you ask around, a surprising amount of male players from all MMOs will freely admit to doing that :) Since third person is the most common camera view, they'd rather have something they can appreciate on their screen than a guy's behind. (Can't blame them ;))
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I think sometimes your right cado but sometimes guys just play females to attempt a different prespective...
Or, in the case of those who continue playing their female characters, they just enjoy having a female character. They get to experiment with how women think and the like.
That's pretty much what I meant but, I phrased it poorly.
I highly doubt somebody would spend so much bandwidth and disk space so they can watch a half dressed fenki run around.
If you ask around, a surprising amount of male players from all MMOs will freely admit to doing that :) Since third person is the most common camera view, they'd rather have something they can appreciate on their screen than a guy's behind. (Can't blame them ;))
Right, I agree with you completely. But I mean that they didn't download it just for that reason, they also want to play the game.
Speaking of behinds... <.<
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You people have an interestingly low opinion of your peers.
I would agree with that statement.
Perverts definitely have a better place to go, its the internet. They are going to spend their time on free porn sites not free RPG games. I would say the answer to what motivates a guy to roleplay a girl is simply preference. I know quite a few male players that have female characters, some are very convincing, but none of them are perverts. Actually to their credit, the ones that play females well are typically very very good roleplayers.
I think to interpret a male playing a female character as perverse is as silly as saying I shouldn't play a dwarf because I am 6'2"...
Lets give them more credit than that ;)
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So don't go wondering why a Girl would play a guy, It's because of the lame ass devs of good game who can't come up with games with women!
Praise they oh mighty PS devs for having playable woman! :flowers:
Go play The longest Journey or its sequel. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
I can back that up, I finished that one not so much time ago, and it is really worthy, unless you are the type that prefers a "shoot everything that moves" kind of game above everything else.
You people have an interestingly low opinion of your peers.
I would agree with that statement.
Perverts definitely have a better place to go, its the internet. They are going to spend their time on free porn sites not free RPG games. I would say the answer to what motivates a guy to roleplay a girl is simply preference. I know quite a few male players that have female characters, some are very convincing, but none of them are perverts. Actually to their credit, the ones that play females well are typically very very good roleplayers.
I think to interpret a male playing a female character as perverse is as silly as saying I shouldn't play a dwarf because I am 6'2"...
Lets give them more credit than that ;)
That is it, stop these generalizations that "Guy Rping Female = Perv" and such, because as already said, the Internet has a paradise for the pervs that makes even the game with the most "provocative" female clothing insignificant, and Google can show it quite well if you search for certain keywords. And why somebody looking for that kind of stuff would care about roleplay at all? You see, just as an example, I witnessed once two krans in a very suggestive position, one of them jumping behind and really very close to the other, guess it is some kind of game among them, but I don't remember Krans being females...
And it's easy to explain one of the possible reasons for choosing female characters regarding Ynnwn and Diaboli, as knowing third person view as default, I doubt too many guys would find interesting to play seeing the back of a muscular red humanoid being wearing just loincloth.
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In some cases the male characters are much more scantily clad... Why aren't we flaming the girls that play as them?
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Techinically nobody is really flaming guys who roleplay as girls and also girls roleplaying guys is off topic. ;D
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It has something to do with male psyche, god knows what, I rarely understand myself. That or, so much more obvious ( :devil:), they don't get to see any other types of females. ;)
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Considering people come here to roleplay walking cats, demon-thingies, pointy eared elves and short, bearded dwarves, I better question may be "What motivates a guy to roleplay a guy?".
I imagine we all Roleplay for our own reasons. But, there is one shared point, everybody wants to be somebody else for a little while. Another little life. The kind of life you can get from reading or watching a really good movie. I don't see any big deal if some people decide to go one configuration possibility further than others.
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It has something to do with male psyche, god knows what, I rarely understand myself.
Do you mean, Jungian concept of anima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima_%28Jung%29). Here the content from Wikipedia:
Anima, in Jungian psychology, refers to:
2. The feminine inner personality, as present in the unconscious of the male. It is in contrast to the animus, which represents masculine characteristics. It can be identified as all of the unconscious feminine psychological qualities that a male possesses. In a film interview, Jung was not clear if the anima/animus archetype was totally unconscious, calling it "a little bit conscious" and unconscious. In the interview, he gave an example of a man who falls head over heels in love, then later in life regrets his blind choice as he finds that he has married his own anima–the unconscious idea of the feminine in his mind, rather than the woman herself. The anima is usually an aggregate of a man's mother but may also incorporate aspects of sisters, aunts, and teachers.
I dunno...
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I play both male and female characters. I'd have to say the reason I'd play a female would be to fit in with my original character concept idea. People who've met me in game (Frak, Almarian etc etc) would probably say I have pretty unique characters? I dunno, I try to. But for all my characters I start with a concept. Depending on how I want my character to percieve, or even how I want my character to interact with others, I will choose the gender accordingly. Frak, for example, really wouldn't work as a female character. Almarian may have doen well as a female, in fact I regret that he wasn't. A new character i'm still ironing out the ideas on befre I introduce to the game, will almost definately be female. To give you a brief summary of why, i'll explain how I came up with the idea.
So I wanted a character with a different dynamic to my usual one, and those who know me will know alot of my char's are based in the realm of comedy. So I want a serious character now. So I got to thinking of particular roles within the planeshift universe which would be viewed in a more serious tone. I came up with the idea of a tour guide character, leading people to other areas of the game whilst charging a small fee (we're talking 10 tria or so, i'm not in it for the money) and actually talking about the places seen along the way. For example I may be able to infrom a new player that a certain spawn is quite weak and therefore suitable to train from, and do it totally IC with a vague description about "Many of the creatures down in these sewers look a lot more dangerous than they are. Most people find them easy enough to deal with." Just as an example you understand. So once I had my general idea, I had to think of how i'd portray the character. Have you ever had a lecture or been in a meeting where u get those people who are quite happy to monologue in a fiarly self-important voice without even checking if you are listening? Well, I had a teacher years ago at school who was just like that, and she is where this character comes from. The way she speaks, the way she will act towards others, the way she will take criticisms and everything will be modelled on said teacher, which is why to me at least, this character HAS to be female. It wouldn't feel right when i'm playing the character for her not to be.
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What motivates a guy to roleplay a guy?
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What motivates a guy to roleplay a guy?
If the previous comments about players wanting to watch female characters from behind are true, then this question doesn't bear thinking about (at least for me)
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Role playing girls is just fun. ;D Actually when it comes to making a character I first decide on that characters previous life before their gender. Depending on what their story would be I just choose what I think is best. Sometimes a girl better fits the part than a guy.