Full Version: Rollplaying defended, gender examined
This was a most interesting thread.
Need to think about a few things & will get back to it in a bit..
Need to think about a few things & will get back to it in a bit..
One thing we can all agree on, is that wailing on guitars is awesome and will cause buildings to collapse... or make you look pathetically 80's.
| QUOTE (emo samurai) |
| One thing we can all agree on, is that wailing on guitars is awesome and will cause buildings to collapse... or make you look pathetically 80's. |
Definitely true.
Up at Evergreen College, in Washington, there is a stairwell in the humanities building that has superb resonance. One evening we wanted to find out what the sonic fundamental of the space was so we took an oscillator and began running through frequencies until we found the stairwell's sympathetic node. All of a sudden things started to go out of phase so we kept correcting until we realised we were actually warping the surrounding framework in this corner of the structure.
Yes sound can be a very potent weapon.
WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *head bangs until his head falls off*
| QUOTE (emo samurai) |
| make you look pathetically 80's. |
You misspelled "awesomely".
~J
Almost missed that!
Ah, nothing better then to read forums 4 houres for a "qick" laugh before going to bed. 
n8
n8
| QUOTE (Kyoto Kid) |
| This was a most interesting thread. Need to think about a few things & will get back to it in a bit.. |
Hmm, I remember you being one of those people who would sometimes make posts concerning "role playing". I'd be interested to hear your comments.
Have you figured out what you wanted to say yet?
I for the most part try to promote character interaction at all times. but i tend to divide my game up between 2 sections.
A) a shit ton of interaction and info gathering/preparing
B) plan exicution and me mucking up there plans and them failing at combat and teh same guy saving them through getting pissed off and decidign to whip out his rifle cuz the ywere taking to long and he is the getaway driver/engineer
so in this one session one of the characters Reggie did a nigth full of infiltration work and then decided to sleep during the day. befor he went to bed he gave a number to anotehr player to get soem information and get a chip they needed programed. The other player playing Richard a forgetful old mans calls teh guy up and forgets waht he was supose to do. In a panic he sets one of the otehr cahracters up on a date withthe guy to get somethign completely unrelated. I was dying laughing at this point cuz i looked across the table and see Reggie's player just shaking hsi head. Reggie gets pissed off when he wakes up kidnaps the poor clerk during his date with the other PC a character named Sarah. And i still think til thsi day the 2 old men reggie and richard are trying to sell off sarah into slavery...
A) a shit ton of interaction and info gathering/preparing
B) plan exicution and me mucking up there plans and them failing at combat and teh same guy saving them through getting pissed off and decidign to whip out his rifle cuz the ywere taking to long and he is the getaway driver/engineer
so in this one session one of the characters Reggie did a nigth full of infiltration work and then decided to sleep during the day. befor he went to bed he gave a number to anotehr player to get soem information and get a chip they needed programed. The other player playing Richard a forgetful old mans calls teh guy up and forgets waht he was supose to do. In a panic he sets one of the otehr cahracters up on a date withthe guy to get somethign completely unrelated. I was dying laughing at this point cuz i looked across the table and see Reggie's player just shaking hsi head. Reggie gets pissed off when he wakes up kidnaps the poor clerk during his date with the other PC a character named Sarah. And i still think til thsi day the 2 old men reggie and richard are trying to sell off sarah into slavery...
| QUOTE (Wounded Ronin) |
Hmm, I remember you being one of those people who would sometimes make posts concerning "role playing". I'd be interested to hear your comments. Have you figured out what you wanted to say yet? |
I have a prety good idea
Just been too busy as of late to submit any lengthy posts which this one most will certainly be.
Will try to finally get my .02
in on Wednesday during lunch or after work.
Do any of you know male RPG players who are _good_ at playing female characters?
In my RPG experience, cross-gamer characters tend to be lesbian supermodels with huge breasts (natural of course). Otherwise, the character tends to be identical to the player's last male character, just with different plumbing.
And they think they are being so creative. They are only playing themselves in drag.
In my RPG experience, cross-gamer characters tend to be lesbian supermodels with huge breasts (natural of course). Otherwise, the character tends to be identical to the player's last male character, just with different plumbing.
And they think they are being so creative. They are only playing themselves in drag.
i have to disagree, the only guy i have seen play a female character actually pulled it off, he was actually getting props from the female gamer that was in the group. but then again flea could dress in drag and be picked up in a straight bar to.
i'm currently experimenting with the concept and while the driver adept i made isnt an exact copy of my usual gun fu adept, it is close since they work off of the same basic premise. but hey its experimentation.
i'm currently experimenting with the concept and while the driver adept i made isnt an exact copy of my usual gun fu adept, it is close since they work off of the same basic premise. but hey its experimentation.
| QUOTE (Ed_209a) |
| Do any of you know male RPG players who are _good_ at playing female characters? In my RPG experience, cross-gamer characters tend to be lesbian supermodels with huge breasts (natural of course). Otherwise, the character tends to be identical to the player's last male character, just with different plumbing. And they think they are being so creative. They are only playing themselves in drag. |
A full response to this thread will be forthcoming later today. A good part of it concerns the playing of female characters.
| QUOTE (Ed_209a) |
| Do any of you know male RPG players who are _good_ at playing female characters? In my RPG experience, cross-gamer characters tend to be lesbian supermodels with huge breasts (natural of course). Otherwise, the character tends to be identical to the player's last male character, just with different plumbing. And they think they are being so creative. They are only playing themselves in drag. |
First off, yes. I know one right now who is very good at it. Aside from that, I like to think I am good at it as well since one of my primary PCs is a woman. I figure if I wasn't playing her well, then I'd hope someone (possibly one of the women I game with) would have said something in the last year and a half - especially since she and I are pretty much exact opposites.
I have seen one of those ... Well, let's not dig up things best left buried. However that was one PC from one player out of a half-dozen or so (I wish I could recall, but I just can't remember everyone's PCs and NPCs) I've played with over the years. As for those, they were hardly some previous male PC in drag. The other people I play with tend to put a great deal of thought into their characters, plus there is the ... unpleasantness ... which has extended the usual mockery of crappy characters/ concepts to that specific situation as to make it irrelevant. But that's just me.
MAKE ME FORGET I'M A DYKE TONIGHT!
oh, whoops, we were letting that stay buried. my bad!
oh, whoops, we were letting that stay buried. my bad!
| QUOTE (Ed_209a) |
| Do any of you know male RPG players who are _good_ at playing female characters? |
I've been told I do a good job. This is all online though, which may change things, but so far I've:
- been offered two in game marriage proposals and a dozen in-game chocolates, roses, romantic dates etc. (in MUDs)
- got a chance to laugh at someone else who cross-played terribly
- am regularly referred to as 'she' and 'her' on forums if I have a sexually ambiguous handle
- have been excused from posting on a game as I 'recently gave birth'
- have been invited by my wife to crossplay pretty regularly because she enjoys having another female in the group
I don't know if that means I'm good at crossplaying or that men are tragically stupid when it comes to women.
| QUOTE (Ed_209a @ Mar 1 2006, 11:39 AM) |
| Do any of you know male RPG players who are _good_ at playing female characters? |
I know a few of them that were really good at it playing Ultima Online.
Incidentally a couple years back one of them came out of the closet and came to the conclusion that they were at heart a bisexual crossdresser IRL. Men were really only the thing when he was dressed appropriately in drag, and it was more about the seduction than the, you know, fluid exchange part. The guy himself is a fairly gruff guy that is into guns, martial arts, and japanese period blades/armor.
| QUOTE |
| MAKE ME FORGET I'M A DYKE TONIGHT! |
What is that from?
a dark, dark chapter in the history of shadowland, the site i play SR on.
dark. and horrible.
dark. and horrible.
| QUOTE (Ed_209a) |
| Do any of you know male RPG players who are _good_ at playing female characters? In my RPG experience, cross-gamer characters tend to be lesbian supermodels with huge breasts (natural of course). Otherwise, the character tends to be identical to the player's last male character, just with different plumbing. And they think they are being so creative. They are only playing themselves in drag. |
Nope! There is no such thing. The only thing worse is a female trying to play a male!
If they can play at all instead of just "enhancing characters" and having "social interactions"
| QUOTE (Ed_209a) |
| Do any of you know male RPG players who are _good_ at playing female characters? In my RPG experience, cross-gamer characters tend to be lesbian supermodels with huge breasts (natural of course). Otherwise, the character tends to be identical to the player's last male character, just with different plumbing. And they think they are being so creative. They are only playing themselves in drag. |
Well, I've tried that before but I have no idea if I was convincing or not.
Regarding "lesbians": I'm not sure it's a "bad" thing if your female shadowrunner ends up being, I want to say, more aggro than most women you meet. I think that having an aggro or nihilistic personality might predispose people in general to very dangerous deniable asset mercenary work.
And IRL some women are just, well, combative. Some of my female friends were really into combative sports like judo. There was one young woman I knew in college who was a lesbian and I got her interested in boxing. The thing is that in general I got along better with these women who were into combative sports than I generally did with women who were less, well, aggro.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if someone tries to play a female but exhibits a lot of "male" characteristics that's not necessarily unrealistic or incorrect per se. Because a lot of the women whom I got along best with as friends often were more aggro than the average bear and coincidentally or not many of them actually *were* lesbians or bisexual.
| QUOTE (mfb @ Mar 1 2006, 01:27 PM) |
| a dark, dark chapter in the history of shadowland, the site i play SR on. dark. and horrible. |
It wasn't dark. It was stupid. The unpleasantness was more a result of some of the reactions, which mostly sat on the retarded part of the poster spectrum. You know, this part. But then again, none of the people spouting off their own brand of grade A bullshit ever played with the man, whereas I did, so yeah... It pisses me to think about it.
It's interesting, though. That happened years ago, and yet when I RP'ed my character meeting a notoriously lecherous PC for a job about six months ago, in spite of the fact that it made perfect sense for her to exploit his own libido in the process of recruiting him I felt uncomfortable about it.
Actually I have been told by my mostly female group that I do a good job of playing a female character. Which for some reason I always seem to do (the male ideas are less fun sounding...)
On the good looking lesbian thing. All my characters are vaugely good looking unless there is a reason for them not to be, and most, male or female are bi-sexual.
The girls in the group play believable males, with out playing big packaged gay guys even. I have fond memories of the last SR3 game I ran where one female player's male character was consistantly being smaked for using the phrase "women, irrational, emotional creatures!" *SMACK!* "see I'm right." But then he was Irish...
On the good looking lesbian thing. All my characters are vaugely good looking unless there is a reason for them not to be, and most, male or female are bi-sexual.
The girls in the group play believable males, with out playing big packaged gay guys even. I have fond memories of the last SR3 game I ran where one female player's male character was consistantly being smaked for using the phrase "women, irrational, emotional creatures!" *SMACK!* "see I'm right." But then he was Irish...
What gets me is when someone starts telling me about the sex life of their character, period. If someone sits down and declares that their character scores a lot, or is bisexual, or is a 'chick with huge sweater pillows,' without a shred of irony, I usually chock them up to to being a 'vicarious liver'
I've played with girls who were OK gamers. I've played with girls that could have been, but wouldn't give the activity a chance. I've played with girls that were horrible but had a lot of enthusiasm and learned over time. I don't think, over all, girls have any particular tendencies as far as what they play and how they play it. I think there's a lot more scrutiny of their play and their motives for that play, though.
I've played with girls who were OK gamers. I've played with girls that could have been, but wouldn't give the activity a chance. I've played with girls that were horrible but had a lot of enthusiasm and learned over time. I don't think, over all, girls have any particular tendencies as far as what they play and how they play it. I think there's a lot more scrutiny of their play and their motives for that play, though.
I have been playing various RPGs since the 80s and I have found that female gamers play the same way guys do. Some play well and some play bad. Some can play awesome male characters and some can't.
I have played with several guys who can play decent female characters the tricks is to play them as people not as sterotypes. Also you have to have a level of comfort if you don't then it shows.
My roommate often plays male characters as often as she plays females and she is very good at it. The guys we play with think so to.
I find it amusing that there are still bone heads around that think all woman want to do is talk talk when we play. Sure role playing is great but you know there are times when the only way to really solve things is with a two handed weapon cleave , greater cleave and power attack or in Shadowrun unleashing a force 5 fire elemental on some troll.
I have played with several guys who can play decent female characters the tricks is to play them as people not as sterotypes. Also you have to have a level of comfort if you don't then it shows.
My roommate often plays male characters as often as she plays females and she is very good at it. The guys we play with think so to.
I find it amusing that there are still bone heads around that think all woman want to do is talk talk when we play. Sure role playing is great but you know there are times when the only way to really solve things is with a two handed weapon cleave , greater cleave and power attack or in Shadowrun unleashing a force 5 fire elemental on some troll.
| QUOTE (Elfwitch) |
| I have played with several guys who can play decent female characters the tricks is to play them as people not as sterotypes. Also you have to have a level of comfort if you don't then it shows. |
Surely that can't be all. It's trivial to play a character who isn't a sterotype. All that you have to do is use a character concept not frequently seen in books and fiction.
If that's all that is required nobody would be interested in this discussion. The fact that the thread has many replies suggests that there's got to be a little bit more to it than that.
Empathy helps, especially empathy mixed with a terrifyingly detailed background and settled pyschology of the character. But then, I'm a method player. I have done too good of a job channeling the characters at times.
I'm afraid that I'll become scary and nihilistic like my character. Then again, my character's awesome, so maybe that's good.
In my last SR group, we had:
Big Troll Chick with Guns
Hot Chick with Guns
Smart Chick with Guns
Hot Elf Mage
Hot Druid
The gun chicks were all related, and had similar styles, and they and the druid were new to RPs... overall, they managed to play their individual characters quite well and with a feminine side to boot (even the troll, who would get mushy about her Dad)
The "type" of female player I hate? "My husband/boyfriend/lover/boy toy is the GM, so I get whatever I want". Damn. Are we that hard up for it that we'll let her walk away with the prototype Ares MP-III laser with the self-recharging battery that's also a power focus/force field/tweezers & a toothpick while the other runners get to scavenge the bodies for bullet-ridden armor and pocket change?
I have yet to run across a female GM who let her significant other get away with the kind of crap that male GMs often do.
Big Troll Chick with Guns
Hot Chick with Guns
Smart Chick with Guns
Hot Elf Mage
Hot Druid
The gun chicks were all related, and had similar styles, and they and the druid were new to RPs... overall, they managed to play their individual characters quite well and with a feminine side to boot (even the troll, who would get mushy about her Dad)
The "type" of female player I hate? "My husband/boyfriend/lover/boy toy is the GM, so I get whatever I want". Damn. Are we that hard up for it that we'll let her walk away with the prototype Ares MP-III laser with the self-recharging battery that's also a power focus/force field/tweezers & a toothpick while the other runners get to scavenge the bodies for bullet-ridden armor and pocket change?
I have yet to run across a female GM who let her significant other get away with the kind of crap that male GMs often do.
| QUOTE (ronin3338) |
| Big Troll Chick with Guns Hot Chick with Guns Smart Chick with Guns Hot Elf Mage Hot Druid |
Sounds like an anime.
| QUOTE (ronin3338) |
| In my last SR group, we had: Big Troll Chick with Guns Hot Chick with Guns Smart Chick with Guns Hot Elf Mage Hot Druid |
Wow.
| QUOTE |
| I have yet to run across a female GM who let her significant other get away with the kind of crap that male GMs often do. |
I wonder why.
| QUOTE (emo samurai) |
| I'm afraid that I'll become scary and nihilistic like my character. Then again, my character's awesome, so maybe that's good. |
That's something I can say with 100% certainty will never happen.
Of course, whether the characters become scary and nihilistic... I'd give it 50/50. And I say 50/50 because of my two main PCs, one is on the Dark Side Expressway. Traveling at 200mph in a rocket-powered, monkey-navigated jet car.
| QUOTE (SL James) |
| one is on the Dark Side Expressway. Traveling at 200mph in a rocket-powered, monkey-navigated jet car. |
Sounds almost like the batmobile...
It is. Only cooler grittier ah, hell. It's fucking badass.
| QUOTE |
| That's something I can say with 100% certainty will never happen. |
Are you saying that I'll never become scary and nihilistic, or awesome? Wait, you make a habit of insulting me, so I know for a fact that you'll say the latter.
I was referring to myself. Jesus, get a grip.
But... but I'm not scary and nihilistic! And I'm already awesome!
| QUOTE (mfb) |
| MAKE ME FORGET I'M A DYKE TONIGHT! oh, whoops, we were letting that stay buried. my bad! |
BAD MFB!! VERY BAD!
*shudders* Ahh.. the good ol' days
Yeah, the good old days when the lunatics ran the aslyum.
| QUOTE (SL James) |
| Yeah, the good old days when the lunatics ran the aslyum. |
So what are those of us who "run" it now?
I think I'm going to have to post more over here just to keep myself entertained. That or RP some shadowpr0n with myself just for laughs. No, not really
Or I'll have to make myself a really cliched male character, because you know, me being a female excludes me from being able to play a guy convincingly. I'll have to run around scratching my balls and hitting on chicks all the time. Heh.
see, the thing is? that's entirely realistic. if you wanted to be unrealistic, you'd have to play a guy that is attractive, smart, polite, and not gay.
| QUOTE (Vegas) |
| Or I'll have to make myself a really cliched male character, because you know, me being a female excludes me from being able to play a guy convincingly. I'll have to run around scratching my balls and hitting on chicks all the time. Heh. |
hehe... I have a player in my group that does that. We changed his characters name to Romeo.
| QUOTE (mfb) |
| see, the thing is? that's entirely realistic. if you wanted to be unrealistic, you'd have to play a guy that is attractive, smart, polite, and not gay. |
*smacks her forehead*
Duh, you're right! Damnit! Let me get right on it, and watch him get eaten ALIVE... or be accused of playing a guy like a chick would ;P
| QUOTE (mfb) |
| you'd have to play a guy that is attractive, smart, polite, and not gay. |
I'd play that character, if more people ran "avatar" games...
...and if I didn't love you like I do.
| QUOTE (mfb) |
| see, the thing is? that's entirely realistic. if you wanted to be unrealistic, you'd have to play a guy that is attractive, smart, polite, and not gay. |
Uh, MFB, hate to burst the bubble but thats not completely unrealistic, rare maybe, but not unrealistic by any means.
mfb was entirely serious !!
| QUOTE (warrior_allanon @ Mar 4 2006, 04:00 AM) | ||
Uh, MFB, hate to burst the bubble but thats not completely unrealistic, rare maybe, but not unrealistic by any means. |
Are we attempting the daring and difficult trick of double-irony here? That almost always makes you look like an idiot without a smiley, man
| QUOTE (Critias) | ||
I'd play that character, if more people ran "avatar" games... ...and if I didn't love you like I do. |
Well you had Connor, up to that whole "polite" part.
it's polite to shoot someone in the face. shooting them in the chest, so they roll around and scream a while before they die? that's just rude.
| QUOTE (mfb) |
| it's polite to shoot someone in the face. shooting them in the chest, so they roll around and scream a while before they die? that's just rude. |
But if they had b00bies would you shoot them in the first place?
Mmm gender rears it's ugly head again
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