Can You Only Play Your Own Gender?

[iiimee]

Do you only play your own gender?


Nope! I play characters of all genders, sexualities, ages (though I tend to prefer the teen to young adult range), backgrounds, and any other random category you can think of. Diversity's not the MOST important thing in a story, but I'm quite proud of how diverse I am as a writer.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner?


I'm not sure if this sounds sexist, but I just find that A LOT OF (not all) female writers I work with only play soft, sweet, and gentle characters... I absolutely hate this, only because it's rare that I buy into a character being "pure", and I DEFINITELY don't believe that they're completely nice and sweet if they have a horrible backstory. >_> So, if I have to choose a gender I'm looking for, I usually write with guy authors, but really, I give everyone who seems interesting a fair shot. If you show me you can write, I'll enjoy writing with you no matter who you are... unless you're that guy who lives down the street. Don't be him. He's a jerk.

 

[mindheist]

Do you only play your own gender?


Nope! I'm female but I play males and females.


Do you have a preference for the gender of your partner?


When it comes to 1x1, I always prefer romance as some kind of sub-genre because it makes the rp more interesting as long as it does not get in the way of the plot development. The thing is, I only romance male characters, so I have a heavy heavy preference for male partners - not the actual person rping, but rather their character.

 

[estellxa]

Do you only play your own gender?


Most of the time, yes. I personally find that it's easier for me to relate to my character if they are female. I have, however, played using male characters sometimes.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? ex. they must be a woman or a man


No. As I believe you said, I don't like giving out personal information, so I don't tend to ask, as I understand it may make others uncomfortable. I only really know if they tell me, or if need to use pronouns.

 

[Yunaih]

i actully perfer playing as a female, now interested in playing male


Also i wouldnt care what my partner gender was as long as the person was interesting and not annoying

 

[Tryss]

Despite being a woman, I often wind up playing males. Although, I have my fair share of female characters as well. It's not so much that I ahve a preference for them, as it is that most people want to play female, so I have to play male, just to keep some balance going. I also tend to create male characters in a group RP if it's already riddled with female characters.


As far as my partner's gender? I can't imagine that being relevant to the RP at all, not to mention, it's none of my business.


I am one to chose a partner based upon their age, however.


I'm overage, and playing out an RP (I refuse to do planned pairings, if romance happens, it WILL be organic, damn it!) that has the potential to turn romantic with someone underage feels...gross. so I don't do it, at all. The only exception being group RPs. Widely because they're on the boards, but also because I'll blacklist characters altogether for romantic entanglements. I don't care if my character and your character were made for each other by the gods themselves...if you aren't 18, it's not happening.


That's just me though...

 

[pavelius]

Do you only play your own gender?


lord. not even close. i have males, females, trans, nonbinary, agender characters, characters that are not human and technically lack gender... even with my established characters, i like to play around with their sex/gender and presentation depending on the AU. i play my male characters more since they're my oldest and best established ocs (and i'm more transmale than anything else), but i mean... well. of my main three, one of them is genderqueer and presents feminine, one is transmale, the other is cismale. i have a pretty good gender salad going on.


i get really confused when people only play one gender. i think it plays a minor role in how a character develops, but. like i said. minor. i really don't think men and women are all that different; i think people just think they are based on the rhetoric society gives them.


i also feel like half the point of rping is to experiment with points of views that aren't innately your own. i think it helps you explore yourself and other people if you broaden those horizons, but that's just me. i'm willing to make just about any kind of character.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner?


nope. not at all. the only things i care about are:


- if you can write


- if your characters are well written


- if our styles mesh well together


- also you gotta, like, not be a jerk

 

[iWriteAboutNothing]

I tend to prefer younger roles over gender roles. I'll usually rp as a teen. No preference in gender.


I really have no right to be judging other people, or at least that's how I feel. The very notion of preferring different people to rp with has never occurred to me.

 

[jiminie]

I think I answered this a while ago, but I'm back with new answers.


I almost always play female characters, which is the same gender as my own. I find it much easier, not because I don't like playing males though.


As for whether I mind roleplaying with a certain gender; no, not at all. That being said, I get very wrapped up in my character and theirs (more often than not) and sometimes forget I'm roleplaying with someone who has a different gender. If that makes sense.. My BPD causes me to get attached to characters, including other peoples so I focus more on their character than them themselves. With that being said, it makes no difference to my willingness to role-play with someone due to their gender.

Do you only play your own gender?




No way. I am a female (but please use male pronouns) and I only play male characters. I hate playing female, and I am very bad at it.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? ex. they must be a woman or a man






Nope. I don't think it matters. I would like to know their gender simply to talk to them/about them with the correct pronouns, but it makes no difference to me in who I want to RP with.

Could you give me some tips on roleplaying male characters? I'm not sure if it's just my lack of practice, but something makes it seem very forced every time I write from a male perspective.


If anyone has any tips for roleplaying the opposite gender, I'm sure others will agree that it would be very helpful.

 

[iWriteAboutNothing]

@Koala Identify with an anime character of the opposite gender. Then role-play as whoever you are playing as, keeping in mind the character you identified with. I don't know if that made sense.


Basically: practice. Not practice as in repeat the same situation until you get better, but try new ways of being the opposite gender until you find a style that works. That's my humble perspective.

 

[call me rae]

@Koala , @Yumoto had a good idea. One of the ways I got best at playing different kinds of characters was using canons. Because I was then getting to try new attitudes and genders without having to make up things on my own. All I had to do was mimic what was already being done in the canon.


I also find it's easy sometimes to base a character on a real life person as well when you first start out. For instance sometimes I'll play males that are based on my brother in law and how he reacts to things. Or my brother.

 

[Dynasty Girl]

Do you only play your own gender? 


no I do not. I am a Fanfiction writer and can and will roleplay characters of all Genders even Non-Binary ones.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? ex. they must be a woman or a man


absolutely not. Roleplaying Is telling a Story and the People behind the characters are simply the Authors creating the story. The Author's gender does not matter one bit in the overall scope of things. 

 

[Bacon is fluffy]

Gave up on trying to play female characters because they were just my ideal waifus. I've learned over the past few months that I don't understand women and would not make a good pretend one, simply because it would be a girl acting like a dude. Now I could probably spin doctor a girl with too much testosterone,but that seems unpleasant and I'd rather not. xD

 

[sakigamis]

I realize this thread is p old but looking through it I realized I never replied to it so I'd just like to say now....


AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


ONLY PLAYING CHARACTERS OF YOUR OWN GENDER, THAT'S A GOOD ONE


Seriously tho my gender identity is really ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but I tend to consider myself female and most of my characters are male. It could have something to do with the fact that I mostly write canon characters and in media, male characters tend to be written better than female characters (and thus more appealing), but I have (male) characters with barely a minute of screentime and almost 0 characterization so I doubt that's the cause for all of them.

 

[YanaAi]

Do you only play your own gender? - For OCs, yes, I'm more comfortable in creating female characters as I like "putting a piece" of myself in every roleplay. I can, however, still play the part of the opposite gender, preferably canon characters as I do write fanfiction myself.


Do you have a preference for what gender your partner is in real life? - Nope, none at all.

 

[Lorsh]

1. no, i think i have more femchars than normal.


2. no

 

[Noivian]

Girls and guys, I've learned, just role play the same way. 


I personally role play both genders.


I also don't have a gender preference for my role play partner.


But I would role play a guy the same way I role play a girl. I've heard that guys and girls think differently, as in the "guys put things in boxes while girls make everything connected" idea, but I think that's a load of bs. You don't need to understand girls to play a girl. You don't need to understand guys to play a guy. You only need to understand your character: their motives and their thoughts. Nothing else. 


It's one of my pet peeves when someone refuses to play as the opposite gender, but I realize that some people aren't comfortable with that or haven't figure out how to to do that well, and that's okay.