Can You Only Play Your Own Gender?

[elie]

Oh, lol. Well, no.

 

[ManicMuse]

Do you only play your own gender?


Nope. I have been on a long break. Since returning to writing, so far my roles have only been female but oddly enough, before I took my break, all my roles were male. *Shrugs* It really just depends on what I feel when I start making a character for a story and what they are in need of.


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


Honestly, could not care less. I often even mix up the ooc gender of my writing partner verse in character, if they vary. It just really is not important to me. Heck, my fiance always plays females in his games because people just give him stuff if he does. You really have no idea who is behind the screen, nor should it matter. Writing is writing plain and simple, at least to me.

 

[LegoLad659]

@amybri18[/URL] I'm looking at you guys (<_<)

 

[Kloverdesu]

For me, it depends. I usually RP as gay males (mostly because hetalia yaoi) but I also do lots of lesbian females, since I am one. I've never found the appropriare setting to do so, but I will roleplay as transgender/nonbinary/agender/genderqueer/whatever else, I just have to find the right setting, which for me would be a romance plot not strictly yaoi or yuri. I have absolutely no preference for the gender of my partner.

 

[SkyChild]

@LegoLad659 Oh... Have I mistaken you for a female once? :c Sorry 'bout that.


...But hey, people keep mistaking me for a guy, too, so... We're sitting in the same boat? Kinda? Ehh? *nudge nudge*


Might as well say something about the topic.


I am a female, and I play both genders. Though I kinda prefer playing male characters. Why? I dunno. It's more fun for some reason. Am I bad at playing male characters? ...Well, I don't know. I feel comfortable with it, and I got a bunch of positive feedback for a lot of posts including a male. I don't behave very girlish. I'm more of a female bro, y'know what I mean? I think that's why I don't play female characters very often.


When it comes to romance, I don't really care about the gender. It can be anything. MxF, FxF and MxM.


Bring the love, gender doesn't matter~!


Edit: 02:59 central european time. SLEEPINESS IS TAKING HOLD. TYPOES!

 

[LegoLad659]

@LegoLad659 Oh... Have I mistaken you for a female once? :c Sorry 'bout that.
...But hey, people keep mistaking me for a guy, too, so... We're sitting in the same boat? Kinda? Ehh? *nudge nudge*

I seem to recall something like that, but I can't remember for sure. I know for a fact that Amy and pretty much everyone else I've RPed with has, though. You two were just the first that came to mind.

 

[soular]

Ok I'm totally not answering your question buuuuutt...


Lately I've been seeing a lot of 1x1 recruitment threads that request male partners or female partners (and one specifically asking for a female partner that is single) and it slightly worries me. I feel as if some people don't realize that people are not their characters. It shouldn't matter if I'm a married man in my early sixties playing a single woman in her 20s. It's not as if I'm saying that I'm the female, however I feel like I should be able to be anonymous if I wanted to. Some people don't want to reveal the gender, age, and relationship status online and that should be fine.


Girls can rp as guys and guys can rp as girls so I guess it just bothers me when I see people requesting a specific gendered partner because in my opinion, people should be able to play characters that are separate from themselves.

 

[sorrow made you]

Do you only play your own gender?


I actually prefer to play the opposite gender, however, I play both males and females. I actually feel more confident in playing males, and so default to them more often than playing females.


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


Nope! I like the idea of my partner playing whatever gender they want to play. If they only play females or males, that's up to them. For me, its more about the quality and story rather than the gender.

 

[amybri18]

I can vouch for this 100% xD I'm always mistaken for a female because I play a lot of female characters.
@Skychild @amybri18 I'm looking at you guys (<_<)

Sorry! I actually thought you were a female xD


But now I'm here, I may as well answer the question...


Do you only play your own gender?


No! I play both genders! I actually prefer to play male sometimes, because they fit in with the plot more.


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


No! I'm totally fine either way! However, if it's a romance RP, my partner must be the opposite gender to me...

 

[Frede]

Do you only play your own gender?


At the beginning when I just start roleplaying, yes. I feel more comfortable playing with my own gender, having only a small fear of getting their characterization wrong and once I'm sure that I'm very comfortable with playing my own gender, I will expand my roles into other genders. I usually afraid of making my males to weak or feminine at the beginning, but now I feel much more confident I have a few males, ranging from virtuous man to the most nihilistic, pessimistic man. I even want to try a feminine guy or maybe, trans. But aside from that, yep, I'm still kinda afraid of offending people from the said gender(s).


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


Nope, as long they don't cross their line or acting extremely flirty (I have a case where this boy never continues our RP but proceeds to flirt, getting annoyed when I told him that I feel uncomfortable and don't appreciate his flirtings). I always love and fine with people who can talk, brainstorm and have fun writing with regardless of gender. As for their characters, yes, they're free to play whatever they want. I encourage my partner to be creative and go wild.

 

[Darth Gangsta]

Yes. I can only play male.

 

[call me rae]

[QUOTE="Darth Gangsta]Yes. I can only play male.

[/QUOTE]
Do you have a preference for the gender of your partners? Ex. You'll only roleplay with women or men?

 

[theplasticdemon]

Do you only play your own gender?

nooooo. noooo way. it never occurred to me that "oh hey i seem to prefer this gender over the over to roleplay as", it was more of a "how can i play this character well?" and i guess at first, i stuck to female characters as a result. i mean, you can understand females the way another female would. but then, i actually started going wild with characters of all genders and personalities and it just stuck to me. it was never a matter of gender, it was just whether or not they were fun to play. you eventually learn to detach yourself from your character and try to do them justice. maybe the reason why people only prefer playing one gender is because they don't know how to detach themselves from a character? i think i'm just rambling at this point, but personally, i don't find it very fun when you play someone that's just so... similar to yourself. but yeah, tl;dr, i don't even consider gender to be something i'm too iffy on. i think of random ideas and characters that come into my brain and i make them ^^;;.

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

hmmm... good question. i don't personally care, either. what matters is the variety in your characters. i normally roleplay with people that are also able to handle multiple at the same time. my characters are for sure pansexual or bisexual by default, because why limit yourself to just one gender in a potentially romantic roleplay? i mean, i'm in a roleplay where i'm playing a male purple elf with tattoos all over his body and just happens to wield a magical sword of fire. in the same roleplay, i also play a female that rides on a dragon and wields a powerful axe... with a fear of magic, and a spoilt prince on a gryphon. yup, good times.

 

[Darth Gangsta]

Do you have a preference for the gender of your partners? Ex. You'll only roleplay with women or men?

Well if I'm doing a group Roleplay, I don't really care but if its' a one on one, a female is preferred.

 

[Entarriance]

Do you only play your own gender?


Nope, in fact, I have a really nice balance in all my characters in terms of gender! If I were to take a random guess, half are male, half are female. To be honest, I'm totally okay with people who have a particular preference, or if they lean towards a certain gender. I just get kind of buggy with those who are, well, super anti against it. Like "Oh, you're a girl, you have to play a girl role!". I mean, you can't force someone to be a certain role,


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


Now this is a weird one for me. See, I don't really care who I'm roleplaying with in particular, gender, species, anything! But character-wise for romance , I prefer me being a female character and someone else being a male. Like outside of that, I don't really care I can go all out with anything! Though if it's romance people want (which I don't do too often but it does speckle in here and there), I feel this weird impulse that I should use a female character.

 

[Capriccio]

Do you only play your own gender?


Nope. Before I started roleplaying, I used to primarily make female characters, with one or two male characters. Even a couple of years ago, there were still a few more girls than guys. These days, I try to play as characters of any gender, if maybe a bit too focused on keeping the gender ratio of my characters even. I tend to make characters based on what the RP lacks, so if I noticed there's more of one gender than another, I'll keep that in mind while making them. I've been wanting to play more non-binary characters, but I'm still a bit nervous about it since I've only done it once before.


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


I generally don't do 1x1 roleplays, but regardless, I don't really. I unfortunately end up being a bit judgey with first impressions, but seeing what they're like, my opinion of them changes. As for the IC side of it, it doesn't matter to me what the genders of the characters are as long as I know their pronouns. I'm fine with anything when it comes to romance too.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

Do you only play your own gender?


Actually, I hardly ever play female characters. I haven't been mistaken for a guy here yet, but I have in the past. Is it the bright pink avatar? It's the pink avatar, isn't it.


Anyway, off the top of my head, besides cis male characters, I also have a trans male character and right now I'm playing a sexless, gender-fluid alien. Fun times.


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





No. I don't want to step on anyone's toes creatively. It's their character, not mine.

 

[call me rae]

[QUOTE="Saccharine Cyanide]

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





No. I don't want to step on anyone's toes creatively. It's their character, not mine.

[/QUOTE]
I meant do you want your partners to be a specific IRL gender. Like I only roleplay with women or I only play with men. Not necessarily what gender of characters they create.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

I meant do you want your partners to be a specific IRL gender. Like I only roleplay with women or I only play with men. Not necessarily what gender of characters they create

Oh, haha, totally misread that somehow. I was tired. OTL


That's a negative as well. I don't see what one partner of a certain gender could offer me that another couldn't.

 

[Cloudburst]

When I first started out I definitely tended to stick to my own gender, so female characters only. I have no preference nowadays. I tend to design characters based on what's missing or needed in the RP, so I usually try to even out the gender ratio along with balancing out personalities, histories, sexualities, even appearances. The group I usually RP with each has their own type of character that they more or less stick to. Ironically this means my method of evening out the character pool usually puts me in the role of the heterosexual cis male. xD Everyone likes playing with crazy sexualities and non-binary gender identities and I'm here like... straight boy. (although sexuality is going to be the least important part of any RP that isn't centered around romance/ socialization imo (*yes it could dramatically affect their history and personality/ views on the world. I mean their sexuality itself), so I really don't have any desire to branch out. I prefer playing radically different personalities instead. ^^)

 

[Roses]

I would get bored if I solely played female characters. I don't care about the gender of my partner.

 

[DikkeVetteVlinder]

Do you only play your own gender?


Nope. For a long time I wrote mostly male characters. I was on a forum where for some reason most people considered a female role better than a male one. Result? Unless you were among the first to reply (many RP's had a few slots only) all the female characters were taken. And since I didn't really mind all that much what I played, I wasn't really among those people who would throw themselves onto a new rp within seconds.


And in 1x1's, a lot of people got offended or passive aggressive when you suggested you had a cool idea for a female character. The underlying issue there was that romance was a must for a lot (which is probably why I'm allergic to that statement now) and roughly ninety percent was not down with gay characters for sure.


But yeah then I found another active site where people would not get their panties in a twist, and things were cool again. But by now I have a fair share of male oc's, is basically what I'm saying. And no issue writing them either.


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


Nope. Until I started writing in English and thus writing on some of the larger forums, I only played with other girls, for the simple reason that all the forums I'd been on, roughly existed in the same three or four different 'circles' (they often had a lot of member overlap) and consisted of almost no guys whatsoever.


So at first I was actually kind of surprised, like 'wow there's actually a lot of dudes that RP too', in all my naivety but it was never a problem or anything. Roleplaying with a guy that plays a female character does not bother me in the slightest.

 

[Telvin]

I don't only play my own gender, and I have no issues with people playing any gender. I know the person is not their character.


One of the things you said is why I don't do RP relationships except very, very rarely.


"Often times this is in a roleplay search where the person treats the player and character as the same entity"


That is why. I can't stand it when people assume I am my character and feel like it's okay to treat me OOC the same way they treat me IC when it comes to relationships or hate, etc. I am not my characters.

 

[shadowdude505]

Do you only play your own gender?


I'm a dude, but I tend to make more female characters on RPNation and more male characters when table top role playing. Most of the characters for RPNation that I make tend to be a result of seeing a cool picture, that happens to be a female, and create a personality and backstory around that image.


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


Nope. The gender of the person I'm playing with, or the gender of their character doesn't matter to me. I'm more focused on character personalities and seeing how events play out.

 

[HakuKaen]

When I first started RPing I couldn't touch writing for a male character at all. I felt like it was too far away and I had no idea how they think or function. Now, I can do it, but I'm still more comfortable writing for female characters. I think the main ability that comes for writing male roles is the sole fact that I at least know what a woman wants!


As for the gender of the people I write with, they can be either. I do still often find that the character is more convincing if it is the same gender writing for that role, though, even if they are great writers.