Viewpoint Do you ever play the opposite gender? Do you prefer it?

[girl blue]

Yeah, I pretty much always play the opposite gender nowadays. When I first started roleplaying many, many moons ago I noticed that every group RP I'd join would be overwhelming female, so to balance out the gender ratio I'd make a male character. This happened so often that it just became a preference for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I still love my girls though and switch it up sometimes.

 

[dancew/me!]

pfffbbb i play both genders all the time! i actually enjoy playing the opposite gender because it provides a different perspective to the life i have and allows me the freedoms my actual gender would not usually allow, though it is interesting not being able to do the same things i'm able to in real life as well.

i've also played as non-binary and transgender folk, so that's an interesting way to try and see life, to say the least. i like to look at all the sides of life and i'd say that the experiences from transgender friends has helped me to not only build real people, but also see how hard life can be for them. it helps me to connect it to my own experiences, and helps me to point out the similarities some transgender folk may have that girls or boys have-- or agender folk have.

bleh, i've gone and wrote a whole novel again whoops

 

[Gemsareagirlsbestfriend]

I have played the opposite gender and I don't mind it at all. However, sometimes it is rather nice just playing solely my actual gender. I do prefer this over playing the male gender.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

On the roleplay forums I started out on, there were more girls than guys, probably like a 70:30 split, and they tended to play their own gender. I started off playing female characters, but I started playing male characters to help close the gap.

Now it's a force of habit. : P

 

[Erin_Grey]

I'll write from the perspective from any gender, although I wouldn't say that I have a preference any way with it.

 

[The Gunrunner]

I’ve only played my gender before. I have one concept we’re I might play a female character, but probably not.

 

[Blemmigan]

Aye, I'm not bothered what gender character I play, whether it's in one on one or as a group.

There's the fact that I'm not interested in romance roleplays. I mean, if it develops as part of the plot then that's how it goes, but I don't seek out roleplays looking for pairing the two of them up or characters falling in love. Maybe if I was, I'd be more picky about the genders/sexualities I played.

When I was younger I was slightly worried about displaying different genders wrong, but as I've aged I've come to realise there is no way to express a gender wrong as gender expression is completely different from gender identity.

Pretty much this. I tend to sketch out the basics of the character I want to play (academic, dumb muscle, high society, starving artist, thief, manipulative, whatever) and then pick a gender. Some of them are existing characters I have, but just as often it's a case of "I've already got two male characters in role plays, so I guess my mad engineer will be a lady".

There are masculine women and feminine men, and sometimes they're just more interesting to play. Circus strongman? Why not a heavily tattooed circus strongwoman? Fussy upper-class maiden aunt? Too late, he's now a very proper elderly bachelor with sixteen cats.

Obviously the characters I play aren't perfect, but hey. I still like to have a go at new things. Throw things at the wall and see what sticks. Not just the genders, but also the appearances. Switch them up, see whether it's more interesting to have that monarch as squat and ugly instead of beautiful.

That said, I definitely have preferred types of characters, because I'm only human. Gender doesn't change that, though: I'd definitely recommend taking one of your favourite character archetypes and changing the gender, just to see what you end up with.

 

[Zer0]

Yeah, I play mostly guys. Being a girl is too close to home, and like, when a guy is hitting on my character, I just shudder internally. Like, nooooo, stay away.

And them boy love's the best, you know? (double thumbs up)

 

[two]

Yeah, I pretty much always play the opposite gender nowadays. When I first started roleplaying many, many moons ago I noticed that every group RP I'd join would be overwhelming female, so to balance out the gender ratio I'd make a male character. This happened so often that it just became a preference for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I still love my girls though and switch it up sometimes.

exactly this!

 

[rae2nerdy]

Yeah, I play mostly guys. Being a girl is too close to home, and like, when a guy is hitting on my character, I just shudder internally. Like, nooooo, stay away.

And them boy love's the best, you know? (double thumbs up)

That's an interesting take on it. Is it the fact that the character is a guy or the fact that your partner is a guy that bothers you? If it's you're partner what is it about a homosexual relationship that makes it better for you? Is it because you feel like if they're playing a gay male character than they're not hitting on you and that makes it more comfortable to roleplay romance?

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As for me I will play whatever gender is required for the roleplay in question. I do exclusively 1x1s ( typically skewing platonic although if requested I'll do romance ). I am pretty much totally uninterested in romance personally so I just play whatever my partner wants me to play.

Unless it's romantic doubling. I flatly refuse to do that. The whole idea that I have to create two characters in need of a romantic partner AND they have to be the specific genders that my partner finds romantically appealing all so my partner can feel like they aren't "being rude" is just bananas to me. Like how is making your partner do MORE work being less rude/demanding?

 

[Troldmand]

I do play female characters once in a blue moon. It's either required by the prompt or done out of boredom. I find it easier to stay interested in the RP if I play both male and female character.

 

[Katsuya]

I actually play both genders, though I start off with girls first in group RPs.

I have to agree with few people here; I notice that a lot of people like playing as a girl. So the first time I RP-ed as a boy to balance out the gender scale, it was a cool experience. However when it comes to a possible romance, then I'm a bit wary. Like if I feel a certain character can jive with one of mine, then yea, let them hang out and have a cute moment together. But if I don't, then I would tell my partner that 'No, I don't think they work well' in the OOC or make it obvious that they are not interested.

Then if said partner is really REALLY insisting that they should be together, now that's when I draw the line. That's when I get goosebumbs on my arms and cold shudders down my back. It's with either gender that I feel this way too. Because I don't like to force a romance on any of my characters. I want it to be fluid and nice and sweet even if the possible couple has a warring background. Instead of discussing it a lot in the OOC, we can play it out and see if the character reacted the way we think they'd react or not. Like guess along with the character and then have a genuine moment of 'yay!' with them as the characters get along.

So far I only had one partner that made me feel the 'Yay!' moment in an RP and it's the best feeling ever. Like we both agree on a lot things and we have fun while the characters are being awkward and cute together. It's awesome!

 

[Zer0]

That's an interesting take on it. Is it the fact that the character is a guy or the fact that your partner is a guy that bothers you? If it's you're partner what is it about a homosexual relationship that makes it better for you? Is it because you feel like if they're playing a gay male character than they're not hitting on you and that makes it more comfortable to roleplay romance?

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As for me I will play whatever gender is required for the roleplay in question. I do exclusively 1x1s ( typically skewing platonic although if requested I'll do romance ). I am pretty much totally uninterested in romance personally so I just play whatever my partner wants me to play.

Unless it's romantic doubling. I flatly refuse to do that. The whole idea that I have to create two characters in need of a romantic partner AND they have to be the specific genders that my partner finds romantically appealing all so my partner can feel like they aren't "being rude" is just bananas to me. Like how is making your partner do MORE work being less rude/demanding?

It's the fact that the character is a guy and because it's hard for me to not get affected if my character is a girl. Like it's easier to be detached if I pIay guy characters.

I haven't had a guy play a gay character hitting on my guy character yet, but yeah the farther it is from who I am the more comfortable I am. From experience the gay love and hetero love between characters were awesome, like the gender didn't matter, it was who the characters were that made them fun to act. I think how comfortable it was all just boiled down to how much I trust the person I'm roleplaying with, like if I played a girl character and there's a male character being played by a good friend of mine here in RPN, I'd totally be cool with that. I also just really like guyXguy in general because they so hot. XD

 

[rae2nerdy]

It's the fact that the character is a guy and because it's hard for me to not get affected if my character is a girl. Like it's easier to be detached if I pIay guy characters.

I haven't had a guy play a gay character hitting on my guy character yet, but yeah the farther it is from who I am the more comfortable I am. From experience the gay love and hetero love between characters were awesome, like the gender didn't matter, it was who the characters were that made them fun to act. I think how comfortable it was all just boiled down to how much I trust the person I'm roleplaying with, like if I played a girl character and there's a male character being played by a good friend of mine here in RPN, I'd totally be cool with that. I also just really like guyXguy in general because they so hot. XD

I see thanks for responding. Usually I see the opposite reasoning on romance ( i.e. the more closely the rp follows what the person sees as romantic IRL and their own personal sexuality / kinks / etc the more they are able to immerse themselves )

So the idea that a barrier helps you immerse more in the story is really interesting.

 

[Zer0]

I see thanks for responding. Usually I see the opposite reasoning on romance ( i.e. the more closely the rp follows what the person sees as romantic IRL and their own personal sexuality / kinks / etc the more they are able to immerse themselves )

So the idea that a barrier helps you immerse more in the story is really interesting.

Thanks for finding it interesting! That also made me realize like, huh, this barrier helping me immerse myself is uncommon.

 

[Risk]

I love writing as both sexes.

 

[Rock And Roll Boy]

I play both, but mainly female.

 

[Shadowchaos]

usually my main characters are male though I will also create female side characters that may accompany them or have something to do with them.

 

[Hige]

I get asked to play a guy a lot but that doesn't bother me. I don't have any strong preference to playing towards a character's gender. I think if you play both it makes you a stronger writer, in the same way that branching out your character pool's diversity does.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Thanks for finding it interesting! That also made me realize like, huh, this barrier helping me immerse myself is uncommon.

Actually that's the thing it isn't really. I mean I read an article the other day about why so many people like slash fanfic ( mxm stories ) who aren't the stereotypical Heterosexual Women Out To Get Kicks.

And it actually mentioned that same barrier to immersion comment and it made me think why I like mxm things. I mean I actively prefer reading homosexual romances over heterosexual once ( the heterosexual scenes I usually skip over or ignore in favor of a greater plot )

But because a homosexual relationship doesn't featuring anyone which I could realistically be expected to insert myself into ( er...problematic phrasing but hopefully you know what I'm trying to say ) it actually makes it easier for me to just have a suspension of disbelief and embrace the romance.

Whereas heterosexual relationships are either boring or ( if sexually explicit ) awkward for me to read.

But as a general rule I've found the reasoning for WRITING romance to be the exact opposite which always makes me feel even more awkward about it honestly as then I feel like the person is getting a lot more emotionally invested in fictional romance than I am and expects a good deal more of me in the romance than I'm comfortable with.

Whereas with your way of doing it it's easier for BOTH sides to have some distance from the characters and focus on making a well crafted story versus just straight fantasy wish fullfillment.

Got me wishing more people had your way of doing it actually.

 

[Suum]

I have done and it can be interesting, or fun, but I'd be honest and say I wouldn't roleplay as the opposite gender in a romantic roleplay environment. That might be too difficult for me to integrate with.

 

[Dazaiii]

I seem find myself playing male as male characters, if not non-binary. Probably because it really challenges me to change character both personality and gender wise.

 

[Alyxsandre]

But what if you AREN'T a gender? Does this question still apply?

//jkjk

I've never actually put any thought into which "gender" character I've ever played, because it's never been important to me as an agender person. Gender to me is literally just a word, and it holds no significance.

That said, when I do roleplay, I typically like to grab stereotypes for whatever they may be and throw it out the window. Because screw stereotypes. I love my crybaby males who have no qualms expressing their emotions, I love my strong, powerful women whom people don't view as a b---- because she's not afraid to speak her voice, and I love my characters who just want to express who they are no matter what it may be.

I do mostly play male characters, but these days I'm just getting more and more agender folk because I can and there are still very few of them out there in the roleplaying world. Genderfluid, too. They just don't seem to be character aspects that lots of people feel comfortable (for some reason) roleplaying. I've never agreed with how some people say "never write about anything you don't personally know about" because then that'd just make everyone a boring writer LOL

So, I play every type of character because their gender has nothing to do with their personality or character, unless it's a story about them discovering their identity or something. Which most of the time it's not.
As an artist, it's really just aesthetic, their gender. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Zer0]

But because a homosexual relationship doesn't featuring anyone which I could realistically be expected to insert myself into ( er...problematic phrasing but hopefully you know what I'm trying to say )

XD

Thanks, yeah, the barrier helps with making the story, like I'm more free to let the character be flawed or fail, or do stuff I don't do, and also act different characters without their attitudes mixing together.

I hope you find more people who roleplay in this comfortable way you like, rae2nerdy .

 

[cherub.]

playing both genders is cool
i honestly like it