SWG Tales

I find it odd how soo many men play female chars. Not to sound like it is a bad thing because my alt is one just so I can get the extra tip for danceing. But why do guys play soo many females chars?

it's the lara croft factor...if you are gonna run around staring at a characters butt all the time, it might as well be a shapely female one...

Jaminos wrote:I find it odd how soo many men play female chars. Not to sound like it is a bad thing because my alt is one just so I can get the extra tip for danceing. But why do guys play soo many females chars?

I have to admit that I've thought about this myself for a long time, but not in an alarmist way at all. Here's what I've come up with:

In essence we, men & women, as roleplayers, are actors. Perhaps due to our medium we are more of a hybrid actor/writer/director, but still acting is our base. If you are the type who takes pride in taking your RP to its limit and stretching your own acting boundaries, playing against gender, and making it believable, is probably the most challenging role that an actor could take on.

The list of real life Hollywood actors who want to play women characters is a very long one, believe it or not. Despite their desire for artistic challenge many of them shy away from it because it would hurt their established public "image". Those who have pulled it off successfully and believably are invariably looked at with admiration and envy among their acting peers, be it man or woman.

Personally, I don't think that I could do it. And based on what I've just stated, it's a personal shortcoming in terms of the art of Roleplay.

When I purchased this game, I knew that I wanted to play non-human, no doubt about it. I wanted to stretch my "acting ability" to make a character unmistakeably alien.

I'm still not there.

I used to play primarily male characters, believe it or not. It wasn't for any other reason than it appealed to me to play them. I still enjoy playing male characters, and writing them--it's as Keer says, it's the challenge of writing someone that's opposite of what you are. Perhaps the greatest challenge is understanding the workings of the mind of the opposite sex. Imitating it successfully involves researching your role and falling headfirst into it at times, becoming one with your character and allowing it to become a personality of its own.

However, while I used to play mostly male characters in high school, and having a whole HUGE shitload of them all the time, as I got older I started associating more with female characters and having much fewer active ones. I think probably me personally maturing (some) and using my RP characters as creative outlets for rough emotions or times in my life has eventually lead to me having only really one active character at a time that I really strongly associate with, and due to that strong association it's usually been female. (The last character, in case anybody's randomly curious, was an X-Men fan character.)

People who know me well OOC know that while there's a whole hell of a lot I have in common with Dwilah, there's a lot of places where we split and become different people. It's how I refer to her as a person of her own and as a character, a personality who can surprise me by the things she does at times...I can dive into her completely at times of "high RP" and come out later feeling exhausted and tense as hell.

In passing, some female players have spoken to me about feeling more comfortable knowing it was a female playing a male character when involved with romance plot lines, purely because they didn't want anything "wonky" happening with intent of the writing relationship (this was in an all-female writing community for the most part). And me personally I don't have issues with males playing females, females playing males, or anything in between (don't ask).

I think what people get hung up on is that there's a "possibility" of sexual RP or romance when they meet characters of the opposite sex, even if they're happily attached, and it can weird them out when they discover "HOLY CRAP MY LOVE INTEREST IS THE SAME SEX AS ME!!!!" and there's a level of discomfort and dissapointment that there really ISN'T that possibility IRL behind the RP romance/attraction...even if nothing could have come of an RP game relationship or they didn't want anything to come of it anyhow. That's what I think, anyway.

Dwilah wrote:I used to play primarily male characters, believe it or not. It wasn't for any other reason than it appealed to me to play them. I still enjoy playing male characters, and writing them--it's as Keer says, it's the challenge of writing someone that's opposite of what you are. Perhaps the greatest challenge is understanding the workings of the mind of the opposite sex. Imitating it successfully involves researching your role and falling headfirst into it at times, becoming one with your character and allowing it to become a personality of its own.

However, while I used to play mostly male characters in high school, and having a whole HUGE shitload of them all the time, as I got older I started associating more with female characters and having much fewer active ones. I think probably me personally maturing (some) and using my RP characters as creative outlets for rough emotions or times in my life has eventually lead to me having only really one active character at a time that I really strongly associate with, and due to that strong association it's usually been female. (The last character, in case anybody's randomly curious, was an X-Men fan character.)

People who know me well OOC know that while there's a whole hell of a lot I have in common with Dwilah, there's a lot of places where we split and become different people. It's how I refer to her as a person of her own and as a character, a personality who can surprise me by the things she does at times...I can dive into her completely at times of "high RP" and come out later feeling exhausted and tense as hell.

In passing, some female players have spoken to me about feeling more comfortable knowing it was a female playing a male character when involved with romance plot lines, purely because they didn't want anything "wonky" happening with intent of the writing relationship (this was in an all-female writing community for the most part). And me personally I don't have issues with males playing females, females playing males, or anything in between (don't ask).

I think what people get hung up on is that there's a "possibility" of sexual RP or romance when they meet characters of the opposite sex, even if they're happily attached, and it can weird them out when they discover "HOLY CRAP MY LOVE INTEREST IS THE SAME SEX AS ME!!!!" and there's a level of discomfort and dissapointment that there really ISN'T that possibility IRL behind the RP romance/attraction...even if nothing could have come of an RP game relationship or they didn't want anything to come of it anyhow. That's what I think, anyway.

Not to mention a female playing a male character in a game like this doesn't have to worry about some 15 year old drooling and saying "U r HoT!!!" :P

Keer, Dwilah, you are dead on. Isleh will do things I would only dream of and she may yet do things that I would never do in RL.

But isn't that what RP is all about?

Isleh wrote: Isleh will do things I would only dream of and she may yet do things that I would never do in RL.

But isn't that what RP is all about?

Yes! :lol:

Dwilah wrote:I used to play primarily male characters, believe it or not. It wasn't for any other reason than it appealed to me to play them. I still enjoy playing male characters, and writing them--it's as Keer says, it's the challenge of writing someone that's opposite of what you are. Perhaps the greatest challenge is understanding the workings of the mind of the opposite sex. Imitating it successfully involves researching your role and falling headfirst into it at times, becoming one with your character and allowing it to become a personality of its own.

However, while I used to play mostly male characters in high school, and having a whole HUGE shitload of them all the time, as I got older I started associating more with female characters and having much fewer active ones. I think probably me personally maturing (some) and using my RP characters as creative outlets for rough emotions or times in my life has eventually lead to me having only really one active character at a time that I really strongly associate with, and due to that strong association it's usually been female. (The last character, in case anybody's randomly curious, was an X-Men fan character.)

People who know me well OOC know that while there's a whole hell of a lot I have in common with Dwilah, there's a lot of places where we split and become different people. It's how I refer to her as a person of her own and as a character, a personality who can surprise me by the things she does at times...I can dive into her completely at times of "high RP" and come out later feeling exhausted and tense as hell.

In passing, some female players have spoken to me about feeling more comfortable knowing it was a female playing a male character when involved with romance plot lines, purely because they didn't want anything "wonky" happening with intent of the writing relationship (this was in an all-female writing community for the most part). And me personally I don't have issues with males playing females, females playing males, or anything in between (don't ask).

I think what people get hung up on is that there's a "possibility" of sexual RP or romance when they meet characters of the opposite sex, even if they're happily attached, and it can weird them out when they discover "HOLY CRAP MY LOVE INTEREST IS THE SAME SEX AS ME!!!!" and there's a level of discomfort and dissapointment that there really ISN'T that possibility IRL behind the RP romance/attraction...even if nothing could have come of an RP game relationship or they didn't want anything to come of it anyhow. That's what I think, anyway.

Well my alt who is a female I roleplay with You may know her as Akade the sister of Ekade (even though she dosenot want to believe it) I found it entertaining. But for now i must conscentrate on Jaminos I left Akade to my cousin she has done a good job.

I simply call it the "Kids in the Hall Factor."

When asked why the comedians in the sketch comedy show Kids in the Hall played so many female characters the answer was simple. There just wasn't enough females in their troupe to play the characters they wanted to play.

So to me its simple. We want females characters in our stories and not for sexual purposes. A good story has diversity. An all male cast of characters just isn't realistic and interesting enough.

Isleh wrote:
Keer, Dwilah, you are dead on. Isleh will do things I would only dream of and she may yet do things that I would never do in RL.

But isn't that what RP is all about?

Oh really?

Jaminos wrote:Well my alt who is a female I roleplay with You may know her as Akade the sister of Ekade (even though she dosenot want to believe it)

Ah, that was you? I was wondering who the person behind that toon was, and I knew it was someone from this site.

I have a female character I play, only because I feel that a female character would have been more dramatic for RP. I found it a fun challenge to play with all of the trappings and shortcomings of a female, especially one so closely tied to the empire.

I try to play my female character as close to a real life female as I can imagine. I didn't max out her chest size or make her the thinnest girl possible (which a lot of times makes people think I'm a real life female). She doesn't flirt or do anything sexually suggestive either. I couldn't believe how aggressive other male characters were with her at first, but now I don't pay much attention to the few times it happens (that and I don't play with her nearly as often as I used to).

I don't think there is anything wrong with playing a female character.

Thats why I designed Akade as a 15 year old girl #1 people will not hit on me as much #2 it fits with how she was too young to know Ekade but not too young to where she dosenot love her all the same. I donot belive in the whole sexual thing but I rp her as a young girl who wants to find her sister.

Jaminos wrote:Thats why I designed Akade as a 15 year old girl #1 people will not hit on me as much #2 it fits with how she was too young to know Ekade but not too young to where she dosenot love her all the same. I donot belive in the whole sexual thing but I rp her as a young girl who wants to find her sister.

I was wondering what happened to Akade. She seemed to have fallen from the face of the galaxy.

Well my roomate owns that account this mounth next mounth I will get her on. I am also loaning Akade to my cousin who is doing a better job haveing an actual female mind and all. If I were piloting her Akade would have killed herself a while ago. But my cousin is doing a good job she is working on getting her back to Ekade. She is mad at you lol you are too stubbern but she is even worse.

Jaminos wrote:Well my roomate owns that account this mounth next mounth I will get her on. I am also loaning Akade to my cousin who is doing a better job haveing an actual female mind and all. If I were piloting her Akade would have killed herself a while ago. But my cousin is doing a good job she is working on getting her back to Ekade. She is mad at you lol you are too stubbern but she is even worse.

Why would she kill herself?

Ekade is not stubborn. She just traditional, and this is a very sensitive issue with her. Don't apply too many human sensibilities to Ekade. I am trying to roleplay an exotic alien. Jaminos, as a human, should find Ekade utterly confusing at times. Akade should not have as hard of a time, depending on the traditions that were taught to her.

Well Jaminos understands them better now that he is merried to a twilek who follows the traditions. As for Akade she knows them only half as good as you do remember she left home at a young age to find you.