GM Lounge - Bartenders Answer All Your Questions

Started by HockeyGod, January 02, 2012, 03:16:41 PM

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Caeli

I actually really appreciate when people are comfortable creating a character who seems realistic, especially in a group game. It's a pretty general comment, but when I'm character-creating, I look really carefully at all aspects of my character and ask myself if it makes sense, looking at everything from physical aspects, emotions, personality, and how they have become the person that they have.

For example, one of my current group characters is a tall-ish dancer with a history of ballet, and whose profession is dance. Looking at her height, I combed through Google to try to find a solid weight for her - heavy enough to account for muscles, but light enough for someone who continues to do ballet and other dance every day, even if not professionally. (I have to admit that one of my major pet peeves is seeing a character, but usually females, who are waif-like, skinny, weigh somewhere in the range of 100-120 lbs, and yet can somehow wield a sword and do hand to hand combat like it's nothing. Multiply the peeve factor if the character seemingly has no plausible way to get those skills.)

When I ran a couple of group games off of Elliquiy, one of the major problems was that other players had virtually perfect characters - tragic past, but they overcame it and they're sparkly and happy, good at everything, etc. I fully respect that this can happen, but I find writing opposite those types of characters and writers (who have an answer for everything, and always seem to 'win' the encounter or come out better/on top) very boring. Imperfection and drama are what make character interaction so interesting; character development is what makes a character really come alive.

Guess I didn't really have a question here. :P Realistic is different for different individuals, so I'm not going to dog on falling in love after a day because for all I know, it happens for other people who aren't me. I think the main problem is writers who seem more intent on hogging the spotlight (which tends to cause the having-an-answer-to-everything or kicking-the-bad-guys'-asses-no-problem incidents) and seem to want to emphasize their paragon's perfection rather than play in the game.
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Haibane

I know exactly what you mean, LunarSage.

Quote from: LunarSage on February 01, 2012, 02:43:11 PM
Meh.  I disagree quite a bit, Thufir... but I really don't want to start a huge debate that I am nowhere near eloquent enough to properly defend my stance on.  I guess we'll leave it at that.  *shrugs*
One-day romances occur in forum RPs because the players confuse real world time and game time. In the real world a month - or several months - can easily pass while in the RP just a single day does. Combine this long length of time in which the players get to know and become comfortable with their own and the other person's character with the opportunity to share all manner of correspondence via PMs or IMs for weeks and months and of course the two players become extremely comfortable with each other and their characters' situation.

The weakness lies in them forgetting that for the characters, as you point out, only a matter of hours has passed.

Or perhaps its deliberate - they are here to do some smexy RP so they just skip their characters to that stage, despite it not being very believable.

I try to get around this by working timeskips into the story, usually of at least a day here and there and if I can, of some weeks. Once a month or more of the characters lives have passed, a full-blown romance (or perhaps a full-on-trust-filled D/s relationship ;) ) is more beleivable. Time-skipping also helps you to close scenes off and start fresh ones which can keep the RP lively and interesting. You don't need to give every scene a literary conclusion. Look at how film and TV directors cut intense scenes off in mid flow in order to provide tension. You are free to end a kiss in mid-tongue or a fuck in mid-stroke and skip forwards a week, no-one says your RP must go through the alphabet in sequence.

I have just begun a 1-on-1 game that starts at about (to continue the alphabet analogy) "H". My partner and I are then splitting our posts and working forwards from "H" towards "Z" while at the same time staring at about "D" and jumping around to cover the first part of the alphabet in flashbacks.

Flashbacks generally can be another way to cover the "how we got to here" part of the RP.

Another very long-running game I'm playing has my dominant girl going on holiday for 2-weeks, renting a villa in Spain with a group of 10 established college-age friends. One of the friends has invited a younger girl and this girl, played by my writing partner is totally innocent and virginal. The game plans to slowly turning this innocent sweet thing into a painslutwhoreslave of my domme and she also becomes the pet and sex-slave of the 10 friends.

After several YEARS of RPing (with a long break) we are about 8 days into the 2-week holiday and my character just got as far as taking the girl's virginity. The game has included a number of day-long timeskips and where we are now, which seems a more realistic point in the two women's relationship, has covered only a few hours of posts... but over a week has gone by in game time.

Chrystal

I can see both sides to this.

Firstly, I agree that it is not exactly realistic to meet someone, fall in love and jump into bed with them all on the same afternoon, and I actually hate one-on-one stories that go that way. I love building relationships in my RPs.

But as has been pointed out, in a group game, a day of game time can take up to six months of posting. (Hai, how long were you running the last cycle of Herodias? And that was a single day). So much can happen in that single day, too. But in a group game, one is very much at the mercy of the slowest player. More, if players are enjoying the action, the GM (in my experience from both sides) is often reluctant to skip forward. Not in all cases, of course, but I have known a GM get some serious stick from players for doing a time skip when people weren't ready.

And the other point to remember is, that if you compare our RPs to much TV and popular fiction, there are a lot of examples where something that would normally take weeks or even months to accomplish is compressed into a single day. (Worst case of this I think is that appalling Eco-disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow", where something that would in reality take decades if not centuries, happens in a matter of hours!

So, while I agree that it is slightly unrealistic to have two people meet and fall in love in 24 hours, so are many of the situations in which the characters are placed and so as the setting requires a suspension of reality, I'm sure we can give the characters and their relationships the same benefit.

Please check out my latest A/A post.
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TheGlyphstone

There's also the fact that it's long been a classic trope of literature - "love at first sight" has been around since medieval times or before as a story element. It's not any more or less realistic now than it was then, really.

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Chrystal on February 03, 2012, 02:52:19 PM
I can see both sides to this.

Firstly, I agree that it is not exactly realistic to meet someone, fall in love and jump into bed with them all on the same afternoon, and I actually hate one-on-one stories that go that way. I love building relationships in my RPs.
It seems I'm a totally unrealistic character IRL :P!
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StrangerThanFiction


Quote from: TheGlyphstone on February 03, 2012, 03:23:15 PM
There's also the fact that it's long been a classic trope of literature - "love at first sight" has been around since medieval times or before as a story element. It's not any more or less realistic now than it was then, really.
Since I'm pretty sure there are some accidents in ancient mythologies around the world, this is probably older than writing itself >:).
Now, whether it was realistic for the characters in question is another matter. Everything can be done poorly!

Quote from: Caeli on February 02, 2012, 01:00:54 AM
I actually really appreciate when people are comfortable creating a character who seems realistic, especially in a group game. It's a pretty general comment, but when I'm character-creating, I look really carefully at all aspects of my character and ask myself if it makes sense, looking at everything from physical aspects, emotions, personality, and how they have become the person that they have.

For example, one of my current group characters is a tall-ish dancer with a history of ballet, and whose profession is dance. Looking at her height, I combed through Google to try to find a solid weight for her - heavy enough to account for muscles, but light enough for someone who continues to do ballet and other dance every day, even if not professionally.
Attention to detail in the character is always a good habit IMO ;). I remember playing more than one character who was influenced for good or ill by non-tragic events in early adulthood. Occasionally, I've used help from psychiatric studies to determine where the character's behaviour would deviate from the norm.
(Of course, "the norm" is in itself a mostly illusory concept, since everyone deviates from it in some big or small ways. But it's useful to take the image of an "average" character, given his background and the setting, and compare it to what you're planning to play. I find thinking about the reasons for the differences quite useful).

Quote(I have to admit that one of my major pet peeves is seeing a character, but usually females, who are waif-like, skinny, weigh somewhere in the range of 100-120 lbs, and yet can somehow wield a sword and do hand to hand combat like it's nothing. Multiply the peeve factor if the character seemingly has no plausible way to get those skills.)
Please note, a girl 120 lbs can possibly wield a sword, seen it myself. Whether she would be well-advised to keep her distance while doing so is another matter entirely. That, in itself, doesn't make the character unrealistic. Some people just seem unable to gain weight, no matter how much they eat and train.
And wouldn't the part about "unexpected" skills be covered before the game? I mean, that's what character sheets do.

QuoteGuess I didn't really have a question here. :P Realistic is different for different individuals, so I'm not going to dog on falling in love after a day because for all I know, it happens for other people who aren't me. I think the main problem is writers who seem more intent on hogging the spotlight (which tends to cause the having-an-answer-to-everything or kicking-the-bad-guys'-asses-no-problem incidents) and seem to want to emphasize their paragon's perfection rather than play in the game.
Seems to fit the description.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue
Still, it's good practice to give your characters flaws just to make the game more fun to read. Even if flawless people are realistic, I'd still have more fun reading about flawed characters.
Of course, that might be just me.

Sorry for parsing up your post like that. It was just easier to write a reply in that format ;).
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Chrystal

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on February 03, 2012, 05:23:04 PM
It seems I'm a totally unrealistic character IRL :P!

You are telling me that you met someone, fell in love, had heavy bondage sex involving serious amounts of pain, changed from a normal person who had never even looked at someone the same gender and never even considered BDSM into a total gay submissive pain slut, and lived happily ever after?

All in the space of six hours?

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

TheGlyphstone

Quote from: Chrystal on February 03, 2012, 05:28:47 PM
You are telling me that you met someone, fell in love, had heavy bondage sex involving serious amounts of pain, changed from a normal person who had never even looked at someone the same gender and never even considered BDSM into a total gay submissive pain slut, and lived happily ever after?

All in the space of six hours?

Uhh.....that's very much a different story that what he actually quoted.

Chrystal

Um, I have to admit to not following that link, but my point is that this is the sort of event that happens in many group games here on E, and is what those of us who say it is "unrealistic" are referring to.

I have nothing against love at first sight, I have nothing against people discovering their dominant or submissive side. I have nothing against people being seduced out of the closet. Any one of those things can happen in the space of a few hours. But all of them? I suppose it's possible, but...

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

NileGoddess

I think the Mary Sue classification is only applicable if one or more parties aren't in consent with the character.

For example, take a solos rp. If both characters say 'yes, having a drastically unique character that immediately falls for mine is a good thing', then there's no harm being done.

However, in a group game, a better balance is needed. A player can't make a character and think 'I'll make him just a little bit better there, because this character is like this, and I'll make him faster here because this other character is like this." Especially if there's a coherent plot to be developed and structured.

I was in one game where a player did something like this. It was a fairly innocent enough scene, where a police officer went to go visit someone, but he insisted on describing how he was carrying two different handguns, a hidden machine gun, and a bullet proof vest. He couldn't just be a police officer; he had to be carrying enough firepower to drop an elephant, and there was no apparent reason.

Thufir Hawat

#234
Quote from: Chrystal on February 03, 2012, 05:37:17 PM
Um, I have to admit to not following that link, but my point is that this is the sort of event that happens in many group games here on E, and is what those of us who say it is "unrealistic" are referring to.

I have nothing against love at first sight, I have nothing against people discovering their dominant or submissive side. I have nothing against people being seduced out of the closet. Any one of those things can happen in the space of a few hours. But all of them? I suppose it's possible, but...
Would please point out to me where I've written said I've ever changed my orientation, been the submissive side in that relationship, or that there was any heavy BDSM involved? Because all of this is haven't happened, nor did I write it has.
Where you got this idea is, well, up to you to explain. But you know, some people meet people from the gender they normally prefer, have vanilla or light BDSM sex and discover it wasn't just sex afterwards, all in the space of several hours. Sometimes it's even mutual, depending on the other person >:)!
And yes, I know many stories on E. read like what you have described. But I wasn't answering to that, if you go back in the discussion to read my posts.
Incidentally, that's why I quote the posts I'm replying to ;). As you can see, another user rejected the possibility of love at first sight, ever (which I found understandably funny, since I know it happens from personal experience).

Quote from: NileGoddess on February 03, 2012, 05:49:00 PM
I think the Mary Sue classification is only applicable if one or more parties aren't in consent with the character.

For example, take a solos rp. If both characters say 'yes, having a drastically unique character that immediately falls for mine is a good thing', then there's no harm being done.
Well, they might still be Mary Sues, but if they're not irritating the other players and readers, no harm done. Yeah, I know I'm nitpicking here ;).

QuoteHowever, in a group game, a better balance is needed. A player can't make a character and think 'I'll make him just a little bit better there, because this character is like this, and I'll make him faster here because this other character is like this." Especially if there's a coherent plot to be developed and structured.

I was in one game where a player did something like this. It was a fairly innocent enough scene, where a police officer went to go visit someone, but he insisted on describing how he was carrying two different handguns, a hidden machine gun, and a bullet proof vest. He couldn't just be a police officer; he had to be carrying enough firepower to drop an elephant, and there was no apparent reason.
Did the other characters treat him as paranoid afterwards ;D?
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Caeli

#235
Quote from: Thufir Hawat on February 03, 2012, 05:23:04 PMPlease note, a girl 120 lbs can possibly wield a sword, seen it myself. Whether she would be well-advised to keep her distance while doing so is another matter entirely. That, in itself, doesn't make the character unrealistic. Some people just seem unable to gain weight, no matter how much they eat and train.

And wouldn't the part about "unexpected" skills be covered before the game? I mean, that's what character sheets do.
Seems to fit the description.

I wasn't saying it was impossible, merely an observation of how many female characters end up having height, weight, and bust-waist-hips measurements that don't quite agree with each other.

I'm certainly not saying that people who are skinny or weigh very little are unrealistic, but people often forget to account for the greater density (and thus, greater amount of weight) of muscle mass that would make mastery in some weapons-based skills feasible. And having them being able to beat a man who is almost twice their weight through sheer strength? I'm sorry, I don't buy it.

QuoteSeems to fit the description: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue

I refuse to use the term "Mary Sue" because I feel that it is sexist. I prefer the more gender-neutral term, Wish Fulfillment character.


Edit: Edited for clarity.
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LunarSage

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on February 03, 2012, 06:02:03 PM
As you can see, another user rejected the possibility of love at first sight, ever (which I found understandably funny, since I know it happens from personal experience).

I would argue that -true- love at first sight never actually happens.  I can buy infatuation at first sight, but from a psychological standpoint, what we consider true love is something that requires stronger familiarity between two people than is possible in a day's time. 

My opinion mind you... but one I fervently believe in. 

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HockeyGod

Quote from: LunarSage on February 03, 2012, 07:02:40 PM
I would argue that -true- love at first sight never actually happens.  I can buy infatuation at first sight, but from a psychological standpoint, what we consider true love is something that requires stronger familiarity between two people than is possible in a day's time. 

My opinion mind you... but one I fervently believe in.

I can probably agree with you - but isn't quite fun when we can write that love truly does happen at first sight?  ;D

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Caeli on February 03, 2012, 06:24:08 PM
I wasn't saying it was impossible, merely an observation of how many female characters end up having height, weight, and bust-waist-hips measurements that don't quite agree with each other.

I'm certainly not saying that people who are skinny or weigh very little are unrealistic, but people often forget to account for the greater density (and thus, greater amount of weight) of muscle mass that would make mastery in some weapons-based skills feasible. And having them being able to beat a man who is almost twice their weight through sheer strength? I'm sorry, I don't buy it.
Yes, I know what you mean. Here you can find the record of a female fencing champion, notice the part saying 119 lbs ;).
Now, whether her bust-waist-hip measurements are the same as the average female character on E. would have, is a different thing :D! My point was that weight isn't an absolute measure when it comes to fighting. Although all the sumo wrestlers out there can attest that it helps, it's definitely not absolute!
Now, maintaining the hourglass figure and a fitness level together might be tough, that's for granted.

QuoteI refuse to use the term "Mary Sue" because I feel that it is sexist. I prefer the more gender-neutral term, Wish Fulfillment character.
There's also Marty Stue. I would have used this form if you were talking about the male characters :P.

Quote from: LunarSage on February 03, 2012, 07:02:40 PM
I would argue that -true- love at first sight never actually happens.  I can buy infatuation at first sight, but from a psychological standpoint, what we consider true love is something that requires stronger familiarity between two people than is possible in a day's time. 

My opinion mind you... but one I fervently believe in.
Your opinion is again refuted by my experience, although I'm not the greatest believer in "true love" out there 8-)!
You're still free to believe in whatever you wish, as fervently as you like. But telling me what I've been through sounds to me like armchair psychology at best, and I might add "rude" as well. No problem with the rudeness, but I don't like armchair psychology in action.
And the goalposts keep moving, I must add. What you said first was that people admitting love to each other after a night is unrealistic. You didn't even mention any feelings, much less "true" ones. And even if we accept your theory, which I don't, you think nobody has ever mistaken infatuation for true love >:)?
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Caeli

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on February 03, 2012, 07:47:59 PMThere's also Marty Stue. I would have used this form if you were talking about the male characters :P.

I don't think you quite understand. Marty Stu (and Gary Stu) is a term that was created well after "Mary Sue" was first coined, and there isn't even an agreed-upon term to describe the concept of an idealized male character.

Female characters are disproportionately targeted as being Sues for having too many flaws, having too few flaws, for being a villain, for being a hero, for messing up too many times, for being weak, for being powerful, for flaunting femininity. Many people look at a male Wish Fulfillment character and thinks there's nothing wrong with a bit of idealization; if the Wish Fulfillment character is a female, though, suddenly she's unrealistic and usurping what should be a man's role as central character.

I don't want to get into a long discussion about this here since it's off topic (and I apologize, Alx, since I have obviously posted much more than I had previously meant to :P), but I wanted to explain why the term Mary Sue (which is used to describe idealized characters in general, as a default phrase) is sexist. Since this is a forum of mature adult writers, I feel that most of us are more able to spot Wish Fulfillment characters regardless of their gender. Outside of Elliquiy, though, there is a pervasive attitude that only idealized female characters are something to be scorned, while that same attitude is markedly absent when referring to male characters.

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with Wish Fulfillment characters - power fantasies can be fun to write, and what's wrong with a little fantasizing now and again? The real issue is the fact that female power fantasy characters are usually insulted or put down because they are specifically female idealized characters.
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Thufir Hawat

You're right on both counts, I wasn't aware of it, and it's off-topic, so I'm sending you a PM ;D!
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Haibane

By definition 'love' requires mutual respect, mutual trust and a number of other close emotional responses. It is simply impossible for two humans to fall in love "at first sight" (by which I'm saying eye-contact alone). What people do experience is lust at first sight or infatuation at first sight, but not love.

No matter what any individual says to the contrary this isn't an opinion, its a fact based on the meaning of the terms.

But we are getting way off the subject here. I agree with Caeli's original point that too many RP characters get too deep and too trusting into situations too quickly for them to be anything but unrealistic - but I also agree with other comments - such as from Glyphstone - that our literarture, art and other modern media like film, is full of such unrealistic relationships, and these are simply devices for effect. If fiction authors wrote about the mundane and what occurs in everyday life, no one would read their books. Works of romance and action need to be exciting and outside of the sphere of 'usual' existence for most of us. Its why there are so many spy stories, for example, and so many stories written against a setting where the rich and famous circulate, such as the James Bond franchise.

But to get around the issue in forum RPs I certainly recommend time skips! ;)

Thufir Hawat

#242
Quote from: Haibane on February 04, 2012, 05:42:37 AM
By definition 'love' requires mutual respect, mutual trust and a number of other close emotional responses. It is simply impossible for two humans to fall in love "at first sight" (by which I'm saying eye-contact alone). What people do experience is lust at first sight or infatuation at first sight, but not love.

No matter what any individual says to the contrary this isn't an opinion, its a fact based on the meaning of the terms.
Wait, you pretend to know the one and only true definition of "love"? I mean, really?

;D

Your self-righteousness is so pure it was actually fun for a while.

QuoteBut we are getting way off the subject here.
Yeah, I don't see a point in continuing that line of discussion either ;).

QuoteI agree with Caeli's original point that too many RP characters get too deep and too trusting into situations too quickly for them to be anything but unrealistic - but I also agree with other comments - such as from Glyphstone - that our literarture, art and other modern media like film, is full of such unrealistic relationships, and these are simply devices for effect.
Probably the Darwin awards are unrealistic and written for the public's entertainment as well, if we discard the "too fast, too trusting for their own good" people as unrealistic >:).
Never mind, I'm pretty sure you can continue this discussion without me, so feel free to take a parting shot or five 8-)!
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"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

Josietta

I think its best to leave the discussions of "love" in another thread somewhere. Its gone past the point of how do you deal with it in a game to personal opinions and not GM advice. So we should drop it and move on in my humble opinion.

Doing so......


So as a GM sometimes I find that running group games can be challenging with the male to female ratio. I like to think it doesn't matter in most games but in the end the players (mostly on E) like to have that sandbox relationship field open for a possibility for their character. I also find that getting gender neutral or GLT characters into a group game with a fair amount of hetero/bi sexuals is far and few between.  Does anyone else have this experience in their games and how do you go about letting those sexual oriented/gender oriented people know that it is a safe zone and they are welcome without making it seem like you are trying too hard to accommodate everyone?  Also on that same note, how do you keep the "relationship" possibilities as an open field for who wants to get with who without making too many NPCs or having too many players joining to accommodate those sorts of desires?

Does this make sense? What I'm getting at that is?

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HockeyGod

GM note...

Civility is an important aspect of the Elliquiy community. Members are free to express opinions and Members are free to adamantly oppose those opinions.

Members are not free to resort to name-calling or snarky commentary specifically meant to call another individual out.

As Josi noted, the topic is complete and we're moving on.

Quote from: Josietta on February 04, 2012, 12:25:20 PM
So as a GM sometimes I find that running group games can be challenging with the male to female ratio. I like to think it doesn't matter in most games but in the end the players (mostly on E) like to have that sandbox relationship field open for a possibility for their character. I also find that getting gender neutral or GLT characters into a group game with a fair amount of hetero/bi sexuals is far and few between.  Does anyone else have this experience in their games and how do you go about letting those sexual oriented/gender oriented people know that it is a safe zone and they are welcome without making it seem like you are trying too hard to accommodate everyone?  Also on that same note, how do you keep the "relationship" possibilities as an open field for who wants to get with who without making too many NPCs or having too many players joining to accommodate those sorts of desires?

Does this make sense? What I'm getting at that is?

Yes, this is a great topic. I've been in several group games and I've found them very open to different gender identities and sexual orientations. I think one of the best ways is to have a character that is not of the normative GI or SO. Word travels fast in E and putting your money where your mouth is certainly shows good effort.

Other games have been specifically designed as LGBT and people have played non-LGBT in them which also shows a welcoming environment.

I might add, Josi, that I also see a very white landscape of RPs. I, myself, have enjoyed RPing as other races and ethnicities and always encourage people to test their writing ability by taking on a persona other than their own. Thoughts on this?

NileGoddess

I find ethnic women (and by ethnic, I mean other than my own race) to be very exotic and unique. I love to play characters of different races...whether they come off as convincing in personality and description, well, that's another story.

LunarSage

It's funny... I can roleplay Asian and white characters till the breaking dawn... but I'm afraid to play a black or hispanic character.  I'm terrified that if I did, I'd portray something wrong and offend someone OOC.   :-(

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Josietta

#247
I think that is where things get quirky for people.  Some find it hard to convey things they aren't familiar with. Like skin color or even genders. I know i've recently been trying to play male characters and it is a challenge. I tend to overthink things but I know if i keep at it, it'll likely work itself out.

As far as ethnicity and what not I think some people are afraid of seeming too racial if that makes sense. They don't want to offend but are afraid to play something they don't know fully. Where I think they go wrong is that, no matter your skin color, heritage and what not, you can still play that character as you would any other race. You just might have to incorporate some background cultural items, but its not necessarily required.

Examples would be playing a black female (for me) but have her be adopted since birth by a white family or even a mixed family of white and black/white and asian/black and asian. No matter which combination you'd choose you can still have that character be as cultural to which ever background you want while still having a different skin color. I guess what I'm getting at is, that no matter what ethnicity you are, there are loopholes so you don't feel like you might be inadvertently offensive to one culture or another. 

Or in the end you can push your limits as a writer and learn more about a new culture in order to portray it as you would want it to be. :)

EDIT: Alx>  I can see what you mean about playing out a nongender/GLT character in your group game to show the door being open to it. :)  I should try that sometime. *nod*

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Chrystal

Something I have found as a lesbian is that, unless I join an all-female game, I nearly always upset the M/F balance! I have actually been asked to drop out of a game because of this!

Having an equal number of male and female characters in a "smut-based" game is fine as long as there are also equal numbers of gay characters of both genders!

I do love playing other ethnicities than my own (white Anglo-saxon). I have played Asian Muslims, Asian Hindus, Jews, Russian Immigrants. I have also played male characters from time to time. Being switch I'm equally comfortable playing the brutal dominatrix or the pain-slut submissive (or anything in between).

The one thing I'm not comfortable with is playing a straight or bi character in a mixed gender game, especially a sub character. This is purely down to the natural paranoia of being part of a persecuted minority... *winks*

But seriously, one of my favourite scenarios is the woman who thinks she's straight getting seduced by another woman. I rarely get to play that in group games, though, because I'm always worried that some male character may try his hand first, and for my "allegedly" straight sub to refuse him would be out of character!

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Sasha

#249
 Trying to figure out how to word this and not sound foolish, so forgive me if I fumble a bit .

I try to make all my games open to all . Cross gender role play ...the acceptance of gay or pure lesbian characters is a wonderful element to add to any game. The pool of players however ...when we tip the scale to a m/m type scene seems to have it own self made boundaries with the players themselves. We have never been able to maintain them consistently at Crystal Lake . Though the few that have played characters of this sexual orientation have been marvelous and a wonderful read for those who wish to encounter such they seem to come in as a set pairing . Seemingly then a few male characters marked bi-sexual or bi-curious tend to not get the story line flavor of the unique first time experience.

In some instances I find myself as a GM ...wishing there was a better way to draw in those so a better matching system can be had . As some lovely writers in a few of my smaller sized games were left without that so called perfect partner to match up to . Trying to step in myself and put up a character to aide , realizing it might not be as complete a package as the player is looking for. Though extremely challenging and maybe noteworthy ..just don't quite cut the mustard so to speak . Which I completely understand .

I think the environment of E is quite gracious in offering a larger pool of players of this nature ..however not all the games base backgrounds appeal to all . So that limited pool of those willing to try out a group experience becomes even smaller when you start looking for specific sexual orientations . So achieving that equal number of gay characters in both genders can be rather challenging.

I have played in a few games set up with that general open lean towards the gay/lesbian population and have truly enjoyed participating in them.  So indeed being open to such and stating it from the start of requests for characters seems in my mind to be best . Also it lets those know that are not into such interactions that this may be a part of the game .