Author Topic: must cross gender role-play... anyone? (Read 1315 times)

Sugarman (hal) · « **on:** June 21, 2006, 08:13:45 PM »

Im a all guy male... but recognize my feminine side to my personality. Would like to explorer it in a rp.

Have any games been set up with the criteria that players must play the opposite gender then they are?
If not I purpose a play the we set up one that at least one of your characters be opposite then your gender.

Any interest?

Sugarman (hal) · « **Reply #1 on:** June 22, 2006, 06:03:51 PM »

hummmm hal, another bad idea.

Ellyssa · « **Reply #2 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:04:16 PM »

It's not something I'd do.. most likely.. but it is a good idea, methinks, not a bad one. :)

Elvi · « **Reply #3 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:06:36 PM »

Nothing worng with the idea Hal, keep plodding.
Will have a chat when I get back

Aysleen · « **Reply #4 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:11:26 PM »

I agree its a good idea...I've just played men often enough and am currently a bit burned out on it... Now, if it was to play something else against type, besides gender, I might be willing to give it a try...

Sugarman (hal) · « **Reply #5 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:13:21 PM »

Ellyssa, Aysleen, and, Elvi thanks for your reply and openness.

Really open to a discussion on this topic. Is cross gender role play a benefit to understanding the feelings of that sex? Or not?

Just throwing it out.

Aysleen · « **Reply #6 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:24:48 PM »

Not for me...you guys are just in a league all your own, and I doubt I'll ever understand more than one thing about y'all.

But that's just me.

Elvi · « **Reply #7 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:28:41 PM »

I have far more men firends than women and have 'lived in a man's world' for so long that most even forget that I am a woman when it comes to talking/dealing with stuff, so I'm not sure.

Sugarman (hal) · « **Reply #8 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:46:38 PM »

Quote from: Aysleen on June 22, 2006, 07:24:48 PM

Not for me...you guys are just in a league all your own, and I doubt I'll ever understand more than one thing about y'all. But that's just me.

Not sure what "you guys" means

In real life I don't play cross roles. Im a guy that prefer exclusively women as an intimate partner. But in fantasy I am open to try things different they my real self.

Aysleen · « **Reply #9 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:53:52 PM »

I was referring to rl.

You asked "Is cross gender role play a benefit to understanding the feelings of that sex?" And I was saying that for me it wasn't a benefit to understanding men. I find you all to be enigmas...with the possible exception of when it comes to sex...

In rl I don't play a man either...and in fantasy I like trying different things as well.

Sugarman (hal) · « **Reply #10 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:15:43 PM »

hummmm maybe we are talking the same thing. Will not presume though.

Ok another question, in fantasy rp. In playing a role do others put personal feelings/emotions in their characters. Do you feel the character and their circumstances or is it clinical and aloof .

Also please don't feel me attacking anyone... not my natural to be confrontational... just interested.

Elvi · « **Reply #11 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:29:27 PM »

What on earth is confrontational about your question?

For me, all my charatcetrs have feelings and emotions, without them they don't work.

Aysleen · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:43:14 PM »

I agree with Elvi...I try to be my characters up to a point, otherwise not only does it not work for me, but it's also no fun. Role playing is just that...playing a role.

Purple · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:44:45 PM »

Hmmmm...I'm a tomboy in so many ways. I play violent video games (am nigh unbeatable in FPSs), my favorite movies are action-adventure guy flicks, I can talk about cars better than most girls I know, guns too. I love baseball, I'm more loyal a fan than any guy I know even. Let's just say I've literally cried the last two nights...my poor babies. (So far tonight the score is tied at zero, please pray for me guys...yes, it's that important to me.) I have an infinite number of guy friends and only...five girlfriends. I actually don't like most women as they're shallow, talk too much about silly things, and are usually quite witchy. Thankfully this site has got a lot of great women I think I could call friends if we got to know one another. But...I don't think I could ever roleplay a guy well. I have one game on RPoL where I'm trying it. I'm adequate, but he doesn't show a lot of emotion (I took him over, the creator made him that way on purpose) so I don't have to roleplay that at all.

So...I actually this idea might be a good one. One I would totally suck at, but it would be interesting to try and see, since most of us I assume are not actors, what it would be like to 'be' the opposite gender. For those of us who can't do it already, of course. *laughs* That's funny...I used to act in high school and college...I'm so old...

Sugarman (hal) · « **Reply #14 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:47:12 PM »

Quote from: Elvi on June 22, 2006, 08:29:27 PM

What on earth is confrontational about your question?

For me, all my charatcetrs have feelings and emotions, without them they don't work.

Well just the new guy here and hope you all know Im truly interested in everything about people so if i counter with a question its genuine interest,.

And I feel the same about my characters I create Elvi. Often their feelings reveal themselves to me as I play them.

Elvi · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:56:52 PM »

*nods*
Yes characters have a strange habit of taking on their own lives, freeform is great for that, you start with a plan and ultimately you end up with a completely different story to what it began as.

Sugarman (hal) · « **Reply #16 on:** June 22, 2006, 09:10:24 PM »

being a novice in most of this I am still amazed at that. I wright novels and this is totally different and exciting. Glad I'm here.

Elvi · « **Reply #17 on:** June 22, 2006, 09:14:02 PM »

It's the combination of a good writing partner and not knowing exactly what is going to happen or how the other will react to what you yourself have just done.

Thats the thing that I love more than anything.

MadPanda · « **Reply #18 on:** June 25, 2006, 01:17:59 PM »

A character without emotional investment is merely a bunch of numbers.

As for the prior question about whether crossing the gender line gives any insight into the opposite gender...nope. Although frankly being a man gives no special insights into men in general (and as Mrs. MadPanda tells me, being a woman doesn't mean you understand women all the time. I'll take her word for it).

Your mileage may vary

kylie · « **Reply #19 on:** June 25, 2006, 08:27:50 PM »

Hal, maybe check out a related thread in Lords Only if you haven't... (Although I thought that was a rather odd place for it.)

Generally... I'm leery of the notion that you can tell what's inside a person or category of action by looking at the surface or title. Sure so we like to act like we can from day to day. We have to act somehow, and lots of other people are supposedly acting so "normal" and one is taught to be careful and account for that... But that doesn't so much reflect what we know or even do. It just reflects what is comfortable for us to believe. The categorical stories say both too much and too little. Sometimes they provide a quick excuse (or excuse for policy!) and yet they don't match what people experienced.

I don't think there's something that makes males or females all just so, although biology can approximate that sort of claim on certain particulars. Gender is much more problematic. Some cultures would often refuse the notion that men=masculine and woman=feminine. Those would say look at the process, not the bodies, in a range of varying cases. More speculative, but I sort of wonder if capitalism isn't a major winner when it comes to gender wars. Deterministic gender offers another simple-looking divider for labor categories and political camps. Better, "simply looking" and not thinking. Much like ethnicity.

I wouldn't join a game just because it said cross-gender, but if I liked some of the other thematics and dynamics too...