[quote=@Kassarock]This might seem contrived, but I want to improve in writing and I often like setting challenges for myself when it comes to characters. As someone else already said it, limitations breed creativity.[/quote]

Thanks for this post.

To the argument that playing a role you like is the chief joy of roleplaying, I'd counter that some people have the most fun not by tailoring that one aspect of the story (their own characters) endemically to their own tastes, but by contributing to immersion on the whole. Sometimes that means making a personal sacrifice for the greater good, in a sense, in the form of playing homelier characters, or ones who match a weird, alien beauty standard, or ones who tell different stories [i]through[/i] their deformities, disfigurations, ugly personalities, mistakes, regrets ... (basically, who make the world feel more lived-in.)

[quote=@GeekFactor]
"Diversity" in RP is a tricky thing, in my opinion. At the risk of infuriating someone, it's almost laughably easy to tell when a man is trying to roleplay a woman and vice versa. At least, that is my experience, but then I am someone who is highly observant and intuitive about behaviors and subtleties that many others miss. I have roleplayed male characters, and while I'd like to think I've done a decent job at it, I would never sit here and say that I can portray a man as well as an actual man could, because I am not, and never will be, a man. And no, I'm not interested in gender politics, I'm simply giving my own opinion here. 

I think that people give their best RP performances *by far* when they stick to what they know. That doesn't mean you could never *convincingly* portray another race/gender/etc, but I don't want convincing quality RP, I want mind-blowing. Whenever possible, anyway. I don't think it's necessarily brave or edgy or courageous or what-have-you to leap far out of your comfort zone and believe that you can jump into the mind of a character whose shoes you've never even thought about, let alone walked in. That smacks of arrogance to me. I could give some examples, but I don't want to further risk ruffling feathers. 
[/quote]

Interesting insights all around; thanks for sharing. If you're willing to expound, what were the signs that tipped you off to male players playing female characters badly (and vice-versa)?

I don't play enough women to feel called out, but should that ever change in one of my many self-imposed writing challenges, your advice may prove indispensable.