Why I Roleplay Female Characters (As a Cisgender Man)

[ANYM]

>I can't imagine why, but now the chain of discussion will look quite odd.

[Crimson Flame]

I predominantly play queer men/boys because that’s what I feel most comfortable with. I’ve played Females plenty of times, and even a Genderfluid Non-binary Elf. It all depends what I feel like doing.

[PatientBean]

Well, I didn't intend for this discussion to go that way, so thank you mods for stepping in where needed.

<Snipped quote by Crazytrini85>

>Well I can't speak for the OP, but so far as I'm concerned it's just like experiencing a different life, or just because I felt like doing it on a whim. But given how vivid and close to lucid my dreams are at times, and the amount of lives and perspectives I've had within them that are not my own thanks to the enforced plot/narratives said dreams have had, I think I'm more accustomed to exploring perspectives that are not my own or not human than most. Or at least more influenced to do so anyway. Although again, I don't write these things exclusively. I do have a preference towards writing characters of my own gender by default, but again to me that's like swapping out parts on a Lego. In the end whatever perspectives or views there are might as well be tools for me to use to further a character's development or the overall story.

@Zyx

Hi! OP here. I've always tended to pick female characters or create ones when applicable and I never really figured out why. I enjoy it. For roleplay purposes, it was interesting creating characters and experiencing things through their eyes, often far different than my real-life experiences, so maybe that's it. Thankfully when roleplaying I haven't had many people take issue with this, though there have been some people that have either made assumptions about me (whether correct or not) or have expressed a dislike of it, those have been few and far between. I was mainly roleplaying on MMOs in the early 2010s so maybe we have become more understanding as the years went on. I'm sure there's still little trolls and haters out there, but I haven't met any on here or in my roleplay groups.

[ANYM]

Well, I didn't intend for this discussion to go that way, so thank you mods for stepping in where needed.

<Snipped quote by Zyx>

Hi! OP here. I've always tended to pick female characters or create ones when applicable and I never really figured out why. I enjoy it. For roleplay purposes, it was interesting creating characters and experiencing things through their eyes, often far different than my real-life experiences, so maybe that's it. Thankfully when roleplaying I haven't had many people take issue with this, though there have been some people that have either made assumptions about me (whether correct or not) or have expressed a dislike of it, those have been few and far between. I was mainly roleplaying on MMOs in the early 2010s so maybe we have become more understanding as the years went on. I'm sure there's still little trolls and haters out there, but I haven't met any on here or in my roleplay groups.

@PatientBean

>I see. And I think that people have become more understanding as a whole when it comes to roleplaying and the like, though again the odd bit of retraction from writing other perspectives still confuses me. I understand wanting to write what one knows, but to do so without ever branching out seems strange. In any case though, I started roleplaying on fandom wiki's, primarily the Superpower Wiki. So even then the whole solely writing one's own gender thing and bias that comes from IRL perspective just didn't really exist for me. Not when godlike powers and entities who are only truly human in appearance made such irrelevant anyway.

[Majoraa]

I mean when you seem to have made your profile solely to uh, add to the discussion so passionately, you're kinda flying close to the sun.

I on the other hand don't have much to contribute to what's already said besides the fact that one of my current favorite characters to write is a guy and I'm a girl myself, so as long as you like, know what you're doing and have fun and stuff, then all's good bro.

And yes I'm one of the ones who thought @BrokenPromise was the opposite gender. But hey, it turned out he thought I was a guy so, *shrug*

[BangoSkank]

There's always like the distinction, and it's kinda a pointless one ultimately, between what's good for development as a writer and what's fun.

Diversity is, IMO, objectively better for development, but you're maybe not going to be writing as much if you are forcing diversity on yourself that pushes you too far beyond your comfort zone.

I think if you want to develop you should do that, you should push yourself outside of your comfort zone, but everyone has differing levels of...this sounds dumb but...comfort in discomfort.

You shouldn't force yourself to write as any character or as a character with any trait if it makes you uncomfortable to the point of enjoying the hobby less. Challenge is good. Burden is bad.

Also well said Zyx.

This has been another episode of Bango talks too much.

[PatientBean]

@Majoras End Do you mind if I ask if I am the one you are referring to when you mention making a profile to add to the discussion? I'm just confused by what you mean because, if it is me, I made my profile and all that to roleplay on here. I just created this topic because of a recent experience of mine and was curious how others feel and maybe see if others have had similar instances.

[BangoSkank]

90% sure Voldemort User who is now Nuked and Banned

Presumably had some sketch stuff in profile.

[BrokenPromise]

@PatientBeanThe one that got banned is my guess.

[PatientBean]

@BrokenPromise That's what I figured, just wanted to be sure. Thanks <3

Edit: Kind of a shame that my discussion opened up that wormhole. I apologize....

[ANYM]

90% sure Voldemort User who is now Nuked and Banned

Presumably had some sketch stuff in profile.

@BangoSkank

>I mean their profile pic was of some dude who was on To Catch a Predator if I'm not mistaken, but beyond that the only thing on their profile was this thread and nothing else.

[Majoraa]

@PatientBean

Broken's answered for me, it aint you man.

Y'see, while I was lurking here I noticed that user was new.

I decided to do a little looking through their recent posts and junk, and it's all just from this. Not sure if it slipped their mind to make an introduce yourself post, happens to the best of us, but one can only assume.

[BangoSkank]

Chris Hansen profile picture. A goddam classic.

Good to see you around again Barto.

[Dark Cloud]

Wow that's crazy, how tf did that guy get banned? His profile looked empty even before the ban. It is a shame he decided to turn this topic into an argument.

[Saiyan]

Of all my recurring characters in RP, I only have one female. She started out as a side-character - a sorta fantasy 'girl with guns' trope - confident, sexy, invincible. Then I ended up giving her a backstories and putting her in different RP universes and she became more fleshed out. But she's still a sexy stereotype fantasy girl, no matter how much depth I give her lol.

I'm probably the problem here. Well not me, but guys like me. We might play into the stigma that the only reason to play a female is to be a little horndog lol.

Just offering a different perspective. Everyone else seems a lot more mature than I am. And I completely agree, that players should be able to play whatever they want, whoever they want, for whatever reason they want. This is the important note. And RPGuild players definitely promote and practise this freedom.

As far as playing females in 3rd person action games. I do it like 50% of the time. I've come to realise that if one is gonna spend 100 hours plus staring at the backside of a created character, then why not make that character a female lol. Plus, as others have mentioned, all the cool armour and aesthetic options are always for the girls.

Hell, I spent some time trying to find a cool male picture for an anime-style knights RP I'm about to do... ALL THE BEST PICTURES WERE FEMALES. All the cool outfits, the cool poses, the sheer variety to badassness... all for the ladies.

Sp, for the shallow shitheads in the world of RP, that just like cool, shiny, fantasy shit; I get it man, I really do - Females are the way to go.

[ANYM]

Hell, I spent some time trying to find a cool male picture for an anime-style knights RP I'm about to do... ALL THE BEST PICTURES WERE FEMALES. All the cool outfits, the cool poses, the sheer variety to badassness... all for the ladies.

@Saiyan

>If you think finding male faceclaims is hard, try finding faceclaims that aren't even human. Like eldritch entities, artwork of things like Maiar, or any abstract being that actually fits the theme of the RP you're going with. Or hell, any sort of surreal character art. Or just painted portraits. Or art of AI that isn't just art made by AI... etc.

>It's a pain I know all too well...

[Saiyan]

>If you think finding male faceclaims is hard, try finding faceclaims that aren't even human. Like eldritch entities, artwork of things like Maiar, or any abstract being that actually fits the theme of the RP you're going with. Or hell, any sort of surreal character art. Or just painted portraits. Or art of AI that isn't just art made by AI... etc.

>It's a pain I know all too well...

@Zyx

Damn, I feel for you bro. It's like the hardest part of RPing lol

[BangoSkank]

Try doing an unusual race Saiyan.

There are folks who hyper sexualize any female being but it might be easier for you if you write as like an Argonian, or Khajit, or Dwarf, or Halfling woman. I did a similar thing to stop writing block head bad asses by writing a lot of doctors and reporters and detectives and just general non-warriors.

Turns out they're a lot of fun to write.

The female character I want to write is a combination of both those things - non-combatant and a non-human non-sexpot woman. Nice to explore new territory.

Or take it to an extreme and do a basic parody/exploitation/deconstruction of the sexpot bad ass fantasy girl. That could be fun too.

[Saiyan]

Try doing an unusual race Saiyan.

There are folks who hyper sexualize any female being but it might be easier for you if you write as like an Argonian, or Khajit, or Dwarf, or Halfling woman. I did a similar thing to stop writing block head bad asses by writing a lot of doctors and reporters and detectives and just general non-warriors.

Turns out they're a lot of fun to write.

The female character I want to write is a combination of both those things - non-combatant and a non-human non-sexpot woman. Nice to explore new territory.

Or take it to an extreme and do a basic parody/exploitation/deconstruction of the sexpot bad ass fantasy girl. That could be fun too.

@BangoSkank

I respect that. Attempting to explore new territory is always a good idea, even if it falls utterly flat. I've tried a few times, most of my characters are one-offs, I only have about 6 or 7 who've appeared in more than one universe. I've never played a non-sexpot female lol I'm not the best at this writing schtick, and my creativity is just as bad.

I like your style though. And it's very true that non-fighters are a lot of fun (more fun oftentimes.)

I could not write as an argonian or khajit lol it'd be too weird for me. I can't even create them on Skyrim, my muse just refuses to flow whenever I've tried. Truth be told, I'm just not smart enough or skilled enough to get past having a tail lol.

I'll leave the super creative and mature stuff to the rest of you, and stick with my little box of unimaginative BS. I have a lot of fun with it, it's all good :)

But finding pictures, holy crap - artists! I implore you! Make more blockheads please!

I forgot to mention also, @PatientBeanI understand OP's story about his friend looking at him weird. I think someone's mentioned this already, but normies who aren't super into creative writing, often just don't understand the appeal of creating a character - in videogames or stories - who is of a different race, species, gender, sexual orientation. They just don't get it. I once had a cousin laugh at me for creating a sexpot female on Fallout 4. I felt a little ashamed tbh, but my cousin is not a creative writing kinda guy. He makes characters close to himself in appearance and demeanour (he doesn't even try out a different hair colour to himself lmao.) So yeah, I understand OP a lot. All I'd say to people who've ever encountered a similar situation to OP is; just remember that your average-joe is not enlightened to the beauty of storytelling from a creator standpoint. They are the audience, and they often don't know the author personally, so they don't think about it. You're not weird. You're just on the other side of the curtain. Be proud of yourself. This is absolutely the best side of the curtain to be on!

[Exit]

I am the single cutest miqo'te this side of Eorzea and nobody's gonna stop me from being that.

@Ammokkx

Good thing I reside on "that" side of Eorzea less I have to challenge you for your title, as there is no miqo'te as cute as me!

If I ever get back into this game we should meet up and touch tails.

@BrokenPromise

This is incorrect. I am the cutest on the 'other' side of Eorzea.

But then my main is a rich Lala boi so naturally I win twice. Anyways RPG FC anyone?

On topic: When I was young, I remember trying to explain this hobby to some friends of mine in a different social circle, only for them to confuse it with 'cosplay' and give me shit about it. It didn't feel good, but then I remembered some wise words from a friend of mine who said that if a group of friends isn't letting you in, you shouldn't be trying to fit in with them in the first place.

Some years later, I met a stranger who I would also end up accidentally explaining this hobby to. Only they wanted to try it out themselves.

Great thing about you and everyone else here is that most of the legwork is done. We're all on the same page (for the most part), as you can tell from all of the answers. We're all interested in exploring other lives in different bodies and drinking each other's creativity. And I know I'm mostly rehashing what's been said, but that's only because I wanted to make sure everyone knew my Miqo'te was the best so there wasn't any confusion.