Can You Only Play Your Own Gender?

[Agrize]

Do you only play your own gender? Nah however a lot of my current characters are female.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? ex. they must be a woman or a man. Nope! I've never been concerned with the details of who I'm writing with. As long as we as people don't clash and we have fun!

 

[zanarkand]

I don't know why it's such a big deal to write the opposite gender as yourself. Write the character, not their gender.


In the end, if you write the character rather than pigeon holing them into the stereotypical traits of their gender, you get a more developed and interesting character. Take the idea of a sensitive kind man or an aggressive butch woman, they don't fit the archetype of a lot of protagonists in media or in roleplay writing but they might end up being more interesting than the female character that thinks with her heart rather than her head or the male whose actions speak louder than words.


idk where i'm going with this but I'd encourage people to branch out and don't get caught up on "he's a man so I have to play him a certain way" type of thing, you feel me?

 

[YoungX]

For me I just usually play male characters since I am a male. I find it easier to make a character that has the same gender since I have been a male since I was born. That doesn't mean I'll try a female character though. It'll be interesting to play from the perspective of another gender.

 

[MedievalMethods]

Good discussion thread OP. You have delivered greatly this time.


Do you only play your own gender?


I am fluid between male and female character when I RP. Weirdly enough, I find that when I host an RP, most of my NPCs are invariably male. And, strangely enough, I find that writing conversation and non-verbal body language comes more naturally to me, when playing a male lead. Maybe I need a womans touch in my writing style? (^U^)


Whether you only play your own gender out of lack of confidence in writing well an opposite gender character, or just have a weird rule about it, I would encourage all aspiring writers to do it. It really sets you back in the long run, and boxes your creativity, if you put a limit on the types of characters your willing to play and make.


Do you have a preference for the gender of your partner?


Not particularly. But I am always sure to offer them the female lead part, since they might be able to do a better job at it. As a guy, who hangs with guys, I find playing males is a natural inclination.

 

[Protocol]

Do you only play your own gender? I tend to play an equal mix of male and female character.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? Nope! I don't care what my partner's gender, age, or nationality is. I just want to get along and have fun.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Do you only play your own gender?


In 1x1 RP's, I will only play female. I just prefer it and have more fun with it than playing males. In group RP's, though, I do have male characters.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? ex. they must be a woman or a man


Nope, none at all.

 

[AshuraaHunter]

Do you only play your own gender?


I have quite the story board of OCs loaded on my computer. Thing is, they're of mixed genders, most being male. I will play female characters, but I don't do it often.


Do you have a preference of your roleplay partner's gender?


As long as the character's gender doesn't pertain to the plot in an important way, not at all! It's a free world, so people can roleplay as the opposite gender if they wish! I don't mind.

 

[seaslug]

do you only play your own gender?:


no i do not!! although i prefer to roleplay female characters, i myself, am nonbinary, so im not really roleplaying my own gender!!


do you have a preference of your roleplay partner's gender?:


nope!!! it doesn't really matter to me as long if they're a fun roleplay partner!!

 

[Demonhunter]

Do you only play your own gender?


Actually no. I've found that for some reason I play men a bit better. IDK why, but I just do. And in Romantic situations I play Homosexual men better than I play Heter men and I play Hetero men better than I play straight women.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? ex. they must be a woman or a man


Romantic partner? I'm into guys. Maybe thats it? IDK.

 

[GenericHenchman]

Do you only play your own gender? Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? ex. they must be a woman or a man

-Yes, I only RP my own gender. I don't think I'm a good enough writer, or possess the imagination and empathy required to switch it up. I *did* however once play a female in a very short-lived D&D campaign, she was dumb as bricks, but a total badass with swords. Basically Xena minus the IQ. Not done on purpose, Intelligence was her dump-stat and I was min/maxing. So I roleplayed her attributes, and she was just never educated except training with big swords. She was oddly enough, the most fun character I've ever played. But I'd only do this in face-to-face type deals, and only if it was a pen&paper campaign setting. Otherwise, I would feel a tad grimy. You know, that stereotype of dudes playing women? *Shudders.* Sorry.


-I do and don't have a preference. Once I RP'ed with someone who played a dude, but was actually a woman. Okay fine. A guy roleplaying a woman? Again, no problem if it's in a setting as mentioned above. Otherwise, no. Not comfortable with that, for the same reasons as mentioned above.

 

[Negative Zone]

Do you only play your own gender?


My personal gender is basically "meh, whatever" and I'm cool with any pronouns so I find this is reflected in my attitude towards playing characters too. I couldn't imagine myself playing only one particular gender, or having a certain gender be off limits either. There's definitely cases where I would want to do research to make sure I don't do a harmful portrayal, though.


Do you have a preference for the gender of your partner?


Not at all. I don't really see a correlation between personal gender and the gender of characters portrayed since RP takes all sorts of character types which also means a variety of genders as well. So I do require that my partner in a 1x1 RP be willing to play characters of multiple genders but I'm not going to care what gender they actually are.


Gender.

 

[Lorsh]

i'm white cis het male scum, but i often play female characters.


they're usually lesbians, though. it's for the same reason why a lot of female roleplayers play gay men, it seems.

 

[call me rae]

i'm white cis het male scum, but i often play female characters.
they're usually lesbians, though. it's for the same reason why a lot of female roleplayers play gay men, it seems.

and do you have a preference for your partners rl gender? for instance do you prefer you roleplay partner to be a man or a woman.

 

[KayDuckula]

Do you only play your own gender?


No. I play male, female, and non-binary genders. I like challenging myself to think outside of the box, and create new living forms.


It's not easy, I'll give you that. I used to be very very picky, and wouldn't play anything but females for the longest time. Once I got more comfortable as a writer, however, I started branching out. It took some very patient partners, and some poorly written stories, before I got the hang of just writing from a male perspective. It's totally worth it, though. It gives another dimension to your abilities as a role-player, and I'm thankful for that.


Do you have a preference for the gender of your partner?


This is a difficult question to answer. It depends on what sort of role-play it is. Normal forum/thread role-playing, like we do here, I'm totally fine with any gender. Honestly, I don't even think to ask when it's forum role-playing. It doesn't bother me. However, I will say, when I played an actual role-playing game, it was a computer game, that was real-timed--you had to be wary of a lot of perverts. I guess pixels really bring out the loons sometimes, or whatever, but I personally would be overly cautious of who I role-played with there...male and female.

 

[Lorsh]

and do you have a preference for your partners rl gender? for instance do you prefer you roleplay partner to be a man or a woman.

doesn't matter to me. a lot of them have been males, admittedly. i roleplay on another medium where there are fewer females than males, so it's pretty common. [totally not g-g-gay]

 

[Sally The Shygal]

No. A very (VERY VERY) detailed RPer friend of mine, Muddy Waters, has like 6 pages of a forum just for his RP chars, and around 70% of them, are female!

 

[Sara Sidereal]

There's no reason to ever tell anyone your gender, so I don't see how it would become an issue

 

[seaslug]

There's no reason to ever tell anyone your gender, so I don't see how it would become an issue

some people may want to tell people their gender just caz they wanna express their identity or something like that.


however i understand that some people dont wanna just caz they dont. any reason to tell or not to tell is definitely valid

 

[Jaye]

Do you play your own gender? I switch it up - I play men or women though most commonly I try and play nonbinary characters.


Additionally - I was always super confused at people who say they feel like they can't play a gender other than their own - mostly in regards to cis people saying they feel like they wouldn't know how to play a character of their opposite binary gender (or that they're not empathetic enough or similar). But that might be because I'm agender and, thus, have very little concept of gender at all <_<


Do you have a preference for an RP partner's IRL gender? Nope! I concentrate on the characters we play and on the partner's personality.

 

[DarkDestinySoul]

Do you only play your own gender?


No I have RPed male and female characters numerous times before. It more just depends on my image of the character and what tropes/conventions I want to either stick with or subvert. I am pretty comfortable either way. I have noticed I have a bit of a tendency towards male over female, which I am male so it might make sense but as said; I am comfortable and have RPed both ways.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner?


Not really, we're all free to RP who we want. It is part of the freedom and comforts afforded to us by roleplaying. You're character can be whatever gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or other grouping you want to put the in. We're people in the end and it doesn't matter how we define each other and it certainly should not effect our ability to role-play. A male author can have a female lead, or vise versa. As long as everyone is having fun and nobody is trying to use it to offend others, I don't see a problem.

 

[CuteAngel20]

Do you only ply your own gender?


Not really, I play both genders the same amount depending on my partners preference. Even thou I mostly know girls behavior, I grew up with the neighbourhood boys and know their way too Even thou I have a slight tendancy towardy playing female roles (as I am a girl)


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender?


No it doesnt really matter to me anyways if male or female its most important, that we have a great time talking and RPing and that my partner is who he feels most comfortable.

 

[Dagfinn]

Do you play your own gender?


When I began RPing I would only ever play my own gender, but because I like to write stories outside of RPing I've been practicing doing the opposite gender too. I like doing both now, and I find them equally comfortable to do.


Do you have a preference for the gender of your partner?


I don't care about the gender of my partner, but I have noticed that a lot of my RP partners are male. Although... Most of my friends are male too, so I guess I just gravitate to men? IDK. It's not a conscious choice anyway.

 

[norway]

"Do you only play your own gender?"


I've found I really connect with male characters, and would love to write as them however, majority of the time if I write as a male everyone wants to be his LI, and I do not write romance well as a male. Leading me to stay a female (which is infact more comfortable, at times, but the preference is light). I just cannot be someones knight, and if I write as such it feels forced for the other authors satisfaction.


"Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner? ex. they must be a woman or a man"


Never have, honestly. I don't see the writers gender (or much of anything for that matter, aside from age and major bias) as important, we can portray anything we want here!

 

[Excelsis]

Do you only play your own gender?


I used to, actually. In the span of time I've RPed, I usually make female characters a lot more than I do with males. When I was still quite new to RPing, I only created males as a way for my female characters to have love interests ( unless and RP develops to one of the other characters fancying my character ), or as brothers. My reason is that I am generally more comfortable with having characters of the same gender as me as I find them easier to play with. However, I started deviating my male characters as individuals rather than characters that are strongly connected to my female characters, until I've also found playing them to be enjoyable. Nowadays I play both genders, depending on what I feel/prefer in a certain RP.


Do you have a preference for the IRL gender of your partner?


Nope, not really. I can RP with pretty much anyone. You could say I'm RP-fluid lol /slapped- A lot of times, I don't think about the genders of other RPers, even my partner/s, though I have to admit that I have a default thinking that they are probably female. IDK why, maybe it's just that I've RPed with SO many females before that I tend to think that way. But depending on a username, I could sometimes deduce their genders, so I have an inkling of what they may be, but again, not that I mind.

 

[herelaydragons]

Do you only play your own gender?I personally tend to stick to my own gender, but would never discount someone for not doing the same.


Do you have a preference for the gender of your partner?


Roleplaying is like writing a story, J.K Rowling obviously wasn't a boy yet she still wrote a beautiful series about a character of a different gender. Someones personal gender shouldn't have to effect the way they roleplay, and it could even be fun for some people to try something new, so long as they don't slander or belittle another gender, I definitely don't care what gender my roleplay partners choose to portray, no preference, I'm pretty chill with whatevs