Viewpoint Do you ever play the opposite gender? Do you prefer it?

[yugen611]

doubling is my preference for rp, and I usually rp with other ladies, so I've played as lots of males. I like playing as anything, tbh

 

[Jabu]

I tend to play as the opposite gender 90% of the time. When I first started roleplaying, people always stressed that there had to be an “equal” number of guys and gals and I always ended up playing guys. So early on I became a lot more comfortable playing as guys. I’ll do either, but I do prefer guy characters.

 

[MechanicalSnake]

Also a female who plays almost Always guys

 

[nickm]

I enjoy playing both genders equally and have satisfaction in writing for all sorts of characters. It's come to my realization lately that a lot of people will only play their own gender in such tales.

i am a boy but i do play female. i prefer it and it allows me to explore my feminine side

 

[Abientot]

I tend to like playing more feminine characters, but I truly don't care about their gender. I've played male, female, non binary, whatever.

 

[Taraninja16]

I roleplay male characters often, but I wouldn't say I prefer it. It's just the gender that seems to be lacking most in roleplays.

 

[Azure-Smiley]

Always play Male instead of female. Not sure why but I have always done that. I can play either but 9/10 times I prefer males.

 

[koneko-chan]

i play both, and any in between as well, with almost equal frequency! when i was younger, i kind of realized that most of the girls on the forums i frequented didn't like playing male characters, and it became defaulted to my responsibility. with me writing the love interests for all of the girls, it was sort of like a weird harem anime LOL personally, i'm grateful for it & really enjoy having experience with versatility starting so early on! it made me a better writer, that's for sure.

 

[Monaco]

I don't really have a preference. To be fair, I usually play canon characters, but I've enjoyed OCs of either gender equally, although I prefer different archetypes for them.

 

[kitphiroth]

I write both, but my main is usually a female and I have tons of extra main character male leads. I've advertised for my male characters before, but no one cool enough has come along.

 

[Butcher Bird]

I started playing male characters early on because of the need and also because most of my favorite canon characters were male. It ended up sticking!

I'm glad for it, though, because it allows me to be flexible and have a decent repertoire of characters.

 

[Redfork2000]

Most of the characters I play are males, but generally I'll also play several female characters along as well. Since I love RPing multiple characters, I'll usually try to balance out male and female characters as evenly as possible. Generally my main character will be a male though, but I guess I could have a main character be a female if the situation calls for it.

 

[Dark lord steel]

Generally, my main character will be female, although I will play male on occasion.

I do however often play male side characters even when I play a female lead. I wouldn't say I prefer it, but sometimes it makes a nice change. I have to be in the right frame of mind though, otherwise it falls kind of flat.

 

[Stardark Sky]

I almost always do male characters, except for rare moments where I am bringing in a female character briefly to push the plot forward. It's always been like this for me- even in video games I automatically pick the male character which has led to quite a few misunderstandings about my gender haha. (I had one online friend who thought I was a male for a month.)

I'm simply more comfortable with doing male characters, since I interact much more with males IRL. I find that most stereotypical feminine people turn me off big time, so I've always leant towards masculine people and in turn masculine characters.

 

[FoolsErin]

I mostly do female characters, and I am a female. I guess it's some internal fear that I'm going to play them purely off of specific individuals and stereotypes? I dunno.

 

[Zenwarrior54]

It depends on the roleplay and how I want the character to interact with it

 

[ariane3505]

I like playing both genders, and actually tend to prefer males. But I'm tired of being forced into the male role because the other person only plays female.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

I feel like every time I try to play as opposite gender I don't give them enough. It was noted that all too often it is obvious that there's a dude behind my female characters, but I cannot put my finger on why.

Someone amazing coached me about how to write a female character, and I understood I got it all wrong: basically, it's the experience of the world around that should change depending on the gender, not the character at her core, but I'm yet to try.

That being said, I also feel like leading people on when I play a lady, or coming off as some sort of a pervert who wants to play out his deep erotic fantasies. Which is not why I'm into roleplay, and I don't want people thinking that.

 

[Nebula_Skies]

Yeah. At first I was super uncomfortable trying to play a male character but I felt kinda stuck and bored with my current roleplays and wanted a change from playing females, all the time.
I really enjoyed it and I don't mind playing a male from time to time. But I mostly prefer sticking to females, unless theres a good plot already.

 

[A Thousand Rivers]

I like playing both male and female, however, I am often taking male roles since there are many female roleplayers in request for male characters. At some point, rather than preferring it, it just became natural for me to assume the male role. I think I portray my role well.

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

Yes, and yes.

I enjoy it especially in Battle RPs where the females are usually not considered strong Fighters (Looking at you DBZ!)

 

[BlackBlood]

I understand completely. I as well love playing both genders. Some people do feel comfortable with their own gender and that’s completely fine as well.

 

[obieblu]

I've been asked to play female bit characters upon request, but I don't think I can really get into the head of a woman to do one justice in long-term RP. I think girls are better at playing gay male characters than I am at playing female characters, but I can still usually tell when there's a girl piloting. I don't know how one would go about learning how to think like the opposite gender. I feel like most of us do/would just act like a conglomeration of ones we've known/seen/read in media without necessarily understanding their psychological motivations for the behavior we witness.

For me, it's different than playing an alien or monster, because we have no real aliens or monsters to make an objective comparison with. I would dread having women critique how I might play a female character.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I've been asked to play female bit characters upon request, but I don't think I can really get into the head of a woman to do one justice in long-term RP. I think girls are better at playing gay male characters than I am at playing female characters, but I can still usually tell when there's a girl piloting. I don't know how one would go about learning how to think like the opposite gender. I feel like most of us do/would just act like a conglomeration of ones we've known/seen/read in media without necessarily understanding their psychological motivations for the behavior we witness.

For me, it's different than playing an alien or monster, because we have no real aliens or monsters to make an objective comparison with. I would dread having women critique how I might play a female character.

If you want to know how to play a female properly it's very simple. Treat her like a human being not a sex doll. Does your character exist solely to be a sexual object for men? Than she's a bad character. Does she have a personality/backstory/hobbies/and world view that fit with the setting of the roleplay? Congratulations you've made a good female character.

I think people overthink things like this way too much. Unless your roleplay is all about strict gender norms there is not going to be any difference between how fictional female characters act and fictional male characters act.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I feel like every time I try to play as opposite gender I don't give them enough. It was noted that all too often it is obvious that there's a dude behind my female characters, but I cannot put my finger on why.

Someone amazing coached me about how to write a female character, and I understood I got it all wrong: basically, it's the experience of the world around that should change depending on the gender, not the character at her core, but I'm yet to try.

That being said, I also feel like leading people on when I play a lady, or coming off as some sort of a pervert who wants to play out his deep erotic fantasies. Which is not why I'm into roleplay, and I don't want people thinking that.

edited to be a little clearer.

Romance roleplayers are not using this as a dating site. Most of them don't give a fuck what your real life gender is as long as you can write a good character that suits the plot. Unless the person is obviously looking to date you in real life (in which case your problem is a lot bigger than your real life genitalia) I wouldn't worry about it.

Also as I mentioned above - fictional women are equal to fictional men when it comes to their portrayal. In writing fiction as long as your character fits the setting and is consistent (i.e. don't make them shy yet also super social, don't make them afraid of magic in a world where magic is common place) than your fine.

Because most people aren't writing a roleplay to recreate strict gender norms of real life. They're writing for escapism. So they aren't going to want characters that act exactly like real people anyway, they're going to want characters that fit whatever fantasy the roleplay is about.

So your far better off just asking your partner what kind of relationship they want the roleplay to focus on and making your judgements from there on whether or not you can hold up your end of the relationship dynamic.