Guys who play girl characters

[RedRavyn]

@ Moraelin: As much as I agree with everything you've said, and you've done so at least as thoroughly and eloquently as I'd like to have done, I think you were a little hard on Charlinho. You assumed, from his third sentence that this was a statement intended to cover ALL role-playing, when, in fact, he started it with "Depending on how much a player allows it ...". This qualification shows that he understands you can role-play without "self-exploration".

 

That said, a lot of my role-playing is self-exploration, even when I'm playing a "bad guy". There are times that I'd just love to stick a dagger between someone's ribs -- in Real Life. I've never done so, and never will do so, but playing an assassin in a game like Oblivion or Skyrim at least lets me do it vicariously.

 

I firmly believe that every single person on this planet can be represented by a point somewhere on a two dimensional graph. On the x-axis, you have gender, ranging from male on one extreme to female on the other extreme. I'm not talking about anatomical sex. I'm talking about the "inner person" -- how he sees his/her own reactions to the world. On the y-axis you have sexual preference, ranging from heterosexual at one extreme to homosexual on the other extreme. I also firmly believe that very few, if any people, actually rest at any extreme, their claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

 

I'm firmly heterosexual. I didn't say 100%, but it's pretty close. On the other hand, I have a lot of views which could be regarded as "feminine". I've used role-playing games in the past to explore that and understand it, once I started playing female characters just to offer a little balance in the "PC group". It was fun, it was educational, and I don't have to do it, anymore. I understand and accept the fact that not all of my views and feelings are 100% "super-male", and I prefer myself that way. I've known too many of those ultra-males, and they grate on my nerves, big-time, so I'm glad I'm not one of them, and I'm glad that 90% of the guys I know aren't in that group, too.

 

Maybe you can just have fun playing someone who is so totally NOT you that you have no persona connection with that character at all. I've done that, too, although I really don't seem to have a lot of fun doing it. I'm not a thief. I don't even remotely have a desire to do this for a living, or even a "hobby". However, I very much enjoyed the Thieves Guild questline in Oblivion. I hated the one in Skyrim, because Bethesda made them no more than anti-social thugs in that game, and that is so counter to my own personality that I felt bad about doing some of the things I had to do to advance the questline.

 

So, what Charlinho said is possible, but as he also said, it's only one option a player has. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar (not actually a quote from Freud, contrary to popular belief).

[Moraelin]

Well, ok, maybe the wording was a bit... harsh. It could have been better, at any rate.

 

That said, I can certainly see your point if you're role-playing with real people, because then it's free form. I don't think any computer RPG can allow much exploration, though, especially since most of the time:

 

A) you have a very finite set of choices, most of the time having more to do with what options a designer felt like including, than what my character would actually do there. And

 

B) there really aren't any noteworthy consequences, if any, for most choices, gender included. In fact, especially for gender. I mean in Die Gilde ("The Guild 1400" for the rest of you), I could be a female catholic priest. Or at that a bishop. In 1400. Roll that around in your head. Or in Fallout New Vegas, I could join the infamously sexist Legion and rise in rank and reputation among them. No really, every other NPC tells you about the Legion not being that sold on women's rights, to put it mildly, yet if it's the player, they hardly ever notice it.

 

I'm not complaining, mind you. I can understand why it has to be that way, and I'm really all for that. But I have no illusions of exploring anything more than how it works in that particular game. I don't think there is much of a connection with how the same would work IRL.

 

And there are lots of little, non-obvious ways in which RL works different from what you'd think. E.g., in most games pushing your charisma sky high means everyone likes you and you can get everything your way. IRL... in a recent study (IIRC from Israel), being a young and pretty woman actually reduces your chances to get a job, especially when the HR department is staffed with other women. There are a ton of such little factors and quirks and biases, that most people aren't even aware of, and probably wouldn't implement in a game even if they did.

 

So, really, while basically reverse-engineering a game in that you see what it does when you do X, Y and Z, and how it differs from the results when you do A, B and C, is fun and I wouldn't discourage anyone from doing it, I would caution against taking it as anything more than just that: exploring a game.

[StayFrosty05]

As an older female gamer....I tend to play male protagonists for two reasons...simply because...a) I design them as personal eye candy...and... b) I like the idea of a strong male hero....I find it sexy.

 

@ Moraelin.....Read your post on what can be done in a variety of games, damned good point...As a new gamer (hubby introduced me to the world of gaming) with very few games of interest to me, I'm stunned at what can be done in game and stunned even more so now at the 'rage on' some American TV Company had over Mass Effect 1's soft love scene considering the extreme brutality available in a number of games.....Sex is bad, but grotesque torture, cruelty and murder is fine?... o_O

[Karasuman]

stunned even more so now at the 'rage on' some American TV Company had over Mass Effect 1's soft love scene considering the extreme brutality available in a number of games.....Sex is bad, but grotesque torture, cruelty and murder is fine?... o_O

 

American conservative hypocrisy at work. Expressive sexuality is deviant. Violence, war and death? Those are ok. This kind of nonsense is just one reason why conservatives are taking ever-increasing heat and scrutiny here in the states.

[StayFrosty05]

stunned even more so now at the 'rage on' some American TV Company had over Mass Effect 1's soft love scene considering the extreme brutality available in a number of games.....Sex is bad, but grotesque torture, cruelty and murder is fine?... o_O

 

American conservative hypocrisy at work. Expressive sexuality is deviant. Violence, war and death? Those are ok. This kind of nonsense is just one reason why conservatives are taking ever-increasing heat and scrutiny here in the states.

Australia here....though we are becoming more and more commonly known as the '51st State'...otherwise known as 'Australia's Identity Crisis'....and though we are still pretty generally a little more laid back as a general populace, I'm afraid we are starting down the road that the Americans are fighting so hard to break free of....."AAARRRGGGHH! It's a side boob peek!....Torture and dismemberment...COOL!".... :ohdear: .... :( ....*sigh*....Be nice when we all finally get over ourselves as cultures and start getting real....Rant finished, sorry for going off topic... :blush:

[Karasuman]

 

Australia here....though we are becoming more and more commonly known as the '51st State'...otherwise known as 'Australia's Identity Crisis'....and though we are still pretty generally a little more laid back as a general populace, I'm afraid we are starting down the road that the Americans are fighting so hard to break free of....."AAARRRGGGHH! It's a side boob peek!....Torture and dismemberment...COOL!".... :ohdear: .... :( ....*sigh*....Be nice when we all finally get over ourselves as cultures and start getting real....Rant finished, sorry for going off topic... :blush:

 

Lol I completely agree.

[RedRavyn]

Yeah. It's OK to have people chopping off each others heads in this game (or to even witness public beheadings), but can you imagine the outcry if Lars and Braith had their own scene in the market circle of Whiterun, with him kissing her and they make up and become great friends? What horrors! Public affection ... and between children, no less! Give me blood and guts and gore and ... anything but that!

 

So, what does all this have to do with guys playing girls in Skyrim? Nothing? Actually, it has everything to do with it, because both issues stem from something that seems to be part and parcel of our culture. It's called "double standards". A guy plays a female character in a game and suddenly he's "suspect". A girl plays a male character in the same game and nobody bats an eye. Extreme violence? Sure, mate. Bring it on! Drugs (don't forget Skooma, Moon Sugar, Hist Sap, and Sleeping Tree Sap)? Absolutely! That's good stuff! Gimme more! Sex, even implied? What are you, anyway? Some kind of pervert?

[freddagg]

Yeah, same here. I am a guy and prefer to play as such. It's going to be interesting to see where this topic goes...LOL! :tongue:

 

good call, your probably right!

[Hersir666]

Interesting topic. Quite educational, too!

 

Not sure why so many people are being so defensive in regards to the topic. Don't like it? Move on! There are plenty of threads I don't like and thus stay away from.

 

I remember when WOW had just come out and I had also just really started getting into the online gaming community. I joined a guild, which was pretty small and most people were inactive or something, so there were only a few of us that really participated did quests/dungeons toghether etc. I spent the most time with these two "female characters" in the game, only after months to find out that those were actually guys. Needless to say, I was freaked out. Couldn't decide if they were old pervs or little nerdy guys with no real life, that did not get much out or get laid. At least that is what I thought at that time.

 

Going through these replies/comments shows a totally different perspective. At the end that is really all it is about, perspective. Some people like to create a character, that is not them, and immerse that character in that world(game) and play that way. Other people, like myself, like to project themselves into this fantasy world(game) and experience it that way. That's also were most of the missunderstanding comes from. When I learned, for the first time, about guys palying chicks. I looked at it from my perspective, which to me meant that those dude's were playing/trying to be chicks. When in reality, all they were doing was creating a female character, just like a character in a movie or book.

 

Note: There certainly are some little nerds out there that dont get out much and do it for the reasons initially mentioned

[KingFrostman]

The thing about picking a character in these games is that there is really no real difference between being female or male. The way you will interact with the world will be exactly the same. Thats why its so easy to play female character without feeling awkward. The only differences are cosmetic and shallow. You can attach a background and a moral code to your character, but its pretty difficult to add a personality to them. They don't talk and you are given predetermined options when dealing with NPCs. Things would be different if your character actually talked. That would force you to relate to them and better identify them as female or not. Because believe it or not females aren't just boobs and vagina. Personality traits are what make them feel feminine.