Role Playing and Gender - Poll

[Tian Long]

Aureal I dont believe anyone intended for thier post to come off as sexist even though it could be viewed as such.

[dskod1]

Just to address I few things about the answers to the poll.

The first answer is "Yes, I have played an opposite sex character before" It is placed in the past tenths. I put it there just to cover all bases as people may not agree with people playing the opposite sex but may have had experience or been in such a position in such a role before. This answer is more like "I have played an opposite sex character before and would not do it again"

Also if there are any problems with the other answers please let me know

Ultimately I am not surprised at the current poll results. The "No" so far have it which is not surprising. I am surprised that all the people who have voted yes have not stated why they have said yes though.

Also guys the link to the article is in the original topic if anyone is interested

EDITL: Thinking of another point against "Playing opposite sex characters is bad?" Writers always write stories with opposite sex characters who are not there own. Granted some are terrible in general no one really has a problem with how they are written due to the sex of the writer.

[Dong Zhou]

Someone has actually voted yes and I would love to see debate from the people who say yes to the question just for having a somewhat even debate.

My guess is anyone voting against the majority may be worried about the reaction if they put head above the parapet.

I thought I hadn't played a female but then remembered I briefly played SSX. I have no issue with people playing characters of personality, sexuality and gender that are different from there own, thought that was meant to be part of the fun of role playing.

As for the article, the writer may have had bad experiences or heard of bad experiences of those who played the opposite gender and either believes this nearly always happens or thinks it happens enough that it is best to play your own gender.

[GameOver]

The poll is confusing to me. I tend to play my own gender but I don't think it is "bad" to play a different gender. I wouldn't go as far to say that anyone who does think that way is <insert insult here>. I don't personally understand the point of view that playing a different gender is bad. I would be interested in hearing more points supporting that it is "bad" other than what the article presented as it being weird for other people.

Does that mean I would select "no"?

[dskod1]

"No, I have played or play character(s) of the opposite sex" (if you have played a different gender before otherwise you would go no. or if you are still unsure you can stick to that)

[Sun Tang]

Dude, your poll is confusing. Really, a yes or no, would be much better to a yes or no question. You have 6 answer choices for your question.

[dskod1]

you can just go yes or no....... You don't have to answer the other ones. It just makes it more comprehensive. well at least to me


may I ask which answers are confusing and why?

[Kakirot83]

Just about everything to do with the poll, other then yes or no. Hope that narrows it down.

[dskod1]

kinda..... may I ask why?


You can go yes or no...... and then after the yes or no is an explanation of if you have played an opposite sex character before...... I just do not see where it is confusing because I wrote it. so it makes sense to me... just give me an example if you would

[Marzy]

You have a Yes, but I've played an opposite gender before, which is sorta strange.

You have a Yes, and I've always played my gender. You also have a plain Yes. We've reached redundancy at this point. This is probably the most obvious point. How many yes answers do we really need?

You have a No, which I assume is "No, but I haven't played an opposite gender".

You have a No, and I've played opposite.

But a lot of the extra stuff is pretty unnecessary. The question here is, "Does it matter?" Anything else just provides context to the answer, whether a person has any experience in the matter, but I'd think any of that could be answered in posts.

[Sun Tang]

Well, it looks like you kind of fixed the wording somewhat, so i cant say that it is as confusing as it was now, but it is still confusing AHHH SO MANY CHOICES!!.. but did you have to include more than "yes" "no" "not sure"?

Your question is very straightforward and streamlined. It is a yes or no question, however you obviously have 6 answer choices.

My suggestion is keep the polling answer simplistic. in the future if you are going to ask a straightforward question in a poll, ask the polled to explain their answer to a yes or no question, and leave the answer choices to a minimum and add a "maybe" option.

Quesion: Is it bad to put ketchup on everything? Please explain your reasoning.

Yes.

No.

Not Sure.

[Kakirot83]

Here's the version of your poll I would like to see, personally:

Do you think it is alright to play a character of the opposite gender?

Yes

Undecided

No

or you could do somethig like this.

Have you ever played a character of the opposite gender, and would you again?

Yes, I've played a character of the opposite gender, and would again.

Yes, I've played a character of the opposite gender, but I would not do it again.

No, I have not played a character of the opposite gender, and I never would.

No, I have not played a character of the opposite gender, but I would be open to trying it some time.

Those are a couple of easier to understand polls you could do.

[dskod1]

ah thank you. Now it is making more sense to me.

I will re do the poll which unfortunately means a poll restart but meh. As long as everyone understands it now.



Let it be known that I am terrible at doing polls

[Zhanghe_of_Wei]

I think it's alright to play a character of opposite gender. The writer of the article seems to suggest that players doing so are intending to mess with other people's emotions or something.

In simrtk alone I have played 3 female and 2 male characters. I tend to form the character in my head, and if it seems feasible enough for me to RP, I'll run with it. In my own experience, I am more comfortable describing my female characters in RP; and my male characters turned out pretty bland

It is not one's gender, but rather his/her Imagination and flair for writing, which determine convincing and interesting characters. I am sure many fiction authors or fantasy writers can describe both male and female characters.

[Frostbite Dragon]

Probably 3 out of every 4 characters I play are female, and I'm a guy. I think one of the reasons is, part of RPing to me, is being something different. If I wanted to play characters as myself, I just wouldn't RP. I'd go live real life.

I find this to be accurate for myself as well. I play mostly as female characters and see nothing wrong with it.