Heya Eivind, looks like I touched a nerve there, if so, my apologies. I'm not castigating Ben for anything, and this thread really doesn't have to do with him in particular, but about the whole idea of gender swapping on the web, or in a rpg or crpg.

I generally play a Female in RPGs just to spice the party up. I am a Female Paladin that is a Half-Orc (don't ask) with a CHR of 19. My DM is not very strict on some guidelines ....

Anyways, I think it makes the playing more versital and I have a lot of fun with it. Doesn't mean that I am living out my fantasy of being a chick, just that it is fun. And in a DnD world, it doesn't really matter. Isn't it just like playing a Drow Elf ie Black Person? (it was a VERY evil party) Doesn't mean that I was living out my fantasy of being Black, just that it was fun for the party.

On the point of doing it online...I could see how someone could find amusement in it. Seems too much like lying for my taste. As long as you're not hurting anyone, or being directly misrepresentating towards some secret goal, then I say have fun. Different Strokes for different folks. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Just my 2gps.

[img]smile.gif[/img]

BK

Well, for action-type games (PS2 games, or whatever), I often play the female character because while they are usually weaker than the males, they make up for it in speed. I prefer player a fast, slightly weak character to a slow but strong one.
In PnP and more recently in NWN, I have played female characters. In CRPGs, part of my decision is based on the sexy characters... [img]smile.gif[/img] It's cool to have a good-looking character in the game.
In PnP I have played a female when I want to explore issues like racism/ sexism. I'd play a female character who can kick any guy's butt in order to play against some stereotypes.
I ran a 7 year Vampire chronicle and the best character in the game was played by my friend Jake. He played an ancient Estonian Brujah named Tatyanna. She was the best-developed, most fun character I've ever had in a game I've run.

I've never understood that mindframe where female characters are weaker but faster. In practically all the martial arts, military and streetfighting situations I've beheld males have predominantly been both stronger AND faster than females (as another example the male world record for running is substantially tighter than the female). I guess it's just political correctness seeping into computer games right? Strange though, as both traditionally and contemporarily males have by and large made vastly superior fighters to females. Call it cheuvanistic (sp?) if you want, but there it is.

I've never understood that mindframe where female characters are weaker but faster. In practically all the martial arts, military and streetfighting situations I've beheld males have predominantly been both stronger AND faster than females (as another example the male world record for running is substantially tighter than the female). I guess it's just political correctness seeping into computer games right? Strange though, as both traditionally and contemporarily males have by and large made vastly superior fighters to females. Call it cheuvanistic (sp?) if you want, but there it is.</font>[/QUOTE]Political correctness? Either that or allowing the player to play whatever gender he/she wants without being punished for it [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I've never understood that mindframe where female characters are weaker but faster. In practically all the martial arts, military and streetfighting situations I've beheld males have predominantly been both stronger AND faster than females (as another example the male world record for running is substantially tighter than the female). I guess it's just political correctness seeping into computer games right? Strange though, as both traditionally and contemporarily males have by and large made vastly superior fighters to females. Call it cheuvanistic (sp?) if you want, but there it is.</font>[/QUOTE]For video games it's about having a wide range of characters. Think of who designs the games. Cute female (well cute for pixels or sprites or whatever :D ) characters are a huge plus when designing or playing a game. Fast characters are a must, especially in fighting games, and no one who's designing these games (acne-ed gamer geek programmers :D ) wants to see a butch, muscley woman. So the idea of petite little fast people has become a standard. At least that's my theory. [img]smile.gif[/img]
As for RL it's musculoskeletal. Women, pound for pound, won't really be as strong as a comperable male.
In gaming I usually play male characters. It's not so much that I feel threatened or something by playing a female, it's that when I do play a female character it's very flat. I don't like what many guys do while playing PnP females which is either be very promiscuous (which says alot about the state of social lives :D ) or very ditzy... Or someother stereotype which they feel typifies women.... In trying to walk the fine line between stereotyping and the female version of emasculation (turning the girl into a guy) my character becomes devoid of all interest. Sooo... I play guys.

DeSoya

I guess I have something to add to this, as you all know that I was playing a female Kensai to start with. I always play females in games whenever I can! I really can’t say exactly why this is, but I can tell you that I don’t have any weird fantasies about being a girl or anything like that!

If I’m going to be completely honest, I find a woman with a sword or a gun, that is both in command of her destiny, and a powerful being in her own right, interesting and quite frankly…really sexy! Maybe I played too much Tomb Raider or something, but if you give me the choice between creating a big musclebound, dumb as rocks, barbarian type man (the male fantasy cliché), or a strong, athletic and sexy woman (the female fantasy cliché), I’ll pick the woman any day.

Think about it...a woman walks into a room…unsheathes her sword…and begins to whoop ass over all and sundry, until she stands alone amongst a pile of bleeding corpses. To have a chance to be that woman, that’s real escapism!

But maybe that’s just me!

I've never understood that mindframe where female characters are weaker but faster. In practically all the martial arts, military and streetfighting situations I've beheld males have predominantly been both stronger AND faster than females (as another example the male world record for running is substantially tighter than the female). I guess it's just political correctness seeping into computer games right? Strange though, as both traditionally and contemporarily males have by and large made vastly superior fighters to females. Call it cheuvanistic (sp?) if you want, but there it is.</font>[/QUOTE]Political correctness? Either that or allowing the player to play whatever gender he/she wants without being punished for it [img]tongue.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]But it's not punishment. Women really are the physically weaker sex. S'just the way the cookie crumbles. But I suppose these ARE fantasy games which people play to escape the constrictions of everyday life. Yeah, yeah. Ok then [img]tongue.gif[/img]

So you buy in to Dwarfs being tougher then a 6 foot man and Dragons roaming the world but not fast females? Would you rather they give female characters higher intelligence and wisdom? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 07-19-2002, 03:18 AM: Message edited by: caleb ]

Nah a better barter skill +5 shopping. J/K
Seriously tho I often play females because they often offer a more balanced charcter and often games have female specific items and quests while I have yet to see too many for the males.