Do You Ever Play As the Opposite Gender?

I wish the experience of playing a male of a female character in role-playing games were distinct and unique, like playing as another character class. Sadly, most RPGs get away with just changing the avatar (or the character model). They don't even bother changing dialogues and most NPCs keep referring to the female character as a guy. If playing as a female gives you pretty much the same experience then what's the point?
 
nkchan16 said:
Doubt you can have a penis in video games, even if you play as the manliest man.:D
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Well, I've played as a female character in games for decades and honestly, I still have no idea what it's like to have a vagina!:lol:
 
Funnily enough @nkchan16 , Elder Scrolls: Oblivion had some gender differences about attributes, although they were fairly indifferent, so you could just level up few times to get it as same as male counterparts.
 
nkchan16 said:
I wish the experience of playing a male of a female character in role-playing games were distinct and unique, like playing as another character class. Sadly, most RPGs get away with just changing the avatar (or the character model). They don't even bother changing dialogues and most NPCs keep referring to the female character as a guy. If playing as a female gives you pretty much the same experience then what's the point?
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The Legion in New Vegas treats your character like shit and doesn't let you fight in the gladiator pit if you play as a chick, no?

I'm actually trying to address this in my own game, there are companions and even entire factions that are nearly impossible to win the favor of depending on your gender (sex?). Only if you constantly flirt with the neckbeard gamer guy and whore yourself out will his friends accept you as a woman. You have to act extremely gay as a man for the militant feminist goth chick to let you into her clique.

Otherwise it's very easy to join the group that consists of your own genetalia while the opposing side tends to treats you like shit.
 
Jogre said:
However, when it comes to Video Game Protagonists, I would argue the word "Gender" is more appropriate.
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No, it's not. Lunatic scientist's proven false theories have nothing to do with roleplaying.

See, in Fallout, you're still roleplaying a human, biologically it's still a human bean. Switch your sex variable, and it's a completely different character. Like in real life unironically, no one in Fallout asks for your preferred pronounce, characters refer to a variable that sets your character's biological sex anyway. There's no way in a base game to switch sex on the fly, this is a subject of completely different, PnP (for now) RPG. And even if it was possible, it still magically switches your allosome, which is impossible in real life and therefore we have all these trans-bi-a-"gender" clowns running amok.
Jogre said:
all of which are more to do with the social gender of the character
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Again, there's no difference between biological and social sex, not in real life, nor in Fallout as game mechanic or any part of scripting.

How many mistreated (misgendered? And how many jews must get away with their experiments on people for that matter?) boys and girls should suicide until you guys get a grip?
 
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0wing said:
No, it's not. Lunatic scientist's proven false theories have nothing to do with roleplaying.

See, in Fallout, you're still roleplaying a human, biologically it's still a human bean. Switch your sex variable, and it's a completely different character. Like in real life unironically, no one in Fallout asks for your preferred pronounce, characters refer to a variable that sets your character's biological sex anyway. There's no way in a base game to switch sex on the fly, this is a subject of completely different, PnP (for now) RPG. And even if it was possible, it still magically switches your allosome, which is impossible in real life and therefore we have all these trans-bi-a-"gender" clowns running amok.
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There is no official universal definition in the English language that differentiate between sex and gender. Some dictionaries make a distinction, some don't. Some encyclopedias make a distinction and some don't. In common language both are accepted as synonyms.
So in English, gender can be a synonym of sex. People can say for example "I don't want to know the gender of my baby until I give birth" and people can say "I don't want to know the sex of my baby until I give birth". Both are correct and mean the same.

So asking if gamers play as the opposite gender is the same as asking gamers if they play as the opposite sex.
I don't get the outrage :scratch:.
 
Risewild said:
There is no official universal definition in the English language that differentiate between sex and gender.
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Because there's no difference nor social constructs. Your brain and chromosomes are not social constructs either.
Risewild said:
I don't get the outrage :scratch:.
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Strong word, but no. It's just not very polite and wise to use a term invented by a lunatic who experiments on people, ruining their lives only to be proven false and gets away with it when there's already an existing one, I already mentioned that part. Makes you (a topicstarter in this case) an idiot.
 
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0wing said:
Because there's no difference nor social constructs. Your brain and chromosomes are not social constructs either.

Strong word, but no. It's just not very polite and wise to use a term invented by a lunatic who experiments on people, ruining their lives only to be proven false and gets away with it when there's already an existing one, I already mentioned that part. Makes you (a topicstarter in this case) an idiot.
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The term wasn't invented by a lunatic, the ancient greeks already used it. And originally it was used to differentiate between "noun" genders (some languages have nouns being male or female, like all latin languages for example).
In English it has been used since centuries too. There is even a case of famous lexicographer Henry Watson Fowler in the early 1900's saying that people were using the word wrong (because people were using it already as the same as sex).

So I don't know which person you're talking about, but that person didn't invent the term or word.
 
Risewild said:
The term wasn't invented by a lunatic, the ancient greeks already used it. And originally it was used to differentiate between "noun" genders (some languages have nouns being male or female, like all latin languages for example).
In English it has been used since centuries too. There is even a case of famous lexicographer Henry Watson Fowler in the early 1900's saying that people were using the word wrong (because people were using it already as the same as sex).
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Not in a modern sense @Jogre paraphrased, nope. Your language is not very feminitive-heavy anyway, so why would you use it?
 
Personally when playing as a specific gender (Owing in this context by definition gender is the correct term, since sex defines a definitive objective state.) my position on whether to pick male or female completely depends upon my mood that day. However I typically play as a male for because I find it easier to relate to.

To be honest I don't play male and female characters the same. Mostly because I don't build unrealistic characters when I choose them. I am completely aware of the inherent flaws and perks of both sexes and because I like a more realistic approach I play them as such.

I think understand what Owing is getting at. Lets break it down shall we so that we can move on with the original topic at hand. However Owing is operating on limited knowledge and should conduct additional research.

First Definitions (within context):
  • Sex: Either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and many other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions.
  • Gender: The state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).
  • Orientation: The determination of the relative position of something or someone (especially oneself).
I believe Owing might be pointing out that the "scientific" paper about "new" genders is a load of horse shit.

Why?

Because in the publication of the research states that it is completely subjective to the individuals it applies to.
Therefore has no basis in objective reality (I know it's a difficult subject to comprehend but bear with me).

Another point I wish to make is that this same study that should be free and public hides behind a paywall and only gives out a small free synopsis that the media saw and lost their minds with. I have read the paper, and have come to the conclusion that it is indeed a perversion of objective reality.

What does it entail? Basically it points out that an individuals "gender" (should be corrected to accurate nomenclature of orientation instead of gender) can be considered subjective rather than objective and that these individuals feel better about themselves when others recognize that they feel a particular way.

Literally the entire "study" states obvious details about how people interact and changes the nomenclature around to be edgy.

The problem with this paper is that it confuses young individuals about viable sexes that can procreate. It does this by overtly renaming the base sexes and adding additional orientations as "genders" all in an effort to boost someones subjective self esteem.

I hope that helped and that we can now move on with the topic at hand about which gender people play as.
 
TerminallyChill said:
I really like your reasoning Hassknecht, I might have to try doing this more often.
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I do recommend it. When starting off as the opposite sex it's sometimes easier to not fall into the easy habit of roleplaying yourself. Of course, you can end up just playing a gender-bender version of yourself, but I find it somewhat easier to disassociate myself from my character when starting off like that. It helped my roleplaying in general and made it easier for me to not play myself as with male characters as well.
 
Hassknecht said:
Of course, you can end up just playing a gender-bender version of yourself
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Knowing my own tendency to play every RPG as myself, this is most likely what's going to occur. It will at the very least make it slightly harder to do though, so it's the element of challenge that appeals to me.

Also, did this thread really have to de-volve into a gender studies and linguistics debate? We all understood what the OP meant, gender is colloquially understood to mean sex. Pretending not to understand that just makes you seem like an elitist. Save the drama for your college campus, please. Or Vault City.
 
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Einhanderc7 said:
  • Sex: Either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and many other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions.
  • Gender: The state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).
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This is precisely the distinction I was trying to make, when arguing that the term "Gender" is appropriate in this context.

I don't know what specific paper you are referring to. I was simply arguing that gender is more appropriate in context, because when you play a female character in-game, it most affects hwo the world treats you, which would come under gender.
 
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Depends. If playing a female character provides a different game experience than playing a male character then yes.
Otherwise I don't really bother with it.
 
I have completed Fallout 1 & 2 with a PC of either sex. The woman was a melee specialist (140-150 unarmed/FO2); did exceedingly well in the boxing rings... even without rigged/weighted gloves.

The Bishops and Myron are both affected by it.

**Something I haven't checked—but at least assume... is that a lack of Jimmy Hats shouldn't affect the ending slides with a female PC. Does anyone know if they do?
 
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