Author: The Metallian (---.teaminteract.com)
Date: 08-20-2004 12:25
This is a subject that interests me because both my wife and I both played cross-gender characters from time to time long before we ever encountered people who objected to it. Frankly, we were shocked (and even kind of apalled) when we finally came across gamers who forbade it.* Heck, even my sterotypically goofy high school gaming groups didn't have any issues with it! Since then I've seen a lot of people express similar objections online.
Anyway, I had assumed that objections to cross-gender play always stemmed from people who were overreacting to previous bad experiences (or maybe from people with REALLY firm ideas about gender roles), but your distinction between "Actors" and "Writers" was really eye-opening. Perhaps this distinction is obvious to most people, but my wife and I (and most of the good players we've dealt with) are "Writers," and while I appreciate the "acting" part of gaming (I used to act in theater), I never considered that one might emphasize that *above* the "writing" element. I think the reason I was initially apalled at the gender restriction was because it restricted an aspect of my character that I considered integral to her story...it seemed like an unfair and unneccessary alteration to the character in my head. However, I wouldn't think it at all out of line for someone not to cast me as a woman in a play (I'm horribly unconvincing as a woman).
Anyway, interesting article.
* - My wife recruited a group of players for a game she had been planning to run for a long time. I had already come up with a female character concept and had grown rather attached to her. The new players insisted that their "no cross-gender PCs" rule was enforced...in fact, they only reluctantly permitted the GM to play cross-gender NPCs and suggested a co-GM for that purpose. My wife got a little spooked by those and other rules, so the game never happened...
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