[Delerak]

I find it rather disturbing. I take roleplay very seriously, do you think I would go into an acting class and act out a very imitate scene with another male acting the female part? ####-****ing-no. I find it no different, the person on the other end is the one playing the role, I think they should stick to at least what they have known their entire lives-- their own gender. It's nice to try for experimentation sake, of course being an avid roleplayer you want to experience everything involved with it, which includes crossing the gender line, same with acting, robin williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, --it IS a challenge for actors, but as you will notice, those are both comedies, the whole basis of a male playing a female role is typically and commonly comedic, if you do see a male playing a female in movies it will nearly ALWAYS be comedic, because that's just what it is, hilarious. It isn't something to be taken seriously, which is why I won't when I find out the person on the other end is actually male. Just my opinion about it, thanks.

[Marynne]

You should check out 'The Crying Game'... excellent movie. I notice that no one really seems to have a problem with women play male characters (which I do for many reasons... one of which is to avoid the immediate 800 tells from men wanting to be my characters boyfried) Being a theater major, I can tell you the gender line is a difficult one to cross. We have put on countless productions where men have had to have intimate scenes with other men (Cloud 9 as an example) and we had a female Hamlet who had to do intimate scenes with a female Ophelia. Heck, one of the men in Cloud 9 was the boyfriend of Hamlet. I think the biggest difference between acting and online gaming is that online gaming is textual. They are just words flying across the screen. It just takes a little more forward-thinking and open-mindedness to get past issues with such things.

[Delerak]

I guess, I'm just not comfortable knowing the person on the other end isn't the same gender. It's a sham in a way, and makes me feel like they are doing it just for attention. It is different when females play males because like 95% of the population of mudders and gamers in general are male, it's like, "Ohhh, woman, teach us about this strange and wonderful species" when you see one, especially in a RPI mud. Heh-heh.

[Syrinx]

So, it's okay for a woman to play a man, but if a man plays a woman, there is something fundementally wrong? Attitudes like that scream of homophobia, prejudice, bigotry. One of the lovely things about text interactions is that we do not know the physical traits of the people on the other side of the text. Race, gender, sexual orientation, physical attractiveness, age, and other factors which help us catagorize people IRL have so much less meaning. I imagine there is an element of scariness for those who are most comfortable with judgements and catagorizations, but I hope many can move beyond that uncertainty with the situation and embrace it for what it is - a chance to meet, enjoy, and roleplay with people of backgrounds that you would never get to know in your daily life.

[Albus]

[LikitaRenn]

[Haley]