playing trans characters

[Guest (S)hE-W0lf]

I was surfing the net today, looking for article materials as I write part time for a small gaming site, when I rediscovered the videos on dragon age inquisition and Krem, the well received transgender character featured therein. What caught my attention however was not so much that the character was well presented in the game but some of the comments on different sites. While the inclusion of a predefined character that struggles with gender is a big step forward, as it raises awareness and educates to some degree, many feel you should be able to play as one. Many comments said you should be able to choose to be trans.

I may be wrong so correct me if I'm mistaken, but if you are gender a, you feel like gender b then you want to pic gender b and be seen and treated as such. As a mtf cross-dresser I like playing girls, I don't want to play someone who's treated oddly or seen as different, I want to be treated the way I feel when dressed. I want to be the chick that kills dragons and wins races. Not the transgender who's pronouns are messed up in dialogues for effect.

I feel if it was a game with a predefined character following a set story that's set on the narrative then making the players character trans could be way to educate but it's not exactly a choice anyone makes right?

I started thinking and could this sort of mentality go beyond the game? Is it a choice according to others? When we dress or when some transition, do you see yourself as a trans man/woman, or a man/woman? Do we distinguish ourselves or even continue to see ourselves as odd and out of place? how can we ask the world to see us as the boys and girls we are, we feel and know we are, when we tell ourselves we are the trans version thereof? Aren't those self imposed shackles?

I also saw an article about the word pass, which made me think that even in real life we "play" the character of men and women rather than being and words like that reinforce those ideas. Rather than passing as a gender which is diverse in so many ways that there is no specific way for it to be right or wrong, should we not simply "be"?

I just wanted to pen my thoughts down so I apologise for the rap, errr, rant.

Katelyn

[MarcieMarie12]

Does playing a dopplenganger count?

When I crossdress, I'd say most of it is to trying to be a woman/feel more feminine. I guess that also goes into why I liked doing the dishes (actually made me happy) dressed.

[Guest honeynocturnal]

You raise an interesting point, Katelyn! I have always been an avid roleplayer of both pen-and-paper and video games. I have always felt that that there is a similarity to life itself.

Having "played" a male character in real life for the last few decades, I am intimately familiar with the role and have even been good at it at times.

Other times the facade slips and my true nature reveals itself and raises some eyebrows.

Now I can barely put the effort into the role. I'm very thankful to now be in the environment where I don't have to hold up that facade as a shield...

[Charlize]

I never became involved in computer games. Interesting that there are trans characters. I can't see wanting to be that character, however. I may be there in real life, caught somewhere between, but in my thoughts i simply feel i'm a woman. When i cross dressed i dipped into womanhood and then returned to my assigned role. If i was gaming i'd be the tough girl. So many years of acting the male role in real time has made me a bit of a tough girl as it is.

Hugs,

Charlize

[Guest Clair Dufour]

It is estimated that 40% of people,of both sexes, on Second Life crossdress at least from time to time. That's a big number! Of course it's a virtual reality rather than a game so you have total control over your avatars looks, age, sex and clothes so you can pass 100%. You just have to chat like a girl. It even has LGBT adult places so you can explore all those what if thoughts we all have.

Most games are too scripted and about violent action for my taste.

[Guest honeynocturnal]

I look at gender roles more now as too pre-defining. It's like a D & D type system where you have pre-defined classes, what they can do, what their best attributes are, etc.

Life itself is much more like an open-class system because everybody has different skills and areas of knowledge, that can't be pinned down into one gender or another.

It's cool that the Bioware programmers included the diversity of a trans* character in the game, but of course video games generally have only so much room for character development. So it's limited. But there are a lot of people out there who know absolutely NOTHING about trans people (I was one of the ignorant ones not very long ago!) who would benefit from even a limited exposure to knowledge...

[mara13]

I look at gender roles more now as too pre-defining. It's like a D & D type system where you have pre-defined classes, what they can do, what their best attributes are, etc.

Life itself is much more like an open-class system because everybody has different skills and areas of knowledge, that can't be pinned down into one gender or another.

It's cool that the Bioware programmers included the diversity of a trans* character in the game, but of course video games generally have only so much room for character development. So it's limited. But there are a lot of people out there who know absolutely NOTHING about trans people (I was one of the ignorant ones not very long ago!) who would benefit from even a limited exposure to knowledge...

That is why you level dip! Take a level or two of fighter, a level of cleric, a few levels of barbarian, maybe a level or so of wizard, sorcerer, or warlock, throw in a few levels of bard and monk... etc.

[Guest honeynocturnal]

That's me, the cross-classed cross-dresser... lol!

Rogue, wizard, warrior, cleric... think I'll be working on some monk next...

[Guest Ellyssa]

It's not so much that I'm "playing" a part, it's flipping a switch and being the other side of me. A side that's repressed most of the time and rarely gets a chance to come out. Doing anything I can is more fun, whether it's housework, working from home, or just watching TV or surfing the internet. As I get out a little bit more, it's fun being the other side of me in public but I still get nervous but I'm getting over that more and more and learning to enjoy it.