Demographics 03: Character Genders Poll

[Brovo]

@Staff: Keep in mind that (with Diana's permission and Astaroth overlooking it) I'm posting threads in GC first, leaving them there for a week, and then moving them to RP Help & Discussion after! This way, my demographics threads can have the widest breadth of community input without asking for unfair administration favouratism. Thanks.

Demographics

Demographics threads are, essentially, an attempt to record the community's thoughts and feelings on RP-related subject matter via a series of votes. Iwaku's tastes, habits, et cetera. If you want further information on prior demographics threads, you can find the demographics hub thread here.

Demo threads are not an appropriate place for hardcore multipage debates. You can ask questions about each other's positions, but keep them professional in tone. Otherwise, the spirit of the demographics threads will be lost. They're meant to sample the community and put it into an easily digestible form of numbers that anybody can look at later when creating their own RP threads or when curious about Iwaku's general demographics. If you're really interested in discussing the subject matter, create your own discussion thread. I would be delighted if demographics threads started to spawn further topics of interest by the community itself.

Previous Community Choice Poll

• C. Pace/Longevity: 3
• B. Tone: 2
• A. Genders of Characters: 3 (Winner! Coin flip.)
• D. Surprise me: 2

For those wondering why the poll is still single choice only, it's because Iwaku fantastically fucks up percentages and vote count when doing a multiple choice poll, which makes pulling accurate demographics from it a lot harder. (Seriously, you can end up with statistical averages of over 300%, which, is... Nightmare fuel for trying to get something accurate from it.) You can, however, always change your vote, and there are additional questions below you can answer to further illuminate how you roll.

Also, if I don't list an option which accurately reflects your preference, I apologize. Pick the one closest. I added more poll options than I normally would already, and inflating it with 50+ options will just disseminate the options to the point that it becomes a pointless poll. You can always describe further your position in a post below.

Poll Question: Which gender do you most often play in your characters? (IE: "Most Often" being what you think you most often play as.) The poll is gendered: It adds the additional layer of getting to know how often those who identify as male or female or non-binary play as their own gender, or a different gender. The poll is also anonymous, to ensure you can vote honestly without anyone knowing what your vote was unless you volunteer that information below.

EDIT

And for further clarity, yes, the poll is asking for your (you, the person)'s gender, and then what gender your characters most often possess. IE: "I as a male, most often play X in my characters." Apologies if there's any confusion.

Additional Questions!

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)
• Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?
• Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?
• Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?
• Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

Community Choice Poll: Vote for the topic of the next poll! (You can vote for more than one option.)

• A. Longevity. (How long RP's last.)
• B. Pace. (How fast RP's go.)
• C. Tone. (How "light" or "dark" something feels. For lit majors: Comedy vs Tragedy. History majors: Not in the sense of commons vs elite. )
• D. Sexuality. (As a follow-up to "Genders.")
• E. Surprise me. (None of the above.)

 

[Sidhe]

Though I have no preferences as to what gender I play, I chose 'female, as male characters' simply because most of my role-plays end up being m/m rather than f/f (because there are vastly more m/m role-players than f/f role-players!) It's also a bit leftover from my phase where I hated women and being a woman and therefore refused to play female characters, even in minor roles. Because of that phase, many of my old and beloved characters are male. Heck, even when I was very young (as young as 8) and I played 'games' with friends or wrote stories, my characters were almost always male. First it was because I just got stuck playing the boy in our games, and then it was just what I was used to, so I usually volunteered.

Who knows what's up with that haha.

 

[Brovo]

EDIT: Further clarified question thanks to concerns from @RedWillow who noted wording inconsistencies in the poll question.

Though not noted above, feedback to improve polls is appreciated and welcome. Even if it does make me an irritable ferret sometimes.

 

[York]

xD I try and keep a balanced male-female ratio with the characters I play, but, I have some weird times where I end up playing more female characters >.< (and, uh, I'm a male myself xD) so yeah x.x male as female characters is the closest match in that poll >.< though, I try not to do it on purpose :S

 

[Brovo]

xD I try and keep a balanced male-female ratio with the characters I play, but, I have some weird times where I end up playing more female characters >.< (and, uh, I'm a male myself xD) so yeah x.x male as female characters is the closest match in that poll >.< though, I try not to do it on purpose :S

So YOU were the other one to vote that option on the poll right away!

BATTLE BROTHERS!... Of playing as female characters... Battle sisters?...

I dunno. All I know is I expected to be alone on that option. Thanks for coming out and proving me wrong.

 

[Pahn]

Poll Question: Which gender do you most often play in your characters? (IE: "Most Often" being what you think you most often play as.) The poll is gendered: It adds the additional layer of getting to know how often those who identify as male or female or non-binary play as their own gender, or a different gender. The poll is also anonymous, to ensure you can vote honestly without anyone knowing what your vote was unless you volunteer that information below.

EDIT

And for further clarity, yes, the poll is asking for your (you, the person)'s gender, and then what gender your characters most often possess. IE: "I as a male, most often play X in my characters." Apologies if there's any confusion.

Additional Questions!

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)
• Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?
• Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?
• Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?
• Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

Community Choice Poll: Vote for the topic of the next poll! (You can vote for more than one option.)

• A. Longevity. (How long RP's last.)
• B. Pace. (How fast RP's go.)
• C. Tone. (How "light" or "dark" something feels. For lit majors: Comedy vs Tragedy. History majors: Not in the sense of commons vs elite. )
• D. Sexuality. (As a follow-up to "Genders.")
• E. Surprise me. (None of the above.)

I'm a fking unicorn mate

I identify as genderqueer, I am very queer, all queer, etc.

I play any range of gendered characters. I love playing non-binary characters. I feel most comfortable playing male-looking characters who are actually female. The reverse is also true.

I think it helps me, as a person, to be able to make a distinction between "sex" of a person, and "gender" of a person. Did you know that a trans person could be binary? *Nods nods* It all depends on how they identify. Gender presentation and sexual orientation are complete distinct things as well.

When joining roleplays, I'll almost always ask the GM how they feel about non-binary characters, and how non-heterosexual characters / NPCs are perceived. As most people will play cisgender characters, it can be a bit awkward to be the non-cis person, but I also think it's important that I be able to play characters that both fit me, and that I actually enjoy playing.



NEXT POLL QUESTION SHOULD BE

Sexuality!

 

[Absyinthe_Artica]

Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

Female, playing female characters. However I try to keep it sort of even when I am playing characters to where I have both genders out in roleplays. But in my character archives, I can definitely say most of them are female. :P

Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?

Well, depends on the roleplay really. I try to play both equally when signing a character up for roleplays.

Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?

I believe I can play them well. I feel like I know people well enough to accurately describe how a male or definitely a female thinks and acts. I even have some minor male like tendencies myself. :P

Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?

I definitely play various gender identities in my worlds. It adds a lot of diversity in the world, and many different ways for PCS and NPCS to react together.

Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

Maybe not specifically seeking them out, but if a roleplay is restricting on what I can make as a gender, I don't necessarily want to be in it. I enjoy playing in a world that has diverse genders as it can bring a lot of character development with it.

I want a poll about RP pace~

 

[York]

So YOU were the other one to vote that option on the poll right away!

BATTLE BROTHERS!... Of playing as female characters... Battle sisters?...

I dunno. All I know is I expected to be alone on that option. Thanks for coming out and proving me wrong.

Eyup xD Seems that way >.< and well, I'm sure there's more out there, we'll see how the poll goes as more people run into it :P

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

I am a female, and I play multiple characters, but my main character is always female. Why? Because I'm not a guy! I can play male characters, but it takes a lot of effort for me to portray them realistically.

For side characters, I always have tons of them, and quite a few of them are male. Don't ask me why it's easier for me to play a male side character, it just is. As for playing male characters, I do feel fairly comfortable with it as long as there's no romance involved. I struggle enough to play a romantic female, it's next to impossible to play a romatnic male.

 

[Touch of Insanity]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)
  Female playing females.
• Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?
  Not as often as I used to. I find I'm VERY picky about who I allow to play with my male characters, because the moment too many people find out I play males I get jumped and then I'm just museless.
• Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?
  I find playing male character more draining, I have to think about it more and my creativity dies fast if I play them too much. I only have a limited 'styles' of male characters that overlap way more then my females. I like to believe I play good males for the ones I at least play.
• Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?
  All the time, even more so for onexone's. If it's just the two characters forever, it gets dull really fast.
• Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?
  Maybe I'm just exhausted but I'm not sure what your looking for here.

 

[Snakey]

Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)
A. Males, as a male.

Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?
A. Rarely. If I'm playing as one or two characters in an RP with will almost certainly be male. On the other hand if I'm playing an 'ensemble' of three or more characters, such in the case of nation RPs and the like, the genders are often balanced with an almost equal amount of both men and women represented. Why this is, I'm not so sure. But I'm sure it stems from my unfamiliarity with the the finer points of a woman's personality. When playing one or two characters characterization is often deeper and requires more thought to get right, while in larger casts I don't usually attempt to go much deeper into a character than their basic personality traits.

Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?
A. I inadvertently answered this in the last question. No I do not generally feel confident playing non-male characters (assuming there's only one or two). Why? Well, I tell myself that it's because I'm unfamilar with the female mind thus I'll inevitably trod into offensive or otherwise 'wrong' territory, or maybe I'll have trouble getting into the mindset of the character and flounder. This is of course bullshit, those who've been in an RP with me will know that I generally don't care if my characters offend anyone (not like any of them have, now that I think about it...) and I flounder constantly regardless. No, what I think is the real reason is simply because I identify with male characters a lot easier and they provide a more accessible avatar into whatever world I'm stepping into at the moment.

Essentially, I'm the reason why Hollywood always casts bland white guys.

Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?
A. As a GM I really don't care what gender the NPC's are. Generally I just play them as tools to serve the plot, and any NPC's gender is simply an extension of that. That being said, NPC's gender can matter, but often in the stories I end up telling gender exploration falls below just about everything else in importance.

Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?
A. No, not normally at least. I'd probably think differently if I regularly attempted any sort of romantic though.

As for my choice for the next poll, sexuality.

 

[Diana]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)
  I am female who plays females!
  
• Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?
  Rarely. I will occasionally play male characters but that is usually only because I had something special in mind.
  
• Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?
  I do. I'm pretty confident with my writing. The only reason I don't play male charries (or charries with gender issues) is because it's not as fun for me to step in to those shoes.
  
• Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?
  Yes. It's good to have a diverse cast of different people in your world, it makes things feel more real! It's also really fun for me to play with those social issues.
  
• Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?
  No, I don't really have any reason to.

 

[Holmishire]

I am a male, who primarily plays as females.

Generally, I'd say I maintain a ratio of about two female characters per male. However, the more roleplays I'm participating in at once, the more that ratio is skewed towards the female; and the more characters in the same roleplay I control, the more it is skewed towards male.

It's difficult to say why I feel more comfortable playing as females. In part, it may be that in my attempts at making sure my male characters aren't just me, they often become simple cut-out characters. It takes more effort for me to develop a full-fledged male character that isn't just an author insert. Maybe it's also because I mostly played with girls as a small child? Who knows.

I do avoid non-binary and transexual characters, however, as I don't feel I have the capacity to understand how they work.

I don't generally look for diversity. It usually just so happens all the RPs I join have a fair share of both genders.

 

[Sir Salty]

I am male and I play male characters. Though I am always enjoying and exploring the emotional range a male can show off. Rather than just being a beefcake super soldier.

 

[Drakel]

What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)

I voted that I am a white CIS gendered male dragon that is very comfortable with his gender and who plays slightly more characters of the same gender as I am than characters of other genders.

Yup. I'm the scum of the earth. xP

How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?

Very often. I hold a wide variety of characters that go all over the spectrum. It was a hard choice for me to make on the poll because my characters are evenly spread in almost all genders, however I'd say I play male more due to familiarity and because I find myself most comfortable playing them. Even so, I often play anything from females, to transsexual male to females, to genderless changelings, to even the occasional hermaphrodite alien dragon. Yup, there likely isn't a gender I didn't play.

Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?

Indeed I do, mainly because I don't feel a to big of struggle with playing said character due to mainly focusing on what makes that character who they are. While I do prefer playing males slightly more than other genders due to being more familiar with them, it's only really two to three characters more than said other genders.

Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?

Yes I do, and it depends on the RP. As I said, I tend to play characters of all types gender, race, religion and sexuality wise. I find that in certain settings, those things do matter considerably depending on the combination you use. In others, said things don't make any of the difference whatsoever.

Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

Yep. Because I do what I want!

If I want to be a trigendered Firefox of the fourth dimension, I will damn be said trigendered Firefox of the mother fuckin fourth dimension.

Community Choice Poll: Vote for the topic of the next poll! (You can vote for more than one option.)

• A. Longevity. (How long RP's last.)
• B. Pace. (How fast RP's go.)
• C. Tone. (How "light" or "dark" something feels. For lit majors: Comedy vs Tragedy. History majors: Not in the sense of commons vs elite. )
• D. Sexuality. (As a follow-up to "Genders.")
• E. Surprise me. (None of the above.)

D. Because it would be good as a follow up to genders.

 

[Dervish]

Additional Questions!

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)

I voted male playing male, although I do want to point out that I'd say my RP characters are about a 60/40 male/female split.

• Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?

Depends on the character. I kind of get the concept down for a character and the sex is determined based on what I think suits that particular character more, which is to say it's based more on feel than anything empirical. It's worth nothing that for most of my characters, you could genderswap pretty effortlessly. Their sex/ gender isn't really what defines them.

• Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?

Sure. People are people, and I largely approach writing either sex the same way. Some mannerisms are different, and there's certain situations where gender plays a bit of a role in the personality, infliction in their voice, or even back story, but largely I've found it to be pretty comfortable either way.

• Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?

I kind of stick with male-female. I couldn't even begin to explain what 90% of the genders that popped up on the internet the last few years are. If someone wants to have their character identify as something non-binary, that's cool, I'm just writing regular old male-female NPCs. It's not to say that characters don't exist in the universe who don't fit a binary gender, but it's one of those things where I kind of like to try and be inclusive without really going out of my way to fret over it. I'm your standard issue White CIS scum born in the late 1980s; by the time I heard of people who didn't see themselves as strictly male or female, I was already well into adulthood. It's really unfamiliar territory.

• Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

Not really. If the story's good, I'm happy. I remember one time I saw a game that was basically "Kill the White CIS Scum: The Roleplay", where the premise of the entire story was basically players could be any gender or sexual orientation they wanted, but straight and white was a total no go; that's totally the antagonists and unplayable. I totally get people feeling marginalized and wanting to tell stories about how society treats them (at least, that's how I interpreted that as), but that particular roleplay just really struck me as spiteful and non-inclusive, which is something I really try to avoid in games. I like the idea that in roleplaying, you can be anything or anything you'd like, just as long as it fits the setting, so things like sexuality and gender aren't restricted in the slightest but say if you're doing a roleplay about a realistic medieval setting, there wouldn't be wizards or elves, for instance.


Community Choice Poll: Vote for the topic of the next poll! (You can vote for more than one option.)

• A. Longevity. (How long RP's last.)

 

[Kestrel]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)

Right now, all my characters are male.

• Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?

Well given I play both sexes regularly, you could say a lot. However, I rarely go out of my way to write a character that cannot traditionally be described as male or female. And when I do it's usually some kind of alien hivemind, which I'm not sure if counts.

• Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?

I'd say I can be decently confident. At least, I've been told I can write both genders believably. Though I admit I have difficulty with making characters 'girly,' which remains kinda trying.

• Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?

Yes and... Rarely. I've mostly used NPC's as tools. So... That's a coin flip. Of course reactions tend to be different towards different genders doing the same thing. Funny how that works.

• Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

Nope. I mean, I occasionally try to balance the gender ratio when signing up for a game, but yeah. I don't really care.

 

[Hana]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)

Female, as female characters.

• Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?

I do my best to include and try roleplaying other genders, as well. So I do play male characters, I just find it's not as often as I play females.

• Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?

While I don't think I'm very good at it, I don't mind playing male characters when it comes down to it. I just don't do it as often. And I'm not very confident, but I'm doing my best to be better at playing them.

• Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?

Of course. The world wouldn't be complete with only female NPCs or background characters, and I don't really have to explore or delve too deep into their mindsets and how they work unless they become a minor character in my roleplays.

• Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

Well, I expect my partner to be able to at least roleplay more than just one gender for NPCs and minor characters. I'm alright with them being more comfortable with one, but they should at least try to help me play NPCs and minor characters.

 

[Greenie]

• Q. What did you vote for on the poll? (Ignore this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.)

Female, playing female characters :3

• Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?

Hm, at least once every couple of rps. I like playing male characters as well, but more often than not male characters end up having to play heroes who save the day and that gets tiring after a bit.

• Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?

I do! At least for males. I haven't tried non binary characters because I would botch up how to play them.

• Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?

That's something I do (if and when I GM). The world is filled with different people, and even if I don't identify with them, doesn't mean they aren't in the world. It's just the same as in having a character who is a different race than mine, in my opinion. They're never main characters, however, if they're non binary, since I don't play them.

• Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

I don't exactly go looking for anything in particular. It's really the plots that interest me rather than the genders of the characters. Like mentioned in the previous answer, the world is filled with all sorts of people. So while I don't go searching, if there is a diversity, well, the more the merrier.

As for the Community Choice Poll, I chose 'Tone'.

 

[Robeatics]

Q. How often would you say you stray from what you play as most often?

Not often, as far as gender goes.​

Q. Do you feel confident playing as characters who possess genders other than those which you identify with? Why or why not?

Hard to say. I'm still figuring things out for myself, but I usually feel confident in playing women. At the risk of sounding shallow, I honestly just like women, and want to see them act out the situations I don't see in popular media.

Q. (GM's): Do you often create worlds featuring NPC's who possess gender identities different from your own? Do you think it matters to the stories of the worlds you create?

Yes, because the real world includes a whole lot of different people. It's just not realistic to have a one-gender cast for no reason. Though admittedly, I like to make NPCs a different gender from the majority of the PCs so pronouns are easier to deal with. Having a million "she"s or "he"s interacting gets annoying.​

Q. (Players): Do you often look for worlds or 1x1 requests which feature diverse genders as part of the story? Why or why not?

It's a bit annoying to see 99% of the players play the same gender without reason, but honestly it doesn't bother me enough to avoid that RP. Weeeeell, unless the cast is 99% male. Hope that doesn't sound ignorant, it's just that with that kind of cast balance I get bored. I see all-male (plus one chick) casts do badass things every day in every genre.​