The Sexual Physiology Poll

[SekoETC]

A bit off-topic but I just counted sexual preference for my living and dead characters and got the following results:

Bi-curious male 5
Asexual female 5
Straight female 4
Asexual male 4
Bisexual female 4
Bisexual male 3
Bi-curious female 2
Straight male 1
Gay female 1
Transman attracted to women 1

The lines are pretty blurry, though. I'm not always aware of the gender of the players behind my characters' love interests and I don't think it really matters. There are talented rp'ers of both genders, guys can be good at playing girls, girls can be good at playing guys and of course people tend to be good at playing their own gender. Also I guess most people who play gay or bisexual characters in Cantr are still straight irl. I couldn't honestly call myself completely straight since I'm attracted to both but I've only had straight relationships irl. It's easier to experiment in Cantr since people are less likely to judge you, and none of it is real, anyway. It's just a game.

[MikeH]

Not only the age of the player, but the gender can affect it as well, if you know what I mean. It doesn't have as bad a psychological effect, as far as I have noticed, but it'd still be odd to be roleplaying that kind of scene with the character whose player is of your gender when you are straight.

But it's not the players having sex, it's the characters. That's the difference between cybering and co-writing a story, and I can't emphasize enough that Cantr is about writing a story. If we ever find a player that's obviously just trolling around for cyber sex, we shut them down quickly.

I have a girl married to a guy played by a guy.
I have 2 guys married to a girl played by a girl.
I have one girl dating a man played by a girl.

If I consider any of these arrangements potentially uncomfortable, it's the two in the middle, as they leave open the greatest potential for OOC misunderstandings.

Well, to some extent, it's the characters having sex, I agree. It is somewhat like writing a story... but along those lines, we're all different kinds of authors, and not every book ever written has explicit sex in it. Even books written for adults don't necessarily contain sexual scenes, or when they do, they aren't always explicitly written.

On the flip side, there are ways in which playing RPGs are different from being an author writing a story. Authors generally work alone, generally write multiple drafts of the same scene, and can re-work the plot or a scene as they (and they alone) choose... so the analogy isn't perfect. And as we've seen in the forum, many players do (sometimes) have an issue with identifying too closely with their characters.

All of that considered... including the fact that a significant number of under-21 players participate in CANTR... I (as a personal choice) tend not to write explicit sex scenes for my characters.

[Cdls]

I had to go with option 2 as it is quite clear that many Cantrians are having sex, therefore 'something' has to be there, but the lack of pregnancy clearly shows a lack of a fully functional biological comparison between them and us (people).

As for RPing sex...
I am back and forth on this one. It is certainly one aspect of the characters life, and if you are comfortable with the situation (knowing the other player is of legal age, knowing they are not some sick pervert using Cantr as a cybering sandbox game, as well as being sure that they are comfortable with it in general) then it is okay. I like to keep it limited to a couple posts though as anything more isn't really needed. For the most part though, I think that a <fade to black> approach is great when you think things have gone too far.



Okay...now along this topic, has anyone run across character(s) with "strange" anatomy?

[SekoETC]

Cicil Larken from Dory was said to have been spawned without external sexual organs, although he was wearing clothes so it might not show on top.

I have one male character up to his sixties now (I think) who has failed to grow a beard or upper body hair, and had another one who was about in his fifties before he managed to get weak beard growth. The first one has hairy legs but the one that died was as smooth as a girl. Both have been embarrassed about it. It could be accounted for a hormonal imbalance.

[EchoMan]

I voted for #1. But they definitely shoot blanks/have infertile eggs.

[cantrfan]

I had to go with option 2 as it is quite clear that many Cantrians are having sex, therefore 'something' has to be there, but the lack of pregnancy clearly shows a lack of a fully functional biological comparison between them and us (people).

I voted for number two for this reason as well.

[Arlequin]

I consider it a variation of the "hung man's mandrake" myth.

Basically they fertilize the ground while asleep and, after a while, this happens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5HVPKO9Aow

The fun parts would have evolved purely for their social value. I.e. nature's "Organizing and structuring tribes for dummies". That's why among the posh cantrians it would be considered somewhat low brow.

[Miri]

OMG twinspawns!