Questions about male & female characters

[JosiahH]

Is there any publicly available data about the ratio of male to female characters? of male to female players?

Do we know how many characters are played by a player of the same sex, and how many by a player of the opposite sex?

In your experience, how is it different to play as a man or a woman in Cantr? Do players tend to play characters of the opposite sex authentically, or problematically?

Just some stuff I am wondering about as I play a character of the opposite sex for the first time!

[sanchez]

I’ve played a nearly equal number of each. Not all players are comfortable playing opposite sex chars. I don’t think players’ OOC gender is recorded anyplace, so statistics might be difficult. Anecdotally, you may find that the more gender-stereotypical behaviour comes from opposite-sex players (in particular the really flirty girls).

My male chars may be obviously not played by a man, but what I try to do for each of them is to model them after behaviour I’ve seen from individual rl men, and to think of that person before I log into the char. Convincing or not, at least it helps with the immersive experience to imagine seeing with someone else’s eyes, for any gender.

[Marian]

I play all female now, and the few males I've played before were all pretty disposable. I just can't get into the mind of a male character quite the same way. Even back when I used to write a bunch of terrible crap about elves, and spaceships, and elves on spaceships, there came a point when I realized all the main characters were always female and I had to force myself to give the guys bigger roles.

[Kyriel]

Well, let's see, as a boyish female myself, I seem to have...

1: a guy
2: a boyish girl
3: a girl
4: a manly man
5: a woman
6: a guy
7: a girl
8: a girly guy
9: a girly guy
10: a guy
11: a girl
12: a girl
13: a boyish girl
14: a boyish girl
15: a girl

So... yeah, I don't tend to go in much for strict gender roles.

[Marian]

Well, let's see, as a boyish female myself, I seem to have...

So... yeah, I don't tend to go in much for strict gender roles.

And it's funny, I'm not a very girly girl at all and it's pretty rare my characters are either. I've just never been able to get as wrapped up in my male characters as I do the females, as far as thinking and feeling exactly what they would in a given situation. I've never understood it, but if I were ever going to fill empty slots with pure simmers I'd probably make them male so as not to fall into that trap where they start developing deeper personalities without me meaning them to.

But sometimes it really does seem that there are a lot more female characters in this game then male.

[Wolfsong]

I play equal numbers of male/female characters at the moment. Of those 12 or so, only 3 are interesting right now - 1 male, 2 females. Usually I skew toward playing more males than females, or more tomboyish females - I shy away from giggling, girly gumdrop tropes. That type of play bores me.

[Axiom]

I play a roughly even number of male and female characters, but my most interesting ones are all female. I almost always write female protagonists, too. I don't have any problems writing male characters or getting into their mindsets or anything, and I have plenty of major male characters in my stories, but I dunno, I guess I just prefer a female POV.

[SumBum]

I mostly play opposite sex chars. For some reason my males just survive longer (at least as far as my interest in playing them goes). My female chars always tend to be at one end of the spectrum or the other: either coming across cold/aloof or bubbly idiots. The latter chars I can't stomach playing so they die off rather quickly.

[LittleSoul]

I tend to try to keep it an even ratio, but my last spawning batch was almost all female.
I find I can play a few male characters well enough to keep them different from one another, and still interesting, but any more after that and it feels like they all kind of melt together as the same personality type which becomes very boring.
I find it easier to differentiate female personalities for some reason.

[Wolfsong]

Here's a possible reason why there are more females than males seen in game, despite people stating they play them in almost equal numbers:

I spawned a male and a female character - equal skills, ironically. The female never introduced herself and sat around quietly for awhile until pointing out a vehicle and asking to have it. She was given that vehicle, a weapon, and a shield, and proceeded to drive about merrily, collecting handouts wherever she went. The male character spawned, introduced himself politely, and read the noticeboard which informed him that certain objects were free if in the Free Resource Building. He picked up a bone knife and some hide pants. As soon as the town awoke, he was immediately imprisoned and murdered for theft.

Chicks are given a longer leash.

[Kyriel]

I think that's more a difference between towns than the gender of the characters... Two characters in different towns isn't really much of an indication of gender biases. I've heard of plenty of female characters being accused of thievery too, as well as plenty of male characters being given things.

[iavatus]

As soon as the town awoke, he was immediately imprisoned and murdered for theft.

Think there needs to be an ingame story book, of fables. And instead of a "and they all lived happily ever after", the traditional end is "and then they murdered a newspawn".

2/3rds of mine are male, but 2/3rds of my favourites, are female. They do get treated a little better in some ways and people interact more which keeps life interesting.

[SumBum]

It's definitely luck of the draw regarding where you spawn a char. One town would kill someone for picking up some bones, another town would just shrug as a newspawn takes off with an unlocked tandem.

Wolfsong, I do think what you mentioned is common across most online games. I know a lot of guys who play games like WoW as females because they know they'll be given things, etc.

[Wolfsong]

I think that's more a difference between towns than the gender of the characters... Two characters in different towns isn't really much of an indication of gender biases. I've heard of plenty of female characters being accused of thievery too, as well as plenty of male characters being given things.

Trust me. Playing a female character - you can get away with ANYTHING, including murder. Multiple murders. Theft, etc. Male characters are scrutinized a lot more closely.

And Sumbum - it definitely is, though usually on games where male players outnumber female ones.

[Kyriel]

One of my male characters has gotten away with multiple murders, and one of my female characters took a battle axe to the face for no good reason... so I haven't really noticed that.