For years roleplaying games were dominated by guys, like myself. Games, settings and modules were written, game mastered and played by guys and mostly white guys. In recent years things have changed and I believe the gaming industry as a whole is more gender and sexuality conscious now. Or is it?
I’ve played roleplaying games for well over two decades. The AD&D 2nd edition Player’s Handbook was the first roleplaying book I bought and, man, did I read that book through and through! Often I would just flip through the pages and marvel the many images and artwork, by Jeff Easley, Elmore etc. Never did it occur to me how the different genders were displayed in roleplaying games, fantasy artwork and fantasy literature. The dominance of male heroes was something I never bothered to think about, probably because I didn’t know any female players at that time. Just looking at the covers of these rpg-books, some of my first ones, perhaps puts this feeling of mine in better perspective.
Things have changed since then. Today the gaming industry is more gender conscious and scantly clad maidens is a thing of the past. Or so to speak. Many jokes have been told in gaming groups I’ve been a part of about the great qualities of the chain mail bikinis and other ridiculous armours intended for women. Yet, female characters are still almost always in model-like physique, and seldom have the body of a mother of two, shown pregnant or older than 30.
I can’t think of many systems that have certain rules for gender. In recent versions of D&D there have been sidebars explaining why there gender equality in the game, though obviously it wasn’t so in a historical sense of the fantasy (see 3.5 Dungeon Master‘s Guide II, Sidebar: Equality and History page 82). Gender is therefor a storytelling device, it is something that we use to define our characters but has no systematic effect.
Still, though things have changed for the better in recent years, I can’t help but feel sometimes that the gaming industry, just as myself as a DM, father and a person, is still learning. I still see the occasional maiden-in-distress type of imagery and in many settings men make up the brunt of the ruling class, are key players and NPCs and are in great majority when it comes to villains. But since I’m a white, middle aged, middle-class man, I live in a privileged world and my best guess is that I spot at most only half of what female players see and experience.
What about Sexuality?
I’ve yet to find many published modules where other sexual orientations than heterosexuality is a part of the story. Whether it’s the barkeep and his wife, the king and his queen or whatever, even in games where there have been female designers, I have not found many bisexual or homosexual characters (though I would love to have them pointed out to me). But things have been changing and are changing, according to this article on Kotaku.com.
I live in Iceland, where studies have shown that +10% of the population has other sexual orientation than heterosexual. And just as the gaming industry has taken the gender issue seriously, I feel that this is also something that needs to be addressed. Why wouldn’t there be all kinds of sexual orientations in fantasy just as in the real world?
Making different sexual orientation a normal part of fantasy world is just as easy as making it not so. All we need to do is to be open-minded. Perhaps the male halfling barkeep has a husband. Could the arch-druid have many partners, both male and female? Is Aron, the bandit king and a transgender man, madly in love with the Julian, the head of the city-guard?
The story doesn’t need to evolve around the sexual orientation of these NPCs, just as it doesn’t evolve around the sexual orientation of heterosexual NPCs. It’s simply a storytelling tool.
But does gender and sexuality matter in roleplaying?
Yes, it does. Simple as that. It might not matter as much to us privileged people, but it does nonetheless. Because we are diverse. Society is diverse.
Every now and then I host games for my 12 year old son and his friends. My son is coloured and I can often feel his lack of black role models here in Iceland. You wouldn’t believe his astonishment when he first read through 5E Player’s Handbook and saw the picture of the fighter. He immediately pointed the character out and said: I want to play that guy! (Which is one of the reasons I love the new PHB!)
I can imagine that players of different genders and sexuality feel the same way when they encounter something in the roleplaying games, books or modules that they can relate to. That’s why representation matters.
The Golden Rule
The main objective of roleplaying games is to have fun and one of the dungeon master‘s many roles (and probably the most important one) is to make sure every one at the table has fun. This means that we need to take things like gender and sexuality into account. It’s easy to dismiss as a non-trivial thing, but the fact is, if we pay this no heed, we´ll probably end up playing by ourselves.
I’ve experimented playing characters of different sexes and genders. I’m myself a hetero cis but see myself as soft including in my values. Like “loves is all”.
My most extreme and funny to play character was Shalke. A human male casanova with “multipreferences”. Sex with women and men was no problem. He liked wear women clothings as much as male.
He even skippet the usual boundaries between different humanoids. It didn’t work out so well with orch women. They where a bit to “physical”. Even insectoids could work as long as he could use his charm and get a good time.
He had a warrant on him for making love with a queen. Later he mated with a god (gender not specified).
He sometimes felt real love and could really care. Sometimes he worked as a spy, thief, with the success of goal on his mind.
This was hard for my fellow gamers and GM to cope with. Γ°ΕΈΛΒ
> But does gender and sexuality matter in roleplaying? Yes, it does. Simple as that.
“Yes it does/no it doesn’t, because I SAY so – no argument given”.
It’s probably the worst possible way to address any issue.
Hi, Arghur
Are you looking for some examples or do you not agree with my assessment? Why do you think that this needs any reasoning?
I agree that sexuality like gender should be normal part of character creation. But I am worried that will lead the players into playing out their sexual fantasies in game. This is something I really don’t want at my table.
I guess my answer is, yes of course your character can be a homosexual, but he is not going to be having any sex in this story. No one is.
What?
Has that been a pervasive problem with the presumably straight characters at your table so far? Because otherwise, this a very poor argument.
I’m fairly sure your answer will be that characters at your table until now have been asexual and have never pursued romantic interests. Fine and dandy, but are you then arguing or claiming that a homosexual or otherwise non-straight character is guaranteed by the player to be so solely to pursue their sexual interests? Do you really believe that?
I’m not arguing against anything, I agree with the article. This topic just brought up these concerns.
Yes, my no sex at the gaming table rule does come from the tendency for some straight men roleplaying straight men, wanting to sleep with the barmaid at every inn they come to. I run a very lighthearted D&D game. Often with not very experienced players. I just prefer everyone stick to murderhoboing.
If players wish to act on their character’s sexual or romantic interests, I play along. I see no reason not to. It can create great roleplaying moments and create relationships between both PCs and NPCs that can be quite fun to see unfold. After all, this is as human as it gets and why shouldn’t it be a part of roleplaying? π
And there is a big, fat difference between romance and sexual fantasy in a game. Equating the two does not sound good.
Spot on.
Surely the inclusion of gender and sexuality is down to the individual group?
After all isn’t the whole point of d&d that the players and the dm build/shape the world they’re in?
It sure is. But this is still something that even WoTC are concerned about (see the Kotaku article) for they would like to appeal to a more diverse group in their material. And why wouldn’t they? Aren’t we, i.e. roleplayers, a diverse group? π