As I navigate the return to Norrath of my characters, I noticed something I'm not proud of. But perhaps my lack of pride in it is just as limiting as the cause. What I mean is, my female toons are "good" and my male ones are "evil" nearly always. One exception, a male, I decided to roleplay as gay when the gay marriage law finally legitimized many of my friend's marriages. Partly I think I'm repelled by the idea of an "evil" woman. I think women are far more likely to be accused of malfeasance than they are of actually doing it, or even intending it. (Lanys doesn't do it for me as a villain, ymmv.) OTOH, men are more likely to be proud of conning people because it is proof of "street smarts." I think men fear being called naive much more than women do.
My reaction was usually to say, "Better naive than criminal." or "Better idealist than cruel." or "Who wants to hug a realist, except in pity?" I'm very assertive, haha. Within two weeks at any new job I get either "aggressive" or "ambitious." I now see that as a weakness in the person who labels me that way. Majel Barrett said it best: "Greatness is never appreciated in youth, called pride in midlife, dismissed in old age and reconsidered in death. Because we cannot tolerate greatness in our midst we do all that we can to destroy it."
Ref: http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Morella
It's not that I think I'm great. It's that I don't like slack and while I tolerate slackers (because they might have their reasons like illness, and I am not a squealer), I don't join in the minimal-work mentality. Well, not at work or at housework anyway. At play I do, or do I? Maybe my immersion level somehow translates into more willingness to work harder at games. I feel like I'm "with" the game at the moment, "all caught up" or mostly.
So what does greatness have to do with my inner fantasy life which seems to have gained this deplorable gender role thing? (Did I say "deplorable" oh yes yesss I did. *grin*) Well first of all it's a fantasy. In such a place, women shine like Goddesses as beacons of truth, beauty, etc... etc... (hmm, maybe some men would like that too?). And men do the dirty work of slaughter so that the feasts can be huge and endless... (hmm, maybe some women might enjoy being experts at carving meat and putting animals down humanely so their nutrition may be shared with the community?) Not to mention it's sometimes fun to be in the thick of a fantasy battle where good and evil are so clear cut.
Fairy tales have certainly affected me when I chose these archetypes. And I think games like this have a lot to teach us about what we think, about what we want, about what we hope for and what we dream. A couple of times I remember thinking that a character or two was "stereotypical" but then I'd tell myself I won't have anyone editing my fantasy, it's just a game, for fun. And so, I think we should all not stand for others editing our fantasy. Fun is fun. So if you want to deck your fae out with kittens do it! And I'll be cheering for you. If you want to have every "enlarge" spell running at once and tower over people, do it, I'll be equally cheering for you.
I'm just going to remember from now on that people are behind the character and they are each unique and not likely to be stereotypes. I hope you do too, but that's the optimist in me.