Ashene

I'd like to say I've never played a super-flirt, but ... there was a DnD bard who fit the description. Sort of. She'd flirt a lot, but rarely take it farther than that. And you'd never see her get into fights over men. (The other female PC in that campaign wasn't flirty at all, 'cept for the session where I first joined.)

Course, now I'm curious how that type of player would fare in, say, Primetime Adventures, as opposed to the majority of games. Lots of television shows have the tramp-type character, though whether that's a good thing to emulate or not is up for debate

Its interesting to me that alot of male players will play their female characters like how you say. They will be showing off the "assets(sp?)" and be interested in sleeping with anybody. I found it weird and incrediably strange, because no real female would act like that ever.

Now, a female character that sometimes shows off her "assets" and flirts, I can understand. But annoyingly, male players do it in a way like thats how they are all the time.

Its really annoying.

Funny thing is, the most romantic, using that term soooo loosely, I can remember being in was White Wolf's Freak Legion and Jackie Just was an androgynous enticer so it all made sense in context to the game.
Epic romance or just amorous skullduggery were never much in the themes early in my gaming experiences and latyer when girls played in various groups it was... all business. Of course it was perpetually White Wolf games with more political power plays than the love of the undead/pack/fettering/what have you's.
Course as a group we didn't cross gender play often as russdm mentioned, it was shallow playing and often a cardboard cut-out of what might be perceived as a single aspect of a female.
Course the dynamic of female characters in teh game led to more acts of derring-do that were usually crippled by horrendous dice rolls and botches that were really laughable and oft resulted in the "I'm going to save you!!!" turning into the female in distress saying "After I'm done saving myself, I'll save you as well oh great knight clad in shining armor who just shot himself in the foot and tripped on his own klaive." Fickle, fickle dice gods.

Originally Posted by russdm

I found it weird and incrediably strange, because no real female would act like that ever.

There are women out there who do, in fact, behave this way; their image is made "popular" by sensationalist media, and disseminated across the culture at large. (My ex acted just a few hairs below this extreme, and flirted with just about anybody. Her wardrobe wasn't entirely stripperific, though.)

It could be this portrayal of women is the root of a lot of the way some men portray female characters, both in fiction and in gaming. Which is why the behavior is criticized, as it's not a very good representation of women as a whole. (Another, maybe more common, cause would be in the scope of wish fulfillment; "she does this, because it's what I would do as a girl" thinking.)

I agree Sascha. One thing that has to be kept in mind in all of this, is that most rpgs are fantasy. We play characters that are not representative of the norm for a reason. Seriously, how many of us out there have ever played the average Joe and Jane? These characters, even in an rpg heavy on romance are dull and uninspiring.

We prefer to play heroes instead and other people we can only dream about (or fantasize about). And a female character with little or no inhibitions, for both male and female players would be high on that list, though perhaps not everyone's cup of tea.

I've never played any (recent - hey, cheesy days of 20 years ago don't count!) female characters like that. This is one of those where if you find the right group, "all will be well". I have a group of players that can handle that no problem. We have occasional gurl gamers drop in and most have not done it, though some have to be amusing... its never been overboard (except once - though it fit the character, a ruthless, powerhungry magus that would use everything at her disposal to gain control and power around her) and i myself am playing a female character now and i actively try and avoid the stereotypical guy gamer use of women characters... i think i do it ok, most in the party do not even factor it in...