Does your game pass the Bechdel Test?

[Zelda Themelin]

Yep. In my main groups but not my alt groups. But I don't know where that "speak something else than about men" comes. Sounds something movies like to do with female characters, but rpg:s are different animal entirely. That doesn't really get included into out-off-game topics. And in-character talk is mostly about quests, game rules related or character goal related. All girls I play with suck at "in-character"-acting, so I don't see that much from them.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Considering men outnumber women gamers by about 5 to 1 this test is pretty skewed right from the start.

 

[Dragonbait]

The Bechdel-Gled Test for Tabletop Gaming

Criteria A: In-game

1. There must be at least two female characters,
2. controlled by at least two different players,
3. who participate in an encounter,
4. that doesn't involve a man.

Corollaries:
a. The characters do not have to be human, but must be sentient beings.
b. The characters must be definitively female (not androgynous or otherwise non-sexed).
​

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes and a and b apply.

Criteria B: Out-of-character

1. There must be at least two female players,
2. who talk to each other,
3. about something besides a man,
4. that is germane to the game being played.​

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes

Woot! My group passes!

...My other group that I play in fails miserably, but the one I GM for passes!​

 

[Cor Azer]

Not counting campaigns that have failed to get off the ground after a session or two, and possibly some PbP games because I don't know the playets' genders in all cases), it's been at least 10-15 years since one of my games would have failed your RPG version of Bledchel's test.

 

[Umbran]

Criteria A.4 is a problem.

The encounter "does not involve a man". The encounter does not include any male PCs, nor is any adversary male.

Note how games are not like fiction (for which the original test was designed): In a game, if you have some activity with two players that excludes the rest, then you have people sitting at the table twiddling their thumbs. I don't generally design sections of my game to specifically exclude anyone.

Moreover, I think this particular requirement misses the point of the original test - the original test is largely to see whether your female characters are there for purposes other than being in romantic relationships with your male characters. But, as we've noted in several other threads, a great many of us don't have romantic relationships in our games at all. And, if they exist, they are often far secondary to saving the world, or killing things and taking their stuff. Simply put, the issue the test was designed to highlight doesn't exist in most games.

Run the test slightly backwards: Do you have female characters in your game, and do they ever have conversations that *are* specifically about men, or romantic relationships at all?

 

[Lwaxy]

Do we have female characters having conversations that *are* specifically about men, or romantic relationships?

Yup and yup.

Although in the first case, it is usually done for comic relief, and often the men talk about the women in the same way and often at the same time. And it's hardly ever about romance (although some gender based teasing tends to be involved) but more about the usual men vs women gossip and in the gutter humor. Example from a few weeks or so ago...

Female 1: Did you see how Male 1 swings his hammer? That is so not the right weapon for him but he absolutely needed to have it.
Female 2: Because it is magical. Men love all things magical to boost their ego.
Female 3: He'll find a new toy eventually. Until then, we need to watch out so he won't accidentally hit us with it.
Female 1: Did you just make a HAMMER joke?
Female 3: *blushing* Uhh...


At about the same time elsewhere...

Male 1: Female 1 is sure flaunting that new necklace of hers around.
Male 2: It's because it's a magic one. Females love all things magic to appear more important. Or less insecure. Or both.
Male 1: And still she makes comments about my hammer.
Male 2, and 4 going on about hammer jokes


Talks about relationships usually are about one of them not wanting the other to do something dangerous, while of course the other doesn't want to be patronized. But it's usually a short lived discussion because it would get obnoxious to keep repeating it again and again. PCs not directly involved don't usually talk about the other PCs relationships. There may be some teasing every now and then, but talking about how to split loot or what to do next usually take up most of the in character talk

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Out of campaign we do not meet (only 1 female player - but our group is 5 people, so that is still 20%).

In game it depends on which campaign we are playing that week.

1 had 2 female PCs, and 2 male.
Another has 3 male and 1 female.
A third has 1 female, 2 male, and a man sized amoeba (Champions game) - and the Major NPC (part of the group) is female.

And no the females characters do not talk about the men.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Failed.

We have no female players at the moment, and we only had one female PC, who was traded out for a different character entirely.

It's not like the DM is writing a movie though.

 

[Libramarian]

As the wikipedia article on it says, you can pass the test and still have sexist content, and you can fail the test for reasons unrelated to gender bias. Important to keep in mind.

Also I think you've missed the point of the test in your translation of it to gaming. I would keep it just the same as the film version: do you have two female characters talking to each other about something other than a man? Your version simplisitically tests for whether you have scenes without men present. That's not really the point. The talking bit is important -- that's how we get to know the female characters and find out whether they have any goals and concerns that don't revolve around the men in their life.

Either way my current campaign fails it, but because it's a beer & pretzels dungeon bash with no female players and almost no female characters, stereotypically portrayed or otherwise.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Run the test slightly backwards: Do you have female characters in your game, and do they ever have conversations that *are* specifically about men, or romantic relationships at all?

Run like that, my characters are no and yes respectively. Only romantic interest I've ever had occur in a game was between two female PCs.