GenCon Indy 2007, let's shake the male/female ratios--or not, they seem fine here ;)

[justawhit]

This year was the 3rd time I've attended Gencon and the first time for my wife. I've gamed since 1981 but I've been on a gaming hiatus the last 4 years. This is due to my wife's wishes. Taking her to Gencon this year I hoped to expose her to how gamers represent a cross section of society.

It isn't just a matter of opening the gaming, and Gencon too, to other segments of society but to demonstrate that we as players are as normal and as quirky as anyone else. Role-playing games carries a negative connotation for people who haven't been exposed to it before. They have preconceived notions that it caters to young underachieving men who still live their parents.

Exposing and introducing more women, along with racial and ethnic minorities, can improve the role-playing environment. This would also benefit the gaming industry as a whole. By inclusion of people from many walks of life, the gaming industry evolves to accommodate a wider variety of tastes. The key factor is for people who want to play and have fun.

There are people who have a closed mind and don't even want to listen to a good thing. Sadly this is the case with my wife. Besides my wife, I've also known players whose spouses don't want them to play for some reason. To be fair, I have gamed with players who could care less about having a woman play in the group. This treatment of noninclusion further hurts the gaming community by repressing a person's need to HAVE FUN. Anyone should be able to enjoy themselves in an environment that fosters fun in a socially acceptable way. What it comes down to is there are people who view gaming as socially unacceptable.

For us to overcome this stigma is for the gamers to be more inclusive. The gaming industry needs to better market their products. The old argument against having bikini chainmail models on magazine covers bears this out. If people are offended by scantily clad women how about a woman on the magazine cover wearing the the d20s shirt instead? With the plethora of reality shows maybe we need to have a celebrity RPG tournament to better expose a way of life to the public at large! Since some cities, or towns, have a community access channel maybe some groups could sponsor an on air campaign over a season? Their are many ways we can reach people and show them it's just a game so we can have fun.

It's commendable to increase attendance at conventions regardless of their gender. It's even better just to get more players wanting to play. At Gencon we watched the premeire of Gamers and I thought it would break the ice with my wife. The movie was hilarious and I could relate to the characters in the movie with people I've gamed with over the years. Even though the film was unapologitic in its approach to gaming, a downside to the movie is it reinforced stereotypes of gamers to nongamers. We as gamers need to shed some of the negative connotations that come with gaming without losing our sense of who we are.

Conforming to political correctness without undergoing brainwashing is a tricky act. I have respect for people of different beliefs but I will not surrender my soul to forgo having fun. There is middle ground here where we can reach out and show others how to have fun. We can't complain that people don't understand us and no one wants to play while at the same time we push them away. If you want people to see how you live invite them in your home. If you want people to see how you enjoy life invite them to your game.


P.S. My wife loves William Katt and wanted to meet him at Gencon. She didn't care for the movie and she's undecided about attending next year. The reason for my hiatus is she is uneasy about me playing RPGs and the expense has kept me from it lately. I'm looking forward to getting back into it within the next year or so.

P.P.S. While at Gencon I wondered if nongaming husbands could've attended the SPA?

 

[Piratecat]

The original poster has asked that we close the thread - small wonder, considering some of the rudeness at the thread's start - but it's settled down into some interesting and constructive commentary, and I'd like to keep it open for now. Please do not post in here if your goal is to be rude or disrupt the thread, because I dare say that you won't like the results.

Thanks!

 

[diaglo]

Personally, I'd be very interested in a History of Gaming seminar that focused on the role women played in this industry.

and don't forget the original author of the orange cover B3 Palace of the Silver Princess from TSR.

i agree that it would be great to get more females (i'm not saying just women b/c this hobby can start earlier than puberty) into gaming.

i thought the free Barnes & Noble course offered by WotC as an introduction to D&D and given by James Wyatt was a good example of the shift. the population of that course iirc was nearly 50% female if not the majority.

 

[Piratecat]

P.P.S. While at Gencon I wondered if nongaming husbands could've attended the SPA?

I'm sure they could! Quartermoon (from these boards) brings her non-gaming husband every year, and he does stuff with the kids and explores Indianapolis.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

At Gencon we watched the premeire of Gamers and I thought it would break the ice with my wife. The movie was hilarious and I could relate to the characters in the movie with people I've gamed with over the years. Even though the film was unapologitic in its approach to gaming, a downside to the movie is it reinforced stereotypes of gamers to nongamers. We as gamers need to shed some of the negative connotations that come with gaming without losing our sense of who we are.

I thought that on the upside, the female lead in that movie was playing a pretty smart, capable warrior type. Which I have seen in my gaming groups more and more. When I first got into the hobby (eek, 1981?), and I would join a group, many of the female players were relegated to playing "the cleric." Nowadays, I see many women (my own wife included) who want to play "the archer", "the strong warrior" or "the powerful wizard" and get out there, kick some butt, and take its treasure!

To look at one underlying question, "why have separate games for women", let's turn it around. How many games wind up being "guys only" by default, or by content? This is the equivalent of Guys Night Out or Ladies Night Out. (I also find it interesting how many gamers automatically bristle at the notion that someone, somewhere, is keeping them from being a part of something gaming related.)

 

[Menexenus]

Wow, it seems to me that the OP is taking a whole lot of crap for making a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

Some people sure are testy around here...

 

[Thunderfoot]

Actually, I think the shift is already heppening, did anyone else notice the lack of "Booth Babes" at GenCon this year? If I recall correctly the number was only about 7 or so and most of them were of the decidedly Anime bent.

I think the industry is starting to recognize that the "gamer chick" is no longer an anomoly and that the female gamer is a quickly growing demographic. The lack of the male oriented eye candy to push its wares is a good indication of that IMO. Also, the "guest stars" were more female friendly too: Kevin Sorbo, Jamie Barber, etc. were more eye candy for the female Sci-Fi fan than the male enthusist. Let's face it, we all wanna see Xena: Warrior Princess, not Hercules. (with a few exceptions from the Gaymer community.)

But the point is I think there is a shift happening. Some of the SPA activites are by their very name sexist, of course many of these activities have been around since the first GenCons, so that the gaming widows would have something to do. Nowadays, most spouses game. Not that there aren't a few, but the majority have p/u the dice and "rolled with it" (sri I had too). Of the three ENWorld games I played, I played with two females in the first game and was DM'd by one in the second. Only the thrid was all male. I made a comment to someone while I was at the Con that I think marks a big difference in the way the game is played: "I can remember when I could count the number of female gamers I knew on one finger, now they are about 1/3 of all the gamers I know" A lot has changed in 25+ years, I can't see why it should stop now.

 

[Rel]

Sephera,

First up, welcome to ENWorld. I hope and believe that if you stick around then you'll find that it's a generally friendly place where kindness and understanding are reciprocated. It is certainly a fount of useful knowledge about all things gaming and D&D and d20 games in particular.

If gaming with other women is something that you feel passionate about then I would humbly suggest that continuing to form a presence here at ENWorld, with an eye toward GenCon 07', would be a great idea. We have for the past several years set up our own games at GenCon and my experience has been that there are plenty of women involved in them. This year I participated in only one game at GenCon that didn't have a female player in it and several of them had more than one.

Additionally, I would encourage you to look around the boards and take note of the various Game Days organized by ENWorlders. I am the organizer of the NC Game Days (in Raleigh NC) and we have plenty of female attendees. One of them, Alenda here at ENWorld, is among the best GM's I've ever encountered and a great many people cited her games at GenCon as the best they played at the con.

My underlying point is simply this: Participation by female gamers is growing and is at an all time high. And this without any extraordinary measures being taken to artificially boost this involvement that I'm aware of. I suspect that the ratio will continue to rise if folks will just try to be accepting and welcoming to any and all who choose gaming as a hobby.

 

[Buttercup]

What if it's not that person's lack of humor, but their lack of self-esteem? What if and their feelings that those WITH confidence enough to wear bold shirts are better than they are so they shouldn't try because they don't feel like they would be able to fit in with people that are that confident? Again, this is me thinking about others, not necessarily myself. (Although there was a time I would have been intimidated by women confident enough to wear something so bold.)

I would think men would be able to relate to this a bit, as the "sterotype" gamer is a geek. Don't you try to do anything to debunk that myth?

I almost didn't answer this, since Piratecat might be referring to my earlier posts as "rude" though I only thought of them as direct and honest. Truthfully, I thought the original poster's blanket statement was the rude one, but I'll drop that now. I think the quote above needs a response, so here are my 2 coppers:

If a person has such low self esteem that their Gencon experience is ruined when see women wearing edgy t-shirts, they honestly and urgently need professional help. It isn't clear to me why the rest of us should change completely innocent behavior, that isn't even directed at the low self-esteem person, so that GenCon (or any other venue) becomes more warm & fuzzy.

But this is a tangent. The real issue in the OP is that GenCon needs more women. I agree with this statement. I vehemently disagree wtih the OP's suggestions of how to get more women to attend. And I'm not really worried, because more women are attending every year. It's happening on its own.

If you want more women to attend GenCon, then invite women to play at your table. And when they show up, make sure they have a good time. That's the real solution to the problem. IMO, YMMV and all that.

 

[Desdichado]

I think it would be particularly cool if a female DM ran a table of all women next year. [Alenda? Buttercup? KidCthulhu? You listening?]

Wouldn't that encourage more sexist divisiveness though? That's a pet peeve of mine; when we're hanging out with other couples, and the husbands kinda split off from the wives and start having their own seperate conversations. No offense, guys, but I'd rather have my wife with me socially.

I guess it depends on what the goals are here. Are we trying to make females more comfortable at GenCon? Are we trying to create a "seperate but equal" women's GenCon?