Girl Gamer Stereotypes...or lack thereof?

[mythago]

She was a hard core feminist which I think can be a good thing, but she took it to the next level where she thought men were beneath her and was frequently rude and mean to my little brother (who was 13 years old at the time) just because he was male.

what can you do?

"If you insult my little brother again, you [CENSORED FOR ERIC'S GRANDMA], you can get your sorry butt out of here." (That's not taking anything to the next level, FWIW. That's taking one's 'tude and hanging a political label on it to make it sound palatable.)

 

[Rel]

I'm lucky to be acquainted with a number of women who game. All are intelligent, all enjoy fantasy literature to some degree, all are professionals, none are goths and all are people who I'm attracted to (physically and because of their personalities).

Except for that last part, the same things describe the guys I game with too.

I think it has nothing to do with any sort of stereotype. It is merely that those are the sorts of people who I've gravitated to over the years.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

"If you insult my little brother again, you [CENSORED FOR ERIC'S GRANDMA], you can get your sorry butt out of here." (That's not taking anything to the next level, FWIW. That's taking one's 'tude and hanging a political label on it to make it sound palatable.)

I think more people need to be threatened back to reality.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

stoooooopid double post.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Well, I think we got along okay in our group when we did have the one woman – we still joked around and had our guy talk, cursing, discussions about movies &TV shows, etc. However, that one woman was probably too polite to speak up and say anything about it, and her first language was not English, so I am guessing she often did not understand some of the jokes (and hopefully, not all the 4 letter words…) as she had only lived in the US for 5-6 years before she started gaming with our group. Her then boyfriend was not born here, either, but had lived here long enough that it was not an issue.

The only time we had an issue was when we thought we found a new gamer. He joined us at the table and after the evening was over, it was clear he was a little different - his initial character proposals were a kender paladin-thief based on Batman (this was 2E days) or a swanmay ranger. Then, in the evening session of some sort of dark future game, he decided he wanted to play a former prostitute (or was it a porn star?) with really big breasts… probably even bigger than his own real life breasts...and, to get to the starting point in the adventure, he used his big breasts to distract/lure the prison guards.

But, I did not notice it then, but I guess he stared at our one female gamer so intently/intensely that it made her very uncomfortable. So, he quickly wore out his welcome.

However, I also think that, because she was attractive, the guys were willing to be patient with her in regards to her learning the rules, or her boyfriend having pause the game to explain things to her in Taiwanese or to translate a word or two for her. If she had been unattractive or not very nice, I cannot say for sure if a newbie would have been tolerated like that – however, I am guessing the guys would be more tolerant of a newbie woman than a newbie male.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...women like that grate on my nerves too. (As do guys like that)...

Guys who get overly sensitive about slights against feminist doctrine or "testosterone fueled" behaviour?

You are going to hate it here Djeta

Take a look at any of the myriad threads on cross gender rp.

Actually don't.

 

[Reprisal]

Actually don't.

You see, now I'm actually going to have to seek out these threads and read them just for the entertainment factor alone.

Not enough hours,

- Rep.

 

[Cedric]

I've found in general that it's best if I avoid overly sensitive people. In fact, my best friend once described me as a great guy to spend two hours or less with.

Cedric

 

[Baastet]

But, I did not notice it then, but I guess he stared at our one female gamer so intently/intensely that it made her very uncomfortable. So, he quickly wore out his welcome.

Speaking of that I had another question for the ladies.. (men too ^_^)

Have you ever had a fellow player who just creeped you out?

I ask because I had a player who has started playing with us and after 2 gaming sessions with the group was meandering into territory that was deffinately uncomofortable for me and the other female player.

Background: We play in a fairly realistic campaign. Some might call it vile, but it is deffinately adult orientated. There are no graphic descirptions of sex or rapes or anything, that is left unsaid. But those kinda of things do happen (rarely) to NPC's and PC's. But usually they are handled tactfully and tastefully. This player's character upon going into a new town tried to drug and rape the prettiest girl in said town. Like I said this person had only played 2 games with the group prior... But what really bothered me was he made it a point to make eye contact with the females in the room when he did this .. and asked the DM for more descirption of it. Now I thought it was just me he gave the creeps too. But after he was asked to leave by the DM, the other female gamer finally spoke up. She said she didn't want to offend anyone (she is essentially a very shy person) but he creeped her out too.

Has this kinda thing ever happened to anyone else? And how did your group deal with it?

 

[mythago]

Some women may find their husband spending 4 to 8 hours in a room talking in a very familiar manner to a woman with them there and without them understanding the context to be rather intimidating.

If your spouse is so ignorant of the context of gaming (group of people, sitting around playing some kind of weird game, social activity, you're welcome to drop in anytime, dear) that she sees it as *dangerous*, then I think the problem is a little deeper than the fact that one spouse is not a gamer.

I mean, unless this game involves the husband taking Cute Gamer Chick to a swanky romantic hideaway for 4-8 hours, what you're saying is that it's reasonable for a wife to be suspicious of an otherwise trustworthy husband simply because, in his socializing, the group of people includes an attractive female.

Baastet, I know what you mean about that sort of creepazoid. Luckily the gaming groups I have been in have little tolerance for that, but it can be very annoying when such a person is the GM. Urk.