More guys play D&D than gals, Why?

[twofalls]

I don't agree with the argument that the only (or even primary) psychological differential between women and men is modern socialization. You can't remove 40,000 years of Homo Sapiens social evolution from the gene pool in just the last 2-3 thousand years in which agriculture has completely supplanted the hunter gatherer cultures. Men had to evolve to work together in order to hunt food, women evolved to work together to gather food, maintain children, and raise the children. This is a gross oversimplification, but as illustrated even in this thread there are instincts that predominate in the population at large that clearly illustrate these evolutionary patterns. Speak with any social anthropologist and they will be able to show you that we as a species are not only evolutionary creatures on a physical level but also socially, and in fact the two are intertwined so closely as to be inseparable.

My point with this is, in a brutally blunt fashion, is that men really are from Mars and women really are from Venus, if not exactly for the reasons explained in that particular book. Certainly there is crossover, but the basic sociological differences remain, and hence you are going to see more men playing at war (rpgs) and fewer women drawn to it. No, I'm not saying all rpgs are war games, but the connection is too strong to deny as combat is a central theme of most any RPG (even the Storytelling oriented World of Darkness games).

 

[dicechild]

Why wouldn't there be.......

Social divisions I think play one of the biggest roles. I have never spent much time with girls, and as such am not predisposed to invite them to gaming. The pyscological part of it does not have very much to do with it in my opinion.
When I was younger, not saying much for I am still a teenager, but when I was younger, I used to roleplay, fight, and wrestle with girls that are now the most ditsy and, lets face it, unlikely to roleplay people in the world. It wouldn't be good for their image.
I have never found that I am a fringe person, and I know of several examples of people who aren't. But I realize that is where most players come from.
I realize thta social divisions between genders gets better after high school, but I still hate having no idea what to do when I need a female role played. As aforementioned, The players in my campaigns always mutilate the roles of women escpecially when it requires finesse, such as when playing a suductive assasin whose sole purpose in life is to kill the king.
I just wish there was a mmore fifty fifty split.
I also want to point out that there were millions of very influential women, mostly through their husbands, but they did some amazing things. And they are very well fit for assasins and rougues because they were looked down on and people didn't believe they were capable of such things. They also ferried messages very well.
KP

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, at a guess it is because RPGs grew out of a hobby that was already heavily tilted towards males - wargaming. Then it became branded a 'guy and 'nerd' thing right off of the bat because of this association.

The Auld Grump, up until the 80s I nver met a female wargamer, but female D&D players were in the very first game I ever played in...

 

[Zander]

As Col Pladoh has pointed out, men prefer games in general, not just D&D.

Why? Well Papa G didn't go very much into that but I suspect that there are three reasons:
1. Men like their socialising bounded by rules; women don't
2. Men avoid dealing with complex emotional situations and prefer escapism instead; women don't
3. Men like problem-solving; women don't

These are generalisations, of course.

What accounts for these differences? Probably genetics. Studies around the world suggest that gender differences exist in both western and non-western cultures, and that some of these differences are universal (or nearly so).

 

[Michelle Lyons]

...

The only constructive comment I can make to this thread is... um...




No, I was wrong. There is no constructive comment I can make to this thread. Sorry.

 

[jmucchiello]

It seems to me that I can never get any players that are female, and whenever I need a female part played, it's mutilated by the players in game. This causes problems for me because I don't know how to play these female roles either, and am therefore left with petite little ladies who talk like some macho guy with a seperiority complex.

I don't understand. When do you need a female role played by a player? Shouldn't your players just play whatever kind of player they wish? Are you lamenting your ability to portray female characters because the other players laugh? Don't sweat it then. Don't talk with a funny voice, just say "she says, ...." If someone makes a snide comment, have her react to it. Slap him in the face. Turn around and walk away. Call the guard. All of the above. Whatever is appropriate. Do that often enough and they will respect the female characters more.

 

[dicechild]

Thanks for the help. And ummmmm......
KP

 

[sniffles]

I must belong to a really atypical game group. The guys all enjoy roleplaying just as much as I do, and the women like combat just as much as the guys do. One of the crunchiest rules lawyers in the group is female. Most of the guys have played female characters at one time or another, and none of them feel the need to speak in falsetto when they do female characters. No one cares what gender anyone else's character is - we're equal opportunity about making fun of someone else's character.

It probably helps that we're all over 30 (and about half of us are over 40) and the majority of us are involved in stable long-term relationships in which both partners are gamers.

The more I read about other peoples' gaming groups here, the prouder and happier I am with my friends.

 

[klamo]

Maybe it's because more guys find the deathly graphic violence to be a comfort whereas gals aren't...geez...use your brain...if you have one!!!

 

[ruaalien2]

I think it has to do more with how the game is marketed, because it seems that most of the marketing foucus on males, and getting them to play. It also seems that many males start playing it around 13, 14, when there are things that you want to do with only the same gender, so females aren't included, and those females that play it's because of a BF/husband or some other male influence.

I first heard about D&D from a good friend of mine who is female, but never took any intrested at all until I started dating Brooklynknight/ArthurQ. Once I started dating him, he tried to get me into it, and last week he brought me my first PHB and D&D for Dummies, and I brought myself my first two sets of dice. I still have more female friends that play then male friends.

It's just how things go, your going to find more males playing/intrested in some things, and for other things, you'll find more females intrested in it.