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

Ok, I've heard that years ago that 95% of GenCon attendees were male and that recently that has changed to more like 75%. Being a female, I think the percentage of females at GenCon should be much higher. I started to post this under just GenCon Indy 2007, but I think this warrants it's own thread. So, I'm moving my post here.

Torin left me behind this year, but I'm making sure he goes with me to GenCon Indy 2007!

I'm a fairly new D&D gamer (about two years). I started gaming with my husband and a few of our friends. There are four women that game in the group and my daughter also wants to join the group now. I stayed behind for this year's GenCon (pregnancy induced bed rest) and browsed the Internet. I found the Ladies of Hack and was excited that there was some where for female gamers to go and hang out. I told my friends and they all want to order the Ladies of Hack shirts. The Ladies had a meet and greet during GenCon and it sparked some excitement, especially when Meguey Baker and Emily Care Boss joined them.

So, I've jumped on the bandwagon to try to help get a more visual appearance at GenCon Indy 2007. Meguey Baker suggested posting on several different boards for ideas on where to start. I guess the first thing to ask is what do female gamers want to see at the convention for them? For that matter, what would male gamers like to see at GenCon in support of female gamers?

Some ideas I've thought of:

Booth with female game designers, DMs, etc. Yes, there are women in gaming!

Female oriented t-shirts. Something that shows a little more respect for women than two d20's and the caption, "yes these are natural across" the chest of the shirt.


I know there have been seminars in the past regarding women in gaming, but I haven't seen anyone post any follow up on any of the seminars and the last time I looked, they had very low registration.

I'd love to hear more thoughts, suggestions, etc. I AM going to GenCon Indy 2007 and I would love to see something to encourage and support women in gaming.

Stepping down from the soapbox. Next up?

Sephera

More of my ramblings

Crosspost from story-games.com...

Okay, so we need something that can be high profile and well advertised... How about a Miss D&D/gamer contest? LOL!

Maybe a battle of the sexes? A Female DM with Male gamers and a Male DM with Female gamers?

How many of the advertisements were there this year showing women trying to get to GenCon? The ones that come to mind for me all involved men getting wrapped up in a package for the mail or riding a tricycle. But I wasn't paying much attention to the ads until recently.

I personally think the seminars offered "for the better half" pulled women away from the gaming. Maybe there should be a seminar titled "What's the big deal?" for women to try a bit of gaming. Or we could call it "A no thank you bite." LOL. I use that to get my children to at least try something before they go ahead and turn it down.

Then there could be "Miss/Myth Busters" to make women aware of what gaming can be, since it can be anything you want. Gaming is not for just for women trying to be sexy (although that seems to be what men want out of women gaming). Like the characters displayed at the LadiesofHack.com website, women gamers come in all sort of sizes and personalities. Yeah, there are times I want to be the sexy female paladin that kicks some butt, but there are other times when I just want to be a party member and valued for what I can contribute to the party, regardless of what sex I am.

I love the fact that there's a closer mix of gender at GenCon. In the EN World games I ran, I'd say that we ran about 2/3rds male / 1/3rd female. I treasure the fact that this site has a lot of cool, fun female gamers. as it should be, really.

Sephera, I'm actually not so convinced that the Spa plan for spouses pulled a lot of women away from games, though. My guess - and it's only that! - is that those attracted spouses who otherwise wouldn't have come at all, because they have other hobbies.

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

I would love to be in an all-female game. Especially with ENWorlders!

Seminars from GenCon 2006?

I know there were a few seminars offered this year that dealt with women in gaming, but I have no idea how they turned out. When I checked at gencon.highprogrammer.com I found (all registration numbers are as of 8/2, first number is how many were registered, the second number is how many seats were available):

SEM00072 - Women as Warriors - 3/99
SEM00071 - Women as Warriors: 20th Century - 9/99
SEM00070 - Women as Warriors: American Revolution - Civil War - 7/99
SEM00069 - Women as Warriors: Ancient Times - Middle Ages - numbers won't come up
These all seem to be more about history of women warriors rather than women in gaming.

SEM00156 - Women in the Industry - How to be Successful in a Male Dominated Industry - 2/200 (! I really hope more actually attended than were registered as of 8/2!)

SEM00168 - But What if the Player is Female? - 8/200

SEM00054 - Chain Mail Bikinis & Iron Jockstraps: Gender in Gaming 8/100, and as of registration no host was specified.

So can anyone here report on any of these seminars?

- Sephera

Sephera said:

I know there were a few seminars offered this year that dealt with women in gaming, but I have no idea how they turned out. When I checked at gencon.highprogrammer.com I found (all registration numbers are as of 8/2, first number is how many were registered, the second number is how many seats were available):

SEM00072 - Women as Warriors - 3/99
SEM00071 - Women as Warriors: 20th Century - 9/99
SEM00070 - Women as Warriors: American Revolution - Civil War - 7/99
SEM00069 - Women as Warriors: Ancient Times - Middle Ages - numbers won't come up
These all seem to be more about history of women warriors rather than women in gaming.

SEM00156 - Women in the Industry - How to be Successful in a Male Dominated Industry - 2/200 (! I really hope more actually attended than were registered as of 8/2!)

SEM00168 - But What if the Player is Female? - 8/200

SEM00054 - Chain Mail Bikinis & Iron Jockstraps: Gender in Gaming 8/100, and as of registration no host was specified.

So can anyone here report on any of these seminars?

- Sephera

Click to expand...

As seminars do not require tickets, more people will generally show up than will sign up.

Sephera said:

Female oriented t-shirts. Something that shows a little more respect for women than two d20's and the caption, "yes these are natural across" the chest of the shirt.

Click to expand...

Sorry you didn't like my shirt. Wait, no I'm not. Because it's my shirt, that I bought with my own money and wore of my own free will. Nobody disrespected me. Nobody coerced me. And in fact, I know three other women who thought the shirt was as funny as I did. But that's ok. You stay on your high horse.

I might have been willing to contribute to this thread in a meaningful way, if you hadn't sneered at me in your original post. But you've made it clear that you think I'm a defective woman in some way, so have a nice thread!

Sephera said:

Ok, I've heard that years ago that 95% of GenCon attendees were male and that recently that has changed to more like 75%. Being a female, I think the percentage of females at GenCon should be much higher...

Click to expand...

Why do you hate men?

Seonaid said:

I would love to be in an all-female game. Especially with ENWorlders!

Click to expand...

Why do you hate the men of EN World especially?

I love men. I love the men of EN World. I want to game with ALL of you. (And I'm sad I didn't get to meet you this past year. Blame it on some of the other men of EN World.)

Edit: Dammit, there you go changing your post while I'm posting!