A letter in Dragon Magazine

[Teflon Billy]

TB have you gamed with any women? How did the group act? Differently?

Well, about half the time when the "problem" in question was the girl herself, it was that she expected a far different game than the one we were playing.

We drink, we holler at each other, the characters are generally unsavory (and I supect to a degree, the players are as well).

The 2 women I am referring to (2 seperate cases) seemed to feel that they deserved a more "Deferential" or "Respectful" manner at the table than our "Game Table Culture" (for want of a better term) had at that point.

We weren't interested in changing, so in one instance the girl left, and in the other I kicked her out.

Similar instances have occured with guys, but they were a lot less "Walking on eggshells" and handwringing about everything.

The really hilarious part was my buddy Martin, who--when a woman was at the table--became an endlessly deferential fellow Player, and basically a "sidekick to the lady" PC

I love him, but he sucks

 

[Teflon Billy]

It’s actually gotten better since the advent of D&D 3rd edition, as gaming in general has been moving into the mainstream – and I think many female gamers are ‘coming out of the closet’ so to speak about their hobby.

The actual "Quantum Leap Forward" as far as inclusiveness for women in tabletop RPG's was the publication of Vampire: the Masquerade.

Women present in the hobby increased by orders of magnitude.

 

[HellHound]

The actual "Quantum Leap Forward" as far as inclusiveness for women in tabletop RPG's was the publication of Vampire: the Masquerade.

Women present in the hobby increased by orders of magnitude.

I was about to say the same thing. I know the gaming clubs at both Universities I hung out at changed DRASTICALLY that year. A lot fo guys had big time issues adapting socially to the new atmosphere of gaming brought about by Vampire.

I'd dare to say that in almost every RPG I've played, I've seen SOME amount of different treatment towards women vs men.

 

[Jarval]

I've never really seen women being treated any differently to men when it comes to role-playing, but that's probably mainly down to the fact that the vast majority of my gaming is done with my local university's Games Society, where about a third of the membership is female.

For that matter, my current D&D group (which isn't associated with the Games Society) actually has more female players than male. Perhaps the gender demographic of role-players is different in the UK and Europe to the US?

 

[Teflon Billy]

...I was about to say the same thing. I know the gaming clubs at both Universities I hung out at changed DRASTICALLY that year. A lot fo guys had big time issues adapting socially to the new atmosphere of gaming brought about by Vampire...

Yeah, it was something to see

I wasn't a memeber of a club, but a roomate had a byfriend who had left a copy at our place, and I was paging through it and bascally said aloud "I could run this for you guys if you like".

Turned into a group of 3 girls and two guys basically overnight.

We were all Goths, so there wasn't a lot to explain which was nice (though as used as I was to D&D and GURPS I was shocked by how easy it was in character generation to assign yourself insane levels of wealth).

By the end of campaign, I had dated both of the girls (who weren't my roomate).

God I loved Vampire

 

[Aeson]

I've played table top vampire a few time but not with women( wanted to). I even played the LARP this was with men and women(teenagers). It was interesting. I prefered the LARP. I think it was the girls that made it different.

 

[devilbat]

I for one, really hope to run into Teflon Billy at Gen Con. So I can buy the man a beer.

 

[Aeson]

I for one, really hope to run into Teflon Billy at Gen Con. So I can buy the man a beer.

Yeah he's a real stand up fella.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I for one, really hope to run into Teflon Billy at Gen Con. So I can buy the man a beer.

Aren't you in my Star Thugs game?

 

[Quasqueton]

When a group of guys treat another guy badly, there's usually two reasons: The group of guys are jerks, or the target is a jerk.

When a group of guys treat a female badly, there's usually just one reason: The target is a female.

Few people seem to consider the possibility maybe the guys are just jerks to everyone, or that the female herself may actually be the jerk.

Just yesterday, I stopped by my local game shop to look at the DMG2. In the back was a group of folks organizing for some kind of card game tournament. [Who has a tournament a 5:30 on a Thursday?] There were about 6 guys and 1 girl. The girl was wearing a black sports-bra-type top, with no real bra underneath. Completely inappropriate for anywhere but a pool or a gym. Wonder if she was treated differently than the guys? Would it be her fault or the sexist-pig guys?

Quasqueton