Female Gamers? Are there more of us now?

[Axegrrl]

I started gaming around 1979-80, when I was just starting high school. I was the only female in the game. It's difficult to say whether my brother drafted me into it or I drafted my brother into it, but he was the one who got his friends involved in it.

The group dynamics in the groups I was in while in college were usually about 1/4 to 1/3 female.

Only once have I been in a game with more females than males -- two female players plus the DM. We didn't figure it out right away, but the DM was romantically interested in both of us. He actually set it up so that the two female characters might start something with one of his NPCs. The other player took the bait first, and the GM started going out with her. They eventually got married.

I've played most of the classes that were in 1st & 2nd ed, but my 3rd ed experience is limited to rangers and rogues. The two classes I haven't done yet are a monk and a paladin, so I'm thinking of doing a monk next. My preferred class is something with some abilities besides fighting.

I usually prefer role-playing to combat -- I would've been perfectly happy to roleplay a shopping expedition, but that got voted down. (Yes, I have role-played shopping expeditions before.)

I'm seeing a substantially higher percentage of women gaming now than I did fifteen or even ten years ago. I suspect that LARPing (and V:tM in general) had a fair bit to do with that.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It's not a rare thing anymore....frex, Barsoom plays with a group of flight attendants ("stewardesses"), and I play with a group who's 75% 'sexy college coeds.'

I've found no stereotypes to be true.

This:

I think women gamers have had more of an impact with the off-topic chatter as opposed to anything we do in game. For instance, at an all-male table, the players sometimes make sexist off-topic remarks. That has rarely occured with a female player present.

Is pretty false, since the girls in my group are usually the first ones to speak up about such things (you may be surprised at how much they *adore* innuendo).

*shrug* People are people, girls don't hit any more broad stereotypes than d00ds do....I've made 'em both cry.

 

[Ogre Mage]

Is pretty false, since the girls in my group are usually the first ones to speak up about such things (you may be surprised at how much they *adore* innuendo).

*shrug* People are people, girls don't hit any more broad stereotypes than d00ds do....I've made 'em both cry.

Perhaps I should clarify. First off, I was talking only about my group, not generalizing for others. Second, I am NOT saying that sexual innuendo suddenly disappears with female players present. What I meant was that when female players are present, the male players in our groups are less likely to make off topic anti-women comments like "all b1tches are brainless." That is different from sexual talk.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Perhaps I should clarify. First off, I was talking only about my group, not generalizing for others. Second, I am NOT saying that sexual innuendo suddenly disappears with female players present. What I meant was that when female players are present, the male players in our groups are less likely to make off topic anti-women comments like "all b1tches are brainless." That is different from sexual talk.

Good point, but still not true IMXP.

 

[Patlin]

I hope you were kidding ?

Ever been a DM while 5 players are yelling out different things at once? Personally, I can't process all of them all of the time. If I latch on to what one player is saying and go with it, I'm in trouble if that player wasn't my wife.

Not kidding.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

Ever been a DM while 5 players are yelling out different things at once? Personally, I can't process all of them all of the time. If I latch on to what one player is saying and go with it, I'm in trouble if that player wasn't my wife.

Not kidding.

Yikes. Well...yikes if I was you...maybe it doesn't bother you, the way it would bother me.

I don't think any one player should expect to be the main focus of the game all the time. And should expect and respect that everyone needs to have their ideas gone over and their time with the GM. If that player can not handle this, then IMO, they should not be gaming, regardless of their relationship to the GM.

I've been a player in a game where everyone talks over each other and I've found that usually the GM either waits for everyone to shut up and give each other the chance to speak OR if that doesn't happen, will just latch on to one person while everyone else is still chattering.

This just makes me think of another topic that keeps being brought up here, about female gamers who play just because their signifigant other does, and then stop when they lose interest in the player. (Or the wife or girlfriend who plays because they want to 'keep an eye' on their guy when he's out with his friends...). I wonder how prevalent this is amongst female gamers. I doubt anyone on ENworld fits this category (otherwise they would likely not be on here). And how many gamer women started playing because of a guy they were dating and kept gaming up long after he was gone...

Things to ponder.

 

[tetsujin28]

I've been gaming since '74, and playing rpgs since '77. Let me tell you: the number of female gamers has grown exponentially. And you know what did it? Vampire and Magi: the Gathering. Yep, the games that every decent gamer makes fun of brought more women into the hobby than anything before or since. And they stayed, thank God.

 

[Buttercup]

Unfortunately, I have made the experience that female players also tend to inspire romantical feelings in single male players...This is a sad aspect of having female role players and I wished neither incidence had either happened or neither incidence had been worth mentioning but unfortunately they aren't...

Please, dear female Gamers: Keep up the hobby, you are doing a great job!!! However don't have your characters involve romantics with a real-life single male, even if you feel sympathy for him - for it might ruin not just the game but real-life friendships

I could make many comments about this that would take this thread into realms that aren't appropriate for EN World. So instead I will merely remind you not to blame the victim. If some guy at your table can't distinguish fantasy from reality, it isn't the fault of the female player he's fixated on. And it isn't her behavior that needs to be corrected.

 

[Patlin]

Double Post Deleted, Sorry. It said "Database error, press refresh.

 

[Patlin]

This just makes me think of another topic that keeps being brought up here, about female gamers who play just because their signifigant other does, and then stop when they lose interest in the player. (Or the wife or girlfriend who plays because they want to 'keep an eye' on their guy when he's out with his friends...). I wonder how prevalent this is amongst female gamers. I doubt anyone on ENworld fits this category (otherwise they would likely not be on here). And how many gamer women started playing because of a guy they were dating and kept gaming up long after he was gone...

Things to ponder.

My wife's gaming predates our relationship. My solution has been to play rather than GM, but if I had more patience I could probably make your suggestion work regarding waiting for everyone to stop talking.

As long as I'm not the DM, it works out fine.