D&D General Gamer Stats From White Dwarf in the 80s

Phil on Twitter has posted a few interesting stats from White Dwarf back in the 80s. These include what games were being played in 1987, and a letter about male/female ratios in the same era. Short version: mainly D&D, very few women.

"Fascinating stuff - what RPGs were being played in the UK in 1987 ... T&T higher than you might've thought. Indiana Jones too!"

"I know people say women have always been in gaming, and that's true. But this single stat highlights why for many of us seeing a female gamer in the wild was unheard of until the Masquerade began to change things... Average readership of White Dwarf in 1987 was 16.08... Which means they'd now be 48"

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[R_Chance]

Who published the Ringworld RPG?

Chaosium iirc. Not sure if its still available. I didn't play this one although I have a number of their other games (Runequest, Stormbringer / Elric, etc.).

 

[jmucchiello]

I think, given that it's the UK in the 80s, GH would likely be Golden Heroes - a superhero game published by Games Workshop in the 80s that AFAIK is pretty obscure outside of the UK (I only know of it because I love superhero games - I've never seen a copy myself.)

I was wrong. Never heard of it.

 

[Andrea Rocci]

Who published the Ringworld RPG?

Chaosium. It was based on their BRP system. Pretty cool game.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think, given that it's the UK in the 80s, GH would likely be Golden Heroes - a superhero game published by Games Workshop in the 80s that AFAIK is pretty obscure outside of the UK (I only know of it because I love superhero games - I've never seen a copy myself.)

I used to play Golden Heroes, I reckoned it was pretty good. It has convinced me that the idea that player characters need to be "balanced" is complete hogwash. A random number of randomly rolled superpowers, and the player had to come up with an origin story to explain them, and discard any they couldn't justify. You ended up with wildly different power levels of player characters, which was fine - compare Hawkeye with Captain Marvel in the MCU.

It also used "frames" rather than rounds and actions to make it feel more like a comic.

Of couse, White Dwarf was a Games Workshop mag, and it was a Games Workshop game, so there might be a selection effect.

 

[Zardnaar]

Mid 90s I had 3 female players for 2E circa 96.

Had one female left after one of the players dated one and then the other and things kind went to crap.

They tended to play elves.

Most groups at the flgs are 1 DM 6 players. Usually 1or two female players per group. On female DM she basically has revolving short term games of ten sessions for new players. Think she is into her third group with new batch starting soon/now.

Of the 3 I have talked to they are all playing Elves, 2 in my group the other is a Drow in a Planescape game. Elves the more things change, my wife likes half elves a lot as she likes skill based classes and charisma. Bard was her favorite class in 3.5 lol.

 

[JonnyP71]

Which means the marginalized will be less likely to respond than their numbers should indicate

Marginalised?

That seems overly dramatic.

The girls I knew were simply disinterested in geeky games. This included computer games.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Marginalised?

That seems overly dramatic.

The girls I knew were simply disinterested in geeky games. This included computer games.

But if one did happen to show an interest in "boys games" they would be bullied unmercifully. Just because you didn't see it happen didn't make it not happen.

 

[JonnyP71]

But if one did happen to show an interest in "boys games" they would be bullied unmercifully. Just because you didn't see it happen didn't make it not happen.

That may well have been the case - but it wouldn't have been us boys who did that, it would have been their own social circle... girls were certainly more vocal when teasing us for playing the geeky games.

I often see the males who played the games being blamed for the lack of female players. In the case of teenage groups, I can't help but feel that potential female gamers were discouraged more by their own peer groups. We were the misfits, it simply wasn't cool to be seen with us.

 

[Venley]

I was in the UK, bought every White Dwarf till it became a magazine promoting solely Games Workshop games, was 27 at the time and had been playing for 8 years and did not reply to the poll. I remember being appalled at the gender percentages. While at university my experience had been 2 female players out of GM & 6 but since then about 15%, ie usually just me.

Female, almost always played humans, GM'ed half the time we played. Was running WFRP, AD&D & Rolemaster and playing Rolemaster & Spacemaster at the time. Owned Runequest & Harnworld too but had not yet started running them.

And frequently ignored (or harassed if I ventured in alone) in games shops until the owners realised I was the one making the purchasing decisions not my husband. Had stopped going to conventions due to harassment.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That may well have been the case - but it wouldn't have been us boys who did that,

No, it wouldn't. Its generally people of the same gender who use bullying to enforce gender stereotypes.