1. Presently the number of female gamers in my campaigns is down to one.
2. Percentagewise, about 10% of the gamers I've played with were women.
3. I don't think that female roleplayers significantly change the style of play, other than perhaps a very slight increase in the possibility of romantic subplots.
4. No, I don't think female roleplayers are any more drawn to the storytelling aspect than males.
5. I don't think female roleplayers are any more immune to powergaming or min-maxing.
6. Most women I've gamed with who weren't beginners had the same level of rules knowledge as the men.
7. Groups that have no female roleplayers tend to have less player-to-player tensions arising.
8. Male roleplays are the vast majority in the hobby because of the social stigma of gaming and conceptions (I hesitate to say "misconceptions") women have of what gaming is.
9. Storytelling games as a whole do not draw any more women in than D&D. Vampire specifically drew in a number of women from the goth "movement" (fashion) in the 1990s who's desire for all things vampirical overcame the revulsion of roleplaying. The vast majority of these women did not move on to other games, and most who gave up the goth style also gave up roleplaying altogether.
10. FATAL springs to mind as a system that is likely to be completely devoid of female roleplayers.
11. No.
12. I've never played in groups that had only female gamers. I have often played in groups with all-male gamers, I'd say about 80% of the time. The groups do not have any difference in style, but all-male groups tend to be more relaxed and have less out-of-game tension or conflicts.
13. All but one of the women who game that I know have told me they started gaming because their boyfriend was a gamer. However, most of these have since left the boyfriend but kept up the gaming, and several told me that while it was a boyfriend who got them started they also wouldn't have started playing if they didn't find it interesting. Since I've had a few girlfriends who I couldn't possibly convince to roleplay if their lives depended on it, I will assume these other girls are telling the truth.
14. Do you mean have I ever seen a relationship break up in a group? Unfortunately yes, and their break-up led to the total collapse of three out of four campaigns I was running at the time. The reasons were unconnected to roleplaying so I won't mention them here.
15. Yes, female gamers are more prone to draw private problems and conflicts into actual roleplaying. I couldn't possibly tell you why.
16. Yes, there is usually more quarelling in a mixed-gender group. This is because the men in the group are, at a biological level, competing with each other for the attention of the women in the group. Most of the times, this goes on completely unconciously, and is not on purpose. Nevertheless it happens. It is usually not beneficial to the game, though the sexual tension itself can be beneficial if a clever GM channels it into the RP and out of the conflict zone.
17. I don't think the general approach of women gamers is any different from the male.
Nisarg
2. Percentagewise, about 10% of the gamers I've played with were women.
3. I don't think that female roleplayers significantly change the style of play, other than perhaps a very slight increase in the possibility of romantic subplots.
4. No, I don't think female roleplayers are any more drawn to the storytelling aspect than males.
5. I don't think female roleplayers are any more immune to powergaming or min-maxing.
6. Most women I've gamed with who weren't beginners had the same level of rules knowledge as the men.
7. Groups that have no female roleplayers tend to have less player-to-player tensions arising.
8. Male roleplays are the vast majority in the hobby because of the social stigma of gaming and conceptions (I hesitate to say "misconceptions") women have of what gaming is.
9. Storytelling games as a whole do not draw any more women in than D&D. Vampire specifically drew in a number of women from the goth "movement" (fashion) in the 1990s who's desire for all things vampirical overcame the revulsion of roleplaying. The vast majority of these women did not move on to other games, and most who gave up the goth style also gave up roleplaying altogether.
10. FATAL springs to mind as a system that is likely to be completely devoid of female roleplayers.
11. No.
12. I've never played in groups that had only female gamers. I have often played in groups with all-male gamers, I'd say about 80% of the time. The groups do not have any difference in style, but all-male groups tend to be more relaxed and have less out-of-game tension or conflicts.
13. All but one of the women who game that I know have told me they started gaming because their boyfriend was a gamer. However, most of these have since left the boyfriend but kept up the gaming, and several told me that while it was a boyfriend who got them started they also wouldn't have started playing if they didn't find it interesting. Since I've had a few girlfriends who I couldn't possibly convince to roleplay if their lives depended on it, I will assume these other girls are telling the truth.
14. Do you mean have I ever seen a relationship break up in a group? Unfortunately yes, and their break-up led to the total collapse of three out of four campaigns I was running at the time. The reasons were unconnected to roleplaying so I won't mention them here.
15. Yes, female gamers are more prone to draw private problems and conflicts into actual roleplaying. I couldn't possibly tell you why.
16. Yes, there is usually more quarelling in a mixed-gender group. This is because the men in the group are, at a biological level, competing with each other for the attention of the women in the group. Most of the times, this goes on completely unconciously, and is not on purpose. Nevertheless it happens. It is usually not beneficial to the game, though the sexual tension itself can be beneficial if a clever GM channels it into the RP and out of the conflict zone.
17. I don't think the general approach of women gamers is any different from the male.
Nisarg
