Girls (Females) in D&D/Roleplaying

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

6. Do you think that female roleplayers are generally ignorant about the rules, concentrating more on the stories and the roleplaying itself?
11. Do you know female gamers, that, even after some years of play, have only miniscule/no knowledge of even the simplest rules? If so, why?

Wow. Just, wow.

Yes, girls can't handle things like rules and systems, which is why there are no female lawyers. And, as an extension of that, why so many gamers can't get dates to save their lives ...

 

[saethone]

presently i am not in a campaign, but i will answer 'present campaign' questions with the stats at the end of the campaign (last session)

1. How many female roleplayers do you have presently in your campaign(s)?

1.


2. Percentagewise, with how many females did you share your hobby in your own gaming history so far in comparison to the males?

~30%

3. How do female roleplayers change the style of play in your groups?

can't answer that, as there has always been at least 1 female

4. Do you think that female roleplayers are more drawn in to the storytelling aspect of the game? If so, why?

no

5. Do you think that female roleplayers are more or less immune to powergaming/maximizing? If so, why?

no

6. Do you think that female roleplayers are generally ignorant about the rules, concentrating more on the stories and the roleplaying itself?

definatly not

7. Where do you see advantages/disadvantages of a group that features some/majority/none female roleplayers?

the advantage is more methods of thinking to solve puzzles, a man and a woman have distinct thought patterns and life experiences, both of which may help in determining the best answer to anything

8. Why do you think that male roleplayers are the vast majority in the hobby?

why do you think the vast majority of sewers are women? who knows

9. Do you think that socalled "Storytelling Games" like e.g. "Vampire" draw more female roleplayers to their genre than traditional roleplaying games like D&D? If so, why?

my only experience with a 'storytelling' game other than was LARPing V:TM, which seemed to have an almost equal ratio of men to women. i attribute this to the fact that it was LARP, and more roleplay heavy than D&D. women may be drawn to this because of their advanced RPing skills (barbies?)

10. Are there systems/settings out there in your estimation that are completely devoid of female roleplayers? If so, why?

No

11. Do you know female gamers, that, even after some years of play, have only miniscule/no knowledge of even the simplest rules? If so, why?

No

12. Did you ever play in groups that only featured female gamers? Did you (if so, how often percentagewise) play in a group that only featured male gamers?
How do those groups differ in style?

never played in a unisex group

13. Do you think a lot of female gamers are drawn into the hobby because their boyfriends are already playing it, or they want to get to know a boy better in the group, rather than out of personal interest?

Yes, and so are a lot of male gamers

14. Have you ever seen relationships break in a group, maybe even while playing? If so, why?

yes, and she continued playing for about a month after the breakup, however we took a haiatus after that and she didn't return a month later when we did, due to other activities she picked up

15. Do you think that female gamers are more prone to draw private problems/conflicts into the actual roleplaying than males? If so, why?

no

16. Is there generally more quarreling in a group that features some female gamers? If so, why? Could this be also to the benefit of the gaming, e.g. problemes are being dicussed rather that ignored?

i don't know

17. Do you think that the general approach of a female gamer is different from a male gamer? If so, how?

i notice alot more innuendo from female gamers but maybe thats just because my brain is attuned to pick up their innuendo and not the guys

 

[Emperor Valerian]

1. How many female roleplayers do you have presently in your campaign(s)?

First off I am a male, but the first campaign I GMed for a while had all female players, and even after other males joined, it remained at least half female (by the end, 2 males, 2 females). My current campaign has two players, one male and one female. The only campaign I've played in had a female GM, two female players, and three male players (counting myself).


2. Percentagewise, with how many females did you share your hobby in your own gaming history so far in comparison to the males?

So far, discounting one shots (whose exact makeup I can't remember), the campaigns I've been in have included 5 males (not counting myself), and 4 females.


3. How do female roleplayers change the style of play in your groups?

In my experience, not much... the style of play seems more dependent on who exactly is playing. In the last campaign I ran, one of the males was a very good roleplayer, while in my current campaign, the male is more of a hack and slasher. In terms of group behavior, I don't think the females changed the dynamics much (in terms of "crude" humor, they often instigated!)


4. Do you think that female roleplayers are more drawn in to the storytelling aspect of the game? If so, why?

Not neccessarily. As I said, males in my previous campaign were attracted to the storytelling aspect just as much. Once again, I think its something that depends on the individual person.

5. Do you think that female roleplayers are more or less immune to powergaming/maximizing? If so, why?

That is a definite NO. Two of my previous female players purposefully constructed characters that maximized their abilities to the utmost (fighter with two blades, all requisite feats to be a dual damage horror, Monte-Cook bard that loved to blow up heads with sound). They roleplayed as well, but I think they loved the cracking skulls aspect too.


6. Do you think that female roleplayers are generally ignorant about the rules, concentrating more on the stories and the roleplaying itself?

Once again, that's a no. My first campaign DMing, one of the female players was my DM in the campaign I played in. She taught me the rules, in many ways.


7. Where do you see advantages/disadvantages of a group that features some/majority/none female roleplayers?

In my experience, I think its the players themselves that provide the advantages/disadvantages, not necessarily their gender.


8. Why do you think that male roleplayers are the vast majority in the hobby?

Maybe it has something from how RPGs came from wargames, which have a predominantly male audience, though I think things have been becoming less and less male as time goes on.

9. Do you think that socalled "Storytelling Games" like e.g. "Vampire" draw more female roleplayers to their genre than traditional roleplaying games like D&D? If so, why?

I haven't had experience playing that game or an RPG outside of D&D, so I don't know.


10. Are there systems/settings out there in your estimation that are completely devoid of female roleplayers? If so, why?

Shrug... Once again, I don't know.


11. Do you know female gamers, that, even after some years of play, have only miniscule/no knowledge of even the simplest rules? If so, why?

I know one, yes. But that is more because she's a casual player that joins our group here and there when she has time, not because she's a female. The male 'casual players' ran into the same thing.


12. Did you ever play in groups that only featured female gamers? Did you (if so, how often percentagewise) play in a group that only featured male gamers?

For maybe the first 3 sessions of my first DM campaign, I had all female players. We ran 19 more sessions after that, and I'm guessing only the last 11 or so had male-female parity. I've never been in a campaign with all male players.


13. Do you think a lot of female gamers are drawn into the hobby because their boyfriends are already playing it, or they want to get to know a boy better in the group, rather than out of personal interest?

Two of the females I played with joined out of personal interest. The other two played intermittently because their sisters were in my game, and they were cajoled into joining (and eventually, getting hooked)


14. Have you ever seen relationships break in a group, maybe even while playing? If so, why?

Nope.



15. Do you think that female gamers are more prone to draw private problems/conflicts into the actual roleplaying than males? If so, why?

Not that I have seen.


16. Is there generally more quarreling in a group that features some female gamers? If so, why? Could this be also to the benefit of the gaming, e.g. problemes are being dicussed rather that ignored?

I don't think so... my groups have had surprisingly few quarrels. I can only think of a couple from over three different campaigns. When they did occur, it was usually in character over another character's actions.


17. Do you think that the general approach of a female gamer is different from a male gamer? If so, how?

Not really. Once again, my experience points towards it being a difference among individual players, not necessarily a difference along gender lines. I've played with males that love to roleplay, and females that love breaking heads, so I don't think the stereotype really applies.

 

[Ellie_the_Elf]

1. How many female roleplayers do you have presently in your campaign(s)?

Two, including me, and three guys. I DM one of the games, the other girl in the group runs the other

2. Percentagewise, with how many females did you share your hobby in your own gaming history so far in comparison to the males?

Probably about 20%

3. How do female roleplayers change the style of play in your groups?

Difficult to say since I've never played without there being a female player at the table

4. Do you think that female roleplayers are more drawn in to the storytelling aspect of the game? If so, why?

I am, definitely- which I find very helpful for the DMing side of things. I don't know why though...

5. Do you think that female roleplayers are more or less immune to powergaming/maximizing? If so, why?

Definitely not!

6. Do you think that female roleplayers are generally ignorant about the rules, concentrating more on the stories and the roleplaying itself?

I'd agree that I tend to concentrate more on the story/rp aspects than on the rules, but it's not because I'm ignorant about them- well, most of the time anyway. Just don't ask my players about the Styx dragon who realised midway through combat he couldn't actually fly

7. Where do you see advantages/disadvantages of a group that features some/majority/none female roleplayers?

I've only ever played in mixed groups, so can't really comment


8. Why do you think that male roleplayers are the vast majority in the hobby?

The whole issue of the stigma attached to gaming, I suppose.

9. Do you think that socalled "Storytelling Games" like e.g. "Vampire" draw more female roleplayers to their genre than traditional roleplaying games like D&D? If so, why?

Only ever really played D&D, so can't comment

10. Are there systems/settings out there in your estimation that are completely devoid of female roleplayers? If so, why?

See #10

11. Do you know female gamers, that, even after some years of play, have only miniscule/no knowledge of even the simplest rules? If so, why?

I've known one- she only played because her boyfriend did.


12. Did you ever play in groups that only featured female gamers? Did you (if so, how often percentagewise) play in a group that only featured male gamers?
How do those groups differ in style?

No

13. Do you think a lot of female gamers are drawn into the hobby because their boyfriends are already playing it, or they want to get to know a boy better in the group, rather than out of personal interest?

That's how I got into it, but it's not why I've stayed.

14. Have you ever seen relationships break in a group, maybe even while playing? If so, why?

Once, due to out of game issues

15. Do you think that female gamers are more prone to draw private problems/conflicts into the actual roleplaying than males? If so, why?

Not really

16. Is there generally more quarreling in a group that features some female gamers? If so, why? Could this be also to the benefit of the gaming, e.g. problemes are being dicussed rather that ignored?

My group in general is pretty argumentative- but it isn't confined to the girls

17. Do you think that the general approach of a female gamer is different from a male gamer? If so, how?

The general approach of all the members of our group tends to be different from all the others- which often leads to the argumentative bit! I've not really ever noticed it as a male/female thing.

Ellie

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

1. How many female roleplayers do you have presently in your campaign(s)?

Out of two campaigns currently running: three women versus eight guys. Would be great to bring in more. Don't know if it will happen given the groups involved.

2. Percentagewise, with how many females did you share your hobby in your own gaming history so far in comparison to the males?

strictly in games I've been in the ratio has been something like 46% give or take
the percentage of women in my total gaming environment is probably is harder to calculate but the above seems to be not too awful a number

3. How do female roleplayers change the style of play in your groups?

They don't. If anything they make it more violent. They do, naturally, change the rules of discourse a good deal. We had a male player say something horribly insulting last week that would have been more acceptable if he had said it to a male player.

4. Do you think that female roleplayers are more drawn in to the storytelling aspect of the game? If so, why?

No. I might argue they are more into their characters than others, but I don't know that I could really back that up.

5. Do you think that female roleplayers are more or less immune to powergaming/maximizing? If so, why?

Oh Hell NO! If anything the ones I play with are scarilly worse about it. They may not be as likely to seek out books to support this, but I submit that would change if the local gaming stores weren't so skeezy.

6. Do you think that female roleplayers are generally ignorant about the rules, concentrating more on the stories and the roleplaying itself?

No more so than anyone who isn't a DM. Though at least one of my current players has been a most impressive DM in the past, issue is it was with her own system.

7. Where do you see advantages/disadvantages of a group that features some/majority/none female roleplayers?

I like it, more variety is good. Women are neat. They've all been so very different that it's hard to generalize beyond that. They tend to get stupidly pouty less than men, but that's only because we've had some men who tended to become stupidly pouty.

8. Why do you think that male roleplayers are the vast majority in the hobby?

Sociological history, marketting to same, and the age groups involved.

9. Do you think that socalled "Storytelling Games" like e.g. "Vampire" draw more female roleplayers to their genre than traditional roleplaying games like D&D? If so, why?

Could be, if so it probably comes from their ability to pull in non-roleplayers generally by being interesting to people who would normally just be interested in Gothicness or some such.

10. Are there systems/settings out there in your estimation that are completely devoid of female roleplayers? If so, why?

It's possible. I don't know of one personally. There was a year in which there were very few women in my RPGing life. It was a bad year, but it had nothing to do with the system.

11. Do you know female gamers, that, even after some years of play, have only miniscule/no knowledge of even the simplest rules? If so, why?

yes, but no more so than any number of guys. If all you're doing is playing then you may not get out much to read through the DMG.

12. Did you ever play in groups that only featured female gamers? Did you (if so, how often percentagewise) play in a group that only featured male gamers?
How do those groups differ in style?

Since I'm a guy the answer to the first one is no. Second one, yes, and the style didn't so much differ as the overall experience was a tad bit suckier. It was one of the best games I've played in. It would have been better for having women in it.

13. Do you think a lot of female gamers are drawn into the hobby because their boyfriends are already playing it, or they want to get to know a boy better in the group, rather than out of personal interest?

Maybe, but I haven't seen it in any of the women I play with. Unless they're getting to know me better, if so it's working out for the game better than it is for me. We do have one guy who started playing because his girlfriend now wife got him into it. He's awesome, but then again so is she.

14. Have you ever seen relationships break in a group, maybe even while playing? If so, why?

No, but I've heard stories.

15. Do you think that female gamers are more prone to draw private problems/conflicts into the actual roleplaying than males? If so, why?

Oh Hell No! In my experience guys are way way worse about that.

16. Is there generally more quarreling in a group that features some female gamers? If so, why? Could this be also to the benefit of the gaming, e.g. problemes are being dicussed rather that ignored?

Not in my experience, at least not as I can seperate it out from the individual personalities involved.

17. Do you think that the general approach of a female gamer is different from a male gamer? If so, how?

Not so much, but it's hard for me to seperate out a general idea of a female gamer from the individual personalities involved.

I might be able to argue that there is a type of gamer that I primarilly see only as men, but I'd have to give it some thought. The women I've played with have been a pretty diverse lot, but the guys might be less so.

 

[barsoomcore]

I DM stewardesses.

I have no useful information or insights to add to this discussion other than to say that I DM stewardesses. And they hugely rock and I love them to bits.

My papa took off when I was a wee lad, and I grew up with my mom and my sisters, so being the lone guy in a room full of women is a very comfortable place for me. I don't find there's really much difference in behaviour -- except insofar as people get attracted/obssessed with each other. Which frankly I see happening in single-gendered groups as much as co-ed.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I think I could state that as a whole the women I've played with have been better at paying attention, better at imagining the scene in question, and more willing to punish poor players or players acting like jerks.

All of the most generally oriented rules lawyers, ie people who did the whole system rather than what applied to their character, have been men, but they have still been a pretty small percentage of the men I have played with. Discounting people who learned it as a result of being DMs I think that leaves me with two guys who did eventually become DMs.

Men have generally been more willing to spend money on RPG materials. Though, again, I'd say that there were a lot of men who spent little to nothing at all and a number of women who had very functional libraries.

 

[John Morrow]

1. How many female roleplayers do you have presently in your campaign(s)?

I have 1 female player (out of 3) in my "B" campaign and there is one female player (out of 4) in the D&D game that I play every other week. There are no female players in my "A" campaign (out of 4 players).

2. Percentagewise, with how many females did you share your hobby in your own gaming history so far in comparison to the males?

Normally roughly 1 in 5 or 1 in 6. I've seen it get as high as about 1 in 2 or 50%.

3. How do female roleplayers change the style of play in your groups?

The main thing I notice is that they seem to suppress tasteless comments concerning sexual matters. I suppose that can be seen as raising the maturity of the male gamers a notch. On the other hand, I've role-played with a woman who could make a sailor blush so that's hardly universal.

4. Do you think that female roleplayers are more drawn in to the storytelling aspect of the game? If so, why?

I think they are often less driven by the tactical and combat aspects of the game, though that doesn't always mean an interest in storytelling in any strict sense. It mainly means that they don't approach combat and encounters like board games or from a rules-oriented perspective as much as men do, in my experience.

5. Do you think that female roleplayers are more or less immune to powergaming/maximizing? If so, why?

Not at all, though sometimes the technique is different, in my experience. I've noticed that men tend to squeeze the rules and equipment to gain power while some female role-players will squeeze the GM and other players to gain power. I've seen both approaches work and both fail.

6. Do you think that female roleplayers are generally ignorant about the rules, concentrating more on the stories and the roleplaying itself?

The only women I've ever role-played with who didn't know much about the rules were playing in groups of relative beginners and casual gamers who didn't, male or female, know much about the rules. The women I've role-played with have generally been willing to learn enough of the rules to create and run their own characters, though they might not learn every nuance. Of course the woman in my "B" campaign has probably don't more rules research than most of the men, coming up with variants and special cases that most of the men that I run haven't even thought about.

7. Where do you see advantages/disadvantages of a group that features some/majority/none female roleplayers?

I think it can provide a different perspective and reduce some of the juvenile behavior and comments that you'll get in many single-sex groups, whether they are role-playing or doing whatever.

8. Why do you think that male roleplayers are the vast majority in the hobby?

Given that there are surveys to back up the anecdotal evidence, I'd say so.

9. Do you think that socalled "Storytelling Games" like e.g. "Vampire" draw more female roleplayers to their genre than traditional roleplaying games like D&D? If so, why?

I don't know. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the percentage of female players of Vampire has been relatively quite high, but that could have as much to do with the percentage of women in the goth subculture as opposed to the percentage of women in the traditional role-playing subculture (often drawn from science fiction, fantasy, and comic book fans) as anything else.

10. Are there systems/settings out there in your estimation that are completely devoid of female roleplayers? If so, why?

Completely devoid? No.

11. Do you know female gamers, that, even after some years of play, have only miniscule/no knowledge of even the simplest rules? If so, why?

No.

12. Did you ever play in groups that only featured female gamers? Did you (if so, how often percentagewise) play in a group that only featured male gamers? How do those groups differ in style?

I've never played in a woman-only group. I have played in male-only groups. The all-male groups seem to spend more time engaging in lewd "guy talk" when there are no women around than when there are. That's the main difference that I've noticed.

I've also noticed a more extreme version of that effect when women turn some men from extroverts into introverts because those men don't feel comfortable letting down their guard and engaging in silly power fantasies with women around. The funniest example was in high school, where one player went from being "Force Commander Megaton" playing the can-do dive-into-action marine into the guy who sits quietly at the table and doesn't say much when the girl showed up.

13. Do you think a lot of female gamers are drawn into the hobby because their boyfriends are already playing it, or they want to get to know a boy better in the group, rather than out of personal interest?

I don't have enough data points to say, but I've seen both men and women enter the hobby for all sorts of reasons. One of the GMs in my group has run games for (A) female co-workers, (B) wives of co-workers, and, in one case (C) the high school-aged neices and mother of a co-worker (a three-generation family game). In none of those cases, was romantic involvement of the sort you are talking about a factor.

14. Have you ever seen relationships break in a group, maybe even while playing? If so, why?

No, though one couple that moved away that we role-played heavily with is getting a divorce. That should make things quite complicated if they both move back to the area since the divorce isn't currently friendly and we role-played with both of them.

15. Do you think that female gamers are more prone to draw private problems/conflicts into the actual roleplaying than males? If so, why?

Not in my experience.

16. Is there generally more quarreling in a group that features some female gamers? If so, why? Could this be also to the benefit of the gaming, e.g. problemes are being dicussed rather that ignored?

Not in my experience.

17. Do you think that the general approach of a female gamer is different from a male gamer? If so, how?

In a general population sense, yes. On an individual level? Not necessarily. I think that both men and women cover the same basic range of role-playing types though the majority styles of both populations may be different.

 

[John Morrow]

I want to qualify something I wrote:

I think it can provide a different perspective and reduce some of the juvenile behavior and comments that you'll get in many single-sex groups, whether they are role-playing or doing whatever.

I'm currently playing mostly with married people or 30+ year-olds not looking for a romantic relationship with another role-player. Thinking back into the good-ol'-bad-ol'-days of college and high school, having male and female players who consider each other perspective mates can have the opposite effect as people posture to impress each other or cut each other down.

What I'm trying to say here is that I think age and relationship security, as much as sex or anything else, plays a huge role here.

 

[jerichothebard]

Hello everybody out there!

After a heated discussion on a German board a while ago, I wanted to ask the people on EN World on how they perceive female roleplayers in their campaigns.
Please stick to the questions:

1. How many female roleplayers do you have presently in your campaign(s)?

1

2. Percentagewise, with how many females did you share your hobby in your own gaming history so far in comparison to the males?

20% +- 3% (Yes, I did the math.)

3. How do female roleplayers change the style of play in your groups?

IME, they haven't, much.

4. Do you think that female roleplayers are more drawn in to the storytelling aspect of the game? If so, why?

About even, actually. Half of the female gamers with whom I've ever gamed have been more bloodthirsty than any of the men, half more interested in story and character growth. Just like the guys.

5. Do you think that female roleplayers are more or less immune to powergaming/maximizing? If so, why?

Nope. I think it's pretty even

6. Do you think that female roleplayers are generally ignorant about the rules, concentrating more on the stories and the roleplaying itself?

No, in fact some of the best DM's I've ever gamed with have been women.

7. Where do you see advantages/disadvantages of a group that features some/majority/none female roleplayers?

Better female characters, less social stigma (if the girls are playing too, it can't be all bad!)

8. Why do you think that male roleplayers are the vast majority in the hobby?

Why do the majority of sports fans happen to be men? Statistically speaking, men are drawn to things that are active and violent. RPGs tend to be both, at least, in the imagination.

9. Do you think that socalled "Storytelling Games" like e.g. "Vampire" draw more female roleplayers to their genre than traditional roleplaying games like D&D? If so, why?

Couldn't say, haven't looked closely at Vampire.

10. Are there systems/settings out there in your estimation that are completely devoid of female roleplayers? If so, why?

See previous answer

11. Do you know female gamers, that, even after some years of play, have only miniscule/no knowledge of even the simplest rules? If so, why?

Yes, but no more so than the men.

12. Did you ever play in groups that only featured female gamers? Did you (if so, how often percentagewise) play in a group that only featured male gamers?
How do those groups differ in style?

Yes, I have played in an all guy group. Not terribly different, except less cleavage. Except for this one guy...

13. Do you think a lot of female gamers are drawn into the hobby because their boyfriends are already playing it, or they want to get to know a boy better in the group, rather than out of personal interest?

Yup. Though that's just as good a reason as anything else. How many people (men) have you known of who game as their only social outlet? What's the difference there?

14. Have you ever seen relationships break in a group, maybe even while playing? If so, why?

No.

15. Do you think that female gamers are more prone to draw private problems/conflicts into the actual roleplaying than males? If so, why?

No, that's just a bad stupid stereotype of women being unable to control their emotions. The truth is, no one can 100% avoid it.

16. Is there generally more quarreling in a group that features some female gamers? If so, why? Could this be also to the benefit of the gaming, e.g. problemes are being dicussed rather that ignored?

Not in my experience.

17. Do you think that the general approach of a female gamer is different from a male gamer? If so, how?

Nope.

Thanks for participation. I also would like to mention that this is only a purely statistical question of mine and should of course have nothing to do with discrimination of either of the genders at all.
Just checkin` if the stereotypes are right, and if so, why.