Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Odhanan" data-source="post: 2090594" data-attributes="member: 12324">1. How many female roleplayers do you have presently in your campaign(s)?I have 4 women and one man as players in my campaign.2. Percentage-wise, with how many females did you share your hobby in your own gaming history so far in comparison to the males?I'd say... something like 10%, maybe. That still represents a fairly "large" (sorry, ladies) number of women. 3. How do female roleplayers change the style of play in your groups?Well. I'd say that female roleplayers get bored more quickly with game mechanics and combat heavy games. However, they like strategy. They like the brains and not the numbers, if you like (that doesn’t mean they don’t realize numbers are useful tools for the game, mind you). They also like more diplomacy, flirting with NPCs, these kinds of things. This makes the whole experience different, but not too much. I enjoy playing with women very much.4. Do you think that female roleplayers are more drawn in to the storytelling aspect of the game? If so, why?Not especially, no. Not "storytelling". However, women tend to use other tactics than men. They may try to charm and backstab instead of charging into a fight. They may try to discover the motives behind this or that NPC's actions before acting against him/her. But in the end they do act as much as men. Aside of this, I’d say women need more coherence than men in a RPG setting. They tend to have zillions of questions, more than men do (and that holds true for everything, not just RPG), which I think explains why *we* male gamers think they like “storytelling” stuff.5. Do you think that female roleplayers are more or less immune to powergaming/maximizing? If so, why?Definitely NOT. This is not true. They are statistically as much interested in minimaxing and powergaming than their male counterparts, but they understand the word “power” in a different way. Influence over attack bonus. Acting ability over spells’ DCs. Thought and imagination over numbers and dice. Strategy over tactics.(which does not imply “story over game”, by the way, so they won’t become automatically more interested with White Wolf games over Wizards)6. Do you think that female roleplayers are generally ignorant about the rules, concentrating more on the stories and the roleplaying itself?Same as #4. This question is redundant.7. Where do you see advantages/disadvantages of a group that features some/majority/none female roleplayers?Advantages with entire male or female parties come from the fact that everyone is more or less attracted by the same things. Try humor during a game session: men and women do not laugh at the same things. So at least, when you have just one gender around the game table, there are more chances for the players to share the same interests.With a mixed party, it is more subtle. As a DM, you’ve got to take care that everyone around the table has a good time. So you could end up deploying more attention on each player’s needs, rather than thinking about the group as a whole. But that’s a possibility, not some kind of irrevocable flaw. The same way, it can be an advantage: a mixed party would allow you to explore many different styles in a single campaign. I don’t know for you, but when I’m at the restaurant, I prefer to have varied courses and not the same stuff served to me over and over. See what I mean?8. Why do you think that male roleplayers are the vast majority in the hobby?Because RPGs are historically coming from wargames and are thus geek games. Young and teenage girls don’t care for geeks – they are busy trying to get respected: have a social life, other girls admiring you, having close allies to protect you against sworn enemies, etc. They want romance with the quarterback of the house team. They want to party and show themselves as beautiful and cool… to be loved. Geeks are part of the lowest social rank within schools. They are the anti-coolness for most teenage girls. So playing D&D? Certainly not. However, since the early fans of RPGs are now in their thirsties, there is a different approach to such games – playing with the kids, or with friends to not stay alone while the husband plays “his game night”. Soon, such women discover that RPGs are not that bad, and even pretty cool, because they use imagination and creativity, two things women generally like. Plus, RPGs at this later age come often with other things, like painting minis, building 3-D environments, designing cool logos, runes, drawings, costumes, etc etc. All these things will potentially interest women, for their “craft/art” value.These are just some of my answers of course. They aren’t the only true answers by any means.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?Redundant question. See #4Women may be as interested in D&D as in Vampire. All you’ve got to show them is what’s truly cool about it beside bashing monsters and numbers.10. Are there systems/settings out there in your estimation that are completely devoid of female roleplayers? If so, why?I don’t think so. None. I’ve known some female utterly fans of things like Kult, Vampire, D&D, Warhammer FRP, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Deadlands… each have their own interests.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?Like said above, most (though I do have a mathematician-teacher aunt, but that's beside my point) women are not interested in numbers and stats.Now, let’s assume that this is your problem: you got a female gamer that just does not like dungeon crawling and never learned the rules. That’s because pure dungeon crawling has to have a purpose. It has to mean something. Like the numbers, stats, dice. Some women will not see the link between stats and drama, how they can nourish each other. Some will see that, and will learn the rules pretty fast. But all, or almost all of them, will not like the stats for what they are, but what they represent. Plus, remember that women are generally WAY more on the defensive than men are. Many are scared of saying/doing the wrong thing at the wrong time and look foolish. That may hold them back quite often.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?Only female gamers? No (since I’m male). But I’ve known groups of 100% female gamers yes. They are pretty rare in my experience, though. I’d say that about 90% of my groups only featured male gamers (in almost two decades of gaming). For the difference in styles, that’s a redundant question: see #713. 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. A lot of women are drawn to the hobby because of a boyfriend, a friend, a brother, a dad, or other male gamers in their lives. That’s how it usually happens, but not always.14. Have you ever seen relationships break in a group, maybe even while playing? If so, why?I’ve seen relationships created during game sessions, but never break. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones.15. Do you think that female gamers are more prone to draw private problems/conflicts into the actual roleplaying than males? If so, why?This is almost redundant regarding #14. I do not think so. Male and female gamers are as likely to bring private issues to the game table (something that I haven’t seen for years, personally).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. problems are being dicussed rather that ignored?If quarrels erupt during a game session with women, that will be generally because of the defensive stance I was talking about. See end of #11 for this. 17. Do you think that the general approach of a female gamer is different from a male gamer? If so, how? I think the goal is the same, but the approach could (or could not) be different. See all previous questions for more detail.Hope this helps,Odh</blockquote>

Verification