Lack of Female GM's

[arvandus]

Hey Guys,

First a shameless plug then a question.

This is Jesus Rodriguez, creator of the Fandible Roleplaying podcast. Because I have seen very few actual play podcast sessions featuring Female GM's, I thought I would link to our play sessions of Hollow Earth Expedition Gm'ed by one our crew, Angela. Please listen and comment if your so inclined.

Hollow Earth Expedition sessions on Fandible

With that out of the way, I am curious and want to know the communities opinion on something. As I was posting the second session of our Hollow Earth Game, I was suddenly struck with the thought that I have known very few Female GM's. I have also heard very few podcast actual play sessions with Female GM's.

So, the question I have for you, ladies and gentlemen, is whether there are factors preventing women from feeling comfortable GM'ing games? Or is it simply tied to the fact their are far fewer female pen & paper gamers vs male gamers, which is another problem entirely.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

I've not seen that problem. I know at least seven women who GM. Two who specialize in 3.5e, one in d20 Modern, one Pendragon, two who ST White Wolf, and one very good Dread ref.

 

[Therise]

I'm a female gamer and GM, though AD&D was the last D&D that I have DMed for. I also have DMed for Conan d20, Rolemaster, Traveller, and a number of other games. Currently not DMing for anything atm, but thinking about running a possible Pathfinder game.

I do tend to see few other female DMs, though... we seem somewhat rare.

 

[Mercurius]

The ratio of female GMs to male GMs is probably similar to female gamers to male gamers, so what you might be seeing is just the relative scarcity of female gamers.

I have no idea what the actual ratio is and wouldn't dare suggest a number at the risk of the rather predictable protests of "That's just hearsay! Anecdotes aren't real data--I know plenty of female gamers!"

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hmmm...been a gamer since 1977: played alongside 7 female gamers, never had a female GM.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

Besides myself, I've known 2 other females who gm, various games actually. There have been others I've run into, but I haven't played with them. Wait there was one lady I played dragonlance with long ago, but I did only know her on gaming lv.

Ratio is around 1/12 here.
Interestingly, all female players I've passed also have gm:red at some point.
RPG clubs during the popular phase were quite common, so changes were good at getting to know punch of roleplayers instead of just your own group.

I don't know current situation, except that rpg's aren't really that must presented anymore. Some old rpg-clubs still survive, but that's about it. Maybe I should ask around, but I am bit lazy and not really needing a new group.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

The ratio of female GMs to male GMs is probably similar to female gamers to male gamers, so what you might be seeing is just the relative scarcity of female gamers.

Just my experience. I've only known one woman who DMs D&D. Like female WoW players who congregate on the RP servers, more women who play D&D may gravitate toward a playstyle than male gamers tend to.

This DM previously ran a 3.5 campaign heavy on investigation, once a week for at least half a year. Her group has one female player and about four male players (I'm not in said group). There was literally once combat for the entire campaign. She complained that the players weren't getting the clues.

The second campaign she ran has more combat, although there's still a lot of mystery that the players again aren't figuring out. (The only advice I gave her was to make the clues easier to find, on the theory that lots of mystery novel readers won't be able to solve the mystery before the end of the book, but still enjoy reading them.)

I'm not really in a position to say how typical this is, but I get the impression that D&D has multiple audiences, and some have lots of women, while others have far fewer. The type of games I like involve lots of plot, mystery and combat. I wouldn't be able to stay in a campaign with less than one combat per session, much less than only one per campaign.

 

[Gilladian]

As a woman GM, I often seek out other female players, and encourage them to learn to GM. In fact, as I think back, the people I've gamed with over the past 30 years, about 1/3-1/5 were women, and of those, I can think of only a few who didn't EVER take a turn GMing; the ones who did enjoyed it, and have gone on to run other games of their own.

I think some people enjoy dming, and others don't. It's a personal thing that has very little to do with gender, and a lot to do with self-confidence, interest in creative work (Dming beyond "run a module" requires a lot of effort), and time available. The three women (including myself) who are most likely to run games are, respectively, married with grown children, married without children, and single, unattached. We've got the TIME, unlike many others...

 

[TheAuldGrump]

The ratio of female GMs to male GMs is probably similar to female gamers to male gamers, so what you might be seeing is just the relative scarcity of female gamers.

I have no idea what the actual ratio is and wouldn't dare suggest a number at the risk of the rather predictable protests of "That's just hearsay! Anecdotes aren't real data--I know plenty of female gamers!"

Hmmm, I have been running games since 1975/76, the first female DM I ever encountered was in 1977.

But the total number that I have played with.... Patricia, Jennifer, Jen, Gig, Ellen, Sue, Jen (I seem to know a lot of Jennifers)... Pretty sure I am missing one.*EDIT* Julie!* Maybe eight total, in twenty five years? Nine, if I can convince Megan to try her hand at running Pathfinder. Ten if Tara, in my teens game, decides to run one for the kids on my off weeks.

I know lots of female players - one of my current games has four women and two men, three if you count me. And most of the female GMs that I have known also play, but I don't think that the numbers are proportional - it seems like more male players want to become GMs.

The Auld Grump

 

[I'm A Banana]

...just in case...ib4tl.

So, the question I have for you, ladies and gentlemen, is whether there are factors preventing women from feeling comfortable GM'ing games? Or is it simply tied to the fact their are far fewer female pen & paper gamers vs male gamers, which is another problem entirely.

I don't think you can reduce it to a generalization.

Are there factors preventing women from feeling comfortable GMing games? Maybe some women? Maybe for some groups/players? Maybe not others?

Is it that there are fewer female pnp gamers? Well, relative scarcity may affect the overall numbers, but they probably don't reflect individual experience.

I don't think there's anything...er...institutional or anything about it. My days gaming in college had a few lady DMs. These days I know a few lady players, but none really willing to take up the DM mantle.

Depends on the person, really. There isn't anything systemic or cultural that I've experienced, but my experience probably isn't universal, so maybe others have encountered jerk organizers or fellow-players. Those aren't usually gender-coded, though.