Le Gamers de Femme

[STARP_Social_Officer]

Upon the death of Gary Gygax, librarian, writer and unapologetic geek Tom Goodfellow, who it seems has stolen my life since I'm all three of those things, wrote this rather snappy article in defence of gamers everywhere for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The one question he posed and challenged his readers to answer is this: why don't more women play this game? He's right in that it's quite surprising more don't, since it values creativity, intelligence, dramatic talent etc. There's one woman in my gaming group, and the girlfriend of one of my other players is regularly there to make the occasional zinger (she is quite an extraordinary geek - witness her $500 light saber), but she isn't actually a player.

Why don't more women play? Does anybody have any idea what the ratio actually is? I'd like to hear from our female posters to find this out. I'd also be quite interested to know what the ratio of females to males is on the EN World bulletin boards. I'm quite sure there are significantly more men, but...why?. Are women inherently less geeky?

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Probably has to do with the stereotype of the average "gamer" being a bearded, out of shape, and unsanitized slob that's going to spend more time hitting on them than playing the game.

And while this may have been true a couple decades ago, gamers these days have changed, but as is frequently the case, the stereotype still persists.

 

[Mallus]

The one question he posed and challenged his readers to answer is this: why don't more women play this game?

That's like asking why more men aren't interested in expensive shoes...

He's right in that it's quite surprising more don't, since it values creativity, intelligence, dramatic talent etc.

Not to mention that its a game comprised almost entirely of communication...

Seems like a good fit, eh? Let me suggest something to you. It's a gender thing. D&D is a particularly male kind of power-fantasy. At it's heart it's about gaining personal power through murder and stealing property. D&D appeals to guys in a hard-wired way.

Which isn't to imply that women who enjoy the game are somehow masculine any more than a love of good, expensive shoes (and the drinking of Cosmopolitans) implies a man is feminine, or suffering from gender-identification issues (hint: I'm a married guy and I like both...). Human behavior is an baffling spectrum.

As for women being less geeky... have you ever listened to a group of women discuss shoes, perfume, or the bath products sold at Lush? Just as geeky, different ares of obsession.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Mmmmmh, can't say how the ratio is, but during my study years, my game group there consisted of one other guy and 2-3 girls regularly, through L5R and Shadowrun games. And while a giggled "Heh, cool!" might not be the typical male reaction to a Mana Bolt pan-frying an orc ganger's brain in one go, it certainly isn't less scary either.

One thing is true in my experience, though...female gamers don't put as much importance on tweaking the rules as their male counterparts. They prefer to tweak their characters in-game, and use rules as necessary tools if necessary, but nothing more. Combat effectiveness can take a backseat to an interesting character without a second thought, and houserules are a thing the DM takes care of. I valued the female input into my games, from the timid Phoenix Void shugenja with bloodphobia to the crazy french gunbunny that shot everybody who dared touch her souped-up Jackrabbit, because it shoved character play into the foreground a lot more than what I find in my currently male-dominated Lone Wolf game.

 

[Piratecat]

I'm guessing no one has asked them.

 

[el-remmen]

I'm guessing no one has asked them.

Give that Cat a cigar!

Or at least, that was going to be my answer.

 

[Animus]

I'm guessing no one has asked them.

What he said. I have heard of more than one incident where female gamer friends of mine watched their boyfriend or regular friends play and wanted to join but either were not invited to or even worse, told that they couldn't because they "wouldn't get it." Fortunately my friends had later opportunities or else they would't be gamers now, but I think some of that behavior has happened. That was like 10-15 years ago though. I think that since gaming is more acceptable these days that there wouldn't be as much of a problem with that. Ask and you shall receive as they say .

 

[A Passing Maniac]

I'm guessing no one has asked them.

Going to have to agree with this one. It's been my experience that women who play the game enjoy it just as much as, if not more than, the men who play.

And as a side note, the "kill everything and take its stuff" mentality seems to be largely absent from my male players, and the most vicious characters are invariably run by the females; they very much delight in decapitating orcs and splattering kobolds all over the walls. It's actually a little disturbing.

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Going to have to agree with this one. It's been my experience that women who play the game enjoy it just as much as, if not more than, the men who play.

And as a side note, the "kill everything and take its stuff" mentality seems to be largely absent from my male players, and the most vicious characters are invariably run by the females; they very much delight in decapitating orcs and splattering kobolds all over the walls. It's actually a little disturbing.

I have to agree with this. I was never asked until 3 years ago. I would "never understand the rules" or create a "girly character". If not for a new friend asking me to sit in on his game at a convention. I probibly would never have started playing. It was hard to find a group in high school and college, because it seemed like D&D was a boys club.

I totally agree with you on your side note.

Women can't really take out their aggression in real life, unless you go to the gym and hit a sandbag. When I play, creatively killing NPC's is how I use up all that agression in a way that would only hurt the NPC. It is our version of stress release.

 

[DariusOfCT]

a lot of reasons...

A lot of small reasons, I think.

1) some women are put off by memories of the old D&D books with scantily-clad women in chain mail and brass bikinis depicted throughout. Sure, the game has changed & evolved, but old stereotypes sometimes die hard. (Last summer, I asked the question on a non-gaming site and one person responded with a pic of the 1E DMG cover as why she wasn't interested in the game...)

2) The game's image is that of a bunch of pasty-faced nerds & geeks who still live in their parent's basement and don't have very good social skills and often don't have good hygiene. (in that same thread, several women did confirm that is their image of the game...)

3) Supposedly, while the game has more women than it did 20 years ago, it still is dominated by guys and some women might not like being in that situation. All it takes is one bad egg in a gaming group of 5 or 6 guys to ruin the experience for a woman.

4) Fanfiction, which consists of people writing stories about their favorite movie or TV show characters, or sci-fi & fantasy book characters, etc is dominated by women as much as by RPGs is dominated by men. If somebody can merge these two hobbies, it would be a big benefit to both!