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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zander" data-source="post: 4094267" data-attributes="member: 1364">Gary's view was that games in general, not just RPGs, simply appeal more to men than women.Dr Michelle Nephews who has a PhD in authorship and RPGs has argued in a chapter of Gaming as Culture that RPGs match male wish-fulfilment needs closer than they do female ones.Although I don't agree with Dr Nephews' characterisation (stereotyping) of male psycho-sexual fantasies, I think that both she and Gary are right.If many women were put off by male gamers (for whatever reason), after almost 35 years of RPGs, you would expect lots of women-only groups. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a vast number of women who play in such groups.And if many women were put off by so-called sexist artwork and language, you would have expected a surge in the proportion of female gamers over the years as RPGs became more politically 'correct'. While the proportion of female gamers may have increased slightly over the decades, I suspect this has more to do with men introducing their wives/girlfriends/daughters to the hobby and a shift to more social interaction within RPGs than to any change to the way the rules are presented.</blockquote>