Season of Sexism #2: The Fake Geek Girl; plus Origins Award Winners, and Red Aegis' designer dream t

[h=3]Season of Sexism #2: The Fake Geek Girl[/h]
The second episode in our Season of Sexism! [See episode 1 here] Over the last few years there's been a particularly obnoxious phenomenon of men accusing women at conventions and the like of being "fake geek girls". This week we (badly) re-enact a couple of famous examples and ask folks at UK Games Expo 2013 what they think of the issue. Note that rants performed in this video are reconstructions of real rants and are performed by an actor. They do not reflect the opinions of EN World, the actor, or any of the interviewees. Next week we take a look at sexism in gaming art! [HI][threadcm]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?337600-Season-of-Sexism-2-The-Fake-Geek-Girl-plus-Origins-Award-Winners-and-Red-Aegis-designer-dream-team![/threadcm] [/HI]

[video=youtube;vFjeUQgJ8rI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFjeUQgJ8rI[/video]
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[h=3]EN World News[/h]

• We have our usual collection of articles and new content for you to enjoy!
  • Gamehackery: Living in a Metadata World[HI][threadcm]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?337571-Gamehackery-Living-in-a-MetaData-World[/threadcm][/HI]
  • Explosions in the Sky: A boardgame review of Hanabi from Abacusspiele [HI][threadcm]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?337572-Explosions-in-the-Sky-A-review-of-Hanabi-from-Abacusspiele[/threadcm][/HI]
  • 3G: Some Rules Are Better Than Others[HI][threadcm]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?337591-3G-Some-Rules-Are-Better-Than-Others[/threadcm][/HI]
  • Game Design 114: Flaw Finding [HI][threadcm]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?337592-Game-Design-114-Flaw-Finding[/threadcm] [/HI]
• The ZEITGEIST hardcover Kickstarter is coming along well - we are approaching our first stretch goal ($5000) which will add lot of art and maps to the hardcover compilation of the adventure path (Pathfinder and D&D 4E). There's one quesiton we've been asked frequently, so we thought we should make a little FAQ:
  • Will the Pathfinder and 4E books be separate? Yep! Separate books! You choose the one you want.

[h=3]RPG News[/h]

• Check out this preview from FFG of Enemies of the Imperium, a supplement for Only War. There's also a FAQ and errata for Only War.
• Matt James is heading up a new game company called Vorpal Games. He's been drafting in some great talent - Brian R James, Ed Greenwood, Erik Scott de Bie, Eytan Bernstein, Mike Schley, Claudio Pozas, Miranda Horner, and Erik Nowak. As I understand it, the angle here is that you don't play a character, you play a dynasty - each game session (of ten) you play a consecutive descendant. The character dies (either in-game or of old age) each session, but the real character - your dynasty - gains skills/powers. The game itself will be called Red Aegis and will be a Kickstarter project opening in July.

[h=3]Community News[/h]

• Game Knight Reviews has reviewed Kobold Press' Midgard Adventures: Beyond the Ghostlight Reef.
• Gaming Tonic talks a bit more about house rules in It's A Rule, Not A Law.
• Kobold Press has a series of articles covering development of their Deep Magic Kickstarter: Crafting the Cover, Meet the Editor/Developer, No More Handwaving.
• Sly Flourish presents the Best D&D 4E Encounter Tricks - in-battle skill challenges, escalating auras, shared lifeforce bosses, and minion generators.
• The Chamber of Mazarbul has an article about hombrewed lasting wounds in 13th Age; plus one about danger vs. lethality in RPGs.

[h=3]Boardgaming & Other News[/h]

• Fantasy Flight Games has previews up for new runners from the upcoming Creation and Control expansion for Android: Netrunner. The three new Shaper identities will soon be featured in a deck building installment. Creation and Control is available for pre-order.
• Triassic Terror is a tactical game from Eagle Games that has players trying to breed herds of dinosaurs and then migrate them across various terrain. Herds will be hunted by T-Rex and velociraptors and have to avoid dangerous terrain features such as volcanoes.
• Critical Failures is a novel about a group of jaded 30-somethings who get sent to the fantasy world of their RPG. Author Robert Bevan says "It's comedy/fantasy. The language is strong and some of the humor is low-brow, but it's been doing pretty well".

[h=3]2013 Origins Award Winners[/h]
The Origins Game Fair took place over the weekend. During the convention, the 2013 Origins Awards winners were announced (these awards are voted for by attendees of the trade show). Congratulations to all the winners!

Best Roleplaying Game
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Games – Margaret Weis Productions

Best Roleplaying Supplement
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Civil War Essentials Edition Event Book – Margaret Weis Productions

Best Board Game
Lords of Waterdeep – Wizards of the Coast

Best Collectible Card Games
Legend of the 5 Rings: Embers of War – AEG

Best Traditional Card Game
Doctor Who the Card Game – Cubicle 7 Entertainment/Treefrog Games

Best Family, Party or Children's Game
Quarriors! Dice Building Game – WizKids

Best Gaming Accessory
Metal Steampunk Dice Set – Q Workshop

Best Miniatures Rules
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Campaign Starter Set – WizKids

Best Historical Miniature Figure/Line
Ancient Greeks - Victrix Ltd

Best Historical Board Games
Samurai Battles – Zvezda

Best Historical Miniature Rules Supplement
Flames of War: Nuts – Battlefront Miniatures

Best Historical Miniature Rules
Flames of War: Open Fire! – Battlefront Miniatures

Best Miniature Figure Line
Marvel HeroClix: Galactic Guardians – WizKids

Best Game-Related Publication
Battletech: Weapons Free – Catalyst Game Labs

Hall of Fame Game Inductees
Munchkin – Steve Jackson Games
Dominion – Rio Grande Games

Hall of Fame Inductees
Lisa Stevens, Paizo Publishing
Loren Coleman, Catalyst Game Labs
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[Majoru Oakheart]

And that, in a nutshell, is why this topic irritates me so much. I simply don't think about how geeky someone is when I meet them at GenCon, or playing boardgames in London, or online. Their gender is utterly irrelevant to me - what matters is the person in front of me, how they act, what they say, how they game. I'll treat an irritating or arrogant women exactly the same as an irritating or arrogant man.

I agree 100%. The only reason this used to EVER bother me was back when I was looking for a girlfriend. I felt kind of shunned by the world when I was younger for being a geek. Because of this I had bad luck with women. Probably still would if I didn't have a long term girlfriend.

So, I'd go to conventions partially as an way of meeting women that I had a hope of having something in common with. Only to mostly discover that most of the women at conventions didn't share most of my interests and were just as willing to write me off as "too geeky"(and therefore undesirable) as the women outside of the conventions. Meanwhile, I'd be attending the conventions with a group of 6-8 people who were just as many geeky interests as I had....so it seemed like these people existed. Just no female versions of them. I can remember feeling rather frustrated that there was a lack of females that I felt I could open up with completely before they'd hear me say something about myself and decide I wasn't interesting anymore.

 

[Bagpuss]

I didn't know if this had been linked yet, but I think if we are concerned about Fake Geek Girls then we also need to be worried about the rise of the Fake Nerd Boys.
[video=youtube;mE3AjaABwC8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE3AjaABwC8[/video]

 

[Alan Shutko]

I knew I was a fake. Oh, well. Time to stop pretending.

 

[zychrias]

I can't wait to see what Matt James and his cohorts are doing with Vorpal Games and the Red Aegis project. It sounds exceptional!

 

[Morrus]

I can't wait to see what Matt James and his cohorts are doing with Vorpal Games and the Red Aegis project. It sounds exceptional!

It's a very cool idea! I'm definitely intrigued!