Splish-splash, it's a guy thing

[Quasqueton]

So I drew out the landscape on the game grid including a small creek down the middle. As the battle whirled, whenever one of the enemies ran in or through the creek, I made splish-splash sounds. Just trying to keep the ambience up.

The woman in our group commented that was a "guy thing". Making sound effects.

So is it really just guys who add sound effects to the game? Ever hear females describing "clang" a sword on shield, "splortch" an axe in a torso, "crunch" a dragon's bite, etc.?

Quasqueton

 

[Cam Banks]

Of course. It's just that it isn't a her thing, in her case. She really hasn't met enough women under the right circumstances.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Henry]

That's a curious question -- and a good one. Unfortunately, I haven't had enough experience with female gamers in my groups to make a solid conclusion, but I've never seen any of the women DMs make sound effects when DM'ing. However, the male gamers don't do it much either.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I've seen female gamers doing better sound effects than ME! Its not a guy thing, its just a personality thing.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

The woman in our group commented that was a "guy thing". Making sound effects.

I was told once, as a young girl, that "girls can't make sound effects." As such, I have spent a large portion of my life attempting to perfect various sounds. I'm still not as good as the guys, but I've got talent for a woman.

In the end - I think that it's a guy thing b/c girls just aren't quite as good at it. Something in our genetic makeup prevents us from being the masters of replicating non-human sounds... But - that's made up for with our soft skin and silky hair.

 

[Ambrus]

IMC, I have a female friend who plays a paladin and says "ping" (like sonar) whenever she detects evil. Another female player has started saying "waaaw" (kind of like a scanner) whenever she uses her autohypnosis to memorize a page of text.

 

[Aeson]

I haven't experienced anyone doing sound effects. I do voices but not sounds. I might try. Does it go over well? Its not cheesy to the players?

 

[Aeric]

I've only ever played with one person (our DM) who regularly made sound effects. It was an endless source of amusement for us players, although he wound up being our whipping boy more often than not anyways. It was all in good fun, though.

As to whether or not it added to the game experience...I would say it did, but not necessarily in the way he would have liked it to.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Think about it this way...it is a game with MAPS and things drawn out.

 

[The_Universe]

It's definitely a guy thing. Men are born with the innate ability (and inborn desire) to make sound effects to accompany all sorts of actions. Pay close attention at work - I bet one of your male coworkers is quietly making robot or construction noises right now. Anyway, I like to call it the "sound effect gland."

On the other hand, women are born with the innate ability to glean meaning from otherwise meaningless actions or statements. It's probably more useful than sound effects, but it's a lot less fun.

Also, the above is mostly a joke, but it has a little kernal of truth to it.