The team of developers/ writers/ managers for 4th Ed.

[Andre]

Not to derail the thread, but where are the women? We have two names, without specific roles, listed at the very bottom. I just can't believe there aren't any good female RPG designers available.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not to derail the thread, but where are the women? We have two names, without specific roles, listed at the very bottom. I just can't believe there aren't any good female RPG designers available.

I agree, but if you look through the credits for any game product -- including the dreaded video game industry -- you'll see men massively outnumber the women.

3E had a large number of projects with women involved, although it tended to be the same three or four female designers over and over again.

Statistically, if you're going to grab your senior designers and all-stars and stick them on developing the new edition of D&D, they will be overwhelmingly male. I don't like it, myself, but it's the way it is currently.

There are lots of avenues for women to get into the industry -- Paizo has an open call for an upcoming GameMastery module posted on the publishers' forum here -- so hopefully women who think this is a lousy situation will respond by getting into the industry themselves and changing things.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Not to derail the thread, but where are the women? We have two names, without specific roles, listed at the very bottom. I just can't believe there aren't any good female RPG designers available.

I think it's because they're smart enough to know that they're no money in it.

 

[Glyfair]

Not to derail the thread, but where are the women? We have two names, without specific roles, listed at the very bottom. I just can't believe there aren't any good female RPG designers available.

Scott has actually addressed this on the WotC forums. This post & this post are particularly relevant.

Yes much or R&D is made up of men but don't judge the blogs as an indicator of the proportion of women at WOTC that work on D&D in many varied capacities.

Here are some stats:

I have 4 direct reports. Until recently the breakout was 2 men & 2 women. My RPG and D&D minis brand leads are women. In Brand publishing we have 9 staff members, 3 (myself included are men) My boss (Director of publishing) and her boss (VP of Marketing) are women.

Of 5 art directors that work on D&D 1 is a man. Many of the editors and typesetters are women. As are the product engineers and production buyers.

Bottom line D&D is not a game made by just by men.

PS

Also The Star Wars RPG and Minis brand team consists of 2 women. My equal on the Magic: The Gathering brand team is a woman... I could go on but the point is this is not unique to D&D.

R&D is made up of Designers, Developers, Art Directors, and Editors. Of these, yes many are men, but this is not based on some "boys club" trying to keep women out and control all the toys in the sandbox. There are women on the R&D staff and they play a very important role, in fact go and look at the womens names that do appear on the books, this is not some "support" bench team, they are top-notch game industry professionals. Could there be more women in R&D? Well yes, but good game designers, art directors, and editors (and we only hire good ones) do not just walk in off the street or even trained in college.

 

[Andre]

Scott has actually addressed this on the WotC forums.

I'm still disappointed that no women are in lead design or development positions. Just to clear, I don't think this is an example of sexism - I just know from personal experience that women gamers tend to bring fresh viewpoints to the game and I'd like to see them in some lead roles for that reason.

I think it's because they're smart enough to know that they're no money in it.