Women and RPGs

[Ampersand]

Are tabletop RPGs just for the boys?

I'm an active roleplayer making a short film in the NYC area about other women who play RPGs, and I want to hear about your experiences: How did you get involved with gaming? What types of characters do you play? Do you play with your SO? If you live in the NYC area and are interested in being interviewed, please e-mail rpgdoc@verizon.net

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

Are tabletop RPGs just for the boys?

I'm an active roleplayer making a short film in the NYC area about other women who play RPGs, and I want to hear about your experiences: How did you get involved with gaming? What types of characters do you play? Do you play with your SO? If you live in the NYC area and are interested in being interviewed, please e-mail rpgdoc@verizon.net

Are you only looking for people from NYC?

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

New York?

If you are willing to cast your net farther than New York I am sure my wife would be happy to answer some of your questions.

 

[bekkilyn_rpg]

I don't live in NYC, but I'll answer the questions mainly because I find the topic interesting :

My first experience with D&D was in 7th grade when someone decided to run some games in a club we had at school. I persuaded my mom to buy me the Player's Handbook. The game only lasted a couple sessions because the DM lost interest in running D&D games, but the whole idea of it fascinated me.

Unfortunately, I had trouble finding games afterwards and when I did, there were a lot of weirdos out there who had less interest in gaming and more interest in ogling, so I instead started playing computer RPG's (both single player and mmorpg) and didn't bother with tabletop games anymore until 3ed came out and there were actually "normal" people to play with.

While I still play computer RPG's a great deal, I became very actively reinterested in tabletop RPG's too and love getting RPG books even just to read even if I don't actually use them in a game. I do hope to run a Scarred Lands campaign at some point in the future though. I'm also much more interested in roleplaying than rollplaying.

My favorite types of characters are elves and humans and I also prefer playing male characters rather than female characters, though despite those preferences, I'll usually pick race and gender based on what makes the most sense for the character idea that's popped into mind.

I do play with my SO, of course, though he was not the reason I originally became involved in RPGs. We were both computer science majors in school and had a number of other interests in common besides games. In fact, neither of us were particularly active playing tabletop D&D until 3ed came out, though he was buying books for Ars Magica and Rolemaster and Harn and other odds and ends stuff for fun and I had started collecting Forgotten Realms and Planescape because I had enjoyed the Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment computer games and wanted more. Fun stuff!

 

[Ampersand]

Unfortunately, I won't be able to conduct in-person interviews too far outside the NYC area. If that should change, I'll be sure to post it. Thanks for responding!

 

[Wombat]

If I told the two women at my game table that rpgs were just for boys, I'd be singing like Farinelli...

 

[Ampersand]

bekkilyn_rpg---

Why do you prefer playing male characters?

 

[Ampersand]

bekkilyn_rpg---

Why do you prefer playing male characters?

 

[d20Dwarf]

You should definitely try to persuade Djeta to drive down for an interview, she's thoughtful, well-spoken, and has a multitude of reasonable and even-handed views on the subject.

Plus, she'll add sex appeal to your documentary.

 

[bekkilyn_rpg]

bekkilyn_rpg---

Why do you prefer playing male characters?

Mostly as a way of distancing myself from the character. I don't like to feel like I'm just putting myself in the game and when I play female characters, I have the tendency to want to exaggerate them in some silly way (i.e. make them prissy or some such) because they are supposed to be different from me. When I play male characters, I can make them act relatively normal and yet still feel like I'm roleplaying someone else, and I find it to be much more fun and interesting on top of that.

Now I like myself just fine in real life and have a number of other interests outside of gaming which are usually traditionally seen as being "girly," but I just like variety.

I still do play female characters from time to time as I've mentioned, but they are usually more of a challenge for me to play than when I play males for reasons I've given above. Sometimes I have played a female character *just* because it can be more of a mental challenge for me and I'm trying to get better at overcoming this RP difficulty. (Note that this difficulty is generally when playing the more human-like races. Playing female orcs and such are usually not problems since the racial choice is different enough in itself.)

However, it has been my experience that most females do tend to play female characters so my view here may not be the most typical for women in general. I have known a large amount of males who will often if not always play female characters though.