Women who game

[CaptainCalico]

Sorry to jump in late, but after reading through the other thread I think Mistwell cut through a lot of the rhetoric (interesting rhetoric though it was) and got to the heart of the matter.

As for the main discussion, I decided to ask several women who do NOT play the game why it is they don't play it. This is not in any way a scientific survey, so I wouldn't draw any conclusions from it.

However, that said, they all said pretty close to the same thing: "Boys, when they are teenagers and first playing the game, did not want girls playing. When I tried to play, they didn't explain the rules very well (and the rule books were overwhelmingly large and complex, requiring a huge commitment of time to figure out, which didn't seem worth doing if I didn't feel welcome to begin with), they didn't treat me like an equal, they made fun of me when I did something "wrong", and simply did not make me feel very welcome. I think it was a male bonding kind of thing."

I did not start playing D&D until my early 30’s, despite a great interest in roleplaying games in general and D&D in particular, for the simple reason that up until that point I did not find a group of people who were not only willing to teach me the rules, they were happy to teach me the rules. Up until that point I was treated as an intruder, not by everyone, but by enough people that I never felt comfortable sitting at a table to game.

Now I belong to an extended group and I'm playing to 2 D&D campaigns and 1 Vampire campaign, so there is hope!

On a related note, a friend of mine is planning a seminar at GenCon on women and gaming. Further information can be found in the archives of the women-in-gaming group on Yahoo groups.

 

[kamosa]

Can you post some links to those groups?

 

[Piratecat]

Cap'n, the general rule is that when a thread is closed, you never restart a new one on the same subject until some time (a week or so) has passed. That converation is over, and shouldn't be continued here.

However, the other thread wasn't in a dogfight when it was closed, and it would be useful to have the Women in Gaming links posted here. We'll keep this thread open until you have a chance to do so, so folks who want to see them have the opportunity. Then, as Ashtal indicated when she closed the other thread, we'll give the subject a break for a while.

Thanks!

 

[S'mon]

Cap'n, the general rule is that when a thread is closed, you never restart a new one on the same subject until some time (a week or so) has passed. That converation is over, and shouldn't be continued here.

However, the other thread wasn't in a dogfight when it was closed, and it would be useful to have the Women in Gaming links posted here. We'll keep this thread open until you have a chance to do so, so folks who want to see them have the opportunity. Then, as Ashtal indicated when she closed the other thread, we'll give the subject a break for a while.

Thanks!

Strange, I've never seen my pal's Upper_Krust's Worship Points System threads banned from restarting after he closes the old ones at 200 posts - I guess it's only when the moderators step in that this applies? Seems a bit strange to ban discussion on an on-topic area.

 

[maddman75]

Its a good rule S'mon - it keeps people from continuing a senseless flame war or from bringing up banned topics, like politics and religion. I remember being here on the old boards when such things were allowed, as long as everyone behaved themselves. I don't ever remember such a thread going in a good direction.

If people are allowed to start up a thread after one is closed down, why have moderators at all?

This case is different, as the thread didn't erupt in flames (to my utter shock) but was closed because the convo had pretty well run its course.

 

[S'mon]

This case is different, as the thread didn't erupt in flames (to my utter shock) but was closed because the convo had pretty well run its course.

That's what seems strange to me - new threads bring up new ideas, even if the subject is the same as the old one, so it seems odd to ban _new_ threads on the same topic if the topic is legitimate (not a flamewar etc), even if only for 7 days. Just IMHO.

 

[Piratecat]

I probably wasn't clear. If you have a 200 post thread that is closed out of length only, there's no problem in opening a new one. If you have a thread that has been closed due to a moderator's judgement that enough is enough, the cooling off period applies.

Any further discussion of this should be in the Meta forum, please. Hijacking is uncool!

 

[DarkCrisis]

So from reading the other thread it seems as though we need more art of ugly fantasy women that corespond with a PC that will kick you butt as soon as parly with you due to the way men have generalized women through the span of history which may or may not have something to do with genetics?


.....we just all need to live in a drow society... "Yes Matron Mother" "No Matron Mother" "I *am* only a lowly male Matron Mother" "In your bed chambers in 5 minutes Matron Mother? Yes Ma'am" *sigh* to dream... =P

 

[Kichwas]

It doesn't look like the other thread was closed, just that one poster decided they didn't want to talk anymore and that it had wandered off topic...


Gender in gaming forum:
http://townhall.webrpg.com/index.phtml?groupid=573

Somewhat idle right now; but it could easily be 'kicked up' again.

 

[S'mon]

So from reading the other thread it seems as though we need more art of ugly fantasy women that corespond with a PC that will kick you butt as soon as parly with you due to the way men have generalized women through the span of history which may or may not have something to do with genetics?

Yes.

Re art, one of my favourite topics - I think it's clear that for people to buy a product they need to be able to identify with the figures portrayed as protagonists. Now, some female players like the traditional scantily-clad warrior-woman archetype, but others don't, so a variety of portrayals of women in fantasy RPG art is IMO a good thing for attracting a wider variety of female gamers. WoTC has gone out of its way to portray lots of strong female characters in the PHB etc, of course.

Actually, I have a problem in my sword & sorcery PBEM game set in a Conanesque type world, using D&D rules, in that several of the female players want to play subordinate type roles (dancing girl, slavegirl, etc) - the 3e system definitely doesn't support this...