Would your group stop a woman from joining?

[FreeTheSlaves]

I would stop a woman joining for the same reason I'd stop a man join - the status quo was perfect.

If there was a gap to fill I'd institute a trial period at the end of which we'd make a decision. I certainly wouldn't let any accusations of sexism stop me from declining a woman if not everyone was in agreement - they have to fit, no exceptions.

I wasn't sure where to put my vote so I ticked the first: yes but for specific reasons. I was tempted to tick the 4th option for giggles.

 

[CaptainCalico]

I'm a female GM and I would keep any individual out of my game if a) I thought they would be a bad fit with the current group & campaign or b) if there were already enough people in the game (6 is my upper limit for being able to actually enjoy running).

I would not exclude someone merely on the basis of gender, orientation, experienece or anything else, however.

That being said, I am very protective of my game. Two weeks ago I had a sticky situation where one member of the group (my husband's oldest friend), took adavantage of the fact that another member (this person's ex-girlfriend) was away to bring his current girlfriend to the game. He claimed that she did not want to join, she just wanted to watch to see "what it was all about".

Thing is, he never asked me. He just called a few hours before the game to inform my husband that he was bringing this person along, so she could sit and watch us play. I tried to get him on his cell phone to talk to him about it, but he claimed he never checked his messages.

So they show up on the doorstep, and I (calmly, firmly, and I think politely) explained that, while she was welcome to hang out with us, maybe watch a movie, we would not be playing if she was there. He ended up driving her back home and then coming back, and we had a good long talk. Hopefully he knows never to try that nonsense with me again.

Everyone at the table should be at least comfortable with everyone else, otherwise no-one ends up having any fun.

 

[shilsen]

Nope. One group, which consisted of four women and me, just had another guy join. The other group, all male, would probably be very happy to have some women at the table. As far as I'm concerned, if you can game and are a good addition to the group, I don't care whether you're male, female, hermaphroditic, transgendered, or whatever other designation one can come up with.

 

[loki44]

So they show up on the doorstep, and I (calmly, firmly, and I think politely) explained that, while she was welcome to hang out with us, maybe watch a movie, we would not be playing if she was there. He ended up driving her back home and then coming back, and we had a good long talk. Hopefully he knows never to try that nonsense with me again.

The whole thing just sounds awkward, but it doesn't sound like it has anything to do with gender.

 

[Darkness]

Thing is, he never asked me. He just called a few hours before the game to inform my husband that he was bringing this person along, so she could sit and watch us play.

I've launched people into space for less. Assuming it's not normal for your players to just bring random people along to your game without asking you first, that's simply not okay.

 

[Wombat]

In my current group there are already two women at the table and the chance for a third.

I would never stop a person from playing -- we need all the gamers we can get!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What a bizarre question. Of course I wouldn't.

 

[Ottergame]

Wait ...

Did you say ferret?

...

This is Ironclaw, a furry RPG. There was my ferret, a rat sneak, a rabbit... torch holder, an otter with a big axe, and the DM had a DMPC that was a wolf mage. We also had a raccoon dragoon tagalong, also run by the DM.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I can think of many people I would ban from my table, some of whom are women, but none of whom would be banned for being women.

To elaborate, I don't think I would ever be comfortable playing in a "guys' night" kind of D&D game if it were ever explicitly identified as such - Hong's game is all-male, for example, but I'd probably quit if it became evident that women weren't welcome (not at all to imply that I think that's the case!).

 

[arwink]

I'm happy to play with folks of either gender, and if I tried to kick the girls out then I'd probably be hit up the back of the head by the females that are currently in my group.

I did once refuse to let my girlfriend at the time join a game based on the theory that it was "guy time", but that had everything to do with the fact that she was crazy and very little to do with her gender.