Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk:
In reply to katisara (msg # 4):
Take as an example the illustrations in most gaming books: I have been told by the women that I have talked to about this that they are almost all deeply offensive and inappropriate: that the way they portray women is 'Objectifying' and 'Submissive'. They also find that the books lack 'strong roles' for female characters, and relegate them to 'support staff'.
Okay, but which game? Looking through my library, Shadowrun, Eclipse Phase, Call of Cthulhu all portray women as basically equivalent to and as well dressed as men. Even D&D I recall to handle women about equivalent, with the exception of female monsters like sirens or succubi. The only game I've played recently that I recall being objectifying to women was Exalted, which featured some MAJOR fan service on the cover.
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Or another complaint that I have heard is that the other gamers at the table always assume that any female gamer is there to 'Snare a husband who will make good money thanks to his technical skills.' or if she is there with an established partner 'Only humoring your boyfriend.' and 'Not serous about the game.' which have convinced them that gamers are rude, obnoxious, and exclusionary.
I have seen some gamers like that. They seem to die down once you get past 25, fortunately. However, in my personal experience, the table has always been at least 25% female, frequently with the female dragging the male in.
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I know that at least a few of the people who frequent this board are women, have you experienced this kind of chauvinism and rudeness?
Not on RPoL, fortunately. In fact, quite the contrary. My user name sounds female, and I believe I was chosen for at least one game because of it. I applied to a CoC game and was accepted. The game died almost immediately, and one of the players contacted me, saying he was starting up a new one with just his favorite players. I accepted and he subsequently assigned me the only female character.
However, the nature of a board like this means that women are by default fairly anonymized. No one knows Cruinne is a lady until she tells us.
Edit: I did realize my Shadowrun game has always always been all men. Not sure why that is. When the game is accepting players, I've never had to turn away an RTJ. I'm not sure on the gender ratios in the other games I play. But my in-person games have always had women players.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:49, Mon 26 May 2014.