Lifestyle Jul 30, 2009 at 4:00 am

The World's Nerdiest Hobby Is Changing. And the Change Is Starting in Portland.

Illustration by Anna Benaroya

Comments

1
A friend of mine pointed me to this article as "something of interest to read". I have to say, without embarrasment, that it ended up bringing tears to my eyes.


I'm female, and have been gaming for over 21 years. I currently have two active games (Star Wars WEG d6 and Everway) and three games on deck (Alternity Star*Drive, a homebrew celestial-war ala Hellblazer/Constantine and 2nd Ed. AD&D Ravenloft), am involved in the local indie game GoPlayPDX network, work with game designers and publishers, playtest, wear a carved quartz d20 around my neck, and go to conventions all over the place (most recently Origins in Columbus, Ohio.)

And I -still- get the strange looks whne I walk in to the "boys club" RPG stores, get talked down to by vendors at game fairs, and have to prove myself as "worthy" of the hobby.

I love what Angel and Michelle do for the community. As a recent thank-you gift, I gave Angel a first-run signed copy of an RPG that I did development, design, and photography for. What they have going at Guardian Games deserves to be supported by everyone in the community, male or female. Yah, I have other FLGS that I head to at times, but Guardian is an awesome, awesome place.

Thank you for the article!

-Nievita
2
Fantastic. Good stuff. Now if only we can get them away from Dungeons and Dragons and into actual GOOD games! *ducks*
3
...And I discovered that they have an awesome blog:

http://blackmoonlilith.com/divas/

AND T-shirts:

http://www.cafepress.com/blackmoonlil/5973…

Roll on, Lady Gamers!
4
Oh naddahnaut, you are so lookin' to get Critt'ed! :)
5
This is great! I've done some RPing over the years, and my groups have always been a good mix of male and female. Check the gender at the door and have fun instead.

I've been to Guardian Games once before; it's a great place. It really has something for everyone (cards, video games, tabletop, etc etc) and is worth checking out.
6
Its good to see the other half of roleplaying getting some play.

And the industry is listeing with games designed to get girls into the hobby like Witch girls adventures (www.witchgirlsadventures.com)
7
"Hard to enjoy a game where the imprisonment or raping of your gender is a basic plot device" - that was the stupidest thing i've ever read. i've been playing role-playing games for almost 20 years and i've never been in a group where "raping" was a basic plot point.
8
This article reads as if these are actual attractive women playing D&D and Warcraft.

THAT would have been newsworthy.
9
I know I am just inviting a trollish flame war... But, gamer7, as someone that's been gaming for over 20 years. I can show published adventures from TSR and other companies that actually show such actions within the game AND on the cover.

Mind you, I don't for once believe the writers behind these adventures support such horrible actions. Still, it happened in these games. It was also one of the arguments some members of the hyper fundamentalist religious Right used to try and take down all RPGs in the 1980s and 90s.

And "Spuds", come on, try and move beyond such surface comments. Those are the kind of comments that keep women FROM gaming.

The industry is hurting and it needs all the help it can get.

Ok, begin said flaming on me. :)
10
I am a guy gamer and I could never understand the anti-female sentiment. I've always been happy when someone else has something in common with me. If she happens to be of the fairer sex, then that's a bonus! I mean seriously, it's nice to have a female and her energy in the room. Though I do know some dudes that can't think straight when a girl they like is around... maybe they're afraid of losing their edge. hahaha... good read.
11
gamer7, I know of one game where that was a plot point, "Custer's Revenge for the Atari 2600.

Please wait...

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