Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I play Magic or I'm stupid about gaming!

[IDrinkaRum]

This is a pet peeve of mine at the gaming store.

Yes I have boobs.
Yes I have a v@gin@.
Yes I'm obviously a girl.

No, I don't play Magic.
No, I'm not a LARPer. (Nothing against larpers, but I've never larped but I've always wanted to).

And yes, I know what I'm talking about when I'm discussing D&D 3.0, 3.5 and 4th ed. I also know what I'm talking about when discussing WotC, the RPGA and conventions like Gen*Con.

Yes, I play D&D. Yes, I have played a Wood Elf rogue. I've played a half-orc druid. I've played an Assimar bard. I've played human bards. I've played a half-orc ("My father will never leave my mother") barbarian female whose battle cry is "Hulk smash" and would rather be picking daisies and getting hair ribbons in the market than fight, but when her group's in trouble, she's right there cleaving and power attacking.

Whew.

Sorry, had to get that off of my chest.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You'll notice that none of these guys ever seem to have dates.

There's a very, very good reason for this.

(and yes, I'm a gamer girl, among other geeky things.)

[IDrinkaRum]

YAY! Another gamer girl!

You're right, they never have dates or women following them. I even have one who calls me "Little Lady" in a very condescending tone. Grrrr ... Yeah, grates on my nerves.

Also, just because I'm in a gaming store, I know if/when WotC will be publishing the rest of their 4th ed. books. It's not like I have magical female powers where I know immediately and with whom I have to commune to get that information.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

If a "man" calls you "little lady", call him "little man."

I guaran-damn-tee you that he will stop calling you that.

I like Boot Hill, myself. And comics, although the number of titles that I currently like have drastically dropped off. So yeah. I've been in a game store more than once and I feel your pain.

Fortunately for me, a lot of those guys know me, and have for years, so they tend to conduct themselves with considerably more respect and class than guys in a lot of other places.

CONFIDENTIAL TO GEEK GUYS OF THE VARIETY WE ARE DISCUSSING: There's a reason a lot of girls shy away from your scene. If you'd like to make your mother deliriously happy and maybe actually meet a person of the fairer gender, you could maybe behave in a way that didn't put women off. Just sayin'.

[anriana]

Magic is a women's game now?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I was wondering that myself. Because the few times I played it way back when, I was vastly outnumbered by guys.

Guys think chicks don't game. Chicks game. They just game where they are not made to feel creeped out or in games that appeal to them.

I ran a straight western Boot Hill game in the upstate years ago. My entire group was girls, until we were joined by one of the women's husband. I had girls begging to join that game. I love running games for or just gaming with other women. Totally different style. You wouldn't think that a straight western would appeal to that many women, but you'd be suprised.

I'm not sure it was the genre that appealed to them so much as the environment (although I do know some of them were heavily into cowboy flicks). Meanwhile, one of my players was running a separate game of a different genre, and all HER players were girls, too, and different ones from the girls in my group.

Chicks like to play as much as guys do. It's just harder for them to find a place to do so where they don't have to put up with foolishness and sexism.

[IDrinkaRum]

At the store I work at, the major Magic players are guys. However, there are a few female card gamers, but they mainly play Yu-Gi-Oh! games. Maybe the guys ask if I play Magic because it's the one card game that hasn't abated in the 15 years it's been introduced?

However, what gets me is that guys are always surprised that I play D&D. I don't know. I did give it up for a while because the guys in the group tried to tell me how to play my Wood Elf Rogue. (She had a bow and as a rogue, she could get sneak attack at 30 feet with the bow. She also had a tiny amount of hit points even at 8th level because of her race. What would I rather do? Hit at 30 feet against someone bigger and stronger than me or get up close and personal with an orc barbarian with my rapier - which isn't a very big "sword" type anyway?) Sheesh. I know what I'm doing.

I'd love to be in an all female gaming group. And I love westerns. That would be awesome! I want to be the like the Rifle Woman (shooting a rifle from my waist) or I could play Dead Lands - that would be entertaining too.

And yeah. I married a gaming geek for a few reasons: He has a brain in his head, he treats me with respect, no matter how ridiculous I have my character act in game he respects me and the choice I make with my character, and he never calls me "Little Lady" or "Ball & Chain".

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It WAS awesome! Probably why my female friends were chomping at the bit to play. I love to see what sorts of characters people come up with. The all girl group had a housekeeper (seriously, a housekeeper. She was a favorite of mine) who was also a field medic, a widowed Irish immigrant who had become a sharp shooter, a half-Lakota healer, and a male Texas ranger. The man who eventually joined us played an ex-jeweler who had become an ex-lawman and was now a gun for hire.

My current Boot Hill game has a more even mix of genders. Three men to two women. Fortunately, the men are excellent role players and do not suffer from the stupor that seems to overtake many male players when they have a woman join their group. We have a male "confidence agent" and gambler, a male farmer-turned-sheriff, a male medicine show psychic, a female Cheyenne healer, and a female medicine show trick rider.

Sometimes one of my male players run, and in those games, I play either a 15 year old Chinese girl, a displaced Rromany blacksmith (male), or one of my own NPCs...usually an old Lakota man or a female ex-sailor, depending on what the GM wants.

[protege]

Guys think chicks don't game. Chicks game. They just game where they are not made to feel creeped out or in games that appeal to them.

Judging by their work over on BMC, they can also build models. We have a few female members over there, and their work is awesome. One thing that surprised me, is how nobody tends to drool over the ladies. Mainly because it's not tolerated--we want them to feel welcome over there.

[Rapscallion]

CONFIDENTIAL TO GEEK GUYS OF THE VARIETY WE ARE DISCUSSING: There's a reason a lot of girls shy away from your scene. If you'd like to make your mother deliriously happy and maybe actually meet a person of the fairer gender, you could maybe behave in a way that didn't put women off. Just sayin'.

Soap helps as well.

Rapscallion

[AFPheonix]

So does toothpaste. Learn it, love it.

As for me, I have Wii and Lego Indiana Jones. Oh my lord is that game ever fun

[Depot Denizen]

I'm a geek, but I'm also one of the socially apt geeks. I wash and brush and wear deoderant, and do laundry once a week. :-p

~Josh

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Legos! One of the guys I play with built a map of the Mesa Verde Cliff Palace (Anasazi ruins). Out of Legos! He built to the same scale as our lead figures. How awesome is that?!

[lordlundar]

Guys think chicks don't game. Chicks game.

Damn straight, a former co-worker would buy and play games that I won't play. (Survival horror mainly, I never did like those.)

[IDrinkaRum]

I just bought 2 games for my Nintendo DS and hubs bought the God of War package PSP thing. He's happy, I'm happy, and daughter has her Kids Next Door video for her Gameboy SP so she's happy too.

BTW, Spiderman is my Mother-in-Law, Silver Surfer is my rawking assistant manager Mr. C, Wolverine is my idiot ass man Mr. L, and Iron Man is my Father-in-Law (daughter got a new kid's book about Spiderman and his friends & she's determined their secret identities. Ah, kids!)