Women GW gamers?

[Savark]

@ emperor:
I'm only 14 yet i completely agree with you. i can see it right now...

[eldargal]

To be honest I think Emperor has some fair points, but they are more to do with relationships (as someone has said already) that female gamers. One of my good friends was hassled to give up the hobby because her boyfriend 'didn't like her hanging around a bunch of geeky boys' without him, and he didn't want to play himself. Given that there is a disproportionate amount of male gamers there will of course be a disproportionate amount of harrying women

How would you go about increasing the amount of female gamers, and do you think there is more GW could do to help? (if you trust their corporate office not to make things worse some how, hehe)

[Mike X]

Not only that, you are also from Boston...

Hey! So am I!

But back on topic... I've had two exs who played 40K: one played Witch Hunters, the other played Chaos Space Marines.

...And I had a third girl I was seeing for a few months that was interested in starting an Eldar army.

[BlacknightIII]

My Ex played orks (and was big on yelling WAAAGH!!! every game). Course since shes an ex shes no longer seen or heard from at the store, the other girl who plays witch hunters is very obnoxious and not very much fun to play against. Ive convinced quite a few girls to play and actually most of them that do play enjoy the game very much, they just get annoyed and sometime driven away by most of the guys who seem to think of women as some sort of alien species.

[ThePov]

How would you go about increasing the amount of female gamers, and do you think there is more GW could do to help? (if you trust their corporate office not to make things worse some how, hehe)

Well, I think it's all in how one explains the game to the female in question at the very beginning. As I said earlier, I think upping the emphasis on the more gender-neutral areas of painting, modeling, and the mythology aspect (40K and Fantasy are, after all, mythologies in and of themselves, but with interesting conections to and unique takes on other established mythologies) is key when trying to explain the game to a girl. This is not to say that the painting, modelling, and story areas are "girlly" aspects to the hobby, just that they are less intimidating and competitive than the gaming aspect. If the person doing the explaining is tactful and doesn't go on and on about how cool the robots and guns are, I think there are quite a few girls who are big on fantasy and/or sci-fi who who would likely be interested and might take the plunge into a miniature gaming hobby.

One of the biggest problems I see is that established players explaining the game to new players are most often male and explain the game from a more male-oriented perspective. There is plenty of room in the hobby for more female gamers, but I think many get turned away by a bad explanation at the very beginning that doesn't quite show them the less macho parts of the game.

As for GW, female models might help, but then again, they may not, what with crazy modellers/painters. Beyond that, if they would make a concerted effort to hire more female redshirts, it would probably not hurt.

[gwensdad]

How would you go about increasing the amount of female gamers, and do you think there is more GW could do to help? (if you trust their corporate office not to make things worse some how, hehe)

I may take Space Hulk into work and give demos when it comes out (Last time I checked, we had a 8:1 F/M ratio, unfortunately we're closing down and I'm not sure what that is now, or if I'll even be on the schedule after Sept 5th)

With a little more time my daughter will SERVE THE EMPEROR (or lead a Waaargh, it's more like her), but that's still a few years away. GW could help out by more
1) employing more women sculpters
2) more focus in White Dwarf on women employees (I'll admit, I was shocked in that they gave painter Anya(?) a feature a few issues ago)
3) more female employees at the stores
4) Less "cheesecake" female miniatures and more realistic ones (may happen if point 1 happens)
5) Get the Twilight license (I KID! I KID! But maybe a Harry Potter Quidditch game, similar to Blood Bowl)

And unfortunately, society has to change a little. A few years ago my I-mention-her-too-much daughter put on some Superman pajamas she had demanded from us and had me take a picture of her, which I posted to my blog. The first comment I had questioned how good a parent I was for dressing my child in "boy's clothing" and creating the "wrong" examples for a girl. And this was coming from a woman I had known almost 20 years (God I'm old). If someone has a problem with her being a comic book character fan, what will they think about being a fan of some game?

[Katie Drake]

I'm one of the rare female gamers too and like all the others that have posted in this thread, I've had more than my fair share of issues all because of my gender when it comes to gaming. Once a guy grabbed my rear when I was leaning over the table trying to move my Razorback, so I had to backhand him in the face so hard that he lost a couple teeth.

Seriously, what's a girl to do in such a situation?

[Commissar Lewis]

Honestly, I don't know why there aren't more females GW gamers. I suppose the reason is something valid, but I slept through psych in high school and when it comes to the big pictures my eye sight ain't the best.

That said, I been hoping to meet an awesome chick that plays 40k. Since given that up, at this moment looks like an uphill battle.

And Eldargal, you were slapped by a jackass at a tourny? Damn, if I saw some guy slap a chick at a tournament, I'd knock his *** out. Chivalry FTW. Glad you broke his nose, though.

I do hope more chicks start playing GW games; the ratio in the stores are terrible.

[Mike X]

That said, I been hoping to meet an awesome chick that plays 40k. Since given that up, at this moment looks like an uphill battle.

I've found that it's easier to get chicks into 40K than it is find a chick already into it.

[Drew da Destroya]

Seriously, what's a girl to do in such a situation?

I'd say backhand him hard enough that he loses a couple teeth. "Break his nose" and "Sexual Harassment Lawsuit" are also appropriate answers.

I mean, really, there's no real reason to sexually harass someone (well, no good reason) of any gender. And it's guys like that who give the rest of us (not just guy gamers, but males in general) a bad image.

As far as getting more girls into the hobby, I've found that showing them pictures of well painted or converted models seems to work. Taps into the more artistic aspects of the hobby. I also try to include my girlfriend when I'm building models, asking her how my conversion is coming along, listening to her suggestions, etc...