Have you heard about this? Its called ConTessa, and its a free online gaming convention, to be held June 21-24, that's open to everyone but is organized and run by women.  And I think its an awesome idea.

I have long been a very strong advocate of women in gaming, in the sense that I think women should be gamers. In the sense too that women don't actually "need" anything to be gamers other than a place at the gaming table and for male gamers not to be assholes; they don't need special consideration, they don't need the hobby changed for them, they don't need endless discussions about patriarchy, they don't need studies done as to what's wrong about rpgs.  How do I know this? Because I've consistently had women at my gaming table for years and years (in the last decade, its been far more unusual for there not to be at least one woman in a group of mine than the opposite); and they game exactly like everyone else does.

 

So here is Contessa which is saying the same thing: "let's just fucking game already, and celebrate women gaming" (note: the profanity included is mine, not theirs, at least as far as I know). They achieve this the following ways:


1. While its organized and run by women, its open to absolutely everyone. Its not about exclusivity or creating a "safe space" or any of that bullshit.  Its about women organizing and running games and anyone who likes playing in them. Awesome.


2. Its "apolitical", to use their own terms. That means that its not a place where any actual gaming is going to be buried under a ton of bullshit about the evils of men, or 1st-year-college quality philosophical drivel, or "activism" about demanding that the RPG hobby essentially stop being the RPG hobby so that women who have no interest might look at it (but probably won't) even though women who do have an interest would probably stop.  Instead, its about actually gaming, which again, is all women or anyone else needs to be a gamer.

 

3. What panels there are seem to be about things that are, you know, actually not meaningless (like the above bullshit); things that seem to me would be a far better use of everyone's time to talk about, like being a newb at D&D, and how to market your RPG.  And yes, "collaborative world building"; if there's one criticism I can level at Contessa its that quite a few of their "RPG" events are actually Storygame events, though to balance that out it looks like there'll be some fairly awesome Lamentations of the Flame Princess stuff happening, and some Pathfinder too.  Hopefully someone out there reading this blog who's an old-school (female) gamer might want to sign up to run some more OSR stuff (maybe even Arrows of Indra?) or more indie-type games that are actually RPGs (like, say, Lords of Olympus?).

 

Anyways, Contessa is one of the first bits of news about "women in gaming" that has left me feeling optimistic in a long time. Of course, the hate-brigade of Pseudo-activist Swine have already started poaching at them (accusing the organizers of being "uncle toms" or something... fucking idiots), but I hope that this is the start of a new trend of women gamers, in their own voice, standing up to the absurd pseudo-activists claiming that we have to radically redesign gaming, censor gamers, and establish controls over the hobby all "for the women" and saying to them "actually, you don't represent me".

 

RPGPundit

I agree. I donated a number of PDFs to them for use as "door prizes."

Yeah, i think that's brilliant.

I especially approve of the name Venus de Coy.

I will be supporting this.

Recognizing social issues is important, but it's nice to see that someone still thinks gaming is the most important part of the gaming industry

Thumbs up for this and respect to the organisers.

Clearly, there are reasons people consider it important to single out women in gaming, and probably some of those are problems in the scene.

Quote from: Punditwomen don't actually "need" anything to be gamers other than a place at the gaming table and for male gamers not to be assholes

Which suggests that these needs are perhaps not getting met.

This kind of thing can be double edged, like the civil rights movement in the USA in the 1960s trying to make it not a big deal to be 'coloured' but along the way spawning movements invested in keeping it a big deal (albeit not in the same way).

Is this anything like MLB being worried about not having "enough black players"?

Seriously, who gives a fuck? If girls want to play rpgs, play rpgs...why do they need a special con?

It looks like a cool idea.

Then I realized it was an online con. The willingness of people to be assholes in an online environment increases dramatically, not to mention the sheer number of male gamers who will end up registering as females just for shits & giggles.

I wish the organizers all the best, they're going to need it.

Quote from: Brad;660194Is this anything like MLB being worried about not having "enough black players"?

No. Read the description.

Quote from: RPGPundit;660201No. Read the description.

Yeah, I read it. But, again, if women want to run games, run games. Women aren't oppressed in gaming; from my experience, most girls just never found the notion of playing rpgs (or wargames, whatever) that much fun.

Quote from: Brad;660194Is this anything like MLB being worried about not having "enough black players"?

Seriously, who gives a fuck? If girls want to play rpgs, play rpgs...why do they need a special con?

Come on now.  Certainly you can admit that a whole lot of gamer guys have problems interacting with women, and have been known to say and act in ways totally inappropriate.  The stereotype exists for a reason.  You're essentially arguing that after the Civil War, why should blacks have special treatment because they were technically equal.

And that's just silly because it doesn't acknowledge the actual interaction that's going on.

I think it is a fine idea and hopefully it will bring more gamers into the hobby. There is a perception out there that gaming isn't really for women, so a con like this (particularly one that focuses on play and is apolitical) could draw more of them into rolelaying.

Don't know much about how online Cons work though. The last one I heard of didnt seem to go so well. It would be nice to see a succesful one because I would like to participate if these are viable events.

Quote from: Brad;660194Seriously, who gives a fuck? If girls want to play rpgs, play rpgs...why do they need a special con?

The con organisers would probably agree with you. I would view the prominent use of the word 'apolitical' in the con description as a clear indication that they are distancing themselves from the bubbling cauldron of crazy that actually does want segregated games and conventions in the name of feminism. What you're arguing against is the same thing they're moving away from.

This is an appeal to sanity and for people to just have fun playing games, and so should be supported, I feel.

Quote from: Brad;660205Yeah, I read it. But, again, if women want to run games, run games. Women aren't oppressed in gaming; from my experience, most girls just never found the notion of playing rpgs (or wargames, whatever) that much fun.

Neither do most guys. My experiences - since 1977 - have been much the same as Pundits. I have almost always had women in my groups, they love it as much as the guys, they play very much the same as men, and the ways they differ only add to the group's experiences. There appear to be a lot of assholes in the hobby who dislike and fear women gaming. The thing isn't to change gaming to appeal to women, but to welcome women gaming and kick out the assholes from our groups. Personally, I welcome any excuse to kick out assholes.

-clash