Just wondering, no value judgement (I have one all-male group I like a lot) - I just noticed I like it best when my player groups are something like 2f 2m, 2f 3m, or 3f 3m. I generally like to have at least a couple female players, but I remember I got a bit apprehensive recently when it looked like one game would be 2m 4f and I'd be outnumbered. Not sure exactly why I prefer gender-balanced groups; I think maybe male and female players both tend to bring slightly different and complimentary assets to the table. Anyone else find this?

I don't particularly mind, as long as they are there to play and have fun.  In mixed groups I've never had more or less issues than all-male groups.  Sometimes it's fun to have a married couple playing a married couple.  

The only thing I'm a little wary of has nothing to do with someone's gender, but it's who's married to/dating the GM.

Otherwise, it's all about the same to me.

Irrelevant. Whoever shows up and isn't an ass can play. My main thing is group size - I want 3 to 5 players, and get quite uncomfortable if outside that range.

I like having a diverse group of players from different backgrounds and experiences.

Also girls are prettier than boys :/

I have no specific preferences. If it's fun they are after, they might be serial killers turned nuns.

I guess the only problem would be to play rules-heavy RPGs with larger (6+) all-female (or all-kids) groups that don't know how to play at all. I'm bad at explaining details.

Quote from: Necrozius;902051Also girls are prettier than boys :/

SEXIST ! STOP OBJECTIFYING THE OPPRESSED BODY OF UNWILLING AND INDENPEDNAT WOMEN, YOU MALE MONSTER ! CHECK YOU PRIVILIEGE !

Ahem ! Stupid (and lazy) joke aside, I do not care if the player is a man or a woman. I just want them clean and interested in playing the game.

Interesting question. It would be cool in a way to be able to answer "doesn't matter", but in my experience it does make a difference. If I'd been able to find more mixed groups in my teens I probably wouldn't have quit gaming for twenty years! At the time I found that the all-male games groups I knew were a haven for immature and unwashed fellows that were in no danger of even talking to girls, and i preferred to be in mixed company. These days now that I'm back to gaming I've played with more mixed groups and I find it, like you, to bring out good elements on both sides. Currently I'm playing with two groups, one of which is three women and two men, including me, the GM, so we're outnumbered! But I've found that group to work well so far. The players, so one male and three female, are all new to gaming, and are taking to it well. The other group is all experienced gamers and all male, and we're rotating GMing duties for a series of one shots. It's a quite different experience, but again a really good one. Neither group has been going on for long enough for me to draw many conclusions, but so far I've found the stereotypical increased emphasis on relationships and sex with the group with women to be a thing. The character creation process with the two groups highlighted this: two of the women, when choosing their character's Passions (we're playing RuneQuest 6) chose Is Secretly in Love with (another female PC), and Loves Sex, as central drivers for their characters, and the male player choose a Passion to do with being attracted to a certain type of woman. By contrast, in the all male group, no one said anything at all about love or sex in relation to their character.

I'd be interested to hear how other people's experiences confirm or don't the differences in style between male and female players, or how mixed or single gender groups interact differently.

Quote from: Necrozius;902051I like having a diverse group of players from different backgrounds and experiences.

Also girls are prettier than boys :/

On average - I've had some pretty boys and some homely girls in my groups.

Actually I know one (female) player who's so breath-takingly beautiful, it's genuinely a bit distracting and actually makes GMing harder - a cross I decided I'm willing to bear, but I did wonder for a moment about inviting her back. I decided that discriminating against the too-beautiful was unfair, and anyway I'd get used to it. She did get a lot of attention from the male players (even the one who never normally reacts to that sort of thing), and a slight bit of jealousy from the normally-good-looking female players.

I'm with Markfitz in the sense that I notice a distinct change in dynamic when playing with an all male group as opposed to a mixed gender group. All male groups I've played in tend to drift towards boyish antics and lame sex jokes. Both boys and girls make lame sex jokes in mixed groups, but don't go over the top to become annoying. I theorize most people find the presence of the other gender puts a lid on excesses (and that goes both ways).

Come to think of it I've never been in a female majority group. It's always been about equal numbers or all male.

Quote from: JesterRaiin;902053I guess the only problem would be to play rules-heavy RPGs with larger (6+) all-female (or all-kids) groups that don't know how to play at all. I'm bad at explaining details.

Some of the most gear-head crunch-loving players I know are female though, and some of the most fluffy can't-handle-a-4e-character-sheet ones are male. Probably modern RPGs tend to attract the more techie types to start with anyway, but I think the most diehard number-cruncher I know is an early years schoolteacher. When she brought her equally gearhead female friend to a 16th level 4e D&D game it was quite terrifying.

Quote from: S'mon;902059On average - I've had some pretty boys and some homely girls in my groups.

Actually I know one (female) player who's so breath-takingly beautiful, it's genuinely a bit distracting and actually makes GMing harder - a cross I decided I'm willing to bear, but I did wonder for a moment about inviting her back. I decided that discriminating against the too-beautiful was unfair, and anyway I'd get used to it. She did get a lot of attention from the male players (even the one who never normally reacts to that sort of thing), and a slight bit of jealousy from the normally-good-looking female players.

I often think that it must be hard to be genuinely, devastatingly beautiful. A certain amount of attractiveness is a definite asset in life, including personal charm as well as looks, but at a certain point physical beauty must become a bit of a hindrance to normal interactions.

Quote from: Battle Mad Ronin;902060I'm with Markfitz in the sense that I notice a distinct change in dynamic when playing with an all male group as opposed to a mixed gender group. All male groups I've played in tend to drift towards boyish antics and lame sex jokes. Both boys and girls make lame sex jokes in mixed groups, but don't go over the top to become annoying. I theorize most people find the presence of the other gender puts a lid on excesses (and that goes both ways).

Come to think of it I've never been in a female majority group. It's always been about equal numbers or all male.

Having attended an all-boys school and having friends who went to all-girls ones i can attest to the truth of the idea that mixing the genders tends to curb the excesses of either one alone. Boys alone tend towards barbarity, girls to breathtaking bitchiness. When they get older, I find that all-male groups can regress to this teenage state, and all female groups tend to be snarky towards each other too.

Quote from: markfitz;902058Neither group has been going on for long enough for me to draw many conclusions, but so far I've found the stereotypical increased emphasis on relationships and sex with the group with women to be a thing. The character creation process with the two groups highlighted this: two of the women, when choosing their character's Passions (we're playing RuneQuest 6) chose Is Secretly in Love with (another female PC), and Loves Sex, as central drivers for their characters, and the male player choose a Passion to do with being attracted to a certain type of woman. By contrast, in the all male group, no one said anything at all about love or sex in relation to their character.

I'd be interested to hear how other people's experiences confirm or don't the differences in style between male and female players, or how mixed or single gender groups interact differently.

I think that fits my experience, though personally I enjoy having romance & relationship stuff in the game a lot, and I know female players who aren't interested. But yes in general it seems to be more common with female players & in mixed groups. I guess that's one reason I like mixed groups. The all male group I GM, most of the players like romance/relationship stuff too (male PCs with female NPCs - even the gay male player prefers it that way). I guess that's one reason I enjoy playing with them.  In general anything that gives the PCs an inner life enhances enjoyment for me, and that seems most common with mixed-sex groups.

Quote from: markfitz;902063I often think that it must be hard to be genuinely, devastatingly beautiful. A certain amount of attractiveness is a definite asset in life, including personal charm as well as looks, but at a certain point physical beauty must become a bit of a hindrance to normal interactions.

I didn't really believe it until this recent experience, although I know there are studies that the most attractive female fruit flies have shorter lives (they exhaust themselves trying to fend off amorous males). When I found myself considering discriminating against someone on the basis of her too-good looks I realised that it was indeed a thing.

Quote from: S'mon;902067I think that fits my experience, though personally I enjoy having romance & relationship stuff in the game a lot, and I know female players who aren't interested. But yes in general it seems to be more common with female players & in mixed groups. I guess that's one reason I like mixed groups. The all male group I GM, most of the players like romance/relationship stuff too (male PCs with female NPCs - even the gay male player prefers it that way). I guess that's one reason I enjoy playing with them.  In general anything that gives the PCs an inner life enhances enjoyment for me, and that seems most common with mixed-sex groups.

Yeah this really adds something to the game for me as well. Characters having an inner life, and relationships with each other and NPCs, seems to not only make them better rounded but to lead to innumerable plot hooks and complications. It's much easier as a GM to threaten or drive to action a character that has family ties and relationships than a brooding loner type.