Quote from: The Traveller;469291Look, it's this simple. The hobby was and still is dominated by D&D, taking most of its inspiration from the LotR, which is pretty much medieval, as in that time period when women didn't usually feature largely. On top of that earlier RPGs were mostly targeted at young male audiences, since they were the only ones who were buying. This is why when women did make an appearance, they often had excessive boobage.

First of all while games like D&D may on the surface appear to be based upon medieval history they aren't really.  Medieval history was boring for both the vast majority of males and females.  You grew up in a shack, toil in tedium and boredom, and then you would die.

Quote from: B.T.;469271ENWorld and RPG.net are the worst places on the Internet.

RPG.net can be pretty bad but once you've worked out who you can attack and get away with it's okay.

Wouldn't know about ENWorld. It's too buggy for me to do anything but post ads and that usually takes 30 mins plus.

Quote from: two_fishes;469274But as long as genuinely offensive misogyny is rooted out, I don't see it as a very big deal.

Yeah, I always tell people to chill when I'm employing non-offensive racism.

*Intake of breath*

...no, better not.

Looking at personal experience (since the Net tends to greatly exaggerate the significance of the extreme outliers, who are spun into "this is what gamers are like" kind of bullshit), the hobby I participate in seems male-dominated but not particularly sexist.

It has improved over time; the problem used to manifest in teenage douchebaggery, and later on mostly in the "well you could not be a female knight in the Middle Ages" brand of stupid reasoning (which might fly in Ars Magica, but not most FRPGs since they are not particularly mediaeval plus the PCs are assumed to be special people). I see a lot less of either now, and I guess people have been growing up. I am also seeing less "player's/GM's girlfriend" types, which is pretty good since many of them clearly had no interest in RPGs, and were only dragged in at their boyfriends' insistence. Those who are in are in for the hobby.

Anecdotally, one of the two groups I am currently playing in consists entirely of men, while the other (a 3.0 FR game) is split evenly. Since these are D&D games with implied settings where women can easily find strong roles in all classes (D&D is in a sense a pretty feminist game by default, since social standing is blatantly disregarded while character power can transcend all boundaries) they are pretty much okay from where I stand.

Quote from: technoextreme;469297First of all while games like D&D may on the surface appear to be based upon medieval history they aren't really.  Medieval history was boring for both the vast majority of males and females.  You grew up in a shack, toil in tedium and boredom, and then you would die.

That's the other main stereotype about the European Middle Ages, though, and just as inaccurate. It is hard to generalise about a period that spanned a continent and a millennium, but it was a lot more interesting, diverse and even festive than grubby peasants toiling in the mud forever - even for the peasants themselves, who had a lot of amusement when they could get it, in significantly more grotesque and vivid forms than role-playing games. It has a kernel of truth, but much like the image of Ye Olde Renfairlande, it is a modern image constructed from several strata of popular media created way after the actual time period. Huizinga and Pernoud, among others, have demonstrated this pretty thoroughly in their works, and they are not particularly new authors.

Quote from: Zachary The First;469244It doesn't bother me if it's created, but I don't see a need for it. I guess someone thinks there is, though.
 
We've had females in our gaming groups pretty regularly. In my experience, they run the gamut of playstyles, just like guys do.

My thoughts, exactly.

In my games we have an average of girls of 50% or higher. I've never heard a single complaint, and they belong to all playstyles, sometimes going thoruhg different stages. These days, most of them are asskickers.

Quote from: jibbajibba;469265How may hot girls play RPGs?

Here in Spain a huge lot, I tell you.

Quote from: Imperator;469332Here in Spain a huge lot, I tell you.

Haha I fly to spain tomorrow! I will check out the game stores but Imperator if I find you are lying I will hunt down you and your familiy to the 4th generation

PS are we talking Jessica Simpson hot or girl next door who is okay once you get to know her hot ?

Spike Milligan was rumoured to have written a clause into his will forbiding the analysis or study of his work by any academic.

I'm tempted to do the same.

Quote from: jibbajibba;469333Haha I fly to spain tomorrow! I will check out the game stores but Imperator if I find you are lying I will hunt down you and your familiy to the 4th generation

PS are we talking Jessica Simpson hot or girl next door who is okay once you get to know her hot ?

Well, if you visit Barcelona then give me a call

Re: hotness. They run all the gamut, really. If you go to some con you will be mostly pretty girls next door, the occasional Jessica Simpson hot, and also the random ugly one.

I don't know if it is public or not, but this Flickr album shows some guys and gals from Barcelona LARPing. Several of them play with me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/octarina8/sets/72157622284027600/

ANd this other one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/octarina8/sets/72157622284027600/

Quote from: Ian Warner;469306RPG.net can be pretty bad but once you've worked out who you can attack and get away with it's okay.

Pffft you are just pouting because you were told to knock off of the constant trying to make every thread a billboard for one of your games

Quote from: Imperator;469337Well, if you visit Barcelona then give me a call

Re: hotness. They run all the gamut, really. If you go to some con you will be mostly pretty girls next door, the occasional Jessica Simpson hot, and also the random ugly one.

I don't know if it is public or not, but this Flickr album shows some guys and gals from Barcelona LARPing. Several of them play with me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/octarina8/sets/72157622284027600/

Well I am off to a mates place in Majorca for a few days and I can't view Flickr from work So I will have to trust you.

Now this is you have to admit pretty sexist behaviour ....

Quote from: DominikSchwager;469342Pffft you are just pouting because you were told to knock off of the constant trying to make every thread a billboard for one of your games

Heh: To be honest there are far worse offenders than me. I'm just the autistic one with the odd social views.

Go figure

Quote from: jibbajibba;469346Well I am off to a mates place in Majorca for a few days and I can't view Flickr from work So I will have to trust you.

Now this is you have to admit pretty sexist behaviour ....

I cannot see how enjoying beauty is a sexist behaviour Anyway, I wanted to show a quite typical bunch of gamers. Around here, most gamers are pretty regular persons, with adequate hygiene and manners, and ususally in reasonable shape. You can see some Fatbeard Lawncrapper From Hell, but those are exceptionally rare. And most girls are cute