I keep hearing there is such as thing as women who play nerdy games, but I've yet to see any. My wife plays Imperial Assault, but that's only because she loves me.

When I mentioned playing X-Wing at my local game store (no one plays Imperial Assault or I'd be all over that), she gasped in horror. "No, you can't do that. That's too much! You'll be like THEM!"

Unfortunately, she has a point. When I go to my gaming store and attempt to communicate with the large men hunched over the tables, they usually look at me and then quickly look away several times or mutter indecipherable things while taping the toes of their shoes together. Not only are there no normal men, there's certainly no gamer chicks.

Is this how it is everywhere?

That's not like my local shop. We've certainly got quite a few more males than females but almost everyone meets a generally acceptable level of hygiene and social acumen.

^ ditto

Surprisingly, literally everyone else at my local places have their lives more together than me

Then again, not a high bar

Nerds scare easily but they'll be back...And in greater numbers.

Try luring them out of their shells with gifts of soda and cheetos.

This thread is going places.

Women play the game. More men play than women. The skewed ratio means that due to statistical variation, some places will have zero, while some will have a fair number.

If you want to see greater diversity in your game stores, push back on things that make the environment unpleasant for non-mid-20s males. Make it the kind of place that your wife says "have fun with the nerds!" not "No! That's too much!"

If there aren't at least a couple of regulars at your FLGS that you'd consider inviting to a cook-out you probably need to find a different FLGS.

Yeah I think that's a stereotype that's long since passed, if it ever truly existed. Certainly every gaming store I've been to has been welcoming and fairly diverse by way of backgrounds and tastes, and my better half is an absolute shark at a few games like Star Fluxx and Boss Monster. Gaming is an all-inclusive pursuit.

This thread is going places.

Women play the game. More men play than women. The skewed ratio means that due to statistical variation, some places will have zero, while some will have a fair number.

If you want to see greater diversity in your game stores, push back on things that make the environment unpleasant for non-mid-20s males. Make it the kind of place that your wife says "have fun with the nerds!" not "No! That's too much!"

I WISH they were guys in their 20s! More like 40s and living in (shocker) mom's basement.

Yeah I think that's a stereotype that's long since passed, if it ever truly existed. Certainly every gaming store I've been to has been welcoming and fairly diverse by way of backgrounds and tastes, and my better half is an absolute shark at a few games like Star Fluxx and Boss Monster. Gaming is an all-inclusive pursuit.

Well, sadly the stereotype is REAL over here.

My board gaming and tabletop RPG groups are about 50/50 men and women. My tabletop miniature wargaming groups (X-Wing, Warhammer, Warmachine, Infinity, Malifaux, and historical) are 100% male.

I'm sure that's mostly a cultural thing - for whatever reason, tabletop gaming has been a bit more culturally inclusive to female players. Part of that is the lore of these games; board games like Setters of Catan or Ticket to Ride are totally gender-neutral in their theme. And while tabletop games like D&D maybe have an over-emphasis on macho fighting, the lore of those settings is very progressive in including lots of female characters who do exactly the same things as the male characters. The tabletop wargames, by contrast, have this very macho male-dominated background. X-Wing breaks from that, but the damage is done, and it will take a long time to fix.

I keep hearing there is such as thing as women who play nerdy games, but I've yet to see any. My wife plays Imperial Assault, but that's only because she loves me.

When I mentioned playing X-Wing at my local game store (no one plays Imperial Assault or I'd be all over that), she gasped in horror. "No, you can't do that. That's too much! You'll be like THEM!"

Unfortunately, she has a point. When I go to my gaming store and attempt to communicate with the large men hunched over the tables, they usually look at me and then quickly look away several times or mutter indecipherable things while taping the toes of their shoes together. Not only are there no normal men, there's certainly no gamer chicks.

Is this how it is everywhere?

Could be because you are calling them "chicks"

I mean...come on

Uh oh...having flashback of the "How can we make X-Wing More Inclusive Thread" from a year or two ago.

Yeah, this thread is going to quickly devolve.

Let's just say that there are many, many reasons why. Nerd/geek culture has some very, very nasty undersides.

My online gaming circle is 50/50 but irl it's a sausagefest.

I keep hearing there is such as thing as women who play nerdy games, but I've yet to see any. My wife plays Imperial Assault, but that's only because she loves me.

When I mentioned playing X-Wing at my local game store (no one plays Imperial Assault or I'd be all over that), she gasped in horror. "No, you can't do that. That's too much! You'll be like THEM!"

Unfortunately, she has a point. When I go to my gaming store and attempt to communicate with the large men hunched over the tables, they usually look at me and then quickly look away several times or mutter indecipherable things while taping the toes of their shoes together. Not only are there no normal men, there's certainly no gamer chicks.

Is this how it is everywhere?

Could be because you are calling them "chicks"

I mean...come on

I hear ya, I don't really refer to females as chicks. I just hear the term "gaming chicks" a lot. I'm actually quite polite to women, which is why I've managed to own one for 13 years now.

THAT WAS ANOTHER JOKE. Calm down. :-)

I really am polite to ladies, and I greatly appreciate their influence and ability to help normalize men. Which is why I think it's a very good thing when we have women playing games like X-Wing.

A woman won first and expand place at two major store champs in our area. Of 32 people each ish. Congrats to her.

A woman won first and expand place at two major store champs in our area. Of 32 people each ish. Congrats to her.

Very cool.

There is hope.

My board gaming and tabletop RPG groups are about 50/50 men and women. My tabletop miniature wargaming groups (X-Wing, Warhammer, Warmachine, Infinity, Malifaux, and historical) are 100% male.

I've found Malifaux to do a bit better in this regard featuring quite a lot of interesting female characters. Still the only woman who plays at my local group though as far as I'm aware.

While most RP groups I have been with have been close to 50/50 male/female, and there are a hell of a lot of lasses who take board games (and collectable card games) very seriously, I've encountered exceedingly few who enjoy miniature games.

Perhaps it's the abstraction of pushing tiny characterless men around a table, perhaps it's just the starting cost. Perhaps it's the high starting cost of most miniature games.

Certainly you must admit that RPGs and Boardgames generally have a lower buy in price, and are often more accessible. The lack of obvious narritive is probably also a barrier to a lot of people.

While most RP groups I have been with have been close to 50/50 male/female, and there are a hell of a lot of lasses who take board games (and collectable card games) very seriously, I've encountered exceedingly few who enjoy miniature games.

Very interesting you say that! My wife and I play the Imperial Assault campaigns, and I'm the Imperial. I have the "doh-dee-doh-whatever-fly-casual" approach, whereas she is EXTREMELY competitive. She sweats, gets nervous, makes very intelligent moves, and is very quick to assume she is going to lose and repeats it aloud -but she normally wins. It's all very funny to watch as I really don't care about winning or losing, I just want a fun experience.

Well, I do care a little....

I keep hearing there is such as thing as women who play nerdy games, but I've yet to see any. My wife plays Imperial Assault, but that's only because she loves me.

When I mentioned playing X-Wing at my local game store (no one plays Imperial Assault or I'd be all over that), she gasped in horror. "No, you can't do that. That's too much! You'll be like THEM!"

Unfortunately, she has a point. When I go to my gaming store and attempt to communicate with the large men hunched over the tables, they usually look at me and then quickly look away several times or mutter indecipherable things while taping the toes of their shoes together. Not only are there no normal men, there's certainly no gamer chicks.

Is this how it is everywhere?

What is an "woman".

Sounds like hoky old religious nonsense to me.

Who cares, really???

Who cares, really???

Dude, it matters. When you have a bunch of obese, smelly, rejects who can't stand still and look you in the eye when they talk it matters. Who wants to hang around that?

Insert normal women and weird guys start getting less weirder, it's true, I promise, I've seen it before.

Women make things better. We need more female X-Wing players, at least in my area.

My x-wing group is all male, almost all with wives and children to so much stereotypical nerds.

But again no women, my wife is willing to repaint my ships for me but has 0 interest in actually playing the game.

I really am polite to ladies, and I greatly appreciate their influence and ability to help normalize men. Which is why I think it's a very good thing when we have women playing games like X-Wing.

Who cares, really???

Dude, it matters. When you have a bunch of obese, smelly, rejects who can't stand still and look you in the eye when they talk it matters. Who wants to hang around that?

Insert normal women and weird guys start getting less weirder, it's true, I promise, I've seen it before.

Women make things better. We need more female X-Wing players, at least in my area.

There are many, many things wrong with these posts.

And while it wasn't meant in any harmful way, the use of "chicks" is not a good way to start a conversation about women gamers.