Man, you are lucky, I wish my wife played Armada with me. She loves tabletop gaming but a very particular slice of it.

I'm happy to settle for her tolerating me spending as much time as I do on it Armada (and money)

A guy in our local meta actually noticed recently how heavily male the community is. I can only think of one female that is active in ours and this is apparently the case all over. I wonder if we can get any female armada community members to chime in on how we can encourage a bigger female representation in this great game?

My Wife says:

"Avoid Threads turning into these:"

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/228701-newbie-question-major-rhymer/

As the newbie who started that thread, I suddenly feel vaguely guilty. What's wrong with how that thread turned out? I enjoyed seeing the discussion.

It was the quote:

"Your wife plays Armada with you? Please let me know if you ever get divorced."

I can't (and won't) ask for Specifics on why, but that was her quote to me, and if I get further details, I'll let you know.

Ahh, I was worried I had done or said something or the discussion had been too harsh or something.

It was the quote:

"Your wife plays Armada with you? Please let me know if you ever get divorced."

I can't (and won't) ask for Specifics on why, but that was her quote to me, and if I get further details, I'll let you know.

It was tongue in cheek, and meant to express sarcastic jealousy.

In more sincere language: That's awesome that your wife plays Armada with you. I wish my wife also would try playing Armada with me.

Me and the Fiancé discussed this topic when I mentioned this thread to her.

I have read some horror stories over cons and events where women are harassed like you'd expect the local jock in high school to act. I would say that kind of shadow could hang over gaming in general. I also would guess that if women were into the game, you'd see more of them playing. It's just possible there aren't as many females into this kind of game. But that's my best guesses onto the subject. I'm an electrical technician, not a psychologist.

I think ultimately more people playing would be great. Their sex Is irrelevant.

mostly because I haven't seen toxic behavior at any gamestore. I've never seen a gamer in public pull a "SHOW ME YOUR T!t5!" or anything even close.

That's odd, because I've been going to game stores for just over a year and have observed plenty of toxic behavior. Let's see, there were the loud conversations about how of course cosplayers are going to be groped who cares and anyway it's their fault for wearing those clothes. The omnipresent **** jokes. The omnipresent sexist jokes. The loud insistence that female characters are totally bull and if they're not bull they're totally bangable, the tendency for RPG sessions to rapidly go to Creepville whenever somebody decides that having sex with a bar maid is the thing to do. It goes on, and that's leaving aside the two X-Wing players who were straight up emotionally abusive to their girlfriends, in public.

Now, this does vary. Of the two stores I hit with regularity, one is significantly more toxic than the other. It's not a coincidence that the store with the significantly less awful clientele hosts far more mixed-gender gaming groups than the other does.

So when you say you've never seen toxic behavior, well. It's possible you live in a magical place free of the sort of behavior that creates a hostile environment. Far more likely is that you simply don't recognize what that behavior looks like.

So to circle back around, Hastiator, to the extent that there's anything you can do it's to make it clear that toxic behavior is not welcome around you. Call out the **** jokes, call out the sexist jokes and if women ever do venture into gaming around you, well, it's just that little bit more welcoming for them. This will likely involve confrontation with people who have poor social skills and will react with hostility to being told that the things they're saying are not okay. It will, in all likelihood, never be easy and never be enjoyable, and your success will be very contingent on the behavior of store management; if they'll back you (or will intervene on their own), great. If they want to have a store where loud **** jokes are fine, well, that's that.

But if you want to do something, that's pretty much it.

mostly because I haven't seen toxic behavior at any gamestore. I've never seen a gamer in public pull a "SHOW ME YOUR T!t5!" or anything even close.

That's odd, because I've been going to game stores for just over a year and have observed plenty of toxic behavior. Let's see, there were the loud conversations about how of course cosplayers are going to be groped who cares and anyway it's their fault for wearing those clothes. The omnipresent **** jokes. The omnipresent sexist jokes. The loud insistence that female characters are totally bull and if they're not bull they're totally bangable, the tendency for RPG sessions to rapidly go to Creepville whenever somebody decides that having sex with a bar maid is the thing to do. It goes on, and that's leaving aside the two X-Wing players who were straight up emotionally abusive to their girlfriends, in public.

Now, this does vary. Of the two stores I hit with regularity, one is significantly more toxic than the other. It's not a coincidence that the store with the significantly less awful clientele hosts far more mixed-gender gaming groups than the other does.

So when you say you've never seen toxic behavior, well. It's possible you live in a magical place free of the sort of behavior that creates a hostile environment. Far more likely is that you simply don't recognize what that behavior looks like.

So to circle back around, Hastiator, to the extent that there's anything you can do it's to make it clear that toxic behavior is not welcome around you. Call out the **** jokes, call out the sexist jokes and if women ever do venture into gaming around you, well, it's just that little bit more welcoming for them. This will likely involve confrontation with people who have poor social skills and will react with hostility to being told that the things they're saying are not okay. It will, in all likelihood, never be easy and never be enjoyable, and your success will be very contingent on the behavior of store management; if they'll back you (or will intervene on their own), great. If they want to have a store where loud **** jokes are fine, well, that's that.

But if you want to do something, that's pretty much it.

I am going to have to look for these. . .

Mxlm has it right. If you see douchebaggery happening, speak up. Ultimately the people in attendance can control the environment the greatest.

I think my local store has a few women who come in and play a few of the games. There also is a few fathers who bring in their 12-15 year old children to events. There is typically a bigger issue with foul language when the kids are around than sexist comments.

Store owners/employees can't be everywhere.

mostly because I haven't seen toxic behavior at any gamestore. I've never seen a gamer in public pull a "SHOW ME YOUR T!t5!" or anything even close.

That's odd, because I've been going to game stores for just over a year and have observed plenty of toxic behavior. Let's see, there were the loud conversations about how of course cosplayers are going to be groped who cares and anyway it's their fault for wearing those clothes. The omnipresent **** jokes. The omnipresent sexist jokes. The loud insistence that female characters are totally bull and if they're not bull they're totally bangable, the tendency for RPG sessions to rapidly go to Creepville whenever somebody decides that having sex with a bar maid is the thing to do. It goes on, and that's leaving aside the two X-Wing players who were straight up emotionally abusive to their girlfriends, in public.

Now, this does vary. Of the two stores I hit with regularity, one is significantly more toxic than the other. It's not a coincidence that the store with the significantly less awful clientele hosts far more mixed-gender gaming groups than the other does.

So when you say you've never seen toxic behavior, well. It's possible you live in a magical place free of the sort of behavior that creates a hostile environment. Far more likely is that you simply don't recognize what that behavior looks like.

So to circle back around, Hastiator, to the extent that there's anything you can do it's to make it clear that toxic behavior is not welcome around you. Call out the **** jokes, call out the sexist jokes and if women ever do venture into gaming around you, well, it's just that little bit more welcoming for them. This will likely involve confrontation with people who have poor social skills and will react with hostility to being told that the things they're saying are not okay. It will, in all likelihood, never be easy and never be enjoyable, and your success will be very contingent on the behavior of store management; if they'll back you (or will intervene on their own), great. If they want to have a store where loud **** jokes are fine, well, that's that.

But if you want to do something, that's pretty much it.

Thanks for your input. I tend to watch out for as much douchey behaviour as I can and I'm never shy about calling people out on it. In my experience people who are a little insecure and immature congregate and seek out each others approval by being stupid and saying stupid things but as soon as it's made clear that what they are doing is toxic and unacceptable they can be managed...or discouraged from attending (my local gaming society has specifically barred certain people from attending). That being said, I know the entirety of the local Armada scene and those people don't exist in our group (can't speak for x-wing), I would not hesitate to bring my little daughters or wife to Armada nights or tournaments. I would love to see more people join this community and if they happen to be female I would gladly make it my mission to make sure they feel welcome.