Are Roleplaying Games Sexist?

I don't think that roleplaying games are necessarily sexist. I think it's all down to imagination. Any character class can be male or female but fact of life is that some genders are more suited to certain jobs. Fighters aren't necessarily male, but there's nothing stopping you from drawing up a female fighter.

The artwork has changed majorly over the past couple of years with lots more female archetype diagrams giving character ideas. I think that they are cottoning onto the fact that there are more girls into the hobby now than there were.

If something "turns me off" about a system, it's generally the system itself, not the archetypes. Even if the examples are all male, it's not too difficult to just change the gender in your head.

If anything, the cute, fluffy, romantic "for women" games would piss me off. But that's just me.

There are games out there that appeal primarily to female players though. Take Witchcraft for example. Most archetypes are women, or girls, and the situations surrounding them. It's an okay system but I wouldn't be running out to play it. I like my cyberpunk, my world of darkness, and all the other games I've shelled out money on and I think that the only limitations are in the player's heads. You can make any character you like as long as you can imagine it.

At the end of the day, the system is the system and examples are only examples. Could there be any more female examples? Possibly. Does it make a difference? I don't think so.

Yeah, much as the above. I've been trying to think of a response to this for a while now and not coming up with anything sensible. I mean, when -isms in RPGs come up I usually point at Drow and froth at mouth for a bit. Inherently evil BLACK FEMALE-RULED RACE OH EM EF GEE. Ahem. Disclaimer here btw - my rp experience is limited to D20 fantasy and its predecessors so I won't attempt to talk out of a nether orifice by discussing any other system. But certainly artwork has improved hugely in the recent years and chicks in chainmail bikini are getting rarer so I tell myself. That kind of completely impractical gear in favour of displaying the female body can be really annoying, but most of the time I have been able to dismiss is as the product of a pubescent male mindset (see, sexism right here too).

So no, I have never found RPGs or the RPG culture to be particularly sexist. Maybe I've been lucky or sheltered - I don't tend to read much about gaming as a hobby and the Irish cons are internationally acknowledged as accommodating and friendly. I think it's more that females tend to be a bit of a mystery, both within the gaming culture and in RPGs, so that male gamers aren't always sure what to make of them because of the small numbers. Again, this doesn't necessarily apply to Ireland.

I play RPGs fundamentally for the sake of a damn good story and being able to be personally, intimately part of that story. I love being a hero, love solving mysteries, love being part of a living, breathing, 3+ -dimensional fantasy world. In my experience, both sexes are allowed to do that equally well. You find female heroes and baddies, fighters, priests, wizards, rulers, whatnot. If anything, I would have said that the fantasy gaming genre is somewhat freer of the sexist stereotypes that are exhibited elsewhere in society because you can do anything, play any class etc. Y'know, apart from the Drow and chainmail bikini.

Wrt games-appealing-to-women (tm) I suspect that the wholy story aspect with rounded characters and complex relationships between other characters and NPCs (NB not by any manner of means necessarily romantic) attracts women more. It took a woman to write a rulebook for love and eroticism in D20 - Gwendolyn Kestrel and the Book of Erotic Fantasy. The stereotypical D&D games, which focus on dungeon crawling and saving the princess and in which actions have no consequence and everything is very superficial likely do alienate women. So generalising remark: women look for more depth.

Why aren't more women playing RPGs? Might as well ask, why aren't more women reading fantasy/sci-fi/cyberpunk/whatnot. And personally I have to agree with the previous poster and note that at the end of the day it doesn't really matter to me.

So generalising remark: women look for more depth.

That's a bit unfair! :) The same applies to men. I'd have to say if it was for "depth", I wouldn't have got into gaming and without it, I wouldn't have stayed in gaming. Then again, "depth" means different things to different people and also, sometimes I like a game, just for being a superficial (but fun) game.

But more generally, I get the impression from the all the comment so far that things are fine the way they are. :) I guess that's good, isn't it?

Well sure, hence the "generalising remark" bit. :)

whatever

what about you girls potrait us men on t.v. let me give you some advice.don't dish it unless you can take it.

whatever

what about you girls potrait us men on t.v like we're not people. let me give you some advice.don't dish it unless you can take it.

Re: whatever

I'm sorry but I don't understand your comment. Could you please elaborate (otherwise I won't kill your comment)? Thanks.