For the first time ever I joined a voice call while playing a game (among us) and as soon as I said something everyone immediately started going "Is that a female??" "You're a female??" "There are females here??" I get that it was supposed to be a joke but fuck it felt so alienating to be bombarded with that in my first attempt at gaming socially
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It's interesting to compare the video game and board game communities. The latter also has its fair share of toxic competitive weirdos to be sure (sprinkled in amongst the friendly weirdos), and also has kneejerk assumptions that women only like light party games and don't like heavier games like Game of Thrones or competitive CCGs like Magic or Netrunner and all that -- but even so, no one would believe that women are incapable of enjoying table top games altogether or would have their mind blown at the idea of a woman playing one.
Being into board games means that you have to be a social, decent person because otherwise no one will play with you. Most video games can be played solo, and the multiplayer games all have online matchmaking where you are semi-anonymous and get matched at random, any time of the day
Now that you mention it, my union had board game nights pre-Covid but definitely never LAN party nights...
Is my collection of overpriced cardboard boxes praxis? 🤔
Then there's tabletop RPGs, which are traditionally the exclusive domain of male nerds, but in my experience (and my sample size is decent but not huge) are actually much closer to an even split.
Hell games were marketed in a gendered way in the '60s
Hey Roy, we got a really small amount of empty space in the top right corner of the picture! Wadda we do about it?
No sweat Larry! Just cram in a housewife and a kid stuffing a bag of trash into the kitchen sink.