Unconstrained displays of testosterone are common in tabletop gaming.
Women and LGBTQ players are woefully underrepresented in the Magic: The Gathering community, and in tabletop gaming in general, feminist icon Rebecca Watson told reporters Wednesday.
Watson, the founder of Skepchick Industries — the world’s leading skeptic organization — assigned interns to perform head counts at two dozen tabletop gaming events over the first five months of 2014. The interns visited a four-day Magic tournament in San Diego, observed a weekend skirmish among Warhammer 40k players in Toronto, and watched a Battletech campaign play out over a massive table in Manhattan’s famed Midtown Comics.
“What we found is that fewer than ten percent of players are women,” Watson said during Wednesday’s press conference.
Why? There are several factors that contribute to the overwhelming gender and sexuality imbalance, Watson said. While the fantasy setting and artwork of the Magic: The Gathering universe appeal to both genders, it’s believed the cut-throat, ultra-competitive atmosphere of official tournaments make potential female players feel unwelcome. Other tabletop franchises, like the popular Warhammer, are testosterone-fueled affairs where burly men assume the roles of military generals. And some women, Watson said, are intimidated by the sights and smells of tabletop tournaments.
“Sitting between two 300-pound men, with your nostrils overwhelmed by body odor, is not a safe space for women,” Watson said.
An informal poll also revealed an alarmingly low number of gay and lesbian tabletop gamers, but Skepchick Industries wouldn’t release those figures because suspected gay players refused to self-identify, claiming instead to be paragons of manliness. Watson likened it to the NFL, where an atmosphere of machismo and overwhelming testosterone pressures gay players to maintain a façade of heterosexuality. Like professional sports, there are undoubtedly gay tabletop gamers, but coming out of the closet may cause others to question whether a gay player is fit to lead an Orcish army or deploy space marines, Watson said.
Of all the tabletop games, Battletech was considered the most hostile to female gamers.
“What we’re hearing from women is that they don’t enjoy participating in zellbrigen,” Watson said. “Whereas men may enjoy the ritualistic preening and bidding of the Batchall, women find it tiresome and borderline sexist. As a result, women are often relegated to dezgra units.”
But Battletech may not be the worst offender. Games like Call of Cthulu and Vampire have featured plots involving graphic rape, and Magic: The Gathering players are required to “tap” their mana cards in order to perform actions in the game, Watson said.
“And that leads to all manner of awful, off-putting double entendres that can make women gamers feel uncomfortable,” Watson told reporters. “It’s a thin line between tapping a Sera Angel for a +4/+4 flying attack, and making jokes about tapping female players around the table.”
REBECCA WATSON FAN CLUB 
This is hilarious!
I’ll start with the gif at the beginning… I’ve been to several card tournaments and not once have I seen that happen.
“It’s believed the cut-throat, ultra-competitive atmosphere of official tournaments make potential female players feel unwelcome.” Guess what? Not all guys (including me) like that either. But card games are competitive so what else do you expect? If you don’t like it, don’t go to tournaments. Tournaments are catered specifically for those kinds of people. It’s why I don’t go to them anymore. So stop thinking you’re special and can change it just because you’re female. I wonder how many women were actually asked why they don’t go to tournaments or if this is just wild speculation?
““Sitting between two 300-pound men, with your nostrils overwhelmed by body odor, is not a safe space for women,” Watson said.” Again, no one likes that. It’s just something you deal with. Where the hell did she get that’s it’s not safe, though? I really can’t wrap my head around that one. Everyone’s there to have a good time and play some games… a guy shouldn’t have to worry about being perceived as dangerous because of his body weight. Seriously, that’s just prejudice.
“but coming out of the closet may cause others to question whether a gay player is fit to lead an Orcish army or deploy space marines, Watson said.” Wow. That’s one heck of an assumption. So all tabletop gamers are homophobes now? Being macho and manly isn’t exactly a requirement to play. Obviously, I can’t speak for anyone, but there’s no reason to suspect they will discriminate against gay people. More wild speculation I assume.
““It’s a thin line between tapping a Sera Angel for a +4/+4 flying attack, and making jokes about tapping female players around the table.”” Wow, you have to REALLY look for sexism to find that. I wonder how many times this has actually been observed?
The gif has happened at a friends house after 3 hour edh game ended with counter top locking my large friend, 2 turns prior to the lock he had told my other friend if you counter top ” I’m going to flip the table and stab you” = table upended and friend “stabbed” with a basic land from the game and he bought round of ultra late night jack in the box for all 6 of us in case anything that may have been collateral damage (but 6’5″ 250+/-lbs. His house to be fair ) No malice just laughs all around .
I just sent him that gif he may stab me now lol.
Oh, Rebecca, is there anything that doesn’t oppress you?
@dynam01 No.
@James Come, now. We all know that tabletop gamers are a raucous bunch who enjoy making bawdy japes about tapping mana pools and releasing krakens.
Clearly, you don’t realize who Rebecca Watson is, elsewise you’d have stopped yourself from typing such folly. Better men than you have stubbornly refused to bend the knee, but they’ve all gone prostrate in submission sooner or later — whether they were the convention organizers at DragonCon, The Amazing Meeting, and Skeptic BattleRaps, or even well-known public figures like Richard Dawkins and Silvio Berlusconi.
You may be content to continue gaming in an environment hostile to women, but Rebecca Watson will not stand for it. Go and tell your friends, Watson is coming.
I’d be convinced you were trolling if it wasn’t for your username. Who cares how tabletop players act at tournaments? They’re not hurting anyone. You’re making it out to be some sort of carefully concocted plan to drive female players off. No, the environment isn’t ideal for everyone, but like I said, it’s not just female players who are put off by it. It’s just how these players are. I’ve yet to see any indication that females are target specifically.
PS. Your hostility and lack of respect towards men is pretty disgusting. You should work on that if you expect to be taking a bit more seriously.
Yes, there is hostility and disrespect…toward women. I don’t think you fully grasp how women can feel at these events. Whether it’s tabletop gaming tournaments, Bronie gatherings, or skeptic conventions, one thing remains constant — the gross, sweaty neckbeards who populate those places treat women like prey for their clammy, Cheez Doodle stained paws.
Rebecca Watson in particular has been groped, grabbed at, and touched in other non-consensual ways at tabletop gaming tournaments. At a Magic tourney, a train of suitors followed her from table to table. Some bore flowers, others chocolates, but the one thing they all had in common was that they were staring at her breasts.
Ask yourself why you’d support that sort of behavior. Maybe you’ll realize that your white male privilege makes you blind to the sufferings of others.
It’s only a matter of time before a feminist bitched and moaned about table top gaming. The reason why women may be under represented could be the fact that not many of them were interested in those games to begin with. None of those tournaments have ever turned people away because of gender. Rebecca obviously has an issue being outnumbered by men.
Sitting between smelly overweight people might be unpleasant, but did these men attack or harass Rebecca in anyway. How was this an unsafe space?
Rebecca has tried to splinter the Atheism movement, so now let’s go do it with table top gaming
Serra Angel has vigilance so she does not tap when attacking… just saying.