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 