Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

in all my 10 years of playing I've seen only 3
I know a lot who enjoy painting, because painting can be fun for anyone, but the game and people...not so much.
I remember a friend of mine was at a GW with me while I was playing a game, and the guy wouldn't stop hitting on her, so I broke his most expensive model
(well my sleeve did, I was merely a host for it)

look at the votes its just silly now.

I seen 1 girl play thats about it.

I have seen one or two women play 40K... a couple more playing other games like Malifuax or Warmahordes.

Funny story I remember going to the local bunker about 3 or so years ago to play a game with my buddy. It was a Saturday night in the Fall and we were playing in a different room from the main store. I was heading back to the washrooms when I saw this dude (highschooler) decked out in a suit and a girl in a prom/homecoming dress playing a game at one of the tables... was the oddest darned thing I ever saw... not sure how he convinced to go do that.

htj wrote:It's funny. I've never met a girl who likes Sanrio stuff. Only guys.

I've got a girlfriend who is fething obsessed with Hello Kitty, But she is insane.

40k-wise I've never seen a female SOB player. Nids, Tau, Deldar mostly.

Now this might just be biased personal experience, but it seems like if you're a guy at a gaming store, people around just assume you know what you're doing and leave you to your own devices, but if you're a girl people will think you need help and/or don't know what you're looking for/at. Random people will try to "help" you, whether you want it or not. For a guy they assume you know the game pretty well and talk more specifically, but for a girl it's different somehow... I just realized I might be talking out of my bum, but that's my two cents nonetheless.

We've got a young lady in our local 40K club who plays a beautifully painted Slaanesh Demons army. The wife of one of our members also plays, although rarely, preferring the painting and modelling aspects over actual play. She does rank in the top 10 during tournaments, though. My wife, on the other hand, is passingly familiar with the hobby but refuses to enter a game store because of the leers she gets.

Generalizations about one's sex and hobby interests are going to be as accurate as any generalizations, though.

Cyporiean wrote:
40k-wise I've never seen a female SOB player. Nids, Tau, Deldar mostly.

Conversely I've seen nothing but female SOB players in my experience. Except for my mate's GF, who plays Necrons.

StarShade wrote:

daedalus wrote:I think it's usually the men who become 'creepy creep-os' that keep women out of wargames. One of my ex-girlfriends refused to go into the store because she was sick of getting stared at. I also think that 40k is a bit too cartoony for them. A different ex told me she had no interest in 40k, but she did like the Fantasy models. Not sure she would have actually liked the game though.

Incidentally, amongst the kids at the FLGS, we have a girlfriend of one of the guys who's into 40k, and the younger sister of one of the kids is also starting a Daemon army.

My Gf feels exactly the same. She is very much into computer games, comics and has wanted to start a Dark Eldar army for a while but gets creeped out every time i take her into GW because the vast majority of guys in there stare at her.

Same with my girlfriend depending on which GW it is. A lot she refuses to step foot in again, and I honestly cannot blame her.

F50Grunt wrote:Now this might just be biased personal experience, but it seems like if you're a guy at a gaming store, people around just assume you know what you're doing and leave you to your own devices, but if you're a girl people will think you need help and/or don't know what you're looking for/at. Random people will try to "help" you, whether you want it or not. For a guy they assume you know the game pretty well and talk more specifically, but for a girl it's different somehow... I just realized I might be talking out of my bum, but that's my two cents nonetheless.

This is how it is. If I go in with the wife, they virtually only talk to me. On the odd occasion she has gone in alone they assume she's shopping for a man/child and doesn't know what dice and brushes are.

I've noticed that the majority of women at my LGS play roleplaying games, to the point that I sometimes see more of them than men at those tables. In constrast, there's usually only a few playing Magic the Gathering (There's zero Warhammer players there. :()

Male. I Think the male/female ratio is really malleable depending on the game system. At my local gw (where the staff are actually great for the most part) women/girls come in to see what it is, but tend to leave without purchase and never return. At my flgs id say about 30% of the regular clientele are of the female persuasion. I think its just warhammer.

Having said that though, im quite a metalhead and the various girlfriends ive had who have also been big on metal, have really liked the over-the-top grimdark. One even plays dark angels to this day.

Ya, our hobby doesnt attract the ladies, and I'm not talking about relationships, I'm talking about at playing the game. In a way the hobby reminds me of video games back in the day. Ya some really great people played video games but it also attracted some social destitutes. Which isnt always a bad thing in the right enviroment social destitutes can learn to be social people. Over time though, enough people played video games that even girl gamers are way more plentiful than they were twenty years ago. Both women are men are social creatures but while I'm a willing to tolerate playing with someone who doesnt bath and has zero social skills in order to play with the other cool people who hang out at my FLGS, most women dont see a need to. For example we had a tournament sometime back and I was playing against my first female opponent. Out of the blue this guy starts doing the insulting/hitting on girls thing social rejects tend to do, and heckles her most of the game. I told him to stop but I guess he was really hard for her and eventually had to call the ref over to kick him out of our game.

I have a world inhabited by strong women so wouldnt say that they are not competitive. However most are more willing to play at home than at a gaming store. Why its the trolls. Its the people who are so unsuccessful at every other venue in their life, that they bring their issues to the table and take fun, engaging, friendship confirming competition to a whole other level. So I dont think it depends on whether its Wyrd Games, Spartan, PP, or GW, its the gaming atmosphere your FLGS has. Luckly we have an air foce, army base, and college in my area so the store usually attracts people who have a life and are competitive in other areas outside the FLGS. I wouldnt say everyone there is a gem but we do have a high proportion of NCOs, OCs, graduate students, and independent business owners we are just really awesome company. Than again it only takes one or two trolls to ruin this vibe for female gamers. The lesson is, if your looking to meet women your better off swallowing the bullet and learning how to dance.

I wouldnt say everyone there is a gem but we do have a high proportion of NCOs, OCs, graduate students, and independent business owners we are just really awesome company.

You make it sound like being "successful" is what makes you good company.

Been playing since 1996 at stores. I've never had a female 40k player sighting...

Last semster a girl in my economics class got in trouble for doing 'homework' for other classes while the teacher was talking. I was a couple rows behind her but I know for a fact the books she had pulled out were a warhammer rulebook and a army book. I think it was WHFB, but Im not sure. She seemed pretty pissed that the teacher made her put it away... maybe she had a tournament to get ready for or something...

I'm annoyed there is no option for hermaphrodites and trans-genders. what are you, anti gay?

I'm kidding.

Anyway, I know about four gamers who are girls, and overall I know 24. go figure.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
that is, that I play with.

I am a Male. I know 4 females gamers.

I am female. I play Tyranids and have recently started a Fantasy Skaven army. I like all aspects of the hobby.
I really don't understand why there are so little female gamers. :|

Meh, I don't get it either. I've encountered a variety of female gamers over the years... was even in a GW store browsing when a young woman came in and asked for a job there you should've seen the shocked, horrified looks.

But yeah, overall it seems to be a male dominated hobby. Why is that? I don't know... likely something to do with the fact that it's seen as a male dominated hobby, by and large people care too much about image these days.

I've also noticed the weird attitudes they get in GW stores... take the example above, the job-seeker. I was in there for a while talking to a couple of the staff, it was pretty quiet... EVERY other guy that came in just turned into a slack-jawed goggle-eyed dimwit at the sight of a woman there... I'd hate it if that were to happen to me, so I can understand feelings of resentment there

<--- female

Beregond wrote:I've also noticed the weird attitudes they get in GW stores... take the example above, the job-seeker. I was in there for a while talking to a couple of the staff, it was pretty quiet... EVERY other guy that came in just turned into a slack-jawed goggle-eyed dimwit at the sight of a woman there... I'd hate it if that were to happen to me, so I can understand feelings of resentment there

This is what puts off a lot of girls with regards to GW in particular... I'm no looker and I still get the freaked out/wtf looks and stares if I so much open my mouth about having an army or knowing anything other than 'what should I buy my husband/son for xmas/b-day'... (which I am more than capable of doing myself ). I have also had the women-hating/hitting on reactions with RP games though... *shudder*

I've only met a couple of other female gamers myself and I'd tend to agree we generally lean more towards RPGs, painting and modelling rather than playing. (Most girls I know who've been into videogames have been in denial about being gamers, despite being massively competitive when playing.)

Byte wrote:Been playing since 1996 at stores. I've never had a female 40k player sighting...

However, I have seen plenty of RPGs, cards, and general other games being played by the ladies.

Me and the girlfriend just had an interesting chat about what happens when we go into GW as well... a good example yesterday. We go into a GW and she basically gets treated like an unimportant add-on of the male customer, usually me occasionally her brother/father when we go as a group. If they talk to any of us it's always a male, generally ignoring her existence until she's actually buying something... odd.

Beregond wrote: EVERY other guy that came in just turned into a slack-jawed goggle-eyed dimwit at the sight of a woman there...

yeah, women do this to me all the time. I can't even take me shirt off at the pool... *cough*

Me and the girlfriend just had an interesting chat about what happens when we go into GW as well... a good example yesterday. We go into a GW and she basically gets treated like an unimportant add-on of the male customer, usually me occasionally her brother/father when we go as a group. If they talk to any of us it's always a male, generally ignoring her existence until she's actually buying something... odd.

i can't say this seems too odd, or even unreasonable. From the few women I have seen come into a GW store with a guy they usually ARE, from a business standpoint, 'unimportant add ons'. As a salesperson I would probably concentrate on the person more likely to make a purchase (see above poll for why it would be the guy). also, if a bf has failed to get his gf into gaming, i doubt the salesperson is gonna have much more success. This opinion of mine, though, is coming from the fact that my local gw store is pretty small and only ever has one employee who can only really give attention to one person ata time. Also, if a girl is an 'add on' she will usually stand beside, behind the guy the whole time.

All that said, I rarley pass up the chance to talk to a lady rather than some schmuck buying toys (irony here as I am usually the schmuck) so I don't quite understand it either.

MightyGodzilla wrote:

infinite_array wrote:

Remember that there are plenty of other games and scales out there. One of the system's I've seen women enjoy is Malifaux - they mention how they like the aesthetic and looks of the models. And there's a realm of historicals to play. And, over in the Battletech forums, we get stuff like this:

Awesome. I'd pay good money for that Marauder/Glaug. Pink with Sanrio FTW.

Back on the Battletech site that would likely be known as Neko rather than Sanrio.

I rarely if ever talk to a woman who wanders in a GW, last thing she needs is another dude "bothering" her lol

Theres a few, not very common though. However a lot of girls do come in the store

I've seen one lady play 40k and she's in it mainly for the painting. Most females around here gravitate towards D&D or card games. As far as video gaming goes, I've known quite a few female WoW players. Two of my GMs were female, there we quite a few couples playing, and one of my world pvp buddies (ironically the most active one) was a female player.

If I was a chick, I certainly would avoid every LGS out here as far as WHFB/40k goes. Too many creepers.

This poll is a trap, there are no women on the internet ;7

Only FBI agents and 40 year old bald men with weight problems!

I was most definitly male the last time I checkd.