2009-03-19: RPGirl Zine project
by Emily
Back in 2007, Meg and some other folks started something pretty great. The RPG = Role Playing Girl book project reached out to women gamers to showcase their voices in the role playing game world. Stealing from the blog:
Meg wrote:
Role-playing, as a hobby with books and tools and industry support, has been around my whole life. I got my first taste of organized pretend and written down characters at age 7, when I made my first D&D character. I've always played in groups of girls and boys, men and women. To me, the notion that women are a minority in the world of role-playing was an odd one, but I look around me now, and it's pretty clear. The top names and top games are made by and marketed to, primarily, men. Here's the weird bit, though: I keep finding more and more and more women gamers.
It seems like a natural progression, to us. Women gamers talk, play games, design games, hang out together, sell games, discuss games, think about being women in a strongly male hobby - and write a book about it.
And although it still holds true that the top known names are male—more and more I am seeing right now that there is a very strong presence of women in gaming. Going to cons, there are women browsing booths and playing games. Women there in their own right, there because they love it, not just because they have been dragged along by an enthusiastic (male) significant other. We have many games written and published by women, and there are many more doing significant work in the field who could use more recognition.
So, there are some projects in the works this year to spotlight and showcase this reality of women in gaming. One of them is a zine based on the idea of the RPGirl book. It will have a group of essays, community pages to announce events and services that women are organizing and providing in the gaming world. And some neat touches like recipes good for game day that come from the pen of a top-selling cook book author in our ranks. There is a new blog for this project:
We'd love to have more contributions from women who love gaming, who have something to say or who'd like to do some professional networking. Pass this along to others, and drop me a line at emilycare - at - gm@il if you want to get involved.
2009-03-19 17:41:28 Tommi
This project might be of interest, as it is targeted at the same audience (I think): http://geeksdreamgirl.com/2009/01/12/female-roleplaying-gamers-needed-for-new-book/
2009-03-20 15:36:39 Emily
Good call! I'd like to get in touch with them. That is right up RPGirl's alley. Looks like a neat project. Thanks!