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I'm not one to get concerned about gender, but this was amazing.

Rodrigo

By Rodrigo
in Miscellaneous

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Rodrigo Newbie

Rodrigo

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http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/122011706093/im-not-sure-how-much-you-may-want-to-debate-this

 

bizzeck asked: I'm not sure how much you may want to debate this topic, but I found Jim Davis' article about women in magic spot on. As a male/white person who plays magic, when exactly is the focus placed on just being a mature, caring person in general?

Here’s the issue. When things are set up in a way that they benefit you, it’s hard sometimes to recognize that they don’t benefit everyone. 

Imagine for example, you go play in a new store that you’ve never played at before. When you start round one, your opponent starts with 40 life. When you correct him, he tells you that at this store, if you live within a 5-mile radius of the store, you get to start at 40 life. 

You say that that’s unfair, but he says that that’s how they’ve played in this store since Magic first came out in 1993 and that no one in the store has any issues with it. To them, that is the status quo. It’s how they learned to play and it’s just accepted as the way things are.

Now them seeing it acceptable and fair doesn’t make it any less unfair for you. The problem is at this store you’re the minority who doesn’t like the status quo. Things aren’t going to change if you’re the only voice who says it’s wrong. Some of the regulars at the store, some of the ones who get 40 life, have to also stand up and go, “You know what? This isn’tright. We need to change this.”

That’s what this conversation is about. Women make up 38% of Magic players yet this isn’t remotely reflected in in store play. Why? What factors are causing this to be so? And if it’s going to change, it requires those of us in the majority to stand up and say, “You know what? Thisisn’t right. We need to change this.”

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Toffee. Newbie

Toffee.

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This is the irony of 'competitive' card games in general-

They have always been an "everyone" game. By all means, nothing in the games themselves state "NO GIRLS ALLOWED".

Just... If the game in question has the majority of it's players being male, then everyone assumes it's just a "boys game". Yet, it's ironically not. It's just the playerbase being mostly guys.

So go figure, that people would be fascinated with the idea of female players being a thing, because it's such of a rarity.

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cr47t Proficient

cr47t

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@Armadilloz

Irony indeed :/ Idqk what else to say here other than at least we can stop regarding it ourselves as a "boy`s game", because first off, its not even really a boys game because like Rod stated almost 40% of MtG players are female.

While in some cases majority rules, the people who are outside that majority group are just as important, so you need to take them into consideration too, or at least avoid deliberately discriminate against a certain group. When you discriminate like that, to me at least, that`s prejudice against that group. In this case, the group being prejudiced is the almost 40% of MtG players whom are female. The method of which they are being discriminated against, from what I can gather, is how the fact that that amount of MtG players are female, is not often considered in store play. This is what Im guessing from the above posts and Im guessing it because I don't really go to stores to play MtG, at least at the time I post this.

Also the reason im not using the quote feature is because the browser im on wont let me right now but that's besides the point.

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~NOiSE~ Newbie

~NOiSE~

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I don't play much anymore, but I went to a friend's MtG party where we ended up playing a 20-person game (which lasted several hours), and there were several female players, including my friend and her mom. I never thought it was weird, I'm not sure why anyone would think it is. It seems like girls playing card games and girls playing video games are similar...there are a lot of them but no one seems to talk about them or showcase them as much.   

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Lunar Origins Newbie

Lunar Origins

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Absolutely excellent post by MarRo, he really never fails to disappoint.

 

In my experiences around MtG players in store play, they just tend to be... well, really mean, and very sexist.  There was one girl I went to FNM with once, because I wanted to teach her the game.  We were swarmed and asked to play a handful of games. When she finally beat an opponent with my lil RDW, the guy across the table literally just got up and left.  He looked furious.  My friend turned to me and politely asked if we could go, as the whole place got uncomfortable really quickly.

 

[spoiler=And my personal experiences for anyone that cares]

There was this one time I was with one of my transgender friends who played Magic in D.C.  I had been playing Magic for a few months now, but I always went dressed like a guy - y'know, not being full time and stuff - so I decided to go this time as a chick in order to practice for later.  What better place to do it than a two hour long-sit down where you just play card games and look pretty?

 

The atmosphere was awful, and definitely different from when I went as a guy.  I had two creepy guys sitting around me the whole time, both of which were obviously quite socially inept.  Thankfully my friend had my back.  I played one of them and the other guy sat behind me and tried to give me pointers on how to play - even after I told him I knew what I was doing.  I hated the experience.

 

 

 

It's things like that that drive women away from going to competitive play.  No one takes us seriously,nearly everyone assumes we're dumb.  When we prove otherwise, we're insulted.

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