Busy Gamer is Busy!
It’s been a crazy week for me and I’ve not been able to pay attention to blogging or communicating with a good many people. With convention planning craziness and the death of a friend, I’ve not been motivated to talk about gaming much. I’m absolutely committed to my community and my game at work, but I’ve let the other stuff fall aside. Thankfully, my friends and family grok.
A positive note, however. I’ve been hosting the Geek Girls of Austin board/card game & beers meetup on Monday nights. With the amount of gamers on this community, I figured I’d find scads of gals to show up. We’ve had a good crowd, but most haven’t actually played a lot of games. The folks who consider themselves gamers are already into game groups, so they’re not as likely to show up for my game night.
This is a good thing. Why? Because I get to introduce the games I love, to people..to WOMEN who have always wanted to learn how to play games. It is hard to believe that even in these times, women and girls are discouraged from playign board/card games. Women & girls get more acceptance in video games (and a whole slew of issues, which I’ll discuss some day) but it’s tough to break into board/card games. And it’s even harder to find people to teach you how to play tabletop RPGs and miniatures games.
It’s easy if you’re comfortable heading to Origins, Gen Con or PAX. It’s easy to find people who make games to teach people about games. In the day to day life, it’s not so easy.
When I was in high school, I wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons. That was in 1979 in Grand Prairie, Texas. The boys I went to school with said “girls don’t play these games”. That was something I heard over and over until I found my first game group (AD&D 1st Ed) in 1989. Luckily, I joined a group that had two women and the BEST DM EVER. Seriously, Ted, you brought those Forgotten Realms TO LIFE for me. I never imagined back then, that I’d be lucky to meet so many of the people who created the worlds I fell in love with. My core group with Ted, Amy, James, Sonia, Rolly…I thank you.
Anyway, I’m off topic. But not really, I suppose. I wanted to talk about the games I’ve been playing and showing people. So here’s the list:
With the game group becoming comfortable with each other, we’re gonna start moving them to some other games like Carcassone, Small World & Dominion. One of the women in the group is interested in some hard core strategy games, so my husband is going to start setting up some Axis & Allies and other games. Me? I have to admit. I have a very short attention span. I don’t concentrate well if there’s not a lot of constant chatter & action.
Which leads me to a whole rant/frustration post about role-playing games. But I will save that for another day.
Go forth and play games today!
Hot Pink Freak 