Subject: More Girls in Magic Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1998 08:45:12 -0400 From: Deann Iwan To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com As another woman who plays Magic, I wanted to reply to Cathy's post. Certainly, there are few women at tournaments, or elsewhere in Magic. When I first started (late spring of 95), one of the things I liked about the game was that everyone seemed to play. The first real tournament I went to was at a small store that ran the event over 7 days because they could only fit about 16 players at a time in (16 each day Mon through Sat with a playoff of all the daily top 2 winners on Sunday). About 1/3 of the players were girls and women. About 10 to 20% were greying older players of both sexes. A number of families played. My son and I both went, for example. But as the game contracted here, women vanished. I don't really know if it is because the hard core gaming crowd that is left is mostly male or whether there still are many women out there who just never go to tournaments. I rarely go. I play Magic for fun. Tournaments is just one aspect of that. My particular situation makes it awkward because all my friends stopped playing or moved away. So I never get to play anymore outside of tournaments or very rare pick up games. It really is abyssimal to show up at a tournament with a deck that is not well play tested. It also is unsettling because, when you don't play, your playing skills erode noticeably. In particular, you make mistakes. But while there are many players in my "last of the play group" boat, there must also be many players that have a solid play group or groups. I suspect that many women players don't want to go to tournaments (where they would be visible as players) because all of the following combine: 1. They stand out as the "only" women. This makes them uncomfortable. 2. They have not spent the money on cards to be able to build decks that can take them out of the losers bracket. This losing because you have not paid WotC big bucks makes them annoyed. 3. They play mostly for fun (and would prefer to avoid people who lie, cheat, steal and don't bathe--ergo would rather play at the local group than at a serious tournament). 4. They have not invested the time necessary to have a shot at winning the tournament, and so have no desire to put up with all the associated hassles (long drives, high entry fees, loooong tournaments) if they have no chance of winning. For many women to go to big tournaments, they would, well, have to be fun in and of themselves. While some women are very competitive and will bust their posteriors to try to win, most of those try to win at real life events with big payoffs (becoming company CEO, etc.), not at some dumb card game where winning payoffs are substantially smaller than the interest on their stock account. Women go to conventions--like science fiction conventions--when they expect to have a good time, learn something, and join with other people sharing a similar interest. After reading the net, this desired situation frankly does not bear ANY resemblance to PTQs or PTs. Now, the sad thing is, if one could get a set of tournaments/conventions going where everyone showed up, had a good time, learned something and joined with other people sharing a similar interest, all aspects of the game would improve. Including PTs and PTQs. Including women at those events showing up, playing, having a good time, and sometimes winning. At a local SF convention, they ran a Magic track that was run as a sort of sealed deck study environment. People opened packs, played each other, and talked about what they'd learned about the cards. They all learned a lot, had a good time, and got to interact with other people of similar interests. (Alas I was too busy with other neat stuff at the con to do more than drop by occasionally. But I think about 1/3 of the players were women.) Why can't Magic tournament-events feature tracks like that? Why don't they set up areas where people can just talk and play. Why can't the "main" tournament be just the main track at a good magic event? BTS, I used to help run SF conventions, so I know about hotel costs and the myriad of expenses. I also know that the local Boston-expensive-area SF cons still make money at a rate of about $45 per head per weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) renting a few ballrooms and many side rooms for the whole weekend. There are, however, no prizes....money is spent instead on bringing in authors to speak, and the like. It's all run with volunteer labor (even the head dudes take no cut) by people who enjoy the events. Ah, I think I see a pattern. No $$$ pay outs for anyone involved (player or organizer, though the featured professional writer usually gets hotel tab and plane fair picked up)...just something done for the joy of it. Nahh, that would never work in Magic. - DeAnn (a Garden Variety Mage)