Subject: Girls in Magic Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 09:52:19 -0400 From: "R. Kinyon" To: c_nicoloff@hotmail.com CC: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Cathy, Frank, the rest of the world - This discussion is great. Absolutely wonderful. And ... very overdue. At college, where I learned to play and where I do most of my playing, we have a lot of girls. Almost something like 40% of our players are girls. And it's really cool. I mean, to see three girlfriend/boyfriend pairs play emperor or a windows game. Some of them joined in because their boyfriends played, but most of them either came to college knowing how to play or joined in when we (as a group) first started playing magic in the fall of '94. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the girls tend to not be the top players. This isn't to say that Michelle didn't kick our butts with her counter/mahamoti/ clone/doppleganger deck. But, she tended to not attack very often, even when it would've been in her interest, both tactically and strategically. I asked her about that several times and each time, she gave me the same answer - "I don't want the game to end." In fact, she would quit playing games she felt were becoming too aggressive. Her theory was that a game should be played for its own benefit and as an end in and of itself. This concept (while not universal among all the women, nor solely a trait of the women) is quite common, at least among the women I've played with. Alexia, when we play Shadowfist (which is close enough) doesn't attack very often and doesn't care to build the best decks. (But, then again, she's flaky anyway.) Patti uses the game to pick up men and plays a deck made up of the leavings of an ex-boyfriend and an investment of one IA starter. There are exceptions, as always. My gf, Sarah, borrowed a sligh deck of mine because she wanted to play tournament in her hometown this summer. But, she wouldn't play anyone but me or very close friends of hers for a long time, because she is very shy and didn't want to be seen making mistakes in front of others. What am I trying to say here? I guess what I'm trying to say is that nearly every girl I've ever met who plays Magic doesn't play the game for the same reasons that the men do. The men play it so they can achieve the goal of the game. The women play it for different reasons - to be social, to be with people they care about, to pick up men, etc. (This actually holds true for all the board games, wargames, and RPG's I've ever played, too.) I know that I'm going to be slammed for some of the things I've said, but I can only talk about what I know. Yes, I've played women in PTQ and such. Some have beaten me and some I've beaten. They have never been any different from the men I've played. Some have been good players and some bad players, in roughly the same ratio as the men I know. In a way, I'm challenging you (my readers) to figure out if you want more women in playgroups or in tournaments (and which ones - large or small). If you want them in playgroups, realize that women (for whatever reason) aren't usually going to be playing the game for the same reasons as the men. I know that my gf originally learned to play Magic because I played and she wanted to be able to spend more time with me (and, let's face it - I spend a lot of time playing Magic). Women (in my experience) enjoy the game for the game itself, not for the winning of it. (More men could benefit from this. I know the times I've gotten caught up in playing the game for the game's sake, I had a blast. Too bad there aren't games where the concept of the game is to continue the game. Something sorta like Jenga, I guess...?) Maybe make a format where the goal is to use the game of Magic to achieve a cooperative goal - a goal that can only be met by all players working together. I can't think of anything right now, but I'm sure that someone will (or has!). In terms of tournament...I don't know. One problem is that a lot of tournament players are still (emotionally) in 8th grade, in my opinion. "Oh my god...is that a _girl_??? Is it human?!? I thought those were myths!" That kind of thing. They often (read "always") treat women differently, either by being patronizing (Estrogen = fluff)or by gunning for them ("How dare they sully our male sanctum with their heightened estrogen levels?!?") A lot of the women in tournament I've talked to have said that all they want is to be treated the same. Not as "one of the guys," mind you, but to have all the people treated without regard for their gender. In a sense, I guess I'm trying to advocate treating every person as if you are playing them on Apprentice. There, you only see the player's skill (or lack thereof). You make judgements about a person based on their play of Magic. If everyone did that at an OTB (Over The Board...it's a chess term) tournament, you'd be amazed at the improvement of the image and enjoyment of Magic. And, I'd hazard that more women will come to the tournaments. They wouldn't feel like they had three eyes or purple fingers or something. To summarize: 1) Don't make your playgroup's focus solely winning. If you're preparing for tourney, that's one thing. If your playgroup exists to prepare for tourney, please ignore me. But, if you're just playing, try playing cooperative Magic. Maybe teams or maybe try and complete a different goal besides winning. Maybe something along the lines of roleplaying or exploring a dungeon or something. Maybe a hybrid adding in an RPG or something like that. Think outside the box. 2) Treat everyone (male and female) the same when it comes to playing against them in tournament. This goes for different ages, too. Who says that only 18-25 yr. old males who are in good shape can win tournaments. Any heard of Hammer Regnier? He's like 45 yrs. old and fat. But, he's a good player. Cathy Nicoloff is another example. She's not male (though I know nothing else about her). I'm sure everyone can think of someone they know who's good, but doesn't fit the "profile." There's a kid at Neutral Ground NY who is excellent - Tony Rodriguez. He's like 12 years old and has something like an 1800 rating in T2 and in sealed. His play habits are astounding, as are his deck skills. I'm not ashamed to say I've learned from watching him play. Rob Kinyon