Subject: Re: Girls In Magic
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 00:53:03 EDT
From: MTGKooks@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

  Girls (read: Women) in Magic. Hmm. An interesting topic.

  The first question that comes to my mind is, quite simply, who cares? I
certainly hope that no one's life is so empty that they have time to take a
census of Magic players. The cards don't care what the gender of their player
is, so why should anyone else? Ms. Nicoloff's call-to-arms for more women
players makes me feel like she's fashioning herself a spokeswoman for the
"endangered female Magic player." How ridiculous! Cathy, this is not an issue
on the level of the right to vote; let people choose the way they spend their
own recreational time. I admire your skill as a player, your persistence in
what you feel is right, and your tenacity for remaining in a situation that,
indeed, is biased against women. However, you have made your choices. Let
others make theirs.

  One of the basic problems with the current Magic environment is simply the
class structure that seems to have emerged. Granted, humans will, by nature,
form cliques in any social environment, but how pathetic is it that the basis
for inclusion in this particular setting is so petty as to rest on one's
aptitude at PLAYING A GAME. It's the chest-puffing, finger-pointing, trash-
talking, and otherwise sophmoric attitudes that are keeping new players,
regardless of their gender, from joining the ranks of the tournament-level
players, whether the tournament is a Pro Tour event or some 12-person tourney
at their local game store. It's so easy to lose sight of the fact that Magic
is just a game, in the light of big money tournaments, "meta-gaming," and
other such distractions. For some reason, I can't imagine Milton-Bradley
commissioning a market research firm to figure out why more women aren't
playing games like Cootie or Ants In The Pants. For myself, I play Magic
solely for the enjoyment it provides. I could really care less who I am
playing (man, woman, child, senior citizen, republican...ok, maybe not
republicans), it is simply the fact that I have an opponent. Opponents are
really what makes a game of Magic. The game itself is in no way enhanced by
the gender of its participants. Why can't folks either choose to play or not
play Magic one at a time? Why does there have to be any generalizations made
about the players themselves? I've never seen a post asking why there aren't
more handicapped Magic players, or more red-headed players, or more ex-convict
players. Do you know why? I would assume that it's because most people just
don't care who they play as long as they're playing.

  I would also like to respond to Martin "Biologist in a Box" Novosel's post.
Please, I could hardly give it any credence. Formulating biological reasons
why people of a certain gender don't play Magic more than others is like
trying to give biological reasons for why one group of people like green while
others like blue. Absurd. I certainly hope that Mr. Novosel was being
facetious when he asserted that the size of one's Corpus Colossum has any
relevance to the current topic. People who enjoy playing games will play
games, those who don't wont. The best way to get more players, be they male or
female, is to simply introduce more people to the game.

  My best advice to Mr. Novosel is to simply come out of the box and join the
real world where size doesn't matter.

  Brian Smith