Hey folks, Jawaballs here, I am happy to present Angel! An actual real life gaming girl, or Unicorn. I thought that she would be able to offer a softer point of view to 40k, or at the very least add some decent ratings to my blog ala Seven of Nine in Star Trek Voyager. (Come on, admit it, how many of you started watching that show to see that hottie?) :)
Hello everyone. Jawa was courteous enough to ask me to make a post for his blog, so here is my first of more to come I hope. First off, I am your classic unicorn. I am a wife and mother, young, silly and most definitely a woman. My husband got me into the hobby a few years ago, mostly by not showing any desire to share it with me. A woman does want what she can’t have, (there’s your first tip for finding your own unicorn boys.)
I collected a demon army and a chaos marine one. I lean toward Slaanesh, what girl wouldn’t, tee hee. I enjoyed learning about the history and fluff, but that’s not what drew me in or has captivated me in our hobby. It was how much fun it was to play and the joy of hanging out at the hobby store. I was lucky, my hubby had a good relationship with the guys at New World. They accepted me, even though I didn’t know much of the rules. They’re still patient with me when I play, and lets face it… the game is fun, but playing the game while a yummy woman bends over in front of you is always better.
Yes I most certainly use me being a woman to my advantage. I’d be a fool not to. I have been known to dress up just to distract my opponent. Part of the joy of being a woman is “helping” my opponent to forget to move a unit, claim an objective or fire at one of my units because he is too distracted looking down my top to remember :D. I have even “sunk” as far as rubbing my dice on my 1 month old princess for “princess luck”… hey I needed to roll 3 6’s in a row…which I did /looks at Darrel and giggles. Hell I’ve even had a “girl friend” show up to help distract the guys.
Now is any of this fair… hell no. But since I’ve only been playing for like 2 years and am not the hard core player like they or my husband are. I enjoy playing and who the hell likes getting their butt kicked… nobody. I merely want to shed some light on one side of being a unicorn and alert all you boys out there to our evil tricks.. :D. I am now not the only woman who plays up there, and hopefully you will run into more and more of us. Being special has its advantages but we have a GREAT hobby and more girls need to get into it. Even if its just to torment you boys…
So how many hobby shops out there have yummies tormenting you boys? Do you love playing with us silly girls who can’t remember what we need to roll to hit? Or is it more painful than the benefit of watching us pick up our dice off the floor? J
~Angel~
Well there you have it! What should be banned more in 40k, boobs or Mephiston? I have written volumes about distraction tactics, feints, tricks and maneuvers. It sounds like Angel will put it all to shame! I can say one thing, it would be nice to see a pair of boobs across from me, AND on a female for once. Look for much more from Angel in the future.
Jawaballs
Edit: As an addition to this, and perhaps an alternative point of view, you can find a related article written on Bell of Lost Souls here http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/06/editorial-death-of-unicorn.html. The Girl talks about forgetting that she is a female and just treating her like a player, taking the sexuality out of the discussion. Interesting point of view coming from a writer using the tag The Girl in a community mostly comprised of males!
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54 comments:
Hahaha That was funny and interesting as well looking forward to reading more posts by Angel :p
Seems to be a trend on blogs lately, getting female gamers to post articles. Just as it works in the shop, it works online too and here I am reading it...heh.
More girls the better I say .... nice article
This article just makes me sad, and the header image makes it worse - it's like a 'booth babe' article or something. Can't female gamers simply be, you know, people instead of sexualized objects that happen to have some similar intersts?
Although maybe I'm fooling myself in that most male gamers actually want a girl who plays games for their shared interests and intellect, rather than just boobs.
i think we need more girls in order to perv while playing
Hmm. Hmm. Not sure on how to react. Feels like a huge counter to what was written on BOLS lately. I'd be interesting to see a comment by TheGirl (Caveat, might remember the sig wrong, but it was something like that).
Cody it is sad that this makes you sad. People get carried away with getting all upset about stuff like this. It is a tongue in cheek article written by a woman about using her sexuality as an advantage in a game and community that is 99.9% populated by males, the majority of whom are single. And seriously, it is sexuality that makes this article worth reading in the first place.
Sexuality and the ladies need to be embraced, shared, loved and oogled. Getting upset about an article like this does ladies more of a disservice than publishing it.
I married my wife because of her boobs and womanhood not because of shared interests. I bet people play nicer and aren't jerks when they play a woman. At least I would hope. If not then stop playing with other people you jerk.
Nice article, finally one I wanted to share with my girlfriend. Perhaps one day she will share this hobby with me, but I guess not.
It's good to here a woman's point of view on the hobby. At our club we've got two female attendants, both excel at paintig/modeling, but do not game. It would be nice if more women entered this particular gaming community. Women always (I will later edit 'always' into 'often' if Codysseus feels offended*)have a different take on things, and it would be nice to see how they would change the gaming community. It feels a bit like advanced 'Fritz Trickery'...
I will try to see if my girl would like to write something on her perspective on the hobby and mail it to you Jawa. Interesting to delve into the topic further.
David
* I know the gender topic is a b#tich, I took a semi year master course in Gender studies, taught by a feminist, interesting but a tough discussion topic.
My girl has started collecting figures as well even though I've put zero interest into her starting. I've seen the forced start up from pushy boyfriends before and I don't get it. I've even seen a boyfriend powergame his girl before and that was ridiculous. She isn't really a table top gamer yet and I don't expect her to be though her hobby is half decent when she isn't spastically breaking all of my small drill bits. She has taken to boardgames though and plays those a lot better than half of my friends. One of the only people other than myself in the group that can run an Arkham Horror mythos phase.
I just can't see trying to get anyone into the hobby, man or woman. You do your business as a gamer and if a person runs in your circle they will either want to start on their own or they won't. You'll end up giving help but it doesn't help that much to offer or thrust help on people getting into it.
Yah David, email me good stuff at hotmail. And I know how you feel. While getting my teaching degree I took a course on Art in Literature. But the instructor was an extreme feminist. Every reading we did was written by a female author with an angry point of view. Oh, and the class of 25 people had 3 guys in it including me, two of whom were very gay, and the majority of the women were late career divorced housewives. Basicly I was a bastion of manhood in very hostile territory. The instructor opened up discussion on one of the particularly explosive articles with "Are men scum?... discuss!" All eyes went immediately to me. I put on my power armor and waded into the fray! It was actually a fun class once the nastiest of the man haters shut their pie holes. Hahaha, I'm kidding. Just writing that though is making me tear up from laughing! Imagine if I said that in class. :)
That woman is not playing Warhammer! However, she might be.
Sooo sad.
:(
Haha, I know exactly how you felt there Jawa. You've got to love the feminist professors. In the end it all came down to the one question you are not allowed to answer: What is the difference between men and women (note that this is not the same as the difference between male and female)...
Anyhow, all 'obvious' answers to this vital question result in pulling some variant of the 'discrimination card', killing every possible discussion.
It's a shame... because in my honest opinion, I love the difference, and to stick to the topic, whould really enjoy to experience how this difference would manifest itself on the tabletop (while playing 40K off course...)
D
my gaming club has girls in it all the time. and my reaction is "What is a girl doing here?!" I think of warhammer as a boys club type of thing. and well if you are playing a girl its a lose-lose game. you beat her: OH wow you beat a girl..lame! she beats you: HA HA HA you just got beat by a girl! Also its kinda hard to talk about all the things guys would talk about to other guys (i.e. Boobs, drinking, acting out how our models would react during the game) with girls around. I for one have enough girls i deal with on a regular basis that i don't want a girl in my gaming club.
for all those guys out there...
women like sex just as much as we do... so.. if she is going to play dirty, feel free to play right back.
When girls are present, I say the same things that I would if they were not. I admit that I clean up some of the language and the way I deliver it, but the topics are the same. You can discuss boobs without being vulgar and disrespectful... right? :) And I also treat them the same on the table as I would any dude. No mercy. Though I may flirt with a girl, and would just destroy a dude.
@Jawa Flirt with a girl and Mrs Jawa will destroy you. Flirt with a guy (at least 90% of males) and I am pretty sure you'll destroy him:) In fact, I think it might be more distracting than if a girl did it:)
Lol this made my day, great article, its nice to see plastic men cross the gender barrier.
Jawa you rly think the captain from Voyeger is hott, how about the Vulkin chick from Enterprise!! (I never remember names, im all about original series although)
I also want to say I think its nice to see chicks in the hobby because im friends with mostly chicks, I do it for friendship not sex.
HEll im an 18 year old College kid and not all that nerdy, I have no trouble with the ladies B)
Oh why change language in front of girls? they are just as vulgar if not worse.
nicely said kivin... i can cuss like a sailor, and like to talk about boobs if not drinking (i'm a lightweight).
Inateyou... as far as the "you got beat by a girl" that's bs... when i play the guys at my store, we are respectful to each other in the fact that we don't go making fun of each other for loosing to girls, and they don't badmouth me when i lose myself. i'm not the only girl that plays 40K at my hobby shop, i was one of the first tho, i know of at least 3 others.
the guys that i play against know how i am, and are free to say that they don't want to play against me. and their girls don't think i'm trying to steal their boys, i don't need theirs, i'm perfectly happy with the one that i have.
I AM ANGEL
Oh damn, i guess I'm old school and watch what i say in mixed company. Times a change'n!
My girlfriend got into this hobby after joining me for a painting day at the flgs... she was a video game-gamer before hand, and the figure painting was a gateway drug to dungeons and dragons 4th ed. Then to Pathfinder, then to Warhammer 40k and then to Warmachine. She currently has about 4k points of Bugs, and 6k points of orks not to mention all the other gaming paraphernalia she owns now. The thing is, she's probably the least outgoing and most shy person at the shop and the gaming hobby has opened her up soooo much since I've known her. We've been dating about 4 years and gaming together about 2. I'm so glad that I have my best friend/girlfriend/favorite opponent all in one.
The morale is: don't just search for a unicorn... if you find someone that you can be happy with, and it turns out they were a unicorn too... then that's just an added bonus :)
The more women that join the hobby, the better. It equalizes the playing field a bit more, and adds growth to the hobby. For every man or woman that joins in on the fun, is another player to spar against. It's the culmination of men and women spending time together, because there definitely has been a lot more "blending" going on lately as can be seen by the immensely growing female video gamer population. So, kudos to you, Angel! :)
and comeone guys... Six on BSG is better than both... and i look more like her as well. tee hee. for those of you who don't know what i'm talking about, go watch some BattleStar Galactica episodes and look for the really hot blonde. the only diff between the 2 of us really is the length of our hair and she's had a boob job. she's still bloody yummy!
A great read, I enjoyed the personality you expressed in the article. Thank you for the post. I look forward for more to come. (ugh, the puns... so h*rd to resist, must just post comment and stop writting.)
:)
Kevin, I was not walking about Janeway! I was talking about the smoking hot blonde with the body suit and double Ds! However, one of my favorite Star Trek moments was the cleansing shower scene in Star Trek Enterprize... when the Vulkan and the Engineer had to take an antibacterial shower, but it was just a chance to show off a smoking hotty!
Two words Jawa: Princess Leia… 'Nuff said.
A truly depressing article. Unless it's a joke of course. Is it a joke?
I personally couldn’t care less if more women play or get involved in tabletop wargaming. In fact, if the way videogames are going is indicative, then I would prefer less rather than more.
It seems like whenever I read or watch game reviews on a female videogamer’s blog or site the emphasis is less on the game, console or technology and more on the reviewer and how quirky and ‘oh so special’ they are. Kind reviewer, I do not care that you have tits and I’m not interested in your lame attempts to hide your lack of knowledge by flirting or fucking around. Review the game properly or don’t review it at all.
Now back to Warhammer. If you want to play Warhammer fine. Play Warhammer. But I don’t care what gender you are. Why must you sexualize something that is not sexual. Can't you just set aside your pathological desire to be the centre of attention for a few hours and concentrate on the, you know, game and stuff?
I’ve just noticed that most of the replies on this page are even more depressing then the article. It seems the whole page (with one or two exceptions) is full of brain-dead teenagers that expect that women should be sexually provocative at all times. If you want to masturbate watch porn. Real women are people first. Not objects.
I should say that I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful girlfriend that takes an interest in my hobby and models, paints and plays. When she is painting or playing she is simply painting and playing. She is not sucking popsicles to tease my cock.
Power of suggestion FTW
Ok Jawa dont let your wife read this blog until this gets archived lol, and that Six from BSG is overated, too much of the steryotypical Blonde bombshell. But im into more of brown eyed brunettes anyway.
I also want to say that the main chashier at my store is a chick that runs a painting service for minitures and has gotten into the finals for Golden Daemon at Gamesday. (its baltimore right?)
And i love how im probably the only college kid here and since I say it one of the above nay sayers steryotypes the group. Nothing like some good old contreversy too stir up the anger in a blog about plastic men fighting science fiction wars on non exstintent planets to fill a day! If only Sanguinius was here to say something moving or Commisar Yarick to grunt about some heathenistic thing. Just think everyone, what would Vulkin do? =D
"Real women are people first" says the dude who has made his online name around the most hated anti female vulgarity of all time. I'm leaving your comment ShadowCUNT because hate like yours generates traffic. So spread your hate, but please make it funny, keep an open mind and definitely watch your language next time. I would hate to have to activate the comment moderation tool.
But Jawa, you still didn't address his points - he has an objectionable name to be sure, but that doesn't mean what he's saying isn't true.
"Do you love playing with us silly girls who can’t remember what we need to roll to hit? Or is it more painful than the benefit of watching us pick up our dice off the floor?"
1) If you can't remember the basic to hit rules you shouldn't be playing at the general tables, you should be asking the staff to teach you still and not wasting my time.
2) If you can't roll the dice in a manner that they stay on the table 99% of the time I'll get very annoyed very quickly. Again, more time wasting.
I don't care if my opponent is male, female, black, white, brown, yellow or anything in between. I care that you know the rules, and play with a reasonable speed. If I'm waiting around for you to pick up dice every second roll and you get your 'girlfriend' to try and distract me I'll just pick up and leave - such behaviour says to me you're not interested in the game at all.
"Now is any of this fair… hell no."
This is where you really lose me - anything advocating any type of unfair play is right out in my book, and very sad.
This post has ruined this blog for me. Go get a life
seriously, the dropping dice thing was a joke. i've only lost my dice once and that was when my daughter (who was a month old at the time) kicked them off the table. she was allowed in the shop while we were playing when she was that old.
as for the not knowing what i need to roll to hit, yeah, for the most part, i do know... i only have to ask occasionally. Why would i be sitting off in a corner with the "staff" of my hobby shop asking them to teach me how to play when my hubby has been playing for longer than the majority of the guys up there have been playing. Sorry New Worlders, but you know it's true.
the 'girlfriend' only came in a couple of times, only stayed a few min. cause she needed to talk to me about something, and then left.
But, i do use my looks and the way i always dress (i don't just dress this way for games, i do it cause my hubby likes it) to my advantage. and like i said, the guys at my hobby shop know this, and are more than capable to tell me that they don't want to play with me. they usually don't tho, cause they think they can beat me. usually true, but not always.
I'm sorry that you don't like what i wrote, but you don't have to play against me, or any female for that matter. it's your decision.
"Do you love playing with us silly girls who can’t remember what we need to roll to hit? Or is it more painful than the benefit of watching us pick up our dice off the floor?"
hehe!!
i think i few people here have an irony deficiency, i personally found this a great article. It's always nice to hear somebody just being chatty about how they play the game, and in real life the game is everything from being friendly, to mildly cheating :D
it is after all, just a game. and its nice to know the game is enjoyed by everyone.
just a shame the internet brings us closer to people who like to argue or be offended on others' behalfs, rather than just reading and enjoying - or walking away from, an article without needing to analyse, pick and turn into the "politically correct" police
That's pretty cool to have a girl gamer. I play the exact same style as Angel too when it comes to chaos daemons. I just enjoy slaanesh and all the "WTF" that comes out of my opponents mouth each time i pull off a charge with them (yes i am a guy :P). Overall, its good to see some girl gamers around and hopefully more will appear around the world.
Can't wait to see some girl gamers in my small community here.
I am glad that I "thrown" into a predetermined grouping of horny teenagers.
Fact is I play table top and RPGs with many ladies whom are fun to hang around, know the rules and even history of the gaming period or back story of the world.
Please do not determine my stance by my previous post ... I would politely ask and not point people towards the purple koolaid.
Angel, I would love to see you play against Gotthammer. I fear that I would laugh myself to death though, as your attempts to distract him fall short.
You really can't explain away your statements of dice dropping and other "distractions" just because someone called you out on it. You presented yourself as a vapid person who refuses to learn the rules of the game, despite having obvious resources around you, like your husband.
I would really like to believe that you are just playing a character "on the internets", and not really that shallow. You are enforcing a negative stereotype for women, and men as well. Not every man wants to oogle your goods, and very few women want to be oogled.
There are 5 women at my FLGS that play 40k, and the store has a standing rule that they be treated as people, not a ZOMG GRRLS!!1! There is also a standing rule the the men be treated as people, as well. ANYONE acting in a lewd manner is asked to leave. In our experience in Dallas, "girl gamers" would much rather be treated as "gamers", leaving the girl out entirely.
I go to New World, who is your husband?
W40k needs more Female Players !
Wouldnt it be Awesome to say some Like : He Look over There that Guys has a "BIG" Lascannon ^^
And see how here face gone red ? ^^
@ Awetastimo... how many girls up there play chaos? if i'm the only one, and you havn't met me yet, then i guess you need to be up there next w/e for my game against sunshine. hubby will be there as well.
Wow, this article has brought on so many responses. I personally have played female players, and while usually newer to the system, I have met some very knowledgeable and effective women in Chicago and at GenCon.
I am a horrible flirt, horrible, and can and will flirt all game if it is not taken wrong. But, in the end you have to be pretty sad to let playing a woman distract you.
Gotthammer and Shadow%^&@ obviously have woman issues, not breast fed long enough or something, I personally enjoy female company and since I play WH40k to enjoy the company of others, I think having women in the hobby is a nice bonus. I would suggest rather than just packing up and leaving the game Gotthammer should probably pull the stick out of his bum, and threaten the other player with a beating if they don't stop dropping their dice.
@Angel
"I'm sorry that you don't like what i wrote, but you don't have to play against me, or any female for that matter. it's your decision."
It's not your gender that I disliked (notice I never mentioned it), it was advocating slow play (dropping dice) and distracting the opponent (not knowing rules, friends hanging around) that got me.
I was playing at a tourney and my opponent, who had previously insinuated I was lucky to be facing off against someone that high up etc. When things weren't going so good for him one of his mates started hanging around, giving him advice, asking me questions during my turn etc, etc. That was a dude and it hacked me off.
That sort of act I find in poor taste and not in the spirit of fair play, regardless of what tools are used to achieve it.
I'd happily play you if I weren't on the other side of the planet, but wouldn't a second time if you were really like your article suggested. Your earlier response to me says it was a huge exaggeration of things but, honestly, your advocating unfair play would make me cautious - I get little time to game, and I don't want to waste it on someone who's going to waste my time, cheat.
@PsychoSquire
"Gotthammer and Shadow%^&@ obviously have woman issues, not breast fed long enough or something,"
Please re-read my reply, I never once mentioned the OP's gender, only the 'tactics' advocated in the article to win in an unsportsman (or unsportswoman ;P) like manner - which I might add the OP herself said was unfair.
@Angel
I only know the girl who plays orks and the girl who plays nids, so I guess we have never met or I know you and did not know you played.
@ awetastimo
we're not with the cilque... we talk to them some, but usually stay to ourselves. i usually play with sunshine. ask him, he knows who we are.
Well positive posts defeat the negative posts on this blog post 1- to 1 so I say you keep up this kind of content.
Remember people this game is super duper cereal, Im mean come on guys super duper CEREAL!
ANGEL FTW, go beat the two assholes above Gotthammer?/shadowCUNT, dont be such a cunt guys, remember, your playing with toys most people would look at and think is for 5 year olds XD
10-1 is what i ment above********
"What should be banned more in 40k, boobs or Mephiston?" Jawaballs
None the female variety of players is good for the hobby and the banter. and as for mephiston i enjoy killing him to much with my black templars. although i do struggle to take him out when i use my tau. the real Blood Angel meanie as far as i see it is bad man Dante =)
Angel a great article i play with a few of the girls in our local club and yes some of of your "helping" tactics sound verry familiar. but afte time they wear off as we become used to them. :-)
I am a girl gamer and the only one I know of in my area. I have always been 'one of the guys' since high school and throw around crude jokes with the best of you if I want to (and quite frequently I do). I started to play 40k a couple of years ago, playing chaos and grey knights, but then got too distracted by work and having a baby to keep it up. Now my baby's getting a little older I'm getting back into it again, this time with blood angels.
Now personally I don't try to distract males with how I dress or my breasts or anything like that. I would prefer to beat you fair and square with skill and the unavoidable element of luck. However it is one of my pet peeves that whenever I beat one of you I get the inevitable 'I went easy on you because you're a girl' speech. Either I have to think you're lying to cover yourself, or I have to call my own skill into questions, which isn't that nice of a choice. So that's my opinion :)
Not all of us girls are empty headed opportunists who will grab at any and all advantages they can get, and I personally don't have much respect for those who do. They give us all a bad name.
All I can say is nice job upholding all the sterotypes about girl gamers out there. Even when saying the article was all in fun you STILL can't help saying you're a typical typecast blonde with little playing skill and how hot you are as if this is the worth you bring to a table. Not 'I can still be a challenge' (you admit you aren't), not 'I'm a lot of fun' or even that maybe you'd like to meet other girl gamers... but the typical say what the boys want to hear so they drool and want to meet me. You aren't a girl gamer, you are an attention wh*re, you just found an area that is typically male dominated to flounce into.
The flip side of your 'joking' is assuming that the guys who are playing this table top game are guys who lose whatever brain cells they have simply because you bend over in front of them and forget moves cause you are just that gosh darn pretty with boobs (must not forget them since they are mentioned over and over and over even in replies). And we all know guys who play games never, ever touch a girl or see a pretty one, right? Or never get to flirt ever with a pretty girl? And we all know smart, pretty gamer girls that can play just don't exist, am I right?
Typical, condescending, badly written porn material is basically what I got from this, not an insightful or even humorous view of girl gamers who basically wouldn't put a month old child on a table close enough to kick pieces or items. My husband, who is a Golden Demon winner (gorgeous sword mounted on wall) and takes a lot of pride in his conversions and work, would have assumed you were brainless just from that act alone and been insulted if you tried any of the ploys you write about above. He and I have been cheering Gotthammer since he wrote and totally agree with everything he says.
I would have enjoyed a fun, humorous article. But this egotistical piece of work (replies and all) wasn't one.
Good stuff! lol Though the only women gamers I have seen really wouldnt be able to use the tactics in this article, they would get more of an uggh and I would forget to move my units to get the game to finish quicker!
Mart, that's a whole other blog in itself. but i still don't know if i wanna go there in fear of pissing off the female population... they can get mean.
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