Zargon Goes Online

[TMU]

Nooo, don't take it as sexism or anything like that. I think that's awesome, an ideal gf if you ask me So nothing bad was meant with my comment. Hope you understand that

[Teldurn]

I understand, but I hope you can see how a comment that basically is, "oh, my Goddess A GIRL PLAYING HEROQUEST?!" can be misconstrued as being sexist.

[TMU]

Yeah, but it's kinda a insider joke of the Inn Most of us are men 35-50 years, few girls, couple old and couple young

[Sjeng]

I think TMU simply meant that he's happily amazed to see a woman actually playing HQ, as most women don't like geeky stuff. (Not "blasphemy! a woman playing HQ!")
But this is not as rare as women playing FPS's or other "male oriented" video games. Boardgames are pretty universal, even HQ. My wife likes HQ a lot.

[joec]

My wife and a friend's wife love playing HeroQuest.

@Teldurn - I'd be down with a Wed or Thurs, on the whole. With Wife clearance, of course.

[Daedalus]

Congratulations on breaking the Curse through the power of the Internet, Teldurn. That was an entertaining write-up, made even better with screenshots. Looking forward to future Quests and deaths.

About women and girls playing Hero Quest--HELL YA! My old group saw on-and-off women players, as we picked up the game at a later age than the intended 14-year-old male market. Back in the day, the male pronoun was still entrenched as the default, and Hasbro saw no need to threaten boys with "icky" female pronouns. We simply ignored the distinction, as we were trained to do. Years later, my neice (19 at the time) did the same. It wasn't much of a bother to her, as most of the male-dominated wording was in the Instruction Booklet, which she had no need to read.

Looking again at the problem, I'd say a desirable fix would be to create female Hero Cards for the basic Heroes. That would also require female figures to match, unfortunately. Too bad the female Barbarian and Elf are so expensive and of a different style. I hope alternative write-ups like Heroquest Prime include not only gender options, but also suitable female figures, Character Cards, and Spell Cards. In my experience, this visual depiction is of particular importance to young girls, just as young boys need the male role model.

[Teldurn]

Congratulations on breaking the Curse through the power of the Internet, Teldurn. That was an entertaining write-up, made even better with screenshots. Looking forward to future Quests and deaths.

Thank you, Daedalus! This was tons of fun to do. I may have mentioned this already before, but the next time I do this again, it will be me running HeroQuest Prime, and I intend to also do the sessions On Air (which means they will be recorded and saved on YouTube for the public to watch (and ridicule us!)). If I treat this campaign like a warm-up, then I feel pretty confident that the next one will be mildly entertaining, and maybe even decently entertaining!

About women and girls playing Hero Quest--HELL YA! My old group saw on-and-off women players, as we picked up the game at a later age than the intended 14-year-old male market. Back in the day, the male pronoun was still entrenched as the default, and Hasbro saw no need to threaten boys with "icky" female pronouns. We simply ignored the distinction, as we were trained to do. Years later, my neice (19 at the time) did the same. It wasn't much of a bother to her, as most of the male-dominated wording was in the Instruction Booklet, which she had no need to read.

Looking again at the problem, I'd say a desirable fix would be to create female Hero Cards for the basic Heroes. That would also require female figures to match, unfortunately. Too bad the female Barbarian and Elf are so expensive and of a different style. I hope alternative write-ups like Heroquest Prime include not only gender options, but also suitable female figures, Character Cards, and Spell Cards. In my experience, this visual depiction is of particular importance to young girls, just as young boys need the male role model.

Actually yes, once I'm finally done with all the writing necessary^*, I will go back and make a pass so the text doesn't say "he" or "his" everywhere. According to an editor friend of mine, I can either do "he or she"/"his or hers", or I can save a bit of space and say "they," or I can keep repeating "the Hero" over and over. I think I will go with the second option of they.

Also, if you have noticed, the card back for Protection spells has a female protagonist. So that's a start.



^* For anyone curious (as I'm sure clmckay is, among others), I have 4 spell decks left to do, but they are also the most complex. But the cards are almost done!!

[knightkrawler]

Many people - oh, so many! - mistake grammatical genus with alleged gender.
Beginner's mistake that automatically makes me change channels away from a feminist discussion.

[Teldurn]

Many people - oh, so many! - mistake grammatical genus with alleged gender.
Beginner's mistake that automatically makes me change channels away from a feminist discussion.

I'm confused. Are you saying the shorthand of "he" is grammatical genius?

[knightkrawler]

Now I'm confused.