Women wargamers

I was chit-chatting with a few folks last week and the conversation meandered over to childhood hobbies. One guy who we shall call Mr. X was reminiscing about wargaming and I chimed in, "Yep, used to love that sort of thing too", for which I got an odd look and the comment, "Yeah, right - girls don't wargame". I was, of course, suitably offended by this (it was a boring day and I hadn't filled my Emotional Reaction of the Day quota yet) and was challenged, "Uh huh. So if you've played them, which ones have you played?", to which I rattled off quite a few.

Here's the funny part - while I was playing Harpoon, 3rd Fleet and WSIM, Mr. X's entire experience with wargaming consisted of Risk, Axis and Allies and chess (which I don't consider a wargame at all). Following that was a series of good-humoured but pointed exchanges, much to the amusement of those present. His parting shot was, "Well, playing is one thing, but winning is another."

Now, I don't care what you are as long as you're not a bumbling idiot who keeps asking "What do I do now?" when you're playing with me. I agree conceptually with that chap - most women in general don't seem to play wargames. I think the last study done showed that women wargamers comprise less than 1% of all wargamers, and wargaming comprises less than 7% of the entire gaming community (yes, citation needed, I know). Doing a rough guess, I'd say that there are fewer than 10,000 active women wargamers in the world right now. Therefore, I don't dispute the basic fact that women wargamers are rare. What I do take umbrage about is the idea that wargaming is not something women can play, or play well at. It wasn't worth the time and effort to educate Mr. X - if he considers Risk as a proper wargame, then heaven help him. He has, unfortunately, taken to calling me "Xena" since then, something that I shall have to remedy in short order.

To a certain extent, I'm not being fair to Mr. X - I had a rather unorthodox childhood for a gal. Do I love wargames anymore? Not really, or at least nowhere near the extent I did way back when. I certainly do not count myself as being an active gamer anymore, let alone an active wargamer. My interests have shifted elsewhere since my younger days and I can definitively say that I am a radically different person now.

Still, I recently picked up the latest incarnation of a favourite wargame of mine and discovered that yes, I still do have the touch. Not everyone can successfully defend the GIUK gap against a Soviet boomer surge. :)