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Looking back with Banshee on 8/1/00

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Open letter to DragonCon: we need a bigger room in 2001.

On June 30, 2000, fantasy, science fiction, and gaming fans gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, for the annual four-day extravaganza of seminars, costumes, parties and general "fandom" that is America's largest science fiction and popular arts convention, DragonCon.

A somewhat smaller, but no less enthusiastic, portion of the estimated 20,000+ attendees crowded into the Chicago A-B room in the Hyatt Regency for the second year in a row. The over-capacity group was there for a unique opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion on the subject of "Women in Gaming." Red Storm Entertainment's Mur Lafferty and WomenGamers' own Banshee, Katharine Anderson-Dávila, represented computer games, while White Wolf Games' Cynthia Summers and Rachelle Udell served as lively ambassadors for pen and paper gaming.

Banshee's Impressions
I

will admit it. If there is a castle to be stormed or a wrong to be righted, I am almost always ready to crusade. Last year in Atlanta, I was in good company; there was quite a bit of thinly veiled hollering going on and with good reason: it was the first year for the panel, and all the frustration, all the justified anger many female gamers felt over the lack of adequate or accurate representation in games, needed to come out. It was time to vent, and believe me, much venting was done.

But for everything there is a season, and this year was refreshingly different.

Maybe it was the unusually cool weather, but the phrase "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" seemed to guide the dialogue for most of the audience this year. Several developers, including TimeLine, were on hand to hear constructive comments and viewpoints from men, women and even a one-year old infant. The tone was lighter and the laughter more frequent. A spectrum of ages, backgrounds and ethnicities was gathered and all made valuable contributions. You can see a full transcript of the computer gaming section here.

Maybe it is the improved status for women gamers we have seen in the past year, like the increase in the number of web sites for female gamers, better visibility for minority women as leading characters with the presence of D'Arci Stern in Urban Chaos and Angel Sanchez in the upcoming Freedom: First Resistance and the often-cited IDSA findings that indicate that 43% of the gaming population is female that made the difference. Or maybe it is just the validation of being able to look around the room and share perceptions with others of your kind.

For me, it was a true delight to serve with the other panelists. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to talk with Cynthia and Rachelle as much as I would have liked, but I thoroughly enjoyed their informed insights on pen and paper gaming. Mur served as moderator last year, and her experience showed as she gracefully fielded questions and gave forthright, no-nonsense answers. Not only that, but after hanging out in the Green Room for a bit, I was thrilled to find out we have quite a bit in common. (She was kind enough to add her perspective below.)

As it happened last year, everyone was extremely enthusiastic, and we ran into overtime. In fact, the energy level was so high, I think we could have easily filled an hour discussing each side. I was also able to meet some of the participants after the panel, but the way the room exploded with everyone milling about, I did not get the chance to chat with everyone. I apologize if anybody wanted to say something and could not find me. I wanted to meet more of you, and I will try to do better in the future. Those I did talk with truly impressed me, and I hope to see you again and hear more of your ideas.

All in all, it turned out well, despite my uncharacteristic panicking the night before and staying up until 3 am like an idiot to make notes so I wouldn't forget anything. Whatever the motivation for the positive atmosphere, I am unquestionably looking forward to next year - just preferably in a slightly bigger room.

Mur's Impressions

Honestly, I was dreading this panel a week before the con. I could not find Banshee's email address to get in touch with her to discuss things, and the unexpected appointee to the panel (Apollo Smile, the living anime character) was making me nervous.

Luckily, we did run into each other and were able to get to know each other and have an opportunity to plan the panel prior to the actual event. Grabbing Rachelle and Cynthia was a last minute bonus because as I love pen and paper gaming, they were much more qualified to talk about the developers' side of things.

Banshee was the only one prepared with notes and handouts, but since we ran the panel as a roundtable, the audience did most of the talking. The participants were very patient, with very little interrupting, and when they disagreed with each other, they did it very politely.

The best part of the panel, for me, was the fact that several men attended for the sole reason of finding out how to introduce games to their daughters. The idea that perhaps they wanted their daughters to play computer games, but did not want them to be influenced by Lara Croft and Duke Nukem was really refreshing. They were asking for games with intelligence and good role models that had deeper messages than shopping, boys and breast size.

I was also very happy to see faces I recognized from last year, and I am really hoping they come back again. Also, I hope that the four of us who made up the panel can get together, since now we know each other well enough to stay in touch, and plan a really kick ass panel for next year.