Women Gamers

Articles and reviews written by women may lure our female lurkers to comment on them here, but the reality is Trash Talk is kind of a bro' space. We have more interaction around our content among women out on Facebook and Twitter.

The article discussions appear on the website proper, under the articles, and are mirrored here in Trash Talk (the bluish topics). Our policy is that article/reviews discussions are a bit more moderated than what goes on in the forum. These are much more public discussions, and historically, the first place new readers would venture to comment. They are a bit more moderated, and we ask that you be particularly welcoming in these discussions. Try to refrain from the kind of insider banter, references, and in jokes that makes new visitors feel like outsiders.

Also, if you are interested in growing an active, rather than a lurker community, make the effort to participate in the article discussions. Our articles are the public face of our site. They are the first landing pages for new visitors. The discussions are our welcome mat. When those discussions are active and interesting people are more likely to consider making the effort to register and jump into the conversation. If it’s just a string of bland comments, or in-jokes, or personal side conversations and barbs, they are going to move on.

What happens in Trash Talk in all our other forums, well, that’s it’s own thing. Although, if you want to grow Trash Talk, starting and participating in threads about board games and/or gaming probably would be a step in the right direction.

ecargo wrote: My two cents:

I've been registered on this site for over five years, but only recently visited regularly as I'm part of Michael's writing team. For the most part, I'd say the forums feel like I'd be inserting myself into somebody else's conversation. I am not sure any of that was because I'm a woman. I took it as it just being how this community is/was.

I'm not too keen on the idea that we have to specifically target women for the site. I rather have less discussion of what female gamers want like we're some kind of animal being observed in a zoo. (The fact that there's a whole "Women and Gaming" forum on BGG drives me crazy.) I hope that all gamers will visit the site because of the content. I don't feel the need to qualify my gamer status by noting my gender/sex. I hope people read my reviews for my writing, not just because I'm a female.

And, as an aside, I don't think profanity is necessarily related to the appeal of a place for women. It's anecdotal, but I know plenty of foul-mouthed females, myself included.

Well put.