Honestly, I think the biggest reason there aren't more women playing ASL is that there aren't more women playing ASL.
Interest and education aside, I think the majority of players, myself included, are getting into our late forties, early fifties or later. Women at that age are more likely than not to be married, and I can see where some of those husbands, barring an interest themselves, wouldn't be too keen on their wives hanging with a bunch of guys all the time. They're also less likely to have the same amount of "hobby time" as their male counterparts. And maybe most germane, women at that point in their lives tend to have more female-centric social circles. These are generalities of course. There are always exceptions.
As I recall, growing up in the 70's and early 80's, I didn't see a whole bunch of girls hanging out at the hobby shops or the game store when Squad Leader and ASL hit the shelves for the first time, either. So from that POV, nothing has really changed in the demographic of ASL players. Now if you could get some more women to play, you might get some younger ladies interested where it could snowball a little, but I really don't see that happening.
Regards,
Jeff
well, considering that even our present U.S. demographic generation musters around 200 million +/- and roughly 45% males in the 35-65 age grouping, that means that of the 90 million males in that demographic, only less than 5,000 play ASL at all, perhaps double that that ever have played SL or ASL ever in their entire lives. so 10,000 of 90 million is quite a niche, one might think.
We can even be gracious and estimate that perhaps 50,000 total of that 90 million demographic have an interest or ever did in board conflict simulation wargaming designs that use maps, counters and randomizers to represent battlefield actions.
Still a HUGE niche market.
exactly how many of the roughly 110 million women in that same demographic did you EXPECT would be drawn to simulating battle conflicts via maps, counters , detailed rules and random number generation devices?
And how many of those still further drawn to ASL?
How many of that 90 million male demographic are drawn to participating in quilting clubs and selling girl scout cookies?
Okay, well I sold girl scout cookies with my granddaughter for the first time this year. That's with 3 daughters and 9 granddaughters, all girl scouts, and I only got involved once in selling those damnable cookies.
debating the "why" is a moot point. If you want more women in ASL take Mike's advice and simply ask some of them to join you in playing ASL.
My wife found she enjoyed Storm Over Arnhem because I asked her to play it, and the rules were simple to understand. She would take on any one in a game of it nowadays, thoroughly enjoying the game itself, and its mechanics, even if the SS units are printed on large black counters.
None of which is directed at Jeff's commentary , rather building upon it.
