Gender bias issues in RPG Industry

by Hawke Robinson — published Jun 20, 2015 05:05 PM, last modified Feb 05, 2023 12:22 PM

June 1st, 4:43 pm, 2016. There is an article making the rounds titled "Publishers: STOP HIRING ARTISTS WHO CAN’T FOLLOW DIRECTIONS", which includes includes issues related to some of the current research on gender experiences in the gaming industry and community...

The article that came up is here:

https://gomakemeasandwich.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/publishers-stop-hiring-artists-who-cant-follow-directions

Ties in with my current research project (that began in 2013) on experiences of gender issues in the gaming industry and community : http://rpgresearch.com/blog/rpg-gender-bias-research-stage-2-status-update-1 We're doing the heavy data crunching this month by the way!

I responded with: "I have been researching issues like this for a few years now, and one of the more common complaints about the RPG industry has been the artwork as described in this article. We are crunching the research numbers this month (we started the research in 2013). Updates here: http://rpgresearch.com/blog/rpg-gender-bias-research-stage-2-status-update-1"

and also with:

"I am with you on your comment Cirsova. A number of RPGs make the distinction. For example MERP & Rolemaster and other systems separate Appearance from “Presence” (Charisma). In every version of D&D (and sub-variants) since it was added in AD&D1, I add the COM (Comeliness) stat to all my group’s character sheets, because there is such a clear distinction between appearance and charisma. House rules example for 5th Edition D&D “5e”: http://www.spokanerpg.com/Members/hawke/files/d-d-5th-edition-house-rules-by-hawke-web-page-version-20141005a"