Speaking as a professional marketer who is also a woman, a GM, and a passionate WFRP fan, I have some points to add. The weak points in WFRP's marketing have nothing to do with gender. What's the deal with this game? It's *different*: the dice are different, the cards are different, the books are different. The entire system is designed to build and support story, which is the last thing anyone would expect from Warhammer's image (minis, battle, etc). So what needs to happen in the marketing of this game? It needs to convey what about it is different and unique. Slapping a few women on the front of the box doesn't do that any better or worse than the art that's on there currently. The best solve is a demo. I was fortunate enough to catch Jay's demo at GenCon and I picked up the game shortly after. For those who aren't so lucky, Fantasy Flight needs to be a little more creative with their solutions. Online videos are a good start.
No one likes to be patronized, regardless of their demographic. As Llanwyre pointed out, making the game more "feminine" is likely to turn off existing female gamers by assuming that we want to take on a particular role. "Come on, everybody, let's write up rank one housewives!" Erm, I think not. "But wouldn't they like the game better if there were pink action cards?" (May Sigmar forbid it!) Such changes are immaterial at best, and condescending at worst.
Really, two different debates are being presented in this thread. We're talking about the difficulties of getting female gamers to play a specific game (WFRP), versus the difficulties of getting individuals who have never gamed before to play WFRP, or any game at all. Many of these posts seem to confuse the two issues. I happen to believe that WFRP is an excellent game for new players. The dice are intuitive, there's no complex math or frustrating charting, and again, everything about the system is designed to support story. And everyone can appreciate a good story! But female players do not necessarily equate with "new gamers".
As far as women who already game coming to like WFRP or not, we would have to examine the reasons anyone plays one system over another. Aside from genre preferences (fantasy, horror, sci-fi, etc), I think the most likely predictor of what you will play is what you were introduced to first and what your group usually plays. Some gaming groups are lucky enough to have an "innovator": someone who goes to cons, searches online, scopes the stores, finds new games, and presents them to the group. But many start out playing in one system and rarely, if ever, depart. To each his own, but in my opinion this is a pretty sad loss. So the best way to get anyone to play WFRP? Demo it. If you're a fan of the game, do the community a favor and teach someone else how to play.
As far as the *marketing* question, rather than the personal/gaming group question, Fantasy Flight just needs to get creative. To reach a broader audience, find more ways to share what makes the game different from others. This might include videos demoing the game (please do!), sample adventures (huzzah! there it is!), a podcast (mentioned elsewhere), and the like. They might want to create separate campaigns for brand new players versus gamers who are simply new to WFRP. I've noticed some of this approach in the GM's book, when the intro to RPGs document is mentioned for the benefit of newbies. I think this could be pushed even further. But then, I'm just another crazed fan. For Sigmar!! ^_-
Women players in WFRP - Does FFG struggle to attract them to this game?
in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Posted
Speaking as a professional marketer who is also a woman, a GM, and a passionate WFRP fan, I have some points to add. The weak points in WFRP's marketing have nothing to do with gender. What's the deal with this game? It's *different*: the dice are different, the cards are different, the books are different. The entire system is designed to build and support story, which is the last thing anyone would expect from Warhammer's image (minis, battle, etc). So what needs to happen in the marketing of this game? It needs to convey what about it is different and unique. Slapping a few women on the front of the box doesn't do that any better or worse than the art that's on there currently. The best solve is a demo. I was fortunate enough to catch Jay's demo at GenCon and I picked up the game shortly after. For those who aren't so lucky, Fantasy Flight needs to be a little more creative with their solutions. Online videos are a good start.
No one likes to be patronized, regardless of their demographic. As Llanwyre pointed out, making the game more "feminine" is likely to turn off existing female gamers by assuming that we want to take on a particular role. "Come on, everybody, let's write up rank one housewives!" Erm, I think not. "But wouldn't they like the game better if there were pink action cards?" (May Sigmar forbid it!) Such changes are immaterial at best, and condescending at worst.
Really, two different debates are being presented in this thread. We're talking about the difficulties of getting female gamers to play a specific game (WFRP), versus the difficulties of getting individuals who have never gamed before to play WFRP, or any game at all. Many of these posts seem to confuse the two issues. I happen to believe that WFRP is an excellent game for new players. The dice are intuitive, there's no complex math or frustrating charting, and again, everything about the system is designed to support story. And everyone can appreciate a good story! But female players do not necessarily equate with "new gamers".
As far as women who already game coming to like WFRP or not, we would have to examine the reasons anyone plays one system over another. Aside from genre preferences (fantasy, horror, sci-fi, etc), I think the most likely predictor of what you will play is what you were introduced to first and what your group usually plays. Some gaming groups are lucky enough to have an "innovator": someone who goes to cons, searches online, scopes the stores, finds new games, and presents them to the group. But many start out playing in one system and rarely, if ever, depart. To each his own, but in my opinion this is a pretty sad loss. So the best way to get anyone to play WFRP? Demo it. If you're a fan of the game, do the community a favor and teach someone else how to play.
As far as the *marketing* question, rather than the personal/gaming group question, Fantasy Flight just needs to get creative. To reach a broader audience, find more ways to share what makes the game different from others. This might include videos demoing the game (please do!), sample adventures (huzzah! there it is!), a podcast (mentioned elsewhere), and the like. They might want to create separate campaigns for brand new players versus gamers who are simply new to WFRP. I've noticed some of this approach in the GM's book, when the intro to RPGs document is mentioned for the benefit of newbies. I think this could be pushed even further. But then, I'm just another crazed fan. For Sigmar!! ^_-