Where Have All the Witches Gone?

When I first started playing MUD2 there was only 1 witch, Xia, but she wasn't playing at that time. There were only four female players other than myself: Velvet (Vella), Suzy, Vulnax and Lexley. But two of those turned out to be male. This was circa early 1998 when women were not so frequently found in on-line environments. Suzy, Lexley and myself made wiz, more female players joined the game, the average age of players dropped and many players left MUD2 to games such as Everquest and the like. Lexley was the last witch. The number of female players has risen but why have we not had another witch since February 1999?

This is not a question I have asked directly in the Group Discussion or Gender Questionnaire, but by exploring the general subject of "female players" maybe an answer will become apparent. I have heard many theories, including:

• "Generally female players aren't good enough to make wiz"
• "Female players tend to be socalisers and therefore never leave the tearoom long enough to make the points"
• "Females are too competitive, there's only room for 1 witch"

Do you agree with any of those statements? Please take the time to fill in the Gender Questionnaire and let me know your thoughts on the subject. As a response to the Group Discussion I held last month Hawumph will be hosted an equivlent male one, so if you'd like to take part let Hawumph know!

Further Reading

What better article to start with than that by Lexley, one of our four witches. This article doesn't specifically cover the area of female players but does go into the ethical side of cross-gender personae.

This article found in the now defunct Imaginary Reality archives was written by a female MUD player who posted a questionnaire to a selection of male and female players asking them to comment on questions such as how the two genders are treated differently online.

This article is now a little dated but perhaps goes some way to explaining historically why there are few female MUD players, specifically why there are far fewer older female players around today. However Theman's article in this issue may also cover that point.

Related to this article is the Group Discussion and Gender Questionnaire. Please feel free to contact the author using the link below