From the first link in the article:
“Why we don’t have more female players, it’s hard to say, but I don’t think it’s necessarily indicative of one game,” said Litzsinger. ”It’s kind of potentially a problem with card games in general."
I think that’s a fairly bold statement, given that the game is about computer hackers in a “dystopian, cyberpunk future” (from the video above).
Although neither card games nor “dystopian cyberpunk computer hackers” ought to be “stereotypically male,” I think it’s quite likely that the latter is more stereotypically male than the former, and so might explain the gender differences slightly more.
I consider non-standard-deck card games to be as cool as karoake.
Which, I must admit, totally gob-smacked me when it jumped the ocean into America.
Some people like that sort of thing, I guess.
Some people also like shows on TLC.
I ain’t those people.
Yay more Netrunner. I also sorta started this game a few years ago, and I attend a local league for my games. I haven’t made much effort to go to tournaments, mostly because I am not a fan of super competitive environments. Doesn’t stop me from reading up on people’s strategies and reports, though. I feel like I have a pretty sane group of people that I play with, and I’m sure more females show up for the Friday Night Magic events because of sheer popularity, but the Netrunner circle has been mostly consistent for me.
I play netrunner, and don’t really know anyone who got into it without being into other card games first. Card game players pick up new games based on theme and mechanics, not a lot of people get into card games on their own because of a theme alone.
Android: Netrunner is a great game. I love it. Had it for a while and couldn’t find anyone to play with. Then, I got in with my local group and had a really good time getting my ass kicked 9 times out of 10.
Then it hit me: I spend a lot of time (and money) on this game. I watch videos, I build competitive decks for what seems like hours, all my podcasting drive time was Netrunner podcasts, I bought a second core set at the Barnes & Noble half off sale. I was just really getting into it. And loosing 9 times out of 10. It was a lot of time. I wasn’t getting to my other board games. So I came home one night and decided that was it. I was never going to get good. I’m always going to feel I need to keep up with the latest expansion. I don’t have a casual partner to play with. Building decks takes a lot of time, even Net Decking which is just copying someone else’s deck from the internet.
So I’m selling my set on eBay and leaving it at that.
It’s a great game and I love it. Really it’s a nail biting thrill ride. Solid mechanics. Surprises etc. But I just don’t have the time in my old age of 50.
There have been advancements in computers, medicine, cel phones etc etc. There have also been advancement in game mechanics and possibilities. You can continue to play Pong while the rest of us play Team Fortress or Portal. Totally fine.
I love Netrunner, but rarely get out of the house. I bought the core set, but have only played it twice to date, sadly.
Luckily Hearthstone came out shortly after, which neatly killed two birds with one stone: I still get the thrill of CCGs, but I no longer have to worry about disrupting everyone else’s schedule to find an opponent.
It’s a shame there is no digital translation yet.
I like that about Hearthstone as well. I used to have a group of friends that met often to play Magic the Gathering, but then kids/work/etc. Hearthstone does a great job of scratching that itch for a few minutes (or hours) on demand. That being said, Netrunner sounds great. I’ll have to look into whether any of my local game shops run a Netrunner game night.
Oh, I’m certainly not saying that the male creators of imaginary cyberpunk hackers don’t love making them female. That seemed to be one of the premises of the article.
I’m just saying that the target audience is still men.
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