I recently read two interesting articles. One was about inclusiveness in games and was written by Sophie Lagace. The other one was on PAXsims and was about gender imbalance in hobby and simulation wargaming. Lagace's article mentioned how rpg books back in the 80's and 90's would have a paragraph explaining how "he" would refer to male and female players. I totally remember those paragraphs. I definitely prefer the mixed pronoun usage that is common today in rpg books, such as how Pathfinder books will alternate using "he" and "she" between sections. I am also a big fan of diversity in images of characters and also in images of players in rpg books.
Inclusiveness can only help our hobby. Analog gaming, especially the niches of role playing and wargaming, are small hobbies. By accepting and including more types of players we grow the hobby and add new influences. I introduced my daughter to role playing games, although now she mainly role-plays online. I always want her to feel welcome and represented in the hobby. Board games and rpgs are one of the coolest hobbies out there. They are social activities that allow you to use your imagination while promoting higher-order thinking. This hobby deserves to be enjoyed by as many different people, and types of people, as possible. We stand to gain more people to play with!
The two articles I read are much more eloquent than anything I could write on the subject of inclusiveness in hobby gaming. I recommend that you read them yourself. Here are links to them (again).
Inclusiveness in games (part 1)
Gender and national security gaming
Sphere of Annihilation - a blog about tabletop gaming, comics, and other nerdy stuff that I like!
