Britney Spears does Miniature Wargaming!

Shock headline, who would have thought but yes, it's true Britney Spears is an avid fan of miniature Wargaming. Apparently she picked up the hobby after tapping into the Twitter stream of Lady Gaga, who we all know was the inspiration for the Avatars of War (AoW) model of the Dark Elf Queen. We're just waiting for AoW to confess Angelina Jolie begged them to model the Dark Elf Sorceress on her semi naked form, Beowolf stylee.

Obviously, what you just read is a greater work of fiction than the team developing the Mornea world of Alkemy or Games Workshop have put into Warhammer. The fact is, dream about it as much as you will, on the whole the chicks don't dig Wargaming. A lamentable fact discussed over at BoLS (http://snipurl.com/u10p2) recently.

I'll tell you why:

• Wargaming is generally a nerd fest of guys with few social skills, questionable fashion sense and suspect hygiene.
• The Hobby / Clubs offer the average woman very little.

Now is it all a bad thing being a socially inept nerd with bad fashion sense? (Questionable hygiene is never a good thing). Well no because you can throw on a stonewash pair of jeans, some fashionable sneakers or shoes if you must and a WHG T-Shirt and you're looking as good as the next guy. You might want to get the fauxhawk to really kick it.

As for social skills, Wargamers are generally not the types who get pissed of a Friday and scream bloody murder at their 'loved ones' or translate the verbal assualt into something more physical. Hey and once you're married being too good with the ladies isn't advised so don't stress it.

So if we can accept that the average guy Wargaming fanboi isn't the nerd we might think, maybe being a regular, smart thinking guy who's great to hang out with, what's happening? Where are the chicks?

Here's a question - How many of us ever take the time to INTRODUCE FEMALES into the Wargaming hobby in all it's forms? I wonder if we're guilty of thinking 'their not interested, everybody knows that...'. I know this is the case sometimes and it's bad bad thinking. It almost feels like sexist steroetyping...

To introduce your female friends or loved ones to the hobby would be an awesome thing to do. Isn't helping expand someones experience of the world a good thing? Offering to show a way to enjoy a safe, stimulating hobby with like minded individuals? For those introducing partners we all know relationships survive mainly based on shared views, interestes, goals (no, not differences!).

Introducing females to Wargaming is a Good thing all round, with a fat ass capital G.

But... what is going to interest them? Strategy? Statistics and numbers? Lore? Painting and conversions? Terrain making? Club organisation? Some of these together?

The answer on one level is who knows! Again, you can't say with any real meaning (as was said by some who replied on BoLS) "Girls like romance, their's no romance in Wargaming" and thereby assume Wargames would need romance for females to play. Absolute rubbish.

I think we need to look at MMORPGs and see what attracts these females to video games, games like Everquest and World of Warcraft. A researcher called Nick Yee spent many years looking into this question and produced some fascinating results.

Females in MMORPGs were likely to take more supportive roles, collaborate and be more altruistic, they liked the adventure and quests sure, but more often than not they like the idea the Guild, the Group would all be working together, as a social group with shared goals.

Geddit? How can we show females that Wargaming isn't about individuals but about Clubs, teams, socials groups, individuals who care about each other and enjoy seeing their mates learn new skills and get more enjoyment out of the hobby over time.

That's what I think will be more important to female players. Sure, they'll chase game wins, big armies and want to be the best painter in the Club, they're human after all. But the 'purpose' and 'focus' will be different. We need to allow for and embrace these difference with the same sense of equality and respect that we do for our male club mates. We need to stop making females think (know) we're pointing at them and reassure them they're equals who will be embraced (ho ho ho).

Wargaming Clubs are about teams and socials groups, made up of individuals who care about each other and enjoy seeing their mates learn new skills and get more enjoyment out of the hobby over time.

It's up to Club managers and membrs to make sure that applies equally to males and females so our hobby can grow in respect and esteem. Just as it should. Come on Britney, you can play with my Dwarf army and I'll play the Gobbos, but I'm not going to let you win just because you're female...