Don,
Now you have touched on something that has been a real puzzle for me. In my after school game club I only have a couple girls who regularly come. I have had several come for a meeting or two and never return. Partially I think it is due to the nature of how a single girl showing up at a predominantly male club was treated and I had a good long talk with all my kids about this behavior and have seen some improvements.
More than that though is the fact that many of the games played just don't seem to interest the girls that much. I struggle with this to try to understand the needs a young lady might have that could be fulfilled through a gaming session (either through the game itself or through the social interaction within the game). Interestingly enough the girls have enjoyed two LL games more than anything else we have played. Treehouse and Fluxx have both strongly appealed to the girls who come regularly. Bang! and Hex Hex haven't so much.
Of course now I'm trying to understand the other sex - and if my track record with my daughter and wife are any indicator I think i have a long row to hoe. :lol: Seriously though I did notice when teaching Go that boys wanted to play one on one whereas the girls wanted to play a team of 2 girls versus a team of 2 girls. This lead to more chatting and social interaction and a much stronger sense of cooperation (you had a teammate) where the boys wanted to win or lose on their own.
I will probably have to try out Once Upon a Time or Nanofictionary (If I can ever figure out the rules to Nanofictionary on my own) and see if storytelling games are more up their alley.
Oh also, the reason I'm so quick to respond to everything recently is I'm on my Spring Break this week and right near a computer most of the day. :lol: So don't always expect this verbosity and quick response from me.
-Ryan
I read, years ago now, a paper on how boys are socialized to
understand and accept "friendly competition" much more easily than
girls. You can be on the other team in kick ball, but we're still
best friends. Girls, apparently, according to some study I can no
longer recall, are socialized to an all-or-nothing point of view of
friendship and competition. To reuse the same analogy, if you're on
the other team in kick ball, you are my enemy in all things. The
truth is probably less extreme, but I've notice elements of this in
real life, even among adults. Boys/men will fight and get over it
while girls/women will fight and stay mad much, much longer.
- |) () /\/
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Ora, lege, lege, lege, relege, labora et invenies.