Hobby Sofa Podcast Episode 4

[Duck21]

Here’s another episode of Hobby Sofa.

In this episode we are joined by Bill Anderson from Gamers Lounge.

Doctor Loxley will be talking about how he makes his bases.

I will give some advice about using different types of putty.

We going to look at Helldorado miniature game.

And I will review The Guild’s Judgement and Shadows of Red Chapel starters.

Hobby Sofa Episode 4

http://hobbysofa.coda.net/?p=5

[Helm]

Just finished listening today, and had an absolute whale of a time. The most instructional, informative and enjoyable episode I've heard from you, and the three-person format worked out really well too.

Loxley, not that I'm particularly knowledgeable about the subject, but I think that Wyrd had some reasoning behind their decision to have the pronoun "she" used throughout the rulebook. At the minute, "they" is not a gender-neutral work in wargaming; the average wargamer isn't female, so "they" or "their" is going to conjure the image of a man. Leaning towards welcoming women specifically is a solid decision from both business and equality standpoints, as the split isn't anywhere close to 50/50 and more female players doesn't mean losing male players. Ultimately, the very fact that the use of the word "she" leads to disappointment from some and praise from others while "he" does not indicates that "they" is likely not going to be perceived as gender-neutral.

All in all, though, I really enjoyed the whole discussion and especially the various tangents. You've got an excellent balance with Bill and I'm hoping that he gets invited back.

[Loxley]

Thanks for the kind words! I think it was our best yet as well.

I'm hoping we can record next in early December, as I have an accounting exam at the end of November and I want to make sure I focus on that as much as possible.

About a week ago Justin did a blog post about the use of the she pronoun, personally everything given isn't something I'm buying, I feel there was a lot more to do with PR than they let on, but that's just me

[Helm]

The second time in three days that I've been pointed in the direction of Justin's blog. I suppose I ought to start reading it!

I'd absolutely agree that using a pronoun that welcomes women constitutes PR, as does anything that aims to bring in more players. I suppose the point of contention would be whether or not it's "hollow" PR for the purposes of money or an effort to change behaviour for the purposes of social change. Either way, I'm happy to have more people playing in greater varieties.

Good luck with your exam too.