Looking behind the curtain: Assessing gender capital and gaming capital in tabletop spaces

While research has looked at what causes players to be engrossed in tabletop gaming, there has been little investigation into what might pull individuals away from the gaming table. Given that social responsibility sets different work and domestic responsibilities based on gender, there exists the possibility that men, women, and nonbinary players have different circumstances surrounding the phenomena that might call them from the game table. This research examines gender difference, associated norms, and their effect on the ability to deeply participate in gameplay. Drawing from the work on gender capital and gaming capital, the researcher analyzes a mixed method survey of tabletop role-playing gamers. The survey examines what structures are in place to provide the freedom to game, and what real-world constraints participants envision as limiting their ability. Data shows non-game related labor dictates how engaged a player can be at the table, and the impact differs by gender. Analysis affirms that women are impacted differently by gender capital and gaming capital due to real-world concerns that can pull them away and impact their attitudes about their own participation. Gender capital enforces a leisure space between the “two spheres” which yields men the ability to have less internalization concerning barriers to play, while second shift concerns add to the challenges for women.