Social Capital

This essay by Thea Miller on making a better place to play stood out to me as a very good essay.

I was especially drawn to this passage:

Women in Magic have a marked lack of social capital, which is the interpersonal relationships, networks, resources, and other social assets of a society or group that can be used to gain advantage and mobility

because let me tell you as someone who has difficulty asking strangers if they want to play, while also using this same game as a way to get to know people, I get a very, very tiny taste of how challenging that might be for a woman who wants to play.

If I feel weird and nervous and challenged by things that are 98% in my own head, how much more difficult is it for someone who might have some internal pressures but then is now being given the business by someone else?

Unreasonably difficult. And there's really no reason for that.

I know I'm personally grateful that I've been in environments that, so far, have seemed really welcoming to everyone but I know that's just my experience. I hope that's been everyone's.

So let's remember to be nice out there.