An Open Letter From The Women of Ragnarok Online

An Open Letter From The Women of Ragnarok Online is a essay purported to be written by several women of Ragnarok Online as an entreatise to male players for acknowledgement of the work that women do and as a demand for equality in the Ragnarok Online game rather than just token acknowledgement that women play the game. Further to its entreatise for equal treatment, it also demands that it male players desist from sexist language, harassment and unsolicited direct messages in or out of game, and for true recognition of the work that women do within the game - particularly in many cases where women have not received credit in the same way men have.

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Sometimes it’s not one dramatic event that drives women out of a server—it’s the slow accumulation of being sidelined, dismissed, or treated as less than fully part of the game.

This letter was written by many women who have loved Ragnarok Online for years. Some of us speak up often. Some of us stopped talking. Some of us left quietly. And some are still here, hoping things can change.
This isn’t a callout—it’s a call to reflect, and to build something better.

An Open Letter to Ragnarok Online Server Admins — From the Women Who Still Love This Game

Dear Server Admins, We write to you not just as players, but as women who have spent years—sometimes decades—exploring Midgard, building communities, leading guilds, and breathing life into your servers.
We are grateful for the worlds you've crafted and maintained. For every moment of adventure, every WoE clash, and every late-night grind session with friends—thank you.
But we also write to speak honestly. To ask that you hear us not as a minority, not as a novelty, but as a vital part of this game's heartbeat.

We ask for a seat at the table, not a spotlight.

Too often, we’ve been reduced to our gender—assumed to be someone’s girlfriend, questioned about our skill, or treated as mascots rather than players. We want to be judged by our gameplay, our contributions, our strategies—not our voices or avatars.
We ask for safe spaces, not silence.
Sexist jokes, harassment in PvP arenas, unsolicited DMs after MVP hunts—these things still happen. And when we report them, the response is too often slow, dismissive, or non-existent. A moderation policy means little without enforcement. We need you to take community safety seriously. When someone crosses a line, act.

We ask for inclusion, not tokenism.

We’re developers. Strategists. Artists. Event planners. Recruiters. We are more than just participants—we build the experience for others, too. Acknowledge our presence in your events, your staff, and your spotlight features—not as the exception, but as part of the norm.

We ask that you trust us when we speak.

If we say something is off—about moderation, representation, or toxicity—please don’t dismiss it as drama or overreaction. You may not see what we see. You may not feel what we feel. And you may not realize what feels threatening to us, because it simply isn’t threatening to you.

But that’s exactly why it matters.

Listen. You don’t need to agree immediately, but treat us as fellow adults with insight and experience. We’re not trying to stir conflict—we’re trying to make it safer for others to avoid one.
Most of us stay silent—for good reason.

Because speaking up too often means being labeled as "toxic," "emotional," or "hard to work with." Because we've seen women pushed out of communities not for causing problems—but for daring to name them.
Because the moment we defend ourselves, we become the villain.

Meanwhile, the men who harass, belittle, or steal credit? They get a pass. They get praise. They get invited to staff teams and trusted with power. Their achievements are celebrated—even when those achievements were built on ideas, labour, or leadership that we contributed but never got credit for.

This double standard is exhausting. We’re punished for standing up. They’re not even held accountable for standing on us.

And when we do achieve something—it's rarely seen as earned.

Our success questioned. Our leadership is framed as manipulation. If we build a strong guild, we must have "seduced" someone. If we gain support, we must be "attention-seeking." If we hold influence, it's because someone “likes” us—not because we earned respect.
We're hyper-analyzed, sexualized, and reduced to rumors—while men are simply allowed to play, lead, and succeed.
We don’t want special treatment—we want fair treatment.

We ask for fairness in enforcement—not quiet punishment.
Too often, when things get uncomfortable, it’s easier to quietly sideline a woman who speaks up than to confront the culture that created the issue in the first place.

We’ve seen it happen—where instead of addressing the widespread behavior that drives women out, leadership removes the visible discomfort. The woman who raises concerns is told to “take space.” She's painted as the source of the problem—simply for pointing it out.

This isn’t resolution. It’s erasure.

You can’t build a healthy community by quietly discarding the people who care enough to demand better. That only protects the status quo—and teaches every other woman watching that it’s safer to stay silent than to be right.
We love this game. That’s why we’re still here.
We’ve stayed through meta shifts, server wipes, guild betrayals, and endless Emperium breaks. We are here not to complain, but to help this community grow stronger. We want RO to be a place where everyone—regardless of gender—can play, grind, lead, fight, and have fun without fear or frustration.

Make space for us. Stand up for us. Work with us.

Collectively from:
The potion farmers, the casuals, the MVP hunters.
The stalkers in the shadows, the supports who keep the party alive.
The women who coded your server features, and the ones who just log in to vibe.
The ones who speak up and the ones who stay quiet just to keep playing.
The artists, the event runners, the GMs behind the scenes.
The players who got mistaken for someone’s girlfriend—and the ones who were, and still carried.
The tanky grandmas. The Zoomers with click speed.
The ones who fix bugs at 2 AM. The ones who cosplay their main.
The ones who still cry when a guildmate quits.
The guild leaders. The recallers. The theorycrafters who run simulations between classes.
The ones who never stopped believing this community could be better.
We are here. We always were. Now we're saying it out loud.

—The Women of Ragnarok Online