Underestimates his Talents, Overestimates the Hobby's

Message:

I probably sound like this guy as well, but I hope my message is not reclaim the hobby. I try to argue against pretentious play, attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed. I think online rpg and many of the YouTubers are full of themselves. They need to crawl back under the rock and not be a Public Figure. At least this guy knows not to speak right at the camera.

The competitor to table-top gaming is computer games. Table Top dies a death by a thousand shading algorithms. People like watching pretty, static figure animation is popular, e.g., figure swinging a sword in idle. I just see this as CPU and bandwidth problems.

I painted my own figures once. If I could have bought painted plastic ones, I would have. That would save me time (even in High School). Now I would never buy a figure. I don't need animation on my virtual tabletop, but I'm in the minority there.

Not all of us can sculpt. Not all of us can write. Designing a game is a gift. I think it's easy, intuitive. But from looking at other designs, I know not to take my own talents for granted. I think the hobby took a wrong direction when people tried to be glamorous while playing. Not from selling better props. Though a dice tower seems stupid. People want to be seen like the pros. I get the impression player judge enjoyment by minutes total talking in-character. Strange.

I have no problem with kids on Kickstarter making cash for rehash. I have no problem with people spending and losing money on dreams. Many paper books go to landfill; maybe that should end. pdf seems nice, in a troublesome format to flip pages. I have seen some magnificent hardbound games that truly were impossible to play. I don't think a twenty member staff has any inherent problem. That's just managing a design team. I wish I had twenty!

Reclaim the hobby as a Rally Cry seems very reactionary, wanting nostalgia. Why can't those kids listen to Big Band music? Why can't those kids listen to Guitar Rock? Why can't those kids Rap like their fathers? Why can't things stay the same?

This guy should read about SPI and their utter contempt for DnD, even as it was filling up the tables after the corporate playtest time expired. By the time Dunnigan and Simonsen greenlit Dragonquest, they were playing catch-up and eventually lost. TSR did as well. Dungeon Dice, indeed.

You can't stand in front of an ocean and tell it to be quiet.



Yours,