D&D General D&D "influencers" need to actively acknowledge other games.

[Charlaquin]

Exactly. Now if we could just get people to realize that’s how all businesses work. Their job is not the production of quality stuff, it’s the largest possible quantity of sales. Those two are generally not positively linked. Mostly it’s a negative correlation.

Almost like our economic system is broken or something

 

[Oofta]

The biggest problem is that content creators are slaves to the almighty algorithim. One of the YouTube content creators for miniature painting I like to watch, maybe Midwinter Minis, said that mentioning Warhammer in in the title or otherwise tagged in his video meant that more people would watch it. He could post a video of him painting with some colors and techniques that would work great for a variety of miniatures but if it doesn't mention Warhammer he gets less traffic. Many other content creators will mention Warhammer even if they're not painting any GW miniatures.

I imagine D&D is the same. Ginny Di and others are chasing that algorithim and mentioning D&D is going to get you far more viewers than most other games. It took Seth Skorkowski a while to build up his following and I bet he'd have even more if he was focused on D&D. I wish we had a greater variety of content as well, but it's hard for me to tell a content creator trying to make a living to focus on something less lucrative.

This is just another example of why it's bad for D&D to be this big of a fish in a tiny pond. I don't say that to slight D&D (I do play it), but when one game/company is the end all, be all of RPGs that's just not healthy.

Who gets to decide what is "healthy"? Why do you, and several other posters, care that many people are happy with one game? The vast majority of D&D players in my experience are pretty casual about the the whole thing. I happen to like my car, I don't think it's unhealthy to not drive other vehicles. In the same way, D&D is fun and I get what I want from gaming out of it.

I get tired of what comes off as ... for lack of a better term .. snobbery from people who play multiple games. That somehow people would be .better off, more enlightened, if only we did things like they did. Those poor sheeple never knowing the glory of other games. If you like playing other games, great! I'm happy for you that you have the time and opportunity to learn and play these other games. But most people? Finding time to learn and get together for one game is all they can handle. For others there's no reason to play other games because they like D&D. I almost exclusively eat chocolate ice cream because ... wait for it ... I like chocolate ice cream. There's no magic to it, taste testing a hundred different flavors wouldn't change my opinion, I just happen to know what I like.

But can we please stop telling other people how much better off they would be if they just played a wider variety of games? Or that somehow because a game is popular it's automatically lower quality for everyone?

 

[overgeeked]

TTRPGs require a large investment of time and energy, more than watching a series on streaming or reading a novel.

They really don’t, though. And that misconception is partially the point. People who’ve only seen D&D (or large, chunky systems) have a wrong notion about how difficult and time consuming learning and playing RPGs can be. If you think RPGs are only like D&D, then you’re not only wrong, you’re blind to the wider hobby. Which is fine, except for the spread of misinformation when repeating untrue things like “TTRPGs require a large investment of time and energy, more than watching a series on streaming or reading a novel.”

One-page RPGs exist. There’s hundreds or thousands of them. Rules light RPGs exist. Again, hundreds or thousands. Styles of games and gaming exist where there’s zero or very minimal prep ahead of time.

You absolutely can sit down with a brand new one-page RPG and a group that's never played it before and start playing in less than five minutes. People stuck in the D&D bubble simply cannot imagine that such a thing is possible. Yet it is. It happens all the time.

There are rules to be learned and even to learn how to play. It does not necessarily come naturally to people and perhaps that is a flaw in our society but real none the less. It is enough a barrier to entry that most people still do not do it.

That's not true in the slightest. Everyone plays pretend. Literally everyone. All children, the world over, have played pretend. The only difference between what kids do on the playground and what we do around the table is we formalize it and think it's somehow "elevated" because we spend money on books reminding us how to play pretend and add dice into the mix. Our society pushes people away from imagination towards pragmatism. But even adults still play pretend when they imagine what it would be like to win the lottery or get the big promotion or be a movie or rock star. All we do is formalize it by turning it into a meeting and adding dice.

That people learn and stick with one game that does the job and not lean other games in the vast sea of options people have to entertain themselves should not come as a surprise.

No, it's not a surprise. But it is disappointing. Especially when there are so many games out there that are so much better suited to do the things people seem to want to force D&D to do.

 

[Oofta]

Exactly. Now if we could just get people to realize that’s how all businesses work. Their job is not the production of quality stuff, it’s the largest possible quantity of sales. Those two are generally not positively linked. Mostly it’s a negative correlation.

So because something is popular it's almost guaranteed to be lower quality for the majority of people using the product?

 

[overgeeked]

Almost like our economic system is broken or something

It's not broken. It's functioning exactly as designed. Trouble is, it's not designed to provide a good, sustainable life to anyone. But that's what we expect it to do.

 

[Oofta]

They really don’t, though. And that misconception is partially the point. People who’ve only seen D&D (or large, chunky systems) have a wrong notion about how difficult and time consuming learning and playing RPGs can be. If you think RPGs are only like D&D, then you’re not only wrong, you’re blind to the wider hobby. Which is fine, except for the spread of misinformation when repeating untrue things like “TTRPGs require a large investment of time and energy, more than watching a series on streaming or reading a novel.”

One-page RPGs exist. There’s hundreds or thousands of them. Rules light RPGs exist. Again, hundreds or thousands. Styles of games and gaming exist where there’s zero or very minimal prep ahead of time.

You absolutely can sit down with a brand new one-page RPG and a group that's never played it before and start playing in less than five minutes. People stuck in the D&D bubble simply cannot imagine that such a thing is possible. Yet it is. It happens all the time.

That's not true in the slightest. Everyone plays pretend. Literally everyone. All children, the world over, have played pretend. The only difference between what kids to on the playground and what we do around the table is we formalize it and think it's somehow "elevated" because we spend money on books reminding us how to play pretend and add dice into the mix. Our society pushes people away from imagination towards pragmatism. But even adults still play pretend when they imagine what it would be like to win the lottery or get the big promotion or be a movie or rock star. All we do is formalize it by turning it into a meeting and adding dice.

No, it's not a surprise. But it is disappointing. Especially when there are so many games out there that are so much better suited to do the things people seem to want to force D&D to do.

I've played some one page RPGs. Their depth is as limited as their page count. Fun for a couple of hours on a lazy afternoon, but lacking enough depth to do anything more. It's kind of like saying people should try bicycles instead of a car, there's simply no comparison for what most people need and want.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Maybe I don't follow the right ones? GinniD went that whole video and never mentioned Fate campaign generation.

Maybe she doesn't like Fate. Lots of people don't like Fate. I don't like Fate, and thus rarely talk about it.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's not broken. It's functioning exactly as designed. Trouble is, it's not designed to provide a good, sustainable life to anyone. But that's what we expect it to do.

Well, ok, “fundamentally designed not to serve humanity’s best interests” is more accurate, but “broken” gets the idea across well enough.

 

[overgeeked]

Well, ok, “fundamentally designed not to serve humanity’s best interests” is more accurate, but “broken” gets the idea across well enough.

Sort of, but not really. If something's broken that generally implies it's not working right and there's a possibility it can be fixed. Capitalism isn't broken, it's functioning exactly as designed. It can't be fixed, it can only be discarded.

 

[Oofta]

Sort of, but not really. If something's broken that generally implies it's not working right and there's a possibility it can be fixed. Capitalism isn't broken, it's functioning exactly as designed. It can't be fixed, it can only be discarded.

Capitalism ... the worst possible economic structure except for every other one that has ever been tried for large populations.