General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
As promised, I will be writing an article about ENWorld for the RPG Examiner: RPG Examiner. Instead of just writing my usual Q&A and given the collaborative nature of ENWorld, I thought it would be a good idea to go directly to the people who use it most. This is also my opportunity to give back to the community here.
So please feel free to answer the below questions by posting to this thread. I can't guarantee I will use everyone's responses in the article, but I'll do my best to capture the spirit of your comments and quote sources as much as possible.
· What brought you to ENWorld?
· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?
· How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?
· Anything else you feel should be included in the article.
I'll run this for a couple of days, depending on the response rate, and then post a link to the final article, which will of course link back to ENWorld.
I have a little bit of a different relationship with EN World, obviously, but I can answer a couple of these as a general user...
· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
It's large but not overwhelming; it's generally friendly but as with any community there are some who are here to win a fight instead of have a discussion (and once you find them, stick 'em on your ignore list and you're good to go); as far as the characteristics of the people who post here, polls have generally shown that the age skews toward older (30+) players, well-educated players, players who are DMs, and players who have had a good deal of experience with earlier editions of D&D and RPGs outside of D&D. The type of poster I like the most has a good sense of humor, is very welcoming, is interested in having a discussion rather than an argument, doesn't have an axe to grind (and doesn't grind axes in every thread encountered), likes to share both successes and failures in gaming, likes to learn from the experience of others, and really contributes to rather than simply consuming what EN World has to offer. And I'm glad to say we're crawling with this sort of poster.
· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
I care about this community, I care about what happens to it and to the people in it. And I love having a place to hang out where the rules are exactly like I would want them to be if I were running the place myself. Russ and the moderators are doing a fantastic job. They had a tough year or two with 4th Edition and trying to force everyone to play nice while all that was going on, and I hope they know we appreciate all they do to make this place a fun hangout.
· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?
I've gotten all kinds of advice, help with plots, suggestions for helpful resources, reviews of products, inside scoops on what's new from EN World. If I'm stuck, someone will help me out.
· How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?
I have gotten to meet so many awesome people through this website. And its legacy is a tremendous source of pride for me personally.
Hmmm...I think I originally found it as Eric Noah's 3E site back in 1999. After that I lurked on the message boards, finally created an account and continued to lurk
If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
I think the majoirty of the people are great. It is a very friendly place and when I have a question, I know I'll recieve useful answers.
Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
I feel that the Morrus, the admins and moderators do a fantasic job keeping the place friendly. The conversations, advice, and friendliness of EN World are all reasons I visit, pretty much on a daily basis.
How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?
All the time. I often will read through multiple threads just to look for ways to improve my game. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've found helpful things that have improved my game. I've made numerous purchases of products I probably wouldn't have heard of without EN World. I may not always use the product at the game table but the products have all been great.
How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?
Hmmm...I'm not sure if EN World has affected me personally. There are quite a few people on EN World who I think it would be cool to meet and hang out with, but I've never made it to a Gen Con or a Game Day (even though I've wanted to).
So please feel free to answer the below questions by posting to this thread. I can't guarantee I will use everyone's responses in the article, but I'll do my best to capture the spirit of your comments and quote sources as much as possible.
· What brought you to ENWorld?
I'm a migrator from Eric's old red and black page and I found out about Eric Noah's site when he mentioned collecting all information from the old web-based boards of WOTC (I think I'm either Eric's 1st or 2nd scooper)
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Originally Posted by talien
· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
If there is any type of D&D gamer you can think of, there's someone here who falls into that category.
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Originally Posted by talien
· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
After the forums were started, I stayed around since at the time it was better than WOTC's own forums from a technical standpoint and while my interest in D&D has waxed and waned, I never really purge enworld from my links and thus it is always there...
Quote:
Originally Posted by talien
· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?
Looking forward to the responses!
This board for me anyway has replaced my old stomping ground for D&D chatter, namely rec.games.frp.dnd
I had been playing second edition and having a lot of fun. Dragon (I think) was the first place I heard about 3e. One day on a whim I searched on line and Eric Noah's site.
· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
A large group of diverse gamers that mostly follow and enjoy D&D in various forms.
· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
3e was a great game and as we played it I found it was also enjoyable to read about what others were doing with it. And the 3pp books were coming out and this was a great place to hear about them
· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?
Through EN World I found two gaming groups and many friends. I would say that every game I've been part of since 2002 has been affected in some way by En World. Either through ideas, people I game with from here, or just what ever.
· How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?
Friends, lots of friends. Gen Con seems to be a good place to meet many of them but I've driven to New Hampshire, Albany New York, and North Carolina to game but also hang out with and spend time with people from here. EN World is also one of the links that caused a marriage. A friend of mine from high school married a friend that made from a group that I would not have joined if not for EN World. Though neither of them actually post here.
· Anything else you feel should be included in the article.
The sense of community that has lasted for almost a decade.
If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
Very diverse, and seems to include the more serious and dedicated gamers from a group. As a newcomer, it does seem a bit cliquish though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by talien
Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
The ability to gather information, share experiences, and hopefully meet gamers in my area (if they exist).
Quote:
Originally Posted by talien
How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience?
Has anything you read here affected your current games?
I did learn how to multi-class here, and I have used that on my current character.
Some of the first explanations on that topic weren't as clear as I hoped, and there was the rare exception or two who criticized my lack of understanding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by talien
How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?
It hasn't, yet.
At some point I hope to meet some of the people here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by talien
Anything else you feel should be included in the article.
"Edition Wars"... it's tough staying neutral on such a heated topic.
__________________ "Democracy must be something more than two gnolls and an elf voting on what to have for dinner."
Last edited by Hereticus; 21st May 2009 at 04:54 AM..
I have a little bit of a different relationship with EN World, obviously, but I can answer a couple of these as a general user...
Thanks for responding Eric! I was a lurker myself back when you first started the site, with the repeating ENWorld pattern in the background, if I remember correctly.
I don't know anymore. I suspect some online search on D&D 3rd Edition.
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· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
There are people with years of game experience and newbies. There are people with different preferences, likes or dislikes. It is a community with a lot of creativity and that has a lot of interesting stories to tell and game experiences to relate.
Members of the community like to argue, especially when it's about different preferences. This can be enlightening, if you learn something new, or frustrating, when it seems you can't get your point across. (Sometimes, this is a sign you're trying too hard, and miss that it's about personal taste and not facts.)
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· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
Getting rules understanding was a start, but I think what mostly made me stay is that I could learn a lot in playing and running games. There are a lot of people with more experience as DMs than me here, and they have lots of useful advice and experiences to relate.
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· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?
Lots of threads inspire to do more, or give suggestions on how to handle situations in-game as well as out-of-game. I think it made me both a better player and - more importantly for me - a better DM.
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· How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?
Mostly in that I spend a lot of free time on EN World and it keeps gaming a hobby I can spend lots of time on. There are also people that you "kinda know" - but since most live far away for me, I might never meet them (though, who knows, GenCon 2010?).
I think it - along other stuff often related to gaming or media- helped my English a lot. (I am not a native speaker/writer)...
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· Anything else you feel should be included in the article.
Thoughts of the Arch Chancellor - My weblog on EN World - containing game related material, like: house rules, design theories, reviews, play reports, adventure ideas
Secret Member of <Think we would just hide our secret with a spoiler tag, eh?>
My brother Neal found the site, and as I was just starting at University and experiencing online access for the first time, he was able to send me a link. We started reading all the pre-3e stuff as it came along, and then at some point I registered and started posting on the boards.
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If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
Diverse. There are all sorts of people on here, but mostly what unites them is a desire to game, to discuss gaming, and to find ways to help themselves enjoy the game more.
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Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
The community, and the fact that the majority of the opinions expressed chimed well with my own. Plus, I was involved in the original Hivemind stuff way back (when it was still hosted in the Meta forum!) and I had a lot of friends come out of that. Most of those have since left the boards, but others have replaced them here and there are new people whom I'm coming across all the time.
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How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?
Ye gods, yes. Getting a grip on 4e was so much easier with all the experience of everyone else to draw on. Rules, suggestions, changes to published modules and just the confidence of knowing that lots of other people are trying this out too and having the same problems really helps.
My 4e Cleric drew heavily on some suggestions from the boards when I was building him, and my Keep on the Shadowfell game is a lot better from the advice I've taken here.
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How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?
In 2000 - 2001 I went through a tough time, personally, and spent a lot of time online escaping from it. The community here really helped with the Hivemind providing a lot of emotional support, and now that I'm happier it's great to see that it still exists for those people that need it. I also made some great friends, including some I've never actually met, through ENWorld.
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Anything else you feel should be included in the article.
As an independent site, I don't think it can be beaten for D&D discussion.
__________________ DM of Adventure Path Story Hour (now in Thunderspire Labyrinth!): Ryam Plays Dice - updated 8th June 09 (campaign on indefinite hiatus).
Player in Swordlands Story Hour: Interview with a Fey - updated 15th June 09. News just in - this campaign may be restarting in the near future! Watch this space!
I also have the singular honour of being Rouseketeer #20.
4e, I was looking for information regarding 4e and I found this site had a comprehensive list of the ongoing rumors and news.
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· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
Helpful and Creative, the community is always there to give suggestions, tips, and information to all who ask.
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· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
Mostly the community and the fact that theres always something interesting being posted.
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· Anything else you feel should be included in the article.
Yes you should include how this site has such a great impact in the community and that even WotC own staff have accounts and are as active as allowed in the community.
I don't recall the exact date when I first came to ENWorld. It was probably sometime in early 2000. I do recall the reason: I had a rules question about whether it required an action to reload a bow. I got immediate, friendly responses. Been here ever since.
By way of a bit of background about myself, I have always had excellent friends. Solid, lifelong friends, the sort which any person would feel blessed to have. So I did not come here looking for friends since I had all that a guy could ever want.
But I found some anyway. Great friends that I crave the opportunity to see as frequently as possible. Brilliant, funny, creative and caring people who I am better for having associated with. It is the primary reason that I organize the NC Game Days three times a year (it also helps that these folks run games that are simply kickass). I find it bizarre and improbable that of the dozens and dozens of ENWorld folks that I've met that I can hardly name any that I wouldn't go out of my way to hang out with. I mean, you can't ALL be above average, right? Right?
Best not to question it really.
Anyway, I could never have foreseen when I came here that I'd be spending my summer vacation in 2009 visiting a few of my favorite ENWorlders along the east coast. But I look forward to it with uncontained glee at the chance to see friends that I'd never have known but through this website.
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