Then, if the goal is to have "more awareness of the game, especially in a positive light", wouldn't that be better served by better product, rather than mere uncritical acceptance of whatever is produced?
It seems clear to me that every product along this line to date, with the exception of the novel lines, has been based on the hope for mere uncritical acceptance of whatever is produced, because of the D&D logo.
That dilutes the D&D logo, and is ultimately damaging to awareness of the game in a positive light.
But again, we aren't complaining about criticism of a product, or simply settling for something of poor quality. We are talking about a whole host of behavior that goes well beyond that.
I admit, the D&D movie was bad. (Though I've heard good things about the second one.) And I confess, I never saw the cartoon show. But I enjoyed the novels and the video game lines. They got me into the game. I'm sure the same is true for others. If the movie was better, I expect it could do the same. Fostering an atmosphere that discourages the creation of such things is depriving yourself of any potential to continue that trend.
Look - in your other post, you say that most criticisms you receive for your game are legitimate ones. You don't assume any malicious intent on the part of the reviewer.
But are you telling me you have never gotten a response that was completely without merit? That was just someone raging at your product, possibly over reasons or expectations that were completely unrelated?
I just don't understand how you can deny the presence of a subset of gamers who really are vocally unpleasant online. Enworld certainly is good at keeping them out, but they do crop up online, among gamers and others. In every group of people, there will be a portion that are simply jerks.
They are the ones this article is about. I don't know how many times it needs to be said - this isn't about legitimate criticism of a product. This is about people who go ahead and buy a product, and then drive others away.
Look, if some people are playing in a game store, and while they are having a good old time, someone walks over and starts mocking them for playing a game he doesn't like, or insists on standing next to the DM pointing out everything he is doing wrong and explaining why his game of choice is so terrible, odds are high those gamers at the table won't have any fun.
And when they walk out and stop visiting the store, the owner is going to be upset at the one guy who is left - even if he keeps purchasing stuff from him every week.
On the internet, there are
lots of people like that one guy, and they can band together. And we get the same exact sort of behavior, and thus it makes the gaming crowd as a whole all the more unappealing to outside interests.
Or so the argument goes. Whether true or not, that's the claim being made - that some gamers are jerks, and are ruining it for the rest of us. Trying to distort that into saying that gamers should accept subpar quality products, or should shut up and be happy with whatever they are offered, just seems like a willful misreading of the point.