D&D with "alt film" stars: the WotC interview

[Charwoman Gene]

I had heard a lot of negative things about this guy so I popped over to the blog to actually read it, and really, it's an honest gaming blog. There's some stuff on there I wouldn't want to read and I have a great deal of disagreement with his views, but that is Taste, Politics, and Religion. The gaming stuff is well-written and sincere.

 

[Dire Bare]

The adult movie actor sub-theme seemed to be quite secondary.

Tertiary even! Most of the gamers are porn stars, but the blog has nothing else to do with porn. It's my thirteen-year-old self's fantasy come true!!!

 

[Dire Bare]

Yeah, I can't believe that they acknowledged this.

I guess they figure the whole occult scare has run its course, and now they want to see if alot of negative publicity is in fact good for jump starting sales.

Next up, Return to the Occult Scare: Porn Edition.

Still, I wonder how many parents will lash out at WoTC for posting the interview in the first place.

I doubt it'll make much of a splash. I'm sure some gamers who visit WotC's D&D site regularly will see it and be offended that it is even there (despite the NSFW warning), but I doubt any noticeable reaction will come of it.

Maybe some intrepid cable news reporter needing something to fill the next ALARM segment will stumble across it . . .

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

wow

OK, that was an awesome read. I live in LA; my new life goal is to join that game ;-)

Ken

 

[Dire Bare]

Any press is good press I suppose.

But honestly it falls more in line with some of the recent attempts by WotC to appeal to their audience with stuff with Penny Arcade, Robot Chicken, and now this. Grand marketing tradition of older people telling a younger target audience what's cool and hip and embracing things they feel appeal to them to market the product, in this case 4e.

You make it sound like a bad thing! But I think you're off base. The dudes of Penny Arcade, the writers of Robot Chicken, and Zak are not young people. They are all roughly my age, and we all grew up with D&D in the 1980s. The TV shows and the blog aren't themselves aimed at young people, but rather the adult "hip" of Gen X. WotC is trying to appeal to their core consumers, not so much the young kids with these podcasts, videos, and interviews.

They are just being bolder . . . and smarter about it!

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

Zak's blog is only gaming related blog in my bookmarks.

He writes with great detail and enthusiasm for gaming. It seems like he still has the energetic, nuclear powerhouse creative brain of an eight-year old transposed over his adult brain dimension -- and I mean that in a good way.

 

[Turtlejay]

I remember finding this blog through ENworld a few months ago. His writing style is easy for me to plow through, and I enjoy reading about his philosophy on games.

He also just posted about the interview, if you're curious. He details his 'gigadungeon', which is pretty rad.

Jay

 

[Wormwood]

Glad to see everyone liked this article.

Zak's blog is fantastic, he gives a great interview, and he seems like one hell of a DM.

One of the cool kids likes Dungeons & Dragons. That's a win.

 

[Pseudonym]

Is this the same blog discussed here?

 

[Hussar]

Heh, color me utterly, and I mean utterly shocked by the reactions of people here.

Snort.

Would it really kill people to pull of the WOTC is teh bad glasses for five minutes and actually make an honest criticism? Jeez.

For the first time in the game's history, we have the game designers actually publicly talking about gamers who aren't living in their parent's basement. But, hey, that's BAD. I recently started a thread about how D&D has always been marketed to the 15-25 crowd. And much more the 15 year old crowd.

At least now they're actually starting to admit that gamers are over the age of 25.