"Childish", "Teenage" and "Adult" RPGs?

[Gold Roger]

Since the person that wrote this and explicitly stated that he didn't intend any rating of the games as good or bad, let me just say: I don't care.

So some random person labels the basic principle of a game I enjoy as childish. Well my games are defined by more than the basic principle of the system I use.

I have games where there could very well come up the situation that a catgirls, someone awefully much like the hulk, a pokemon and a anime samurai fight ninja pirates supported by undead apes and lead by an alien vodoo priest from the future- in a jungle on the clouds.

So if someone calls my games childish- hell yeah, and I love it.

But solely labeling them that would be short sighted, since I also enjoy moral dilemma, great challenge and dark themes in my games.

So they are also "mature".


The system is just a part of the whole thing and while I don't care how that person cathegorizes that system or wether his reasoning is acurate, I have to ask:

"Whats the point?"

 

[Numion]

What sources are pretentious?

French WoD boards, it seems. Really genuine to act condescendingly while claiming not to do so.

EDIT: Actually I don't know what kind of board that is; just a bit tired of these shorthanded tactics of bashing one game by trying to appear intellectual, blah blah blah. And if those were Hites opinions, I've got no problem calling him pretentious, no matter how good he is.

For chrissakes he works writing make believe games and then tries to ascertain which verietes of make-believe are childish and which not. And surprise, his sort of make-believe is, of course, the most mature :\

Is that not pretentious?

 

[Crothian]

Is that not pretentious?

It is, but your first post sounded like from these sources it should be expected as if they haqd done it before many many times. And if it is a WoD site, it seems odd that they would describe their own game that way.

 

[Numion]

It is, but your first post sounded like from these sources it should be expected as if they haqd done it before many many times. And if it is a WoD site, it seems odd that they would describe their own game that way.

Well, this part seemed like something a vampire player would write: "one is subjected to a pain that is too deep, that nobody else understands"

 

[Odhanan]

I am French, and I ought to say as a personal opinion: it's nice to see from your comments that there's some sanity left in gaming!

This message board is not really a WoD message board. It's about all types of RPGs and simulation games, and it is actually visited by a large number of authors of indy games and French designers. It started as the official, later unofficial, message boards for the leading (and now dead) magazine of simulation games in France.

Many people on this board agree with the post I translated in the OP. This is interesting because it shows a fundamental difference IMO between the French-speaking and English-speaking gamers over the internet. The formers have been exposed to games such as CoC and RuneQuest as ultimate advancements when compared to AD&D in the late 80's. WoD represents the natural follow-up to this tradition, and the opinion that role-playing is far better than tactical RPG elements (which really are anathemas to RPGs for people holding such opinions) is largely respected by the French-speaking internet crowd.

It is linked to the evolution of French gaming really. From AD&D to CoC to loads of French-produced adaptation of American games to French games to so-called "indy" or "amateur" games today. The most vocal of people on these topics who visit French gaming forums aren't actually playing regularly RPGs anymore. They are in fact having a theorical approach to RPGs, and write games and rules rather than play them.

All of this obviously stems from personal observation and personal opinions. The reactions I read here validate my point, I think. I particularly like the edit pointing out that "childish" and "teenage" are not used as derogatory terms, I must say.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Spot on about the reasons Vampire is a teenager's game. The conflict with the elders (parents), the angst, the cynicism, the Jean-Paul Sartre quotes, the long black trenchcoats. Most goths are in their teens or early 20s.

Sure, D&D is childish but there's nothing wrong with that. Lots of things adults do are childish - eating sweets, rooting for sports teams, playing games where you pretend to be a knight killing a dragon.

If we had to be adult all the time, life would be unbearable.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I agree with the quote provided by the original poster about D&D and WoD, although I'd say his take on CoC confers a lot more weight to what, in my experience, usually turns into 'D&D until you die, and you will. Or go crazy. Probably both. Make a new character.'

However, that's only true of groups that play lots of different games and choose a system for its original purpose, rather than shoehorning one game into every style and genre they want to play, with varying levels of success. D&D, being the most popular RPG, is probably the one that sees use outside its core competency, with WoD second; so, you can't necessarily go into a particular group that says it's playing "D&D" and expect the basic themes of D&D.

On the flip side, if you go into a game of, say, Dogs in the Vineyard or even Feng Shui, there's really very little chance they won't be based on the themes and genre tropes those games exemplify; they aren't widely-enough played to be (mis?)used for other purposes.

 

[Starglim]

Spot on.

 

[Thanee]

childish + adult > teenage

Bye
Thanee

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Well, this part seemed like something a vampire player would write: "one is subjected to a pain that is too deep, that nobody else understands"

I kind of figured that was a sarcastic shot at WoD games.