Dragon Con: A Sight of the Schism in action

[Stalker0]

So just recently I made my yearly pilgrimage to Dragon Con. While I'm not a big con gamer normally, I decided this year to try out a few events.

We all talk about the edition war, and we even like to talk about how we shouldn't talk about the edition war. But for me until now the edition war was simply post and chats on Enworld. As much as I love online posting, its not always the best representation of the gaming group at large.

During Dragon Con gaming events, I got to see the schism 1st hand.

There were 20 or more different DND type adventures going on throughout the con, but guess how many 4e ones there were?

That's right, a big zero.

Now I had checked the roster last year and hadn't seen 4e games then either. But I chalked that up to the fact that the game was new. The game now had another year under its belt, but once again I could still see it being the new kid on the block.

Except that Pathfinder, the game that had literally just released its finished rules, had 4 adventures going on at the Con.

All that said, there could be a number of reasons behind it, so I still might not have thought too much about it.

However, there was one 4e event going on (though not a true adventure), and that was the Cheese Grinder. I'm a big fan of the Grinder, its a few hours where I throw off the roleplaying side of my soul and just dive into pure mechanical powergaming goodness.

Every year the grinder had seen more and more people enter. This year was the worst turnout they had ever had. In fact while I was making characters, people were actively coming up to the people running, telling them how much they hated 4e, and that they didn't want to play because it was 4e.

Frankly, 4e is not a good system for the cheese grinder. It is after all supposed to eliminate much of the cheese the grinder explores. But the numbers and the passionate anger of many of the people was telling.

For good or ill, it seems to me that the edition war is alive and well, and will continue for a good while longer.

 

[Treebore]

Its not a war, its just an affiliation. Much like politics. Some people may take it to the level of a "fight", but for most it is simply choice.

 

[Rechan]

people were actively coming up to the people running, telling them how much they hated 4e, and that they didn't want to play because it was 4e.

Apparently the internet is not the only place people are openly rude. That really steams me up, that people would actively come up to someone running and event and saying, "I hate your game and won't play your game". I can understand choosing to not play, but to make a point of going up to insult the people running the game?

Its not a war, its just an affiliation. Much like politics. Some people may take it to the level of a "fight", but for most it is simply choice.

There's a reason you don't talk politics or religion.

 

[Nightson]

It's one thing to do say stuff like that on a messageboard, you see the topics right there and discussion is normal. But to go up to someone and tell them the game they're running is horrible, to actively seek that out is so amazingly rude I can't even fathom it.

 

[Cadfan]

That's a lot of D&D events. My local convention (the little local one, not the huge regional one) had maybe 6 D&D events last convention. Two were 4e. The rest were 2e. Of course, then there was the RPGA, which had who knows how many D&D games running.

 

[Shemeska]

I had a bunch of friends who did a weekend roadtrip to Dragon Con this year. I had the chance to go, but I had too much going on and I skipped out on it. In retrospect I should have gone, because they had a blast.

Not too surprising to find the schism in action there. No reason to think it's confined to just messageboard flames, or any smaller among the gaming public at large.

 

[Treebore]

There's a reason you don't talk politics or religion.

I talk about them all the time, its just that I talk about them with people who... talk. Same with "editions". Its a "war" only with people who don't know how to talk.

 

[Contrarian]

It's one thing to do say stuff like that on a messageboard, you see the topics right there and discussion is normal. But to go up to someone and tell them the game they're running is horrible, to actively seek that out is so amazingly rude I can't even fathom it.

Really? I wish more gamers had the nerve to say what they believe in person instead of saving it for message boards. That way they can't go running to hide behind a moderator when someone calls them out as a morron.

Anyway, despite being a 1E guy myself, my gut says Dragoncon probably isn't the best measure of what's happening at regular game conventions (where the RPGA no doubt picks up the slack). The gamer contingent there probably skews older, crankier, and more resistant to change than other conventions.

 

[Shemeska]

my gut says Dragoncon probably isn't the best measure of what's happening at regular game conventions (where the RPGA no doubt picks up the slack a good representation of D&D gaming. The gamer contingent there probably skews older, crankier, and more resistant to change than other conventions.

And there's a question: is the current RPGA representative of the D&D community at large?

 

[Stoat]

I missed Dragon Con this year, but in years past a lot of the D&D games were being run by 3rd party publishers with product to sell. Was that the case this year? Were the Pathfinder games run by Paizo folks or fans?