Gygax doesn't matter?

[haakon1]

Besides that, Mr. Snyder misses the transformative aspect of Gary's and Dave's initial work on the culture of the past 30 years.

Gary Gygax's influence in spawning a new multi-billion dollar form of entertainment is self-evident to anyone who cares to step back and think about it. That is, I agree with the New York Times and others who claim "World of Warcraft" and the entire RPG genre, on paper and more importantly now on computers, would never have existed without Gygax.

So, either Matt Snyder is highly misinformed, he's delusional, or he's a troll.

It's interesting to me to think about exactly now he's delusional. I suspect it's three common delusions:
-- Historical amnesia. The delusion that anything that happened in the past can affect no affect on the current world. In the comment that Gygax hasn't done anything important since 1989, I see: "FDR is so last century, why do I have to study him for the test?"
-- Anti-success. Anything that is popular must be bad. Success = liked by the uncool masses = not good enough for me. I'm going to guess Matt Snyder is the type who bad mouths Coke, WalMart, McDonald's, Starbucks, etc., not because of any intrinsic traits of these companies, but because they are large and successful. I imagine him saying: "Eww, Starbucks is so played. Go to Tully's instead."
-- I'm cooler than everyone else. Unwashed nerd hordes in basements play D&D. ONLY the elite gamers who bow to my superior coolitude may play my game. The fact that the cool gamers are just me and brother and his two buddies doesn't mean my game is lame, it means it's "indie" and hasn't sold out to the man. If I could only go sell 100 units, I'd go celebrate my creativity and indie spirit by . . . going to Urban Outfitters and buying some vintage T's. That'd be rad.

 

[Mallus]

Frankly, it can be quite awkward to deal with a poster you otherwise have no issues with self describing a mental or emotional disorder, especially when the poster seems to take great pride in it.

It's roughly as awkward as mistaking Buddhism-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off or stoicism for mental illness, as almost happened upthread...

The fact that there are also people who like to claim certain disordered attitudes because they think it makes them sound "too cool for society's rules"

And then there's just attitudes that aren't disordered at all, they just differ from the platitudes du jour. Don't forget those.

 

[haakon1]

Matt Snyder has made sure that I'll avoid his work in the future instead of just not knowing who he is tho, so I guess he helped me to potentially save money.

Yes, but he's got so unmemorable a name, it's going to be hard to remember to boycott him, and perhaps he'll publish with someone else's name on the marquee after this incident.

Anyhow, it looks like he publishes minor weird west ripoffs and he hasn't done anything since 2002, so there's not much to boycott. I can and have written my own Briscoe County Junior rip-off campaign for Boot Hill (invented by who? oh yeah, Gygax), so I don't need someone else's 3rd rate version.

 

[Stone Dog]

I knew a Matt Snyder once. The guy was even obsessive about how you pronounce "chimera." I can't see the picture very well from here, but it doesn't look like the same guy. I'm really glad because I'd have to track him down in San Diego and smack him about for being a hypocrite.

 

[haakon1]

Of course, I'll never buy anything he writes, ever. But then, there wasn't much chance of that anyway, since I would never have heard of him--and he knows it. If he attracts even a handful of people who consider buying his stuff because of this rant, then it's a net win for him.

Nod, he spammed the gaming community good with his little rant.

 

[haakon1]

Oh, seems Matt Snyder is quite a success, then. Indie RPG award from 6 years ago.

Honestly, I've never heard of the Indie RPG award, much less Matt Synder, until this unfortunate incident.

 

[shilsen]

Unfortunately, the fact that a point can be used abusively does not mean that the point is always abusive. By giving it a name as an internet fallacy, you are being just as dismissive as you accuse Pawsplay of being.

Frankly, it can be quite awkward to deal with a poster you otherwise have no issues with self describing a mental or emotional disorder, especially when the poster seems to take great pride in it.

I didn't describe myself as having a mental or emotional disorder. Pawsplay said I might have one and I joked that my sister (whose attitudes disagree from mine) would probably agree. That's all. I do take pride in being myself, mainly because I made myself the person I want to be, but that's not based on thinking I have a disorder.

The fact that there are also people who like to claim certain disordered attitudes because they think it makes them sound "too cool for society's rules" makes the situation even more confusing, and "do you really mean that, because...?" is about the best you can do sometimes.

Being too cool for society is overrated. Especially since it's often just another way of being ruled by society's rules, except that one is automatically assuming an opposed position to society as opposed to automatically accepting its rules. From my perspective, both are the same because they're dependent on society's positions, rather than on one's own decisions and beliefs.

It's roughly as awkward as mistaking Buddhism-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off or stoicism for mental illness, as almost happened upthread...

I've always thought that if I ever had to pick a religion that I'm most comfortable with, it would be Buddhism, at least in its original form. But achieving nirvana a la Buddhism involves eschewing all attachment and I enjoy having the positives of attachment without the negatives, so it doesn't work perfectly for me. My nirvana comes with elves and chocolates, and Buddha somehow missed out on the importance of those elements.

And then there's just attitudes that aren't disordered at all, they just differ from the platitudes du jour. Don't forget those.

Platitudes du jour? Nice phrase. I might have to steal that.

 

[Mallus]

Platitudes du jour? Nice phrase. I might have to steal that.

I'm proud of that one myself.

 

[Pbartender]

I've always thought that if I ever had to pick a religion that I'm most comfortable with, it would be Buddhism, at least in its original form. But achieving nirvana a la Buddhism involves eschewing all attachment and I enjoy having the positives of attachment without the negatives, so it doesn't work perfectly for me.

If you haven't yet, read the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu. You'd probably enjoy it.

Men flow into life, and ebb into death.

Some are filled with life;
Some are empty with death;
Some hold fast to life, and thereby perish,
For life is an abstraction.

 

[The Eternal GM]

Uh wow...

I get that this is the internet and that people can argue the toss on it. And of course having your own website allows you to state opinion as fact, and indeed bait people into arguments in your response column so you can sound a smartarse with calculated replies... All this is fine.

But... What's this guy's problem exactly?

Lifestyle or activity... Whuh? So he's got issues with the way gamers define themselves as 'geek gamers' or something? And that we chose to acknowledge the passing of one of our hobby's few celebrity founders on the 'net... Y'know, on sites dedicated to that self same hobby, or on personal blogs where we muse and express our thoughts... This is all bad somehow?

I don't get it. Beyond drawing attention to himself and his site (the plan?) this just comes off sounding wrong. I mean... How many gamers does Snyder think have erected shrines to Gary? Or done other stupid 'geeky' stuff because he died?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most people who are in the hobby went "Gary Gygax died? Oh crap, that sucks..." and then went on to talk over some old D&D sessions with rose-tinted glasses with someone else, and then get on with their lives like everyone does. Maybe old edition sessions have been run in honour of Gary in place of normal weekly sessions... And a few websites have put up a tasteful little remembrance banner.

Where is the bad in all this? How does this bring down the hobby? (Sorry, lifestyle or activity!)

Heh, I'll end here, everything else I've typed from this point on comes across as too aggressive or vitriolic, so I'll leave it there.