New Faces (Forked: Its the terminology that kills me...)

[Mercule]

New people, in general, are good. I'd love it if D&D/RPGs were as "mainstream" as MMOs. I don't expect it, but I'd love it.

What the heck is a "toon", anyway? I'm assuming it's something like "character == cartoon", so I may as well ask because it couldn't possibly be stupider or more offensive. Equally bad, maybe, but not worse.

 

[RFisher]

I care about my group.

I was kind of thinking along those lines. Once I have enough people in my group, I’m not terribly interested in continuing to recruit new players...until the situation changes.

Well, what's your favourite game? Would that game be around if the hobby had died 10 years ago?

My two favorite games: classic Traveller and classic D&D (specifically the 1981 edition).

A decade ago? 1998? Yep, they both existed. The both existed in 1981. Heck, there’s an awful lot of stuff on my RPG bookshelf older than 1998. Rolling back to 1988 maybe starts to hurt a bit more, but even then I could be pretty happy with what was left.

And there’s still a significant number of games from before 1998 that I’d like to acquire and give a try.

I do like to see new people discover this hobby. I’m just always wary that people get into it because it is something they will enjoy rather than trying to change the hobby itself in an attempt to attract people who aren’t going to enjoy it anyway.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Too much growth can be just as bad as too little or no growth. The key is to get the exact level of growth that is best for you; or the hobby in this case.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Too much growth in the body is, quite literally, cancer.

That said, you can't answer the question with one of the two extremes. Sometimes growth is good. Sometimes it's bad. You could say some growth is good, but other growth is bad. The extreme example used previously of "What if we got a million new players...who all liked FATAL?" is...well, extreme, yes. But it proves the point. If you get a whole LOT of new players, who all have really bad taste, then the hobby as a whole does not grow. It deteriorates.

Look at the gaming industry (Er, of the video variety). We're gearing up for another big crash. There's undeniably been a lot of new players in the video game industry, but the medium hasn't grown; on the contrary, it's been degrading.

 

[Kzach]

I think new players are a boon. I think I have more problems with older, experienced players who have ingrained expectations than I do with new players to whom everything is new and exciting.

 

[Asmor]

What if we got a million new players...who all liked FATAL?

Well, then obviously FATAL's a pretty freaking good system and we're the ones that are wrong. But as long as we're talking hypothetical situations that couldn't possibly happen, if my buttocks were home to an undiscovered species of endangered elephant I'd probably have to get the OK from the WWF every time I wiped me ass. The best part is that not only is that hypothetical situation equally likely, it's also equally relevant to the discussion!

If you get a whole LOT of new players, who all have really bad taste, then the hobby as a whole does not grow. It deteriorates.

There's no such thing as bad taste, only different taste than yours. If we got a whole lot of new players who all have "bad tastes" in our minds, then it's really use who have the bad taste. Your situation would be pretty analagous to that of someone who only watches movies at film festivals about gay cowboys eating pudding or who only listens to unsigned garage bands and derides all mainstream entertainment as pure dreck.

See also White Wolf players who won't touch D&D because it's not a roleplaying game, it's a rollplaying game, and think that you have bad tastes. See also the folks who only play "story-focused" indie RPGs and deride all the mainstream RPGs as pure dreck and think that both you and the WW players have bad tastes.

Oh, and see also the people who only play P&P rpgs and thing that the 1 out of every 1000 people on the entire planet who play WoW... eh, you get the picture. Pretty damn close to your first point, though, just substitute WoW for FATAL.

 

[Destil]

Social hobby + more people = unquestionably good. Even suggesting it isn't... well I can't wrap my mind at all around that sort of attitude.

 

[Asmor]

Funny idea I just had, a scale to determine your RPG snob level. Choose the statement you most agree with.

Level 1: There are two kinds of people in this world: People who play games, and people with bad tastes.

Level 2: There are two kinds of game players in this world: People who play RPGs, and people with bad tastes.

Level 3: There are two kinds of RPG players in this world: People who play P&P RPGs, and people with bad tastes.

Level 4: There are two kind of P&P RPG players in this world: People who play story-focused RPGs, and people with bad tastes.

Level 5: There are two kinds of story-focused RPG players in this world: People who play indie-produced, story-focused RPGs with an interesting central mechanic and an on-the-whole poorly-fleshed out system, and people with bad tastes.

Level 6: There are two kinds of story-focused, poorly-fleshed out RPG players in this world: People who use a system, and people who just do it freeform.

I'm a level 2 RPG snob.

 

[ironvyper]

Forked from: Its the terminology that kills me...

Me: New people in the hobby = healthier hobby.

So tell me, EN World: are new faces a disease, or a good thing?

Cheers, -- N

Depends on what they do. You can equate new=good all you like. I prefer new=new and nothing else. Maybe good and maybe bad. The actions of the new person will tell. And thats the case whether its new employees, new friends, new lovers, new partners or in this case new players. Just being new doesnt make them good.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Nice Asmor. Strawmen arguments and insults. So people who like story driven RPGs are snobs and elitists, eh? Cool beans, I guess.