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Pathfinder, Cthulhu, Level Up: D&D Competitors Start To Sell Out
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<blockquote data-quote="RareBreed" data-source="post: 8918252" data-attributes="member: 6945590"><p>Absolutely this. I've been bemoaning the stranglehold of D&D/5e in the industry for years now. It's truly boggled my mind how many gaming groups either simply don't know there are other TTRPG's out there, or are reticent to try anything new.</p><p></p><p>One could argue that having just one game system fosters a standardization so that 3PP and players only need to focus on one game system. My counter to that is if the software engineering world was like the TTRPG industry, we'd all still be using C/C++ and maybe perl for glue scripts with the lispers grumbling that they were there first but don't get any love.</p><p></p><p>Each programming language has its strengths and weaknesses just like a game engine does. I would even argue there's a kind of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/sapir-whorf-hypothesis" target="_blank">Sapir-Whorf</a> analogy with game systems: you can only imagine game concepts based on what your game system exposes. As a simple example, you may think the only way to handle wounds is with Hit Points.</p><p></p><p>I also <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020404235238/http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/md/md20020228e" target="_blank">read a quote by Ryan Dancey</a> that made me realize that the ulterior motive for the OGL was based on a "Theory of Network Externalities"</p><p></p><p>While there's definitely some validity to the theory, even if it's human nature, that doesn't mean it's <em>right</em> or even good for us. In the software engineering realm, managers are worried if they can hire an engineer in a not popular language, even if that language is much better suited to solve their problems. In other words, the Network Externalities has taken hold.</p><p></p><p>From a TTRPG perspective, having only one dominant platform shapes not just what we play, but how we play, even how we can conceive of playing itself. Again with a software analogy, there's a style of programming called Object Oriented Programming that many engineers are familiar with. But sometimes, that paradigm is inefficient and using a different paradigm called Functional Programming or Data Driven Programming would be better suited. But if all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail. Another trivial example is that multiplication is unnecessary. You only need to learn addition. But isn't it easier to express and solve problems with multiplication? Game systems do the same thing by creating the rules (and therefore the gaming "reality") you want to evoke.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RareBreed, post: 8918252, member: 6945590"] Absolutely this. I've been bemoaning the stranglehold of D&D/5e in the industry for years now. It's truly boggled my mind how many gaming groups either simply don't know there are other TTRPG's out there, or are reticent to try anything new. One could argue that having just one game system fosters a standardization so that 3PP and players only need to focus on one game system. My counter to that is if the software engineering world was like the TTRPG industry, we'd all still be using C/C++ and maybe perl for glue scripts with the lispers grumbling that they were there first but don't get any love. Each programming language has its strengths and weaknesses just like a game engine does. I would even argue there's a kind of [URL='https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/sapir-whorf-hypothesis']Sapir-Whorf[/URL] analogy with game systems: you can only imagine game concepts based on what your game system exposes. As a simple example, you may think the only way to handle wounds is with Hit Points. I also [URL='https://web.archive.org/web/20020404235238/http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/md/md20020228e']read a quote by Ryan Dancey[/URL] that made me realize that the ulterior motive for the OGL was based on a "Theory of Network Externalities" While there's definitely some validity to the theory, even if it's human nature, that doesn't mean it's [I]right[/I] or even good for us. In the software engineering realm, managers are worried if they can hire an engineer in a not popular language, even if that language is much better suited to solve their problems. In other words, the Network Externalities has taken hold. From a TTRPG perspective, having only one dominant platform shapes not just what we play, but how we play, even how we can conceive of playing itself. Again with a software analogy, there's a style of programming called Object Oriented Programming that many engineers are familiar with. But sometimes, that paradigm is inefficient and using a different paradigm called Functional Programming or Data Driven Programming would be better suited. But if all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail. Another trivial example is that multiplication is unnecessary. You only need to learn addition. But isn't it easier to express and solve problems with multiplication? Game systems do the same thing by creating the rules (and therefore the gaming "reality") you want to evoke. [/QUOTE]
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