Asmor
First Post
There are celebrities everywhere, there always have been and there always will be. It's just human nature to want to exalt certain people up.
The cool thing about the RPG industry, though, is that our celebrities aren't celebrities. They're just gamers, just like us. Even cooler, we all can-- and frequently do-- interact with them. The late Gary Gygax was a regular here on ENWorld. Whether we're talking about our evil corporate overlords, like The Rouse or Keith Baker, trendy developers like Monte Cook, or even prodigious freelancers like Ari Marmell, pretty much all of the superstars of the RPG industry are down-to-earth people who treat their fans as peers and interact with them on a regular basis. They write blogs and message board posts, and they respond to other peoples' blogs and message board posts. They personally defend their ideas, explain what they like and dislike, etc.
Could you imagine going to, say, an official Iron Man forum and chatting with Robert Downey Jr., much less having him stop by to address your criticisms or express thanks for your kudos towards his portrayal of Tony Stark? I think not.
The RPG industry is an industry, like any other, make no mistakes, but it's a closely-knit one that really does feel like a community even to the little guys like me who aren't involved except as consumers, and that's really freaking cool when you think about it. When I see Keith Baker's name on the byline for a new Dragon article, I think, "Wow, good for him!" because even though I know he's the designer of Eberron and I don't actually know him all that well, I get a rush like one of my friends just got published in Dragon or something.
The cool thing about the RPG industry, though, is that our celebrities aren't celebrities. They're just gamers, just like us. Even cooler, we all can-- and frequently do-- interact with them. The late Gary Gygax was a regular here on ENWorld. Whether we're talking about our evil corporate overlords, like The Rouse or Keith Baker, trendy developers like Monte Cook, or even prodigious freelancers like Ari Marmell, pretty much all of the superstars of the RPG industry are down-to-earth people who treat their fans as peers and interact with them on a regular basis. They write blogs and message board posts, and they respond to other peoples' blogs and message board posts. They personally defend their ideas, explain what they like and dislike, etc.
Could you imagine going to, say, an official Iron Man forum and chatting with Robert Downey Jr., much less having him stop by to address your criticisms or express thanks for your kudos towards his portrayal of Tony Stark? I think not.
The RPG industry is an industry, like any other, make no mistakes, but it's a closely-knit one that really does feel like a community even to the little guys like me who aren't involved except as consumers, and that's really freaking cool when you think about it. When I see Keith Baker's name on the byline for a new Dragon article, I think, "Wow, good for him!" because even though I know he's the designer of Eberron and I don't actually know him all that well, I get a rush like one of my friends just got published in Dragon or something.
