D&D General 40 Million People Have Played D&D [UPDATED!]

Tony Vargas · Jul 9, 2019

pogre said:
My logical brain mostly agrees. I do see a difference between charging for a piece of portrait art and running a game. I charge strangers for painting miniatures, but it seems different to me. As I said, not saying it is logical objection just something my old gut finds a little sad.

Are you old enough that you maybe remember the world before The Service Economy took over?

Parmandur · Jul 9, 2019

BookBarbarian said:
Absolutely great news for the hobby!

I don't have anything against it in principle.

But every read up I see of these professional DMs seems like they target people who have never played before. They work on voices, music, ambient sounds, and props, but that doesn't tell me at all about how they run the game. It's hard for me not to see it mostly as hoodwinking.

I should also note I am inherently distrustful of anything I perceive as "gimmicky" so they may also be great DMs I just can't tell from what the articles and write-ups say.

It feels somewhat like paying somebody to be your friend.

BookBarbarian · Jul 9, 2019

Parmandur said:
It feels somewhat like paying somebody to be your friend.

While that seems weird to me, I don't fundamentally see anything bad about it. Though if I did pay for a friend I would have much higher expectations of them then my regular friends.

77IM · Jul 9, 2019

Parmandur said:
It feels somewhat like paying somebody to be your friend.

Your friends are supposed to help you move*, but the last time I moved, I hired movers.

* True friends help you move bodies. BEST friends help you move up to 30 feet on your turn, interact with an object, say a few words, and take an action.

Parmandur · Jul 9, 2019

BookBarbarian said:
While that seems weird to me, I don't fundamentally see anything bad about it. Though if I did pay for a friend I would have much higher expectations of them then my regular friends.

Really, it's similar to cooking a meal for a bunch of friends versus going out to a restaurant together: but this feels weird, like witnessing the first restaurants come into being. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, just alien to the down-home DMing I'm used to.

Parmandur · Jul 9, 2019

77IM said:
Your friends are supposed to help you move*, but the last time I moved, I hired movers.

* True friends help you move bodies. BEST friends help you move up to 30 feet on your turn, interact with an object, say a few words, and take an action.

That's a decent analogy, but I think the cooking metaphor might be closer to pro DMing.

BookBarbarian · Jul 9, 2019

Parmandur said:
Really, it's similar to cooking a meal for a bunch of friends versus going out to a restaurant together: but this feels weird, like witnessing the first restaurants come into being. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, just alien to the down-home DMing I'm used to.

That's a good way to put it.

To further the analogy: the articles I've read seem to focus on the ambiance of the restaurant, the music that's played, the parking, the aesthetics. But I can't help but wonder is all that to make up for bad food?

Parmandur · Jul 9, 2019

BookBarbarian said:
That's a good way to put it.

To further the analogy: the articles I've read seem to focus on the ambiance of the restaurant, the music that's played, the parking, the aesthetics. But I can't help but wonder is all that to make up for bad food?

Well, the guy they focus on for this article does stream online, so the food is available for taste testing.

pogre · Jul 9, 2019

Tony Vargas said:
Are you old enough that you maybe remember the world before The Service Economy took over?

Not quite. I am a child of the 70s - born in the mid 60s. I was right in the middle of the transition.

BookBarbarian · Jul 9, 2019

Parmandur said:
Well, the guy they focus on for this article does stream online, so the food is available for taste testing.

Except there is a fundamental difference between a cooking show and serving a meal.

In a home game my primary audience is the players. If I was streaming a game my primary target is the audience, since the more of them I get the more money I make.

It may be possible to serve both groups at one time, but I do think focusing on one comes at the expense of the other.

For example, I think Critical Role is a pretty decent show, though I prefer HarmonTown because t's funnier, and shorter. But out of the two I'd rather play in the Critical Role campaign. But compared to a homegame, I don't think critical role is that good because the DM and Players are fundamentally performers performing for an outside audience rather than making the choices that are most fun for the people at the table.

Still I suppose it's possible that this DM's stream is exactly like what I would experience if I paid for a session with them.