3E & 4E Love and Hate Polls - What does it mean?

[billd91]

This originated as a 3E fan site, so naturally most of the people here will have played (and enjoyed) 3E at some time.

This certainly stands to reason. Anyone here longer than a couple of years or so probably got here because of positive interest in 3x. Reactions too strongly against 3x would have served to keep people away in general.

And the different results for 4e suggest, if we can draw inferences from it, that the changes 4e made from 3e don't sit well with everyone who liked 3e. Years from now, whenever 5e rolls along and a lot of 3e players have drifted off due membership attrition leaving a higher proportion of users who were attracted to the site through 4e, we'll probably see similar results comparing the two editions... assuming the 5e change is as big a change as the 3e > 4e change.

 

[Barastrondo]

Things are complicated. I'm very fond of 4e, but I sure wouldn't vote that I hate or even dislike 3e. I had some good times playing in the system, eventually drifting out only when games got toward higher levels. And I got to work on some very fun books for 3e, which certainly raises it in my estimation.

However, the odds of me actively running a 3e game again are very low. I honestly enjoy the design of 4e more, particularly from the tyrant's side of the screen, and my wife flat-out refuses to return to the system if D&D is the game we're playing. I game with her pretty much all the time, so technically I could vote "hate" by Korgoth's estimation of hate meaning "would not play again." Yet I don't think that's fair at all, particularly given the years of fun it provided. I'm certainly glad both were published, even if only one makes it to the family D&D system of choice.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

The polls mean that people on the internet like talking about what they like and hate, and REALLY like starting fights with others over it.

 

[samursus]

The polls mean that people on the internet like talking about what they like and hate, and REALLY like starting fights with others over it.

hee hee

 

[Mistwell]

Internet polls are self selecting, and thus fall into the "for fun only" category.

They are not scientific, not representative, and should not be touted as accurate.

 

[Mistwell]

However, I don't think it is either/or but somewhere in-between reliable/meaningful and unreliable/meaningless. I disagree with the sentiment that it is one or the other. EN World is one of the largest online RPG communities and I think that a poll with 500+ votes and counting means something.

If you want to conduct an actually scientific poll, then it might mean something.

But no, a regular old "whoever feels interested enough to vote in this single-question no-control poll this moment" type internet poll is scientifically meaningless. As in mathematically provable to be inaccurate.

If you're doing it just for fun, great. But if you think it's actually meaningful? Nope.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Not to mention the fact that many 3e players have played 4e, and like 4e but like 3e better, which would skew the 4e poll, as well.

Wait...what?

No, you missed the point entirely. Even if someone ended up vastly prefering 4E, if they were previously playing 3E (as most on this site were, for reasons already noted), the newfound preference wouldnt cause them (with some sad exceptions, IME) to suddenly "hate" or dislike what they had just a few years ago enjoyed. My new computer (pretending it doesn't have Vista for a moment) is much better than my previous one. The fact it's better didn't cause me to dislike my previous computer. Heck, an example:

Things are complicated. I'm very fond of 4e, but I sure wouldn't vote that I hate or even dislike 3e. I had some good times playing in the system, eventually drifting out only when games got toward higher levels. And I got to work on some very fun books for 3e, which certainly raises it in my estimation.

4E came chronologically after, and is still fairly new, so you definitely won't see nearly as many people who started with 4E and liked it, only to later on migrate to 3E.

That said, the poll results are meaningless, and even though the numbers aren't high, I'm still surprised so many people here actually said they hate 3E. I know some decided against it and went back to 2E or earlier, but not that many. And I'm referring to members of this site, not the general gamer populace.

EDIT: Someone actually felt the need to tamper with the polls. How sad.

 

[Sonny]

If you want to conduct an actually scientific poll, then it might mean something.

But no, a regular old "whoever feels interested enough to vote in this single-question no-control poll this moment" type internet poll is scientifically meaningless. As in mathematically provable to be inaccurate.

If you're doing it just for fun, great. But if you think it's actually meaningful? Nope.

What?? You're telling me the Time magazine poll that voted the creator of 4chan the most influential person in the world isn't scientifically meaningful??

For reference: The World's Most Influential Person Is... - TIME

I just wish people would give the whole edition war thing a rest. Just be happy that a version of the D&D you like (or Love) is being produced*. Whether it's 4th edition, Pathfinder(3e), OSRIC(1e), or Swords & Wizardry(OD&D).




*For those who love second edition, it's okay to be disgruntled and hate the rest of us since you guys don't have a clone(yet).

 

[ProfessorCirno]

What?? You're telling me the Time magazine poll that voted the creator of 4chan the most influential person in the world isn't scientifically meaningful??

For reference: The World's Most Influential Person Is... - TIME

I just wish people would give the whole edition war thing a rest. Just be happy that a version of the D&D you like (or Love) is being produced*. Whether it's 4th edition, Pathfinder(3e), OSRIC(1e), or Swords & Wizardry(OD&D).

But but but, how else will I know who to divide into that nebulous "them" group?

*For those who love second edition, it's okay to be disgruntled and hate the rest of us since you guys don't have a clone(yet).

Actually, though I haven't played or even read it, isn't Basic Fantasy supposed to grab that 2e spirit? There you go!

 

[jdrakeh]

Actually, though I haven't played or even read it, isn't Basic Fantasy supposed to grab that 2e spirit? There you go!

No, it's a B/X clone.