How NBC tried to kill Community's D&D Episode

[fba827]

Better luck next time NBC.

So you're saying that NBC didn't get to kill the episode and take its stuff ....

but did it still get any XP?

 

[Felon]

You and I both know there are people like this who play D&D, and worse.

And I would hope you know that no group of people, no matter how much like us they may be, should be above parody and satire.

Everyone deserves time being the butt of the joke, or else comedy is just an excuse for bigotry. It's got to be equal-opportunity.

The posts preceding mine conveyed the attitude that this episode was somehow more respectful of D&D than previous depictions of D&D in mainstream media. I disagreed. Your reply seems to do little but champion the right of Community to make people the buff of jokes, which in no way refutes my post.

The point was that D&D players as a wole were not the joke in the episode.

Your supposed point is not only wildly incompatible with the rest of your post--you defend the right of this episode to ridicule gamers as a whole, then proceed to say that your point is that it wasn't ridiculing them--but it is also a canard. It could be applied to the KnightErrant's examples of the SNL skit and Airheads. Heck, you could apply it to Amos & Andy. "They're not making a group the butt of the joke, just the individual member(s) of that group being depicted".

There was one D&D gamer to portray in this episode, and that one was portrayed as a man-child loser. Many TV shows have had token characters that were representations of a minority group, and when that is the case, then it is reasonable to consider how that invidiual is characterizing that group to those who are not intimate with said group. This is why it is considered distasteful to depict a bumbling blind character, or a lazy Mexican character, or a greedy Jewish character.

As to the sentiment that "everyone deserves time being the butt of the joke", I do not know of any attempts to depict a D&D gamer that does not hold them up as the objects of parody and satire. Feel free to enlighten me, but otherwise your premise of "equal-opportunity" is a bust. Even within our community, the media we create does little to portray anything positive about gaming. Look at a movie like "The Gamers" and its sequel, which are cherished by many of us. All it seems to depict is the inherent "dorkness" of gaming: the selfishness, the pettyness, the combativeness, and how all of those traits work together to make it look like a bunch of clowns sitting around being jerks to each other. Same goes for other gamer media as well, like KotDT and Dork Tower.

How great would it be to see someone take the time to create some media about gaming that actually showed it at it best, not at its worst?

By the way, anyone know how I can circulate a memo that conflating the word "dark" with "dork" is officially played out?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There was one D&D gamer to portray in this episode, and that one was portrayed as a man-child loser.

...who, despite suffering from depression, had a likable personality and was revealed to be a good & honorable sort, which ultimately changed the way the "in crowd" acted and reacted (again, excepting Pierce & Chang).

If you ask some theologians why evil exists in the world, they will say it is so that people can exercise their free will to battle it or succumb to it's lure. Neil's plight knocked a few preconceptions off the minds of the "in crowd" types who may only have mocked those like him years (or episodes) previous.

 

[Felon]

In short, a small sampling of the kinds of people who have historically had a hand in ridiculing the game and it's players. Most of whom expected (or previously experienced) greater from life than GCC can do for them. Of the entire study group, only Abed is favorably predisposed to the game.

So their initial attitude towards the game is understandable...and (most of) their learning something positive from playing the game is at odds with their initial worldview.

THEY change- a little- but Neil doesn't. He simply reveals a depth of character that some of them wish they had.

I'll give you some genuine credit for providing food for thought. At the very least, the study group walks away with a somewhat higher opinion of D&D, as opposed to, say, Christina Applegate's Jessie killing off her fellow players so she can leave early.

 

[DumbPaladin]

The posts preceding mine conveyed the attitude that this episode was somehow more respectful of D&D than previous depictions of D&D in mainstream media. I disagreed. Your reply seems to do little but champion the right of Community to make people the buff of jokes, which in no way refutes my post.

I'm not sure whose posts you've been reading. I've only ever seen one episode of Community; why would I champion its rights to do anything?

I believe I was saying, and do believe, that comedy in all forms needs to take potshots at everyone, or else it's just thinly veiled bigotry.

It's fine that you think the episode was awful, and I'm sure somewhere some other people feel as you do, that any episode depicting people playing D&D must be entirely positive towards them or else ... but I disagree, which is why I posted what I did.

If a comedian makes a joke about a bad habit women have, it isn't proof he's a misogynist. Equally as true when the comic is a comedienne.

The character of Neil has both positive and negative qualities. Guess what?

So do we all.

 

[Felon]

I'm not sure whose posts you've been reading. I've only ever seen one episode of Community; why would I champion its rights to do anything?

Assuming that Community falls somewhere under the umbrella of "comedy in all forms", the very next sentence that followed this remark constitutes the very advocacy I was referring to. As I said before, it has no place as a rebuttal to anything I've said.

I believe I was saying, and do believe, that comedy in all forms needs to take potshots at everyone, or else it's just thinly veiled bigotry.

Now let's take a look at some good old-fashioned straw-manning.

It's fine that you think the episode was awful, and I'm sure somewhere some other people feel as you do, that any episode depicting people playing D&D must be entirely positive towards them or else ... but I disagree, which is why I posted what I did.

Awful? DumbPaladin, the first sentence of my first post was:

Although I liked the episode in question....

That was pretty hard to miss.

Furthermore, after I went into great detail in sharing my full thoughts on the matter, you mischaracterized my post as expressing some fanatical notion that people who play D&D must always be depicted in an entirely positive manner "or else". That is galling, because it's either pretty disingenuous or pretty obtuse. As you claim to be a comedian, hopefully it's the latter, as honesty is a very important element in comedy. I took the time to say a lot of stuff to you, but I never said anything like that.

 

[Felon]

WTF #1This guy claims to have played D&D? Any edition/era has far more "weird [and sometimes seemingly] arbitrary rules" than poker. (I'm not a poker fan.) And it has never been "more accessible" than any card game.

And my point of view comes from someone who loves D&D and wishes more people knew and played it.

This was my thinking as well. D&D is a very arbitrary game. My guess is that what he was trying to emphasize was that you make rulings on the fly based on what seems plausible rather than refer to rules to see what the consequence of a given action is.

WTF #2Just WTF? Having this phrase in the same sentence with D&D makes me uncomfortable. (In the context of a TV show.

Well, it's from the actual events of the TV show. One of the characters does some sword-stealing and family-raping. You had to be there.

 

[DumbPaladin]

As you claim to be a comedian

Like I said, whose posts are you reading? Well, whatever, it's not my job to make sure you understand other people.

You posted your opinion, and more than one person disagreed, as we're allowed to do. We posted because we did, in fact, disagree. It doesn't mean you're wrong.

But it's definitely time to get over people disagreeing with you. I know I've got better things to do, so this'll be the last post on this nonsense, and I'm back to discussing the actual episode from here in.

 

[Dire Bare]

Like I said, whose posts are you reading? Well, whatever, it's not my job to make sure you understand other people.

You posted your opinion, and more than one person disagreed, as we're allowed to do. We posted because we did, in fact, disagree. It doesn't mean you're wrong.

But it's definitely time to get over people disagreeing with you. I know I've got better things to do, so this'll be the last post on this nonsense, and I'm back to discussing the actual episode from here in.

Can't posrep you again yet DumbPaladin. Some people take comedy waaaay to seriously.

 

[carborundum]

Ironically, the "D&D episode" got me to download an episode of a series that wasn't yet out in my country, that I'd never heard of. I couldn't believe Chevy Chase was in it, and loved the episode.It's since been released over here and I've ordered the first box set.

It's not how we play, these days but I've had games like that
I loved it!