Your D&D edition is not a football team

[mkill]

I get it - we geeks don't watch sports, so we don't get to root for "our team" every Sunday. We're sitting around a dinner table pretending to be elves and wizards.

Still, there seems to be a deep-rooted human need to identify with one side and show support for it. In RPG, this tends to be "your system" or, if everyone in the room plays the same game, "your edition", or "team Cleric". Now, as gamer, you don't get the gratification of seeing "your game" fight the other games. That's where 5E comes in. People are worried whether "their edition" will win. Every game mechanic from "your edition" that makes it into 5E is a point for "your team". If they don't put the gnome in the PHB, it means "team gnome" was defeated.

Except that this kind of behaviour makes sure that everybody loses. Factionalism for a certain edition, a certain play style, or even a certain interpretation of a class or race just makes the game less inclusive. A 5E that's just a representation of who screamed for what the loudest is not a fun game to play. It's about making a 5E that is the most fun to play, not a Quest for the Holy Grail of gaming.

If you want to root for a team, go watch sports. But leave this kind of behavior out of D&D.

 

[Number48]

Speak for yourself. My Lions did admirably this year, which is saying something if you know the Lions.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

But not voicing one´s opinion will do the game no good too.
It is in the responsibility of the designers to evaluate every concern and not do, what the loudest crowd wants. That is not so easy and IMHO failed miserably when designing 4e. (I guess there were changes for worse due to reactions to the preview material...)

As a player, it is your responsibility not to just cry, but give reasons, not why it is the best possible solution, but why it is the solution you like most.

There are different approaches to achieve the same goal. You don´t have to like all, even though most are equally valid.

 

[Number48]

Yes. Stating that 3.X, PF or 4E is just fine as it is, that it can't get any better is a valid opinion, but not a helpful one. 5E will happen.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Speak for yourself. My Lions did admirably this year, which is saying something if you know the Lions.

Echoing the sentiment.

Respect to the Lions- they may well be a dangerous team for a few years.

(Meanwhile, I'll be rooting for my Saints, FC Dallas, San Antonio Spurs, Texas Rangers, and both the Dallas Stars and the New Jersey Devils.)

 

[Minigiant]

Voicing your opinion is still good but taking parts of the game personally is the opposite of what I think the designers plans are. That and adding "new" ideas.

Excuse me. I have to root for Elite Manning and the Pass Rush of Death.

 

[Number48]

Do you know what it's like to finally be able to wake up every day during football season and be able to trust yourself around sharp objects for a change? A Lions fan is a true fan because they test your resolve year after year.

 

[avin]

Wait, we are talking about REAL football or american football?

 

[Tallifer]

I do not think anyone is seriously posting here demands that the new edition be a copy of their own favourite edition. After all we all realize that all of us can already easily play any edition of D&D right now, thanks to the internet and our own libraries at home.

We just draw upon previous editions and other games to find what we think are the best solutions for the many dilemmas of game design. Because of the professed goal of the Wizards to "unify the players," there is little scope for ideas completely foreign to D&D, and a great deal of interest in the old school and the recent past.

(Still I do hope to see all the goodness of the Fourth Edition. )

 

[Shemeska]

I get it - we geeks don't watch sports, so we don't get to root for "our team" every Sunday.

Speak for yourself, my Carolina Panthers renewed my faith this year with Cam Newton their rookie QB having possibly the best rookie season in NFL history.

Though I suppose it balances out with the Charlotte Bobcats likely going for the worst record in the league this year. Insert joke about game balance or something I suppose.