Samloyal23
Adventurer
I always found I Hit It With My Axe entertaining, I think the DM actually had a pretty interesting campaign. Plus, anything with Mandy Morbid in it cannot be all bad...
Are RPGs Watchable?
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
Torg Smith
First Post
If the people are focused on the game, I can enjoy watching. If they are pausing for a long time to look up rules or have side conversations, I tend to get bored.
I have liked the games WotC have played at their office with staff, as they had stayed fairly focused and kept things moving. The games they have played with other people seem to get involved with distracting side conversation and I get bored.
If I am able to follow the story, I have fun watching. I think this is true for any form of story based audio & visual entertainment.
I have liked the games WotC have played at their office with staff, as they had stayed fairly focused and kept things moving. The games they have played with other people seem to get involved with distracting side conversation and I get bored.
If I am able to follow the story, I have fun watching. I think this is true for any form of story based audio & visual entertainment.
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
I think when WotC was doing that early market research, they saw something that they may have interpreted wrong, or perhaps just misunderstood. Ryan Dancey has been quoted as saying that D&D is twenty minutes of fun packed into four hours. I think researchers examining gameplay with an objective eye from the outside simply don't realize that, generally speaking, RPGs are four hours of fun in four hours for those who are playing (except when it isn't
). So, for people watching an RPG being played, or objectively examining it from the outside, there would seem to be only twenty minutes of highlights.Let's face it, that's true of just about anything, and we realize it, otherwise human beings would never have learned to summarize. From another RPG-related angle, it's also why "Let me tell you about my character" is such a dreaded phrase, in that the person who plays the character thinks much more of that story is highlights than the person learning of it when cornered.
So, once you add in the intro and the credits, and a few panels of summary text to bridge some gaps, and if you make sure there is some voice over strengthening the bridges, I think a half hour show of an RPG can be made from a well run four hour game, and I'd watch the first one and maybe more if it was well produced post-game.
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Random Bystander
First Post
These are some phrases I have learned to be very wary of:
"Let me tell you about my character..."
"Let me tell you about this awesome new RPG..."
"Let me tell you about what happened in the game..."
In nearly all cases, excruciating boredom results, probably coming from someone who has never learned to take a hint.
That being said, of course there are a few cases, where the person knows how to tell a good story, and can tell when their audience is bored. But those are exceptions to the general rule.
"Let me tell you about my character..."
"Let me tell you about this awesome new RPG..."
"Let me tell you about what happened in the game..."
In nearly all cases, excruciating boredom results, probably coming from someone who has never learned to take a hint.
That being said, of course there are a few cases, where the person knows how to tell a good story, and can tell when their audience is bored. But those are exceptions to the general rule.
Samloyal23
Adventurer
People watch poker and pool on tv. And GOLF! You cannot tell me an rpg is going to be less exciting on tv than watching an old white guy tap a ball across a lawn...
Random Bystander
First Post
Golf is not just old white guys. In addition, most people who watch sports, watch hockey, baseball, basketball, handegg, or football. The crowds for poker, pool and golf are much smaller. All of those sports have something in common: They either have a lot of on-screen action and sometimes regular physical violence, or they don't.
Samloyal23
Adventurer
I like golf. I used to play golf in college. But is it exciting to watch on tv? Rarely. Likewise, poker, is essentially a bunch of people sitting at a table not doing very much. If you have the right people and good editing these activities can be entertaining on occasion. What I am saying is if people are willing to watch celebrities in sedentary sports like these then RPGs should easily garner a good group of regular viewers...
Random Bystander
First Post
Re-reading, I am not sure there is actual disagreement there. They would have to be better than almost every single podcast and video I have seen, though, including WotC's.
Samloyal23
Adventurer
Have you watch Celebrity Poker? It has moments of drama and can suck you in, but it is not that exciting overall. Still, it gets decent ratings and has some fans. Check out I Hit It With My Axe and Wil Wheaton's show on board games. Sure there is room for improvement, but these shows illustrate that there is potential in the genre...
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