D&D General Critical Role: Overrated, Underrated, or Goldilocks?

[Snarf Zagyg]

If I ever get to watch more episodes (I really lack the time) and get to a point where it changes, I'll possibly revise my perspective, but from what I've watched, apart from the streaming equipment, it really looks like a band of friends having great fun, and without a lot of acting from most of the crew, actually.

The greatness of a good performer is that they make it look easy.

If it didn't just look like a band of friends having fun ... then they wouldn't be great performers. If you have the chance, try watching a recorded game of pure amateurs (not performers) playing D&D some time and contrast what you're seeing.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's funny, because I stand by that quote, but you have to remember that this is me from just watching the original video and only 5 episodes of the first season of Vox Machina, where it was just a small stream with very few means, so everything else that you are mentioning is not present at all yet (at least, I think I have not seen anything special in terms of means, people are sending them pizza, and they have a few hundred subscribers, hardly a huge budget).

If I ever get to watch more episodes (I really lack the time) and get to a point where it changes, I'll possibly revise my perspective, but from what I've watched, apart from the streaming equipment, it really looks like a band of friends having great fun, and without a lot of acting from most of the crew, actually.

Does anyone share my feelings ?

It absolutely is a band of friends having great fun. But also, those friends are all professional actors with a great deal of talent and training, performing for an audience (which, for actors, is great fun to do). I do think the early episodes have more of that low-fi charm that makes it feel like a home game as opposed to the more highly-produced show it evolved into, but I think anyone who doesn’t believe that feeling is intentionally curated is, again, doing a disservice to the talent and work of the performers, as well as their off-camera crew.

 

[CleverNickName]

Far too often, I feel that many fans of Critical Role and Matt Mercer approach the show like Mark Antony- "For Matt Mercer is an honorable man" while the detractors of Critical Role are busy burying Caesar.

Yep, the poppies are pretty high in that field. Matt Mercer is the best Dungeon Master in the entertainment industry, and that's why his show is so entertaining to watch. That is not to say that the entertainment industry is better* than the gaming industry, or that there isn't a good amount of overlap. It's just different.

But D&D gatekeepers insist that only Certain People should have the privilege of representing the hobby. They've been doing it for decades...gamers must look and act and dress and play a certain way, and those who don't aren't "real gamers." You've seen the threads, you've read the arguments, you've seen the moderator intervention. A common opinion--however unpopular, however false, however quietly held--is that Entertainers aren't "real" gamers, and should be removed from the room.

Matt Mercer and his players are all good-looking, personable, accomplished, professional actors, they are the "cool kids." And that's several strikes against them in certain well-guarded circles.

-----

*for whatever meaning of "better" you choose

 

[Charlaquin]

The greatness of a good performer is that they make it look easy.

If it didn't just look like a band of friends having fun ... then they wouldn't be great performers. If you have the chance, try watching a recorded game of pure amateurs (not performers) playing D&D some time and contrast what you're seeing.

Very much this! It can be hard for people to recognize great acting work when they see it, because great acting work is supposed to look natural. If you watch a performance and think “wow, they’re doing such a good job acting,” they probably aren’t. If they’re doing it right, you shouldn’t be seeing the work that went into it.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Matt Mercer and his players are all good-looking, personable, accomplished, professional actors, they are the "cool kids." And that's several strikes against them in certain well-guarded circles.

Well, that's just stupid.

I mean, everyone knows that the theater kids aren't cool!

Spoiler

C'mon, it's a joke! Seriously though, there is something really wrong with those self-appointed gatekeepers. I think it might be like those fans of bands who are like, "Oh. I totally like that band before they were cool."

Ugh. Hate those guys. And yeah ... it's usually guys, isn't it?

 

[CleverNickName]

Well, that's just stupid.

I mean, everyone knows that the theater kids aren't cool!

But see, that's the cool thing to say. So by saying you're not cool, you're actually asserting how cool you are. Like smoking clove cigarettes, the irony is that you know it isn't cool and therefore, you're cool.

Ugh. High school was a hellscape.

Spoiler

Yes, it's usually guys.

 

[Charlaquin]

Well, that's just stupid.

I mean, everyone knows that the theater kids aren't cool!

Spoiler

C'mon, it's a joke! Seriously though, there is something really wrong with those self-appointed gatekeepers. I think it might be like those fans of bands who are like, "Oh. I totally like that band before they were cool."

Ugh. Hate those guys. And yeah ... it's usually guys, isn't it?

Unless you went to an art school. In that bizarro world the theater kids are the cool ones (because they’re the only social people in an environment full of highly introverted artists).

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

But see, that's the cool thing to say. So by saying you're not cool, you're actually asserting how cool you are. Like smoking clove cigarettes, the irony is that you know it isn't cool and therefore, you're cool.

Ugh. High school was a hellscape.

It's interesting- I wonder how much the social hierarchy has changed at high schools.

I have the following theory- it's changed, but not as much as we might think.

I would stipulate that there will be regional differences, and urban/rural differences, and difference for private, public, and specialized schools.

But here's an actual example I heard of from the local high school- one of the kids (who is on the football team) has been doing everything possible to keep the fact that he is also in band secret from his friends.

Once you're past it, the social hierarchies of high school seem profoundly weird, don't they?

 

[Charlaquin]

It's interesting- I wonder how much the social hierarchy has changed at high schools.

I have the following theory- it's changed, but not as much as we might think.

Well, these days kids get bullied for not having enough Twitter followers.

I wish I was joking.

 

[RangerWickett]

The episodes are just very long. I've never finished one.