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

[Burnside]

I think public performances are subject to reasonable criticism. Not insults, but criticism. I don't understand why some fans can't bear to see the show criticized at all. By and large I'm a huge fan of the show. There are also some things that drive me nuts about it. I don't see that as a problem.

 

[Bolares]

So you think CR is purely mercenary then? I would argue that they are absolutely playing for their own enjoyment, the rest is just gravy.

Hey, folks have fun playing D&D regularly! News at 11!

I'm sorry, but who has argued that? Saying CR is different than our home games is not saying it is beter or worse, neither is calling any of them mercenary. There is no value here being atributed to the differences, we are just stating a fact (or our interpretation of a fact) that they are different.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

This is a point I don't understand and yet it gets made over and over. Any performer will tell you that performing without an audience is really, really hard. The late night hosts playing to a camera and no audience during Covid have repeatedly stated how weird it is to not be able to react to a live audience. To think that CR are able to somehow transcend that issue and actually play to the virtual audience seems like a reach to me.

There is an audience, to be sure, and that audience is the other players in the room, just like in any home game. They go the extra mile to entertain each other and that is the root of their chemistry IMHO.

Here it is- there is a difference between performing for an audience (as in getting feedback from a live person) and performing for an "audience" (as in, tailoring your performance for the audience that you know you will have).

Easy examples-
An actor is on the set of a movie. He is performing for an audience- the eventual audience in theaters. These performances will be different than just a performance for an audience that is live.
Or a trial attorney- he has to perform for many audiences; his client (who is paying him), the jury (who will decide the case), the judge (who will rule on issues as the come up), and the record (for any appeal).

Here, the idea that these performers, these artists ... who make their living performing in boxes with an invisibile audience (voice actors) are unable to perform as streamers seems ... not very well founded? In fact, they've said the opposite:


As voice actors, I think we bring a very thoroughly honed imagination to the game. We spend a lot of time in nondescript recording booths creating something out of nothing. There’s no stage, set, or even other people to work off of. The job requires you to play inside your own brain-powered, Star Trek holodeck, painting the surroundings and circumstances around you with your mind. Add some rules and dice, and you’ve got D&D. Now we get to take all the same skills we’ve been using for years in the booth, and create our own story, in the moment. And the thrill that generates is addictive.
-O'Brien

What all of us bring is our ability to imagine, and I know that sounds kind of lame but as a voice actor that’s what you’re doing all the time, creating these huge scenarios in your head so it makes sense that you’re making these zany voices in a tiny booth all by yourself. So the minute we’re in these scenarios with each other all of us can picture where we are and we’re constantly … it plays like a movie in my head. When I think of memories of our campaign I don’t see it as us sitting around a table, I imagine these grand shots of our characters going on missions, and I think that may be it. A lot of us have improv training, so that also helps.
-Bailey


Which just goes back to the original point. The reason they are so good is because they are performers, and they are used to this kind of performance. It's quite amazing.

EDIT- ARGH! Kinja'd by @Charlaquin

 

[Charlaquin]

So you think CR is purely mercenary then? I would argue that they are absolutely playing for their own enjoyment, the rest is just gravy.

Hey, folks have fun playing D&D regularly! News at 11!

Of course they’re playing for their own enjoyment. They’re just also playing for an audience’s enjoyment, which is not true of most people in their home games. As an actor, I also suspect that for them, part of their enjoyment comes from the fact that they’re doing it for an audience. That’s why people get into it as a line of work in the first place, because nothing is quite so satisfying for us as entertaining others. They would probably have less fun if they weren’t recording it for others to watch, whereas I think your average D&D player would feel the opposite. The pressure of being recorded for millions to watch would probably lessen their enjoyment, and that’s a huge difference, which I would call fundamental, between Critical Role and a home game.

 

[Bolares]

also... the CR cast even say they are performing on the show. They didn't have so elaborate backstories and deep personal relations before the show. Saying they are performing is not saying they are fake, or not being honest in their portrayal of the characters or the game....

 

[Bolares]

I also suspect that for them, part of their enjoyment comes from the fact that they’re doing it for an audience.

Is this a Sam Riegel?

 

[Bolares]

Here it is- there is a difference between performing for an audience (as in getting feedback from a live person) and performing for an "audience" (as in, tailoring your performance for the audience that you know you will have).

Easy examples-
An actor is on the set of a movie. He is performing for an audience- the eventual audience in theaters. These performances will be different than just a performance for an audience that is live.
Or a trial attorney- he has to perform for many audiences; his client (who is paying him), the jury (who will decide the case), the judge (who will rule on issues as the come up), and the record (for any appeal).

Here, the idea that these performers, these artists ... who make their living performing in boxes with an invisibile audience (voice actors) are unable to perform as streamers seems ... not very well founded? In fact, they've said the opposite:


As voice actors, I think we bring a very thoroughly honed imagination to the game. We spend a lot of time in nondescript recording booths creating something out of nothing. There’s no stage, set, or even other people to work off of. The job requires you to play inside your own brain-powered, Star Trek holodeck, painting the surroundings and circumstances around you with your mind. Add some rules and dice, and you’ve got D&D. Now we get to take all the same skills we’ve been using for years in the booth, and create our own story, in the moment. And the thrill that generates is addictive.
-O'Brien

What all of us bring is our ability to imagine, and I know that sounds kind of lame but as a voice actor that’s what you’re doing all the time, creating these huge scenarios in your head so it makes sense that you’re making these zany voices in a tiny booth all by yourself. So the minute we’re in these scenarios with each other all of us can picture where we are and we’re constantly … it plays like a movie in my head. When I think of memories of our campaign I don’t see it as us sitting around a table, I imagine these grand shots of our characters going on missions, and I think that may be it. A lot of us have improv training, so that also helps.
-Bailey


Which just goes back to the original point. The reason they are so good is because they are performers, and they are used to this kind of performance. It's quite amazing.

EDIT- ARGH! Kinja'd by @Charlaquin

Have you ever seen one of their live shows? Their energy is VERY different. They try to be even more splashy and entertaining in those. I believe that happens because they feed of the crowd reactions.

 

[Charlaquin]

also... the CR cast even say they are performing on the show. They didn't have so elaborate backstories and deep personal relations before the show. Saying they are performing is not saying they are fake, or not being honest in their portrayal of the characters or the game....

Indeed, and in fact, saying that because it’s a performance it must be fake is quite insulting to an actor. We dedicate our lives to perfecting the art of having genuine emotional reactions to artificial scenarios.

 

[Umbran]

Whether or not you call that meaningful difference “fundamental,” as @robus argued we should not, is semantic.

Ah. Well, what do you mean by "semantic" then? In the most common use, that is a bit of a dismissal, like calling it "moot" - a difference in shades of meaning that have no significant impact. In the more technical use, a "semantic difference" is often about the core meaning or logic.

 

[Charlaquin]

Ah. Well, what do you mean by "semantic" then? In the most common use, that is a bit of a dismissal, like calling it "moot" - a difference in shades of meaning that have no significant impact. In the more technical use, a "semantic difference" is often about the core meaning or logic.

I think whether you call the (very real) difference between Critical Role and a home game “fundamental” or “not fundamental” is moot. It is a real difference, and that’s what matters, not what term you use to describe the reality of that difference.