D&D General Rant: Sometimes I Hate the D&D Community

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I am going to disagree with this one because of one specific thing.... Adventurer's League.

For people that only play in home games, I agree there is no reason to get caught up in a lot of this, you can always ignore it/change it. However, for those who play Adventurer's league, they are often bound to the changes that WOTC releases.... and so I feel have a legitimate right to criticize changes they feel will detract from the games they are currently involved in.

I'll agree that Adventurer's League is the one exception . . . but the vast majority of people that complain about easily ignorable changes are definitely not playing in Adventurer's League.

Yeah, the complaints of people that are literally required to follow the Rules as Written requirements for Adventurer's League are 100% understandable and valid. But I've also seen a ton of people make the same complaints when the change would make literally no difference at their table.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I think, and sure if you visit their house, like a convention, thats a real community because its in person.

Dude I've got friends all over the planet I've never met in person and we're a community. That's how the world works now.

And has for like over a decade come to think of it.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Indeed.

Long live Alignment and racial ASI?

Yep. At your table. Long live them. Good job keeping something you like in your game and playing with them at your table.

If you were trying to do some "gotcha" or start something, you were poorly mistaken. I have nothing wrong with you playing with those things if you like them.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I think your first mistake is calling it a community, there is no "community". There are people who bought a game, like Monopoly or Chess and have an opinion about the game, and prefer the version they got when there were kids. Mine was London based Monopoly with Mayfair the most the expensive square.

There is definitely a Chess community. So . . . bad example. And the D&D community is definitely a different case due to the history of the hobby.

There are people who can't imagine other people playing the game in any way except the way they play it.

Which is who I was complaining about in the OP. It applies to other games, too. If there's a Monopoly community out there that regularly has debates about whether or not people that ignore the auction system in the rules are playing "true Monopoly" even if they're having fun with the game, that would be equally annoying.

 

[Scribe]

Yep. At your table. Long live them. Good job keeping something you like in your game and playing with them at your table.

If you were trying to do some "gotcha" or start something, you were poorly mistaken. I have nothing wrong with you playing with those things if you like them.

I certainly wont be bothered to look up the posts, but your original sentiment in this thread, is fine.

Let others enjoy the systems present in the game, without trying to vilify them or paint fans of them with an overly broad brush. A good message indeed.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yep. At your table. Long live them. Good job keeping something you like in your game and playing with them at your table.

If you were trying to do some "gotcha" or start something, you were poorly mistaken. I have nothing wrong with you playing with those things if you like them.

I don't think that was a gotcha. I think they were intimating that expressing positive feelings about those things can be enough to set people off.

 

[Parmandur]

I was today years old when I learned ape and monkey are not the same thing...

To be fair, that might be a language issue: I remember being g surprised that the divide is less strong in Romance languages than it is in English, though it is a biological breakpoint.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Note: If you have never participated in any of the acts I'm complaining about below, this post is not directed at you. Good job at not being amongst the people in this hobby that actively piss me off by making it toxic. You're cool and are not the target of this post.

I . . . I don't understand certain people in the D&D community, and it's quite frustrating. We constantly fight over nothing, write thousands of words in huge posts about why someone else's style of play is badwrongfun, and whine about minor changes in the game as if they're the end of the hobby.

The Edition Wars are stupid. Play whatever edition you like and stop caring if other people like an edition you don't. 1e, 2e, 3e/3.5e, 4e, 5e, or either edition of Pathfinder. Play whatever you like. I don't care, and so long as you can play what you like, you shouldn't care either. I can understand being disappointed if a specific setting, race, or class was never updated to your favorite edition of the game. Or if the online implementation of the game you play changes. But people getting into heated debates about whether 4e was objectively bad, if 3.5e is better than 5e, if any edition of D&D made by Wizards of the Coast even counts as D&D, or if Pathfinder counts as D&D is just pointless, and has does a ton to harm and divide the community. Play Pathfinder if you like Pathfinder. Play whatever you like and ignore all the jerks telling you that you're objectively wrong for liking it.

The same applies to settings, races, classes, and so on. People in this hobby really need to stop being so judgmental of other people for liking completely subjective preferences that have nothing to do with them. If someone likes playing magitek crafters (Artificers) and magic "robot"-people (Warforged), they are not wrong for liking those things. If I like Eberron, Spelljammer, and that Critical Role setting (Exandria), I am not wrong for liking it, even if you don't think it fits D&D or don't enjoy playing in that setting. If someone likes Dragonlance or the Forgotten Realms or a Magic: the Gathering setting, they are not wrong for liking that setting, even though I am not fond of it.

If something changes in a new printing of the thing I like or a setting is updated in a way I don't like, I can ignore it and use the older version. If they publish more Forgotten Realms adventures, I can just not buy them. If the reprints of 5e's Core Rulebooks change a rule/option I like, I'll use the older version. If they publish a Manual of the Planes and retcon Githyanki and Githzerai into two more elf subraces, I can ignore that and use the older versions. I'm not going to make a big fuss or refuse to buy the book over one minor piece I don't like if it has other parts I can use. If they completely change ability score generation in 6e to only being based around rolling dice, I'm going to ignore it and just use Standard Array/Point Buy.

I like optimizing the characters that I play. I like finding mechanical quirks that go together in interesting/unique ways and play a character competently built for combat. That doesn't mean I dislike roleplay, I love roleplay, but I also enjoy the "game" parts of the hobby as well as the other parts. My playstyle might be different from yours, and we might not be able to play at the same table because of that, but my version isn't badwrongfun and neither is yours*.

I'm certainly not going to demand that a setting/race/class never gets published again, or say that the game is ruined forever because of one minor change, or say that playing the game in a different way from me is objectively badwrongfun. I'm just going to continue enjoying the hobby and playing how I want to play.

I'm just a guy that likes gnomes, artificers, Eberron, optimizing, and playing 5th Edition. And there's nothing wrong with that, just like there's nothing wrong with liking Kobolds, Bards, Dragonlance, prioritizing roleplay, and playing 3.5e. And the people in this hobby that non-jokingly tell people that they're wrong for liking any of that can mind their own goddamn business.

And I hold myself to this standard, too. If I ever forget this and act like any part of this post isn't true, remind me. And if you feel that I've acted differently in the past, PM me.

* There is a small exception here, which is someone that plays the game in a way that actively hurts other people. If your game is racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive/harmful, you are not protected by the "it's just a different playstyle" defense.

Don’t hate the playa, hate the game.

Wait.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

You know, it's kind of baffling that there are responses to this thread saying something along the lines of, "I agree, but people should respect my preferences, too!"

Yeah. That's the whole point of this thread. You guys can stop with the "what about X?" or "what about when people get offended by someone else's opinion being different". That was what the Original Post was about. That the D&D community way too often judges other people for completely subjective preferences in playstyle.

There is the "if it's racist/sexist/bigoted, no, this post doesn't apply"-part that I mentioned in the OP. And I do stand by that. But that's the only exception.

As for the people saying that critiquing something isn't the same as hating it or saying it shouldn't be in the game, I actually meant to include that in the original post. This whole thread came about after I realize that even though I really, really like Gnomes, I wouldn't care if they were folded into another race so long as their core identity was preserved. I just like the race. I don't care if they're a full race or subrace or merged with Dwarves or Halflings. Some people get way too attached to their favorite parts of the game and take it personally when someone else suggests changing it at all. That's a part of what I was complaining about, but apparently forgot to specify.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

You know, it's kind of baffling that there are responses to this thread saying something along the lines of, "I agree, but people should respect my preferences, too!"

Yeah. That's the whole point of this thread. You guys can stop with the "what about X?" or "what about when people get offended by someone else's opinion being different". That was what the Original Post was about. That the D&D community way too often judges other people for completely subjective preferences in playstyle.

There is the "if it's racist/sexist/bigoted, no, this post doesn't apply"-part that I mentioned in the OP. And I do stand by that. But that's the only exception.

As for the people saying that critiquing something isn't the same as hating it or saying it shouldn't be in the game, I actually meant to include that in the original post. This whole thread came about after I realize that even though I really, really like Gnomes, I wouldn't care if they were folded into another race so long as their core identity was preserved. I just like the race. I don't care if they're a full race or subrace or merged with Dwarves or Halflings. Some people get way too attached to their favorite parts of the game and take it personally when someone else suggests changing it at all. That's a part of what I was complaining about, but apparently forgot to specify.

Humbly I submit that you should like what you like without shame and if you are having fun, the money you put on the counter was well spent.

I would also say you’re in for a tumultuous modern life if you let some chucklehead on the internet make you doubt yourself.

I worked with a guy once who talked smack online about his favorite baseball team just to get hot headed fans (of his favorite team!) to go off and overreact! I don’t think that is fun but it’s the internet!

On the flip side, why are you here? People will express contrary opinions and make their case. I do that about some things in a vain attempt to make decisions makers know they have competing customer preferences and…ready for it?

So other people will chime in who agree with me so I can feel like I am not the only one with a certain preference.

Here you go: I don’t like the floating ASI bonus. I don’t think it should be an option. I don’t like it.

Explain how that materially impacts your life. Don’t sweat it! Make your dwarf a charismatic dexterous stallion at first level. If you like it and your DM allows it, you’re golden.

And sincerely, go enjoy it. And worry not.

I could easily sit down and play with a group that like floating ASIs. And beer and dice in hand, I would soon forget their poor taste and be high fiving them when they roll a 20.