D&D General Nerd Rage, Taste Mongering, & Fan Culture

[Hatmatter]

Hello everyone,

I was recently asked to contribute op-eds to a new online news weekly and a few weeks ago I wrote an op-ed about the relationship between creativity and (for lack of a better term) nerd rage. It ranges a bit, starting with a discussion of the Folk Revival movement of the late Fiftiies/early Sixties, but it eventually settles on to a consideration of D&D, the fiftieth anniversary year, and my experience with the D&D online fan community. I thought I would share it with you all: "'Anyone Who Ever Played a Part, Wouldn't Turn Around and Hate It': The Nerdy Need to Taste Monger."

 

[payn]

Murray Lerner’s Festival (1967) is a must see.

 

[Hatmatter]

Murray Lerner’s Festival (1967) is a must see.

Yes, as you know from reading the article, I was struck at a similarity of psychology between some of the persons appearing in Festival and the kind of person that sometimes posts here. I have seen the film probably a half dozen times and this time this really struck me. I hope my recollections about Erick Wujick and my thoughts on Jeremy Crawford's work were coherent within the argument's context.

 

[payn]

Yes, as you know from reading the article, I was struck at a similarity of psychology between some of the persons appearing in Festival and the kind of person that sometimes posts here. I have seen the film probably a half dozen times and this time this really struck me. I hope my recollections about Erick Wujick and my thoughts on Jeremy Crawford's work were coherent within the argument's context.

Its a lot to digest, but a very nice piece of work. I have a few quibbles, but mostly agree with your positions. I think the impotence part of nerd rage is debatable. Often, its true, but there have been numerous successful campaigns against new coke, 4E, Ghostbusters, Star Wars etc.. that make it noteworthy. I think folks disregard it at their own peril and that there is often a cultural element that is more nuanced than appears.

I'll take another pass and comment on Wujick and Crawford later.

 

[Hatmatter]

Its a lot to digest, but a very nice piece of work. I have a few quibbles, but mostly agree with your positions. I think the impotence part of nerd rage is debatable. Often, its true, but there have been numerous successful campaigns against new coke, 4E, Ghostbusters, Star Wars etc.. that make it noteworthy. I think folks disregard it at their own peril and that there is often a cultural element that is more nuanced than appears.

I'll take another pass and comment on Wujick and Crawford later.

Hi Payn,

Thanks! I agree with you concerning some of the nuance. Certainly, fan protests do sometimes work. In addition to some of the situations you offer, the long-standing example of the fan lobby for what became the third season of Star Trek is probably the most go-to instance.

Then, we do have this most recent fan response to the OGL draft that elicited a change of direction from Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro. I am glad that the OGL is now in Creative Commons as that is likely the best for the RPG hobby in the long run. On many of the other issues surrounding OGL, I likely have different views from many here on EN World, but a discussion of them would be a digression.

My landing place, though, and I hope that this comes through in the article, is that it is the commercialization of a generation that has lead to a blunting of the ability to evaluate the relative importance of ideas before making value judgments.

I think it is this twisting of the mind -- where problems become commercial in nature so the solutions that people look for are likewise commercial -- that has led those who engage in a democratized art form like roleplaying -- who therefore should have an outlet -- to have instead been rendered impotent and, therefore, as prone to temper tantrums, as they have become.

 

[Distracted DM]

Much of the malice is directed at Wizards of the Coast, who purchased D&D in 1997, and who despite having perhaps one of the most lenient copyright policies – permitting other businesses and competitors to publish books using material intrinsic to D&D, contributing to an ecosystem wherein others not working for Wizards of the Coast are able to build careers around and profit from D&D – received the scorched-earth version of nerd rage when the company flirted (but did not follow through) with revising the open license that had facilitated this liberal treatment of its intellectual property for two decades.

There's a lot of interesting stuff to go through here!

But regarding the quote above:
This reads, to me at least, as downplaying what they were attempting to do- and can you elaborate on "facilitated liberal treatment of its intellectual property?" WotC didn't let folks run around monetizing Beholders etc. willy-nilly.

 

[payn]

My landing place, though, and I hope that this comes through in the article, is that it is the commercialization of a generation that has lead to a blunting of the ability to evaluate the relative importance of ideas before making value judgments.

I think it is this twisting of the mind -- where problems become commercial in nature so the solutions that people look for are likewise commercial -- that has led those who engage in a democratized art form like roleplaying -- who therefore should have an outlet -- to have instead been rendered impotent and, therefore, as prone to temper tantrums, as they have become.

I think you obfuscate a general point with specific examples. I think the place for a test bed of ideas is important, but you have to understand when one has entered an institution the dynamic has changed. Folks were not mad that old Bob wanted to plug in, it was he did it at the Newport Folk Festival. This is akin to being invited as an honored guest at Buckingham place and then shouting "eff the queen" and taking a deuce on everyone's head. A solid rock 'n' roll moment, but You shouldnt be surprised that people didnt want to thank Bob for the hat. Nerd rage always seems silly from the outsider's perspective.

"If history teaches us anything, it is simply this: every revolution carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. And empires that rise, will one day fall." Frank Herbert, maybe? Every institution reaches a point where tradition overtakes functionality.
Maybe the revolution happens from within, but it wont be without nerd rage.

Think of it this way, an individual is an ice cube, culturally together we are an iceberg. Its easy to move the former, not so much with the latter. This is why we have creators, critics, and consumers. All three are impacted by the others, but play different roles in this age old song and dance.

 

[Hatmatter]

There's a lot of interesting stuff to go through here!

But regarding the quote above:
This reads, to me at least, as downplaying what they were attempting to do- and can you elaborate on "facilitated liberal treatment of its intellectual property?" WotC didn't let folks run around monetizing Beholders etc. willy-nilly.

I would Distracted DM, for the sake of civil conversation, but I really do not want to discuss that here on ENWorld. I said what I have to say (for now) in the article, and you quoted me correctly (I know, I am the one who brought it up, making me hypocritical in not now wanting to discuss my view of how Wizards has treated their IP, yadda, yadda...guilty! ).

Honestly, much of what motivated me to write the article is how I have observed discourse to take place during the 16 years or so I have been reading the forums at ENWorld (although not exclusively ENWorld).

That being said, I would be happy to converse with you privately if you are interested and PM me. Then, I would be more willing to share my own personal view of Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, IP, and so forth.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Bedrockgames]

Hello everyone,

I was recently asked to contribute op-eds to a new online news weekly and a few weeks ago I wrote an op-ed about the relationship between creativity and (for lack of a better term) nerd rage. It ranges a bit, starting with a discussion of the Folk Revival movement of the late Fiftiies/early Sixties, but it eventually settles on to a consideration of D&D, the fiftieth anniversary year, and my experience with the D&D online fan community. I thought I would share it with you all: "'Anyone Who Ever Played a Part, Wouldn't Turn Around and Hate It': The Nerdy Need to Taste Monger."

As a Phil Ochs fan, I am intrigued

 

[Hatmatter]

I think you obfuscate a general point with specific examples.

I think you are entirely correct. I agree. It is the reason I ended up having to quote from the fans outside of the Royal Albert Hall in London (from Eat the Document) in order to provide evidence. An earlier version of the article had the quotations from Festival trying to do that work but, in the end, they simply did not because they did not address the point I was making. The article might be stronger if I cut out the references to Festival, and perhaps cut out everything having to do with Dylan and simply deal with the role-playing game community at the beginning. In the end, Festival was my entrance point and I decided to preserve that even if it means obfuscation through an abundance of imprecise examples.

I think the place for a test bed of ideas is important, but you have to understand when one has entered an institution the dynamic has changed. Folks were not mad that old Bob wanted to plug in, it was he did it at the Newport Folk Festival. This is akin to being invited as an honored guest at Buckingham place and then shouting "eff the queen" and taking a deuce on everyone's head. A solid rock 'n' roll moment, but You shouldnt be surprised that people didnt want to thank Bob for the hat.

Fair enough. I like your thinking.

I would add the caveat that I am not sure that Dylan taking the stage with the Butterfield Blues band needed to be perceived as an "eff the queen" type moment. Those players were present because they were already part of the bill. Also, Howlin' Wolf had performed with a band, and at times Muddy Waters performed with a band at Newport. I think Newport becomes an adequate test case as a moment when unreasonable expectations escalated to the point where the anger that was released was (in good part) an example of people raging against their own confounded expectations.

Nerd rage always seems silly from the outsider's perspective.

For sure!

"If history teaches us anything, it is simply this: every revolution carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. And empires that rise, will one day fall." Frank Herbert, maybe? Every institution reaches a point where tradition overtakes functionality.
Maybe the revolution happens from within, but it wont be without nerd rage.

This has me thinking that I should clarify what I mean by "nerd rage" (an expression I was never happy with) and some other form (or forms) of outrage, for example: "productive rage." I didn't mean to suggest that every expression reacting to injustice is impotent. I do not believe that at all. Moral crises require moral responses. Perhaps outrage is not always the best response, but I did not mean to suggest that outrage to social injustice is inappropriate by any means.

Think of it this way, an individual is an ice cube, culturally together we are an iceberg. Its easy to move the former, not so much with the latter. This is why we have creators, critics, and consumers. All three are impacted by the others, but play different roles in this age old song and dance.

You have me intrigued, Payn. If you have the interest and energy, if you could elaborate on how you see the creator-critic-consumer triad relating to the effort to move the iceberg? No obligation of course, but I find the observation interesting and would like to hear more.

Cheers, mate!