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Bluntly, so what? That's exactly the reason I'm saying houserules aren't a useful answer to everyone. I've explained this more than once, so either engage with it or stop responding to me. Acting like I haven't explained my position is ridiculous.

It depends on two factors: 1. What are the PCs going to be doing? If they're going to be doing a lot of things involving countering powerful entities, they need to be to some degree, powerful enough to make that work. 2. How much combat are they going to be in? If they're going to be in a...

And when I have evidence the majority of GMs are good at that, I'll consider it more of an answer.

Well, to tell the truth, neither is stealth in most versions I've seen. I'm not going to speak specifically about 5e because I don't know it well enough to, but it'd have been a nearly hopeless process in the three versions I know at all well (OD&D, 3e and 4e) because of a combination of...

I think the problem is some other games that still feature violence don't derive much of their approach from Westerns or Manifest Destiny. The derive it from particular types of fiction. I suppose you could argue those types of fiction might derive from those, but at least some of them...

Though you can run into the straight-line problem with hexes even when not indoors, but some of those can come up with either; both fractional hexes and squares are kind of a pain in the behind.

On the other hand I've seen GMs get an idea of a houserule that seemed good on paper, but created serious problems in play because they didn't see all the implications and interactions. They may be somewhat less likely to be tunnel-visioned to their own fun (note, however, the "may") but they...

Come on, man, I've explained that multiple times: because players don't get to just declare houserules. Heck, under a few situations, even GMs may not get to.

Sometimes it won't. It depends on the specific problem area. Its most useful when its addressing a special case that applies to a character concept one has, where if there's another way to get there, that's the thing to do. This isn't a great solution to that one, but its a functional one...

There's an argument there, but I think that'd be more about the focus on action-adventure fiction as a basis in general, not why violence is so prevelant. Some other forms of fiction are more difficult for group play, which probably doesn't help, but its hard to say what it would be like if...

There are distinctly advantages to hexes, not the least of which making some movement issues massively easier. I probably played a good half dozen hex based RPGs in the 80's, and on the whole found I was okay with them all. Its just that its not an unmixed virtue.

I didn't mean the Western as the genre, but as in "RPGs created in Europe and most of the Americas". I was contrasting it with some Asian RPGs I've heard of that are focused on things like sports.

Yeah, the problem with this line of argument is that it assumes there is something that gives a good view of the state of the hobby. I doubt there really is such a thing. If you had really broad sales figures, that might approach it, but those are not, effectively, available.

A workaround uses other extent rules to bypass (to some degree) the problematic ones. It doesn't actually change any rules.

Then they'd be incorrect. That is not and has not been my point. I also disagree with your last paragraph but see no useful point in responding to it.

Actually, its becoming more common for dedicated VTT maps to be gridless, but that wasn't always true. Loke, for example, produces gridless ones, but not the books, which are assumed to be for FTF use.

Part of it really is that adventure fiction is, while not entirely dominated by it, filled with violence, and at least Western RPGs are extremely focused on adventure fiction as a basis.

Yeah, that's all why I said "vaguely useful metric".

Sometimes you don't pay attention, Micah. I've mentioned that I've used house rules for my whole career in the hobby. What I won't assume is that everyone complaining simply has the option to put in a house rule. Because not everyone, I'd care to bet not even the majority, can. They can, at...

You have a problem with mechanical element X that you theoretically need to engage with to make your character work, and the character design twiddles associated with it don't help. A knowledgable player or GM can suggest ways to approximate the effect in another way that may not be obvious...