4e/WotC: Pro- or Anti- why do you care?

[Wiseblood]

to the OP;

People care because they are anticipating a new edition. The urge to test the waters is strong. They have been stockpiling provisions and hopes for a bright future after the next edition war.

They are hoping to get the filet mignon not bologna.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

The desire to recruit "lost players" is what I was puzzling over. Recruiting at an Edition Change announcement/release I get. "Come back to game X" or "If game X had A,B, and C would you play it" don't make sense if the same edition is in print.

I suppose essentially the war never ends. While most have chosen their side(s) and gotten on with things, others disatisfied with the split still try to push for vindication of their choice.

Using myself as a case in point, I'm not happy that my preferred edition is no longer "Dungeons & Dragons". I'm not happy that a brand that I have supported for so long has taken the game in a direction polar to what I want my game to be. I'm not happy that the new edition effectively split my gaming group in two. I suppose I would like to see that I'm not alone in feeling this way, and so I respond here to certain threads in search of catharsis.

For myself, I don't look to convert anyone as I'm not a fan of evangelizing. But I have to admit that I nod when I see people rejecting the newest edition. The gaming hobby is very important to me, has been and always will be - I have invested a lot into it. My main hope is that 5th Edition will seek to unite the player base rather than continue further in it's current direction. I will feel then that I talk the same language as others when I start talking about Dungeons and Dragons.

I don't think this quite answers your quote above but perhaps it sheds some manner of light on your original post.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[The Shaman]

People value conformity.

People value individuality.

Therefore we band together to demonstrate our worth as individuals, creating tribes of shared individuality.

Yeah, it's a bit counterproductive.

Oh, and I couldn't care less about 4e. Nor am I likely to care more, actually.

 

[Plane Sailing]

People value individuality.

Therefore we band together to demonstrate our worth as individuals, creating tribes of shared individuality.

Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, You don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for your selves! You're ALL individuals!
The Crowd: Yes! We're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
The Crowd: Yes, we ARE all different!

 

[jbear]

Camps?

You're making the same mistake they make on those political talk shows.

There are no camps. There are just people trying to do their best to have a little bit of fun playing make-believe. Sometimes, people disagree over what, specifically, is fun in that context. Some versions of the game serve different levels of different sorts of fun.

There's no black and white. We're all shades of gray.

unfortunately people do pitch camps. People are also influenced by others opinions before ever forming there own. this is not every case, but I'd say it's pretty common and fairly normal.

If my friend, whose opinion I respect, tells me not to go to a restaurant because it's expensive and the service is terrible, you can bet I'm not going there just to see if s/he was right. And positive recommendations work the same way.

So, a company would have to be pretty suicidal not to make an effort to alter a negative public opinion by attempting to make their product better/more efficient/superior/more attractive in response to complaints. Whether you are interested in their efforts or not is another story, but I don't think you can hold it against them. And if you think it's impossible for a major company to alter negative public opinion then I'd say that the Super Size Me documentary and MacDonalds show that it is not.

As for the edition wars, I don't participate in them, never have, never will.

 

[DumbPaladin]

So if most ENWorld regulars have picked a RPG by this point, why the desire/need to try and recruit those who didn't pick 4e back into the fold? (Which I also find ironic since at the launch of 4e, those who weren't on board were "acceptable losses".)

I also find this odd ... it was made very clear a portion of the fan base was no longer ... either desired, important, or relevant; I'm not really sure which is the best word, perhaps some mixture of them, or simply "in" would suffice.

So really, there's no reason to worry about them anymore, having made that decision. Those people got the message.

I used to be pretty anti-WotC when 4E first came out ... now I no longer care. I wish I could say I'd care a lot about 5E, whenever it comes out, but I've really moved on ... and for me, I moved back to 3.5, although Pathfinder looks really interesting.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Some one should really do an evolutionary tree / chart on the subject.

Have not jumped on the 4E band wagon, Warhammer v2 gamer but have found myself looking at PF.

Why and I not pro-4e, I am not a new player, I am a long term player and 4e has that look and feel of 2e for me; nothing new just a marketing tool. But then I have been feeling that way for a long time with WotC, nothing new just re-packaged.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

I also find this odd ... it was made very clear a portion of the fan base was no longer ... either desired, important, or relevant; I'm not really sure which is the best word, perhaps some mixture of them, or simply "in" would suffice.

This is usually how a thread starts its spiral into flames. Someone assigns the feelings they have to the attitude of others. I haven't seen any support for saying that WotC or other ENWorld posters who are pro-WotC have made it clear that anti-WotC/anti-4E people are either undesired, unimportant, or irrelevant. What I have seen is WotC making strives to change the game in ways that might appeal to lapsed players and starting an organized Encounters program to make it easier for long-time lapsed players to find a venue of play inside their busy schedule of work, family, and life in general. What I have seen is other pro-WotC ENWorlders say that you can't please everyone and with every new edition there is the risk of some people choosing not to play the new edition. This is not the same as saying such players are undesired, unimportant, or irrelevant.

 

[MoxieFu]

Short answer?

5E


Those who like 4e want 5e to continue in that direction that 4e went.

Those who don't like 4e want 5e to roll back the changes made and return D&D to a more familiar game they have been playing for years, unslaughter the sacred cows.

Doubleplusunslaughter them!

 

[Dausuul]

What I have seen is WotC making strives to change the game in ways that might appeal to lapsed players and starting an organized Encounters program to make it easier for long-time lapsed players to find a venue of play inside their busy schedule of work, family, and life in general. What I have seen is other pro-WotC ENWorlders say that you can't please everyone and with every new edition there is the risk of some people choosing not to play the new edition. This is not the same as saying such players are undesired, unimportant, or irrelevant.

I must spread some XP around, et cetera.

It seems highly improbable to me that WotC regards fans of other editions as "unwanted." I mean, come on--money is money and WotC is a business. They want your money just like they want mine. They may have concluded that they aren't willing or able to do what's necessary to get your money, but if tomorrow someone at WotC came up with a brilliant new idea to produce a game that would appeal to Pathfinder fans, 4E fans, and retro-gamers alike, they'd do it.

(That said, there have been a couple of boneheaded decisions by WotC, like the whole .PDF fiasco, that could reasonably be viewed as a rejection. Personally, I think that .PDF thing was just an executive-level outbreak of the "The Dread Pirate Fileshare is here for your souls!" insanity. If it can lead a company like Sony to think putting malware on its CDs is a good idea, unilaterally terminating .PDF sales is positively benign.)

Those who like 4e want 5e to continue in that direction that 4e went.

Those who don't like 4e want 5e to roll back the changes made and return D&D to a more familiar game they have been playing for years, unslaughter the sacred cows.

And then you have guys like me who want 5E to continue the 4E trend in some areas, reverse it in others, and adopt some ideas entirely orthogonal to the old-school/new-school axis.

Not everyone believes in One Edition To Rule Them All. There's a reason my new status is "edition war mercenary."