Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 6548447" data-attributes="member: 66434">May 1977. Five theater viewings and they were all awesome. There is so much mixed up in this post. I see some of it, but I can't agree with the lot. If gamers have gotten progressively lazier since the early 80's and that laziness has driven gaming toward faster combat resolution then how did 3E & 4E come about?  These editions complicated combat resolution and expanded the time required to resolve it. If your theory was correct on this, then by the time 4E launched, combat resolution would have been even simpler and faster than OD&D. Counter to that, rules & procedures have gotten more complex & numerous. 5E has been the first edition backing away from that trend somewhat. This ramping up of complexity was driven by gamer demand. A gamer population that was just getting lazier with time wouldn't be demanding more complex rules leading to longer combat resolution times. The fail forward mess is simply a clashing of story gaming and role playing. Some people want to intermingle the game types and that preference is currently enjoying a level of popularity. This stems from the desire to play the hero in some story rather than portray a fictional persona in a game. It's a style issue and again, has little to do with laziness. One thing, that HAS changed since the early 80's, and continues to change is our desire for instant gratification, especially in entertainment options. Having busy lives as adults with kids hasn't changed much, but our entertainment options certainly have. You can log in to an MMO whenever there is a odd hour or so that you happen to be free. No scheduling, coordinating or anything, just login and play. Young people today are growing up in a world of instant on-demand gratification. These are people who can't relate to the experience of things like having to be in front of the TV when a favorite program comes on, needing to go to a record store to buy an album if you wanted to hear certain music whenever you wanted, or even (more recently) having to wait hours for a file to download from the internet. There is so much out there grabbing our attention constantly that it isn't a surprise that few people take the time to just think. I have internet access on a home PC, but I have never gotten a smart phone, tablet, or other mobile device that keeps me constantly tethered to the digital world and so far I have not regretted that decision.</blockquote>

Verification