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Blog Post by Robert J. Schwalb
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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6329171" data-attributes="member: 177"><p>While we might accept that it originated on certain Forums, the issue has grown somewhat beyond that initial scope. Edition warring now happens in-person as well, among folks who do not themselves even read certain forums. </p><p></p><p>In essence - any time someone says, "that thing you love *sucks*," be it a game, a playstyle or whatever, you should expect an emotional reaction from the fan. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Favoring his own system? Sure. Call his prior work, or other people's work, badwrongfun, or otherwise use language to suggest that those who play differently than his game are somehow doing it wrong, or missing the point? That would be unprofessional, and should earn him a hairy eyeball or two.</p><p></p><p>In general, anything a professional says in support of his or her own work (or against works that are in competition for the hearts of customers) is essentially marketing. Having a horse in the race implies a bias, such that professionals probably ought to stay out of the business of public critique of the competition.</p><p></p><p>RPGs are not sports teams - while the partisanship may help support sports team pride and ticket sales, trash-talking is not constructive for us. While we can critique, we (player and designer alike) are better served if it remains as constructive criticism. And note that constructive criticism is a learned skill. Not everyone has it. </p><p></p><p>Professionals, being in positions of influence and control, are well-served to be very thoughtful of their audiences - writing without knowing the audience is a recipe for foot-in-mouth disease. If Schwalb was surprised by the blowback, that says to me that he wrote without understanding his audience, and whether he was edition warring or not, he takes some blame for that.</p><p></p><p>WotC more generally should take a little heat for it, too - they *know* how some of the negative marketing they did was received last time around, and should have prevented team members from repeating the same mistake.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 6329171, member: 177"] While we might accept that it originated on certain Forums, the issue has grown somewhat beyond that initial scope. Edition warring now happens in-person as well, among folks who do not themselves even read certain forums. In essence - any time someone says, "that thing you love *sucks*," be it a game, a playstyle or whatever, you should expect an emotional reaction from the fan. Favoring his own system? Sure. Call his prior work, or other people's work, badwrongfun, or otherwise use language to suggest that those who play differently than his game are somehow doing it wrong, or missing the point? That would be unprofessional, and should earn him a hairy eyeball or two. In general, anything a professional says in support of his or her own work (or against works that are in competition for the hearts of customers) is essentially marketing. Having a horse in the race implies a bias, such that professionals probably ought to stay out of the business of public critique of the competition. RPGs are not sports teams - while the partisanship may help support sports team pride and ticket sales, trash-talking is not constructive for us. While we can critique, we (player and designer alike) are better served if it remains as constructive criticism. And note that constructive criticism is a learned skill. Not everyone has it. Professionals, being in positions of influence and control, are well-served to be very thoughtful of their audiences - writing without knowing the audience is a recipe for foot-in-mouth disease. If Schwalb was surprised by the blowback, that says to me that he wrote without understanding his audience, and whether he was edition warring or not, he takes some blame for that. WotC more generally should take a little heat for it, too - they *know* how some of the negative marketing they did was received last time around, and should have prevented team members from repeating the same mistake. [/QUOTE]
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