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Bonus languages in One D&D backgrounds goes contrary to their other goals
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<blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 8740897" data-attributes="member: 11760"><p>I've got friends who are videogame designers and one thing they all have to eventually let go is designing for the platonic ideal of how players <em>ought</em> to play their games and instead design for how players <em>actually</em> play their games. (The same is also true of every sort of designers. One of my favorite concepts is "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path" target="_blank">desire paths</a>," which are the paths pedestrians wear in landscaping when they ignore the circuitous sidewalks and paths designers put in place in favor of the way they <em>actually</em> want to walk.)</p><p></p><p>Like it or not -- and there are clearly people who are very much "not" -- I don't think it's realistic to expect players, especially new players, not to just grab an example and go, especially if WotC is trying to streamline play for newbies.</p><p></p><p>So sure, maybe there's a reason why the sample Jester background needs to have proficiency in fishing tools -- this particular jester is very into fish-based comedy -- but if WotC puts that in the list, it means that most of the time when you see a jester in the wild, they're going to stink like fish. And everyone at WotC knows this is how players behave, after years and years of more data than any D&D design team has ever had before it. And they need to design accordingly.</p><p></p><p>Example backgrounds need to be <em>extremely</em> specific, including with their names, or made much more general, because general backgrounds are likely to be the default choice for many players, even if that causes the designers' ulcers to flare up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Whizbang Dustyboots, post: 8740897, member: 11760"] I've got friends who are videogame designers and one thing they all have to eventually let go is designing for the platonic ideal of how players [I]ought[/I] to play their games and instead design for how players [I]actually[/I] play their games. (The same is also true of every sort of designers. One of my favorite concepts is "[URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path']desire paths[/URL]," which are the paths pedestrians wear in landscaping when they ignore the circuitous sidewalks and paths designers put in place in favor of the way they [I]actually[/I] want to walk.) Like it or not -- and there are clearly people who are very much "not" -- I don't think it's realistic to expect players, especially new players, not to just grab an example and go, especially if WotC is trying to streamline play for newbies. So sure, maybe there's a reason why the sample Jester background needs to have proficiency in fishing tools -- this particular jester is very into fish-based comedy -- but if WotC puts that in the list, it means that most of the time when you see a jester in the wild, they're going to stink like fish. And everyone at WotC knows this is how players behave, after years and years of more data than any D&D design team has ever had before it. And they need to design accordingly. Example backgrounds need to be [I]extremely[/I] specific, including with their names, or made much more general, because general backgrounds are likely to be the default choice for many players, even if that causes the designers' ulcers to flare up. [/QUOTE]
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