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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scurvy_Platypus" data-source="post: 5505596" data-attributes="member: 43283">And I most strongly disagree with this. This is part of the problem; there's this entrenched notion in gamers that "simple" = "novice" and "veteran" = "complex".Not everyone is playing an rpg because they want or enjoy the rules mastery/game mastery aspect. The fact that there's a "game" there is fine and even enjoyable; it doesn't mean they need or want it to be expanded.As long as this sort of thinking persists, it's going to continue hobbling the community in terms of expansion. The people that _want_ the game and are hardcore about it? They're catered to. They've been catered to for the past 3 decades and they continue to be catered to. The goal shouldn't be to get some poor slob off the street that doesn't know any better, teach them how to play D&D, and then triumphantly declare "you're a gamer! Don't forget to buy the supplement coming out next month, and remember that DDI is an invaluable tool that you're a fool not to have."Anyone here go to the gym and lift weights? Jog? Ride a bike? Play Rockband?Ok now... what if everyone that was involved in your activity insisted that you compete at the professional level? No, going to the gym and doing your little circuit training isn't good enough; the expectation is that you're going to be competing in body-builder competitions. It's not good enough to just ride a bike or jog, you're supposed to be doing Iron Man competitions.That's basically what's happening with rpgs. Folks show up and want to dabble in it, do a little here or there... and every time they turn around they're being pushed to invest more in it. "Oh, well you're a beginner... of course you want simpler rules. Don't worry, eventually you'll know what you're doing and be ready for the _real_ fun".It should be an option, not a requirement. Generally speaking, rpgs seem to suffer from a similar sort of thing as Linux; proponents are in love with the complexity and obtuseness. Yeah, linux might rock on toast and be able to do lots of stuff. But I can actually just fire up a Windows machine and it works. I don't have to "grep" this or do console anything unless I _want_ to.Some people just want to show up and have something work and be straightforward. The fact that we don't want to invest the great flipping amounts of effort to learn Linux doesn't mean that the only kind of machine we're fit to use is an XBox.</blockquote>

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