Different Strokes

[shurai]

Well, I wouldn't consider myself uppity. But I would like to know what forms of writting are they talking about. Seriously chat and texting that is peppered with so many anograms it is not even english anymore should not count as writting.

I believe the study says "creative writing," so I don't suppose chat/email/SMS/fora would count unless you're using these channels creatively.

In another vein, I think Ranger REG is making the point that more people producing more creative work isn't necessarily a good thing. He uses the famous d20 glut as an example: Lots and lots of d20 products have been produced, but the average quality is low.

I think he's right about this, that the quality of all the ameteur literature produced on the internet is poor on average. However, we have to remember that even if a person is producing mediocre work, it's probably good for them to be doing it as opposed to doing nothing. It is the broad opinion of just about everyone in the mental health professions that active creativity is healthy. Saying that people shouldn't participate just because they won't do a very good job is, I think, missing the point. It's entertainment, not medicine or farming, it's okay to screw it up.

Anyway, there is a hidden advantage: We aren't forced to consume the endless terabytes of terrible work; we can pick out the good stuff. If more people are producing, I think it's necessarily true that the odds of the emergence of good stuff increase. Moreover, it appears that the hordes of ameteurs might be immune to the problem Dykstrav seems to be encountering, namely that there are no ham-handed executives who are required to care more about securing a huge market share than taking real creative risks.

 

[Ranger REG]

Note true, the number of illiterate americans is increasing.

That's because there's no text-based CRPG like we had in the 80's. Revive Zork.

Or better yet, legislate that all entertainment software for children to be of highly educated standards of quality.

 

[gizmo33]

Anybody can write, but can they write good?

I believe that's "can they write well".

 

[RFisher]

I was just reading the Anime thread and a poster mentioned that there's a generation gap in RPGs - the older gamers being S+S junkies and the newer ones being anime/LOTR visual junkies.

There are gaps among RP gamers. Some of them are even generational. This particular distinction, however, doesn't seem plausible to me.

Firstly, I've seen a gap between S&S junkies who like LotR & S&S junkies who don't like LotR & LotR junkies who don't like S&S. But it isn't generational. (...& there are the visually oriented S&S movie junkies...)

Secondly, saying "anime" is like saying "literature". I can barely stand most of the anime a friend of mine watches, & the anime I like bores him to tears.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You want to know how much the average person reads in a year? The average person doesn't read, period.
Over 50 percent of people don't read for pleasure and over 40 percent don't even read books for business.
I knew it was bad but this really shocks me.

Then let me scare you some more. I earned my Juris Doctor at UT Law- at the time, #16 in the country. One day during my first year, this happened:

I was enjoying lunch in the school canteen- just some iced tea, some trail mix and a bagel w/cream cheese. Then I noticed people looking at me...then talking to each other while pointing at me. Eventually, a few of them came over and asked me:

"What are you doing?"

Puzzled, I responded "Eating lunch."

"No, the book you're reading- it doesn't look like a textbook."

"It isn't. Its Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg's novelization of Asimov's short story Nightfall- considered by some to be the best short-story in sci-fi history."

"You...read books...for fun?" puzzled/horrified looks

"Sure! Don't you?"

"I only read the newspaper and a few magazines" echoed by others' nodding heads...

Exeunt omnes.

Up until that point, I didn't realize that reading for fun wasn't nearly universal among educated people- but suddenly, I realized why I was the one explaining my professors' classical allusions (like referring to a law being a "Sword of Damocles") to my fellow students.

 

[FireLance]

Anyway, there is a hidden advantage: We aren't forced to consume the endless terabytes of terrible work; we can pick out the good stuff. If more people are producing, I think it's necessarily true that the odds of the emergence of good stuff increase. Moreover, it appears that the hordes of ameteurs might be immune to the problem Dykstrav seems to be encountering, namely that there are no ham-handed executives who are required to care more about securing a huge market share than taking real creative risks.

This is a phenomenon that has been called "The Long Tail". Essentially, as more people produce creative work, and as it gets easier to locate what you want and have it distributed to you, it becomes increasingly possible to get niche products that you will enjoy more than mainstream fare. It is true that most of what will be produced is unsuitable or simply not to your taste, which is why the ability to find what you want is so essential.

 

[Aaron L]

Then let me scare you some more. I earned my Juris Doctor at UT Law- at the time, #16 in the country. One day during my first year, this happened:



Up until that point, I didn't realize that reading for fun wasn't nearly universal among educated people- but suddenly, I realized why I was the one explaining my professors' classical allusions (like referring to a law being a "Sword of Damocles") to my fellow students.

I've been in situations like that.

But everything is cyclical. Eventually there will be an upswing again.

Right? Please say I'm right.

 

[gizmo33]

I think the generation gap is exacerbated by the differences in how closely DnD has followed contemporary popular fantasy culture. In the "olden days" of DnD I think the authors (especially Gygax) were influenced by a wide range of fantasy/sci-fi sources, with some history and stuff thrown in - but mostly older stuff. The stuff seemed very "antique" to me as a kid (and cool for that reason), and different from Star Wars, Krull, et. al.

Nowadays it seems that DnD borrows much more heavily from the general fantasy culture (like anime). Especially stuff that's more visual. For example you'd never see terms like "dweomercraeft" or "libram" in the game if it were invented nowadays. About as "word-creative" as DnD gets today are the compound words "Undermountain", "Duskblade", and so on. If DnD continues to be thesaurus-dependant to any degree it is a hold-over from an earlier time.

 

[shurai]

Then let me scare you some more. I earned my Juris Doctor at UT Law- at the time, #16 in the country. One day during my first year, this happened . . .

And to top it off, you were reading Nightfall, a book about twilight, darkness, and cultural destruction fostered by ignorance and the sadly human fear of the unknown. The only way it would've been more poetic is if you'd been reading Farenheit 451.

Firelance, thanks for the info about The Long Tail! I'm reading now. This sort of thing has been in my mind for awhile, but I've never seen it quantified and formalized like this before.

 

[Drawmack]

I think it's necessarily true that the odds of the emergence of good stuff increase.

Ahh the old stick 1,000 monkeys in front of typewritters and eventually they'll produce Shakespear.

Seriously, I agree that more people creatively writting is a good thing. I also think that people who are actively involved in creative writting are more likely to get involved in reading. I have seen this happen someone starts writting and shows their work to people who pint them to books which they feel the person might enjoy based on their writting and before you know it the writter is reading.