Do grognards have to be jerks?

[gamerprinter]

I'm not dead yet!

I think I'll go for a walk.

That was pointed at the second half of the statement of what I think a grognard is - so if you're still alive and are a veteran under Napoleon, I'm very impressed.

I know plenty of old school wargamers, that never tried out those new-fangled RPG games...

 

[The Shaman]

You're probably right, except I've never heard someone say "I'm a grognard".

I'm a grognard.

By the standards of John Young, anyway.

Vive le mort! Vive le guerre! Vive les joueurs militaire!

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Again, if the two groups were equally jerk-like, it stands to reason that both would find cause to complain just as often and vocally about the behavior of the other.

Meh, presumably both sides do find cause to complain. But this supposed asymmetry in threads like this would only suggest that one side actually does complain more than the other.

More seriously, I think a lot of this is simply down to different people's ideas of what "being a jerk" means, what exactly a "grognard" is, and even generational differences. It is what it is.

 

[Elf Witch]

I find it interesting that some people really believe that the rude behavior only goes one way.

I have noticed that there are 4E players both in DnD and Shadowrun that take any criticism of the new system as an attack.

Regardless of how you phrase what you don't like about it they see it as you being a jerk. I don't like either 4E DnD or Shadowrun. I also recognize that this is personal taste issue and I don't think anyone else should have to agree with it. But in discussions I have been called names. I have been told that I am a jerk, that I hate WOTC, accused of nerdraging and that I am basically a rigid unimaginative person stuck in my ways old fart.

I have also seen die hard fans of other older systems behave the same way. Neither side is innocent when it comes to this behavior.

One of the issues I think is that some fans of newer things don't get where older fans are coming from. As someone else pointed out you have a lot of experience with an older loved thing and now a new shiny thing has taken its place and you are suddenly left out in the cold. And to make matters worse some of the fans of this new shiny thing like to rub salt into the wounds by pointing out why the new shiny thing is superior. It can really make you grumpy.

I saw behavior like this in Battlestar Galactica fandom with the new show. As a fan of the old show one who was an adult when it came on and who had spent years writing letters, participating in different BSG fandoms I was incredibly disappointed when I heard that we were getting a remake not a continuation. And so were a lot of other fans and so were a lot of the original actors.

The new show came on the air and the nastiness started. A lot of the new fans would start their posts along these lines I never watched the old chessy 70s version but this is the best SF show ever. It was not enough for them that they had to express their love of the new show they had to put down the old show and with it the fans of the old show.

I used to get irritated because they didn't seem to realize that if it was not for the old 70s chessy show they would not have their new shiny show. They simply could not understand why we older fans were so disappointed. They dismissed our opinions and feelings as us being a bunch of fanbois and old farts.

A lot of the old fans acted badly as well they would do nothing but come on and rage about the new show and its fans.

It got to the point that several older sites either banned all discussion of the new show or made different forums and you were not allowed to discuss the two shows together.

It kept the nastiness down but for fans like me who came to like the new show could never discuss things like what we liked better about each. For example I hated new Starbuck but I thought Roslin was fantastic.

I think it would help if fans of the new thing quit feeling like they have to defend their shiny thing and seeing any thing other than something being 100% approval as an attack.

And fans of the older thing would quit acting like their puppy was just run over by the cruel evil new shiny thing and stop taking everything as a personal insult that this means that their old thing is badwrongfun.

 

[Dannager]

I find it interesting that some people really believe that the rude behavior only goes one way.

I don't think anyone is saying that it does.

What is being said is that it tends to go one way more often and more strongly than the other.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Meh.

Jerky people act jerky.

Film at 11.

 

[billd91]

You're probably right, except I've never heard someone say "I'm a grognard". I've only heard or seen posted "You're a grognard".

I've seen plenty of people self-identify as grognards. Primarily among people who used to play Micro-armor or Panzer Blitz, maybe. It's more of a self-effacing term or inside joke than term of real derision.

 

[MrGrenadine]

I don't think anyone is saying that it does.

What is being said is that it tends to go one way more often and more strongly than the other.

Right. Which is also untrue.

 

[Kzach]

First of all, anyone that even uses the expression "sheep" to refer to people being mindless followers is a mindless sheep themselves. If they weren't mindless sheep, then they wouldn't be using an overused expression that required no original thought on their end.

Like words. Words are overused expressions that require no original thought to use.

 

[Elf Witch]

I don't think anyone is saying that it does.

What is being said is that it tends to go one way more often and more strongly than the other.

Which is just so much bull. Both sides have been nasty and if you really can't see that then I don't think you are really looking at it.