ENWorld Article for RPG Examiner

[talien]

Hello All,

As promised, I will be writing an article about ENWorld for the RPG Examiner: RPG Examiner. Instead of just writing my usual Q&A and given the collaborative nature of ENWorld, I thought it would be a good idea to go directly to the people who use it most. This is also my opportunity to give back to the community here.

So please feel free to answer the below questions by posting to this thread. I can't guarantee I will use everyone's responses in the article, but I'll do my best to capture the spirit of your comments and quote sources as much as possible.

· What brought you to ENWorld?
· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?
· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?
· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?
· How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?
· Anything else you feel should be included in the article.

I'll run this for a couple of days, depending on the response rate, and then post a link to the final article, which will of course link back to ENWorld.

Looking forward to the responses!

 

[EricNoah]

I have a little bit of a different relationship with EN World, obviously, but I can answer a couple of these as a general user...

· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?

It's large but not overwhelming; it's generally friendly but as with any community there are some who are here to win a fight instead of have a discussion (and once you find them, stick 'em on your ignore list and you're good to go); as far as the characteristics of the people who post here, polls have generally shown that the age skews toward older (30+) players, well-educated players, players who are DMs, and players who have had a good deal of experience with earlier editions of D&D and RPGs outside of D&D. The type of poster I like the most has a good sense of humor, is very welcoming, is interested in having a discussion rather than an argument, doesn't have an axe to grind (and doesn't grind axes in every thread encountered), likes to share both successes and failures in gaming, likes to learn from the experience of others, and really contributes to rather than simply consuming what EN World has to offer. And I'm glad to say we're crawling with this sort of poster.

· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?

I care about this community, I care about what happens to it and to the people in it. And I love having a place to hang out where the rules are exactly like I would want them to be if I were running the place myself. Russ and the moderators are doing a fantastic job. They had a tough year or two with 4th Edition and trying to force everyone to play nice while all that was going on, and I hope they know we appreciate all they do to make this place a fun hangout.

· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?

I've gotten all kinds of advice, help with plots, suggestions for helpful resources, reviews of products, inside scoops on what's new from EN World. If I'm stuck, someone will help me out.

· How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?

I have gotten to meet so many awesome people through this website. And its legacy is a tremendous source of pride for me personally.

 

[Panthanas]

What brought you to ENWorld?

Hmmm...I think I originally found it as Eric Noah's 3E site back in 1999. After that I lurked on the message boards, finally created an account and continued to lurk



If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?

I think the majoirty of the people are great. It is a very friendly place and when I have a question, I know I'll recieve useful answers.




Once you arrived here, what made you stay?

I feel that the Morrus, the admins and moderators do a fantasic job keeping the place friendly. The conversations, advice, and friendliness of EN World are all reasons I visit, pretty much on a daily basis.




How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?

All the time. I often will read through multiple threads just to look for ways to improve my game. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've found helpful things that have improved my game. I've made numerous purchases of products I probably wouldn't have heard of without EN World. I may not always use the product at the game table but the products have all been great.




How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?

Hmmm...I'm not sure if EN World has affected me personally. There are quite a few people on EN World who I think it would be cool to meet and hang out with, but I've never made it to a Gen Con or a Game Day (even though I've wanted to).


I hope this helps you some!

 

[AllisterH]

Hello All,

<snip>

So please feel free to answer the below questions by posting to this thread. I can't guarantee I will use everyone's responses in the article, but I'll do my best to capture the spirit of your comments and quote sources as much as possible.

· What brought you to ENWorld?

I'm a migrator from Eric's old red and black page and I found out about Eric Noah's site when he mentioned collecting all information from the old web-based boards of WOTC (I think I'm either Eric's 1st or 2nd scooper)

· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?

If there is any type of D&D gamer you can think of, there's someone here who falls into that category.

· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?

After the forums were started, I stayed around since at the time it was better than WOTC's own forums from a technical standpoint and while my interest in D&D has waxed and waned, I never really purge enworld from my links and thus it is always there...

· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?

Looking forward to the responses!

This board for me anyway has replaced my old stomping ground for D&D chatter, namely rec.games.frp.dnd

 

[EricNoah]

Some old fools from the old school I see!

 

[Crothian]

. What brought you to ENWorld?

I had been playing second edition and having a lot of fun. Dragon (I think) was the first place I heard about 3e. One day on a whim I searched on line and Eric Noah's site.

· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?

A large group of diverse gamers that mostly follow and enjoy D&D in various forms.

· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?

3e was a great game and as we played it I found it was also enjoyable to read about what others were doing with it. And the 3pp books were coming out and this was a great place to hear about them

· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?

Through EN World I found two gaming groups and many friends. I would say that every game I've been part of since 2002 has been affected in some way by En World. Either through ideas, people I game with from here, or just what ever.

· How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?

Friends, lots of friends. Gen Con seems to be a good place to meet many of them but I've driven to New Hampshire, Albany New York, and North Carolina to game but also hang out with and spend time with people from here. EN World is also one of the links that caused a marriage. A friend of mine from high school married a friend that made from a group that I would not have joined if not for EN World. Though neither of them actually post here.

· Anything else you feel should be included in the article.

The sense of community that has lasted for almost a decade.

 

[Hereticus]

What brought you to ENWorld?

A web search (I prefer Yahoo to Google).

If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?

Very diverse, and seems to include the more serious and dedicated gamers from a group. As a newcomer, it does seem a bit cliquish though.

Once you arrived here, what made you stay?

The ability to gather information, share experiences, and hopefully meet gamers in my area (if they exist).

How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience?
Has anything you read here affected your current games?

I did learn how to multi-class here, and I have used that on my current character.

Some of the first explanations on that topic weren't as clear as I hoped, and there was the rare exception or two who criticized my lack of understanding.

How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?

It hasn't, yet.

At some point I hope to meet some of the people here.

Anything else you feel should be included in the article.

"Edition Wars"... it's tough staying neutral on such a heated topic.

 

[talien]

I have a little bit of a different relationship with EN World, obviously, but I can answer a couple of these as a general user...

Thanks for responding Eric! I was a lurker myself back when you first started the site, with the repeating ENWorld pattern in the background, if I remember correctly.

 

[talien]

Panthanas, AllisterH, Hereticus, and of course Crothian, thanks!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

· What brought you to ENWorld?

I don't know anymore. I suspect some online search on D&D 3rd Edition.

· If you were to categorize ENWorld's community, how would you describe it?

There are people with years of game experience and newbies. There are people with different preferences, likes or dislikes. It is a community with a lot of creativity and that has a lot of interesting stories to tell and game experiences to relate.
Members of the community like to argue, especially when it's about different preferences. This can be enlightening, if you learn something new, or frustrating, when it seems you can't get your point across. (Sometimes, this is a sign you're trying too hard, and miss that it's about personal taste and not facts.)

· Once you arrived here, what made you stay?

Getting rules understanding was a start, but I think what mostly made me stay is that I could learn a lot in playing and running games. There are a lot of people with more experience as DMs than me here, and they have lots of useful advice and experiences to relate.

· How has ENWorld helped your gaming experience? Has anything you read here affected your current games?

Lots of threads inspire to do more, or give suggestions on how to handle situations in-game as well as out-of-game. I think it made me both a better player and - more importantly for me - a better DM.

· How has ENWorld affected you personally, outside gaming?

Mostly in that I spend a lot of free time on EN World and it keeps gaming a hobby I can spend lots of time on. There are also people that you "kinda know" - but since most live far away for me, I might never meet them (though, who knows, GenCon 2010?).
I think it - along other stuff often related to gaming or media- helped my English a lot. (I am not a native speaker/writer)...

· Anything else you feel should be included in the article.

Maybe the history of EN World?