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Message: <blockquote data-quote="eyebeams" data-source="post: 2290440" data-attributes="member: 9225">No, not really, especially considering that there is, in fact, an organized industry pro wrestling fanclub that meets at major cons.Uh, no. Perhaps you've been watching too much TV:. . .where image takes precedence over wisdomWhere sound bite politics are served tothe fastfood cultureWhere straight teeth in your mouthare more important than the wordsthat come out of it-- Disposible Heroes of Hiphoprisy, "Television, Drug of the Nation."Hell, Ice Cube knows his math; he has a degree in architectural drafting. Perhaps if your analysis of gaming was as superficial as that of hiphop (limited to whatever you involuntarily derived from popular media) you'd think it was a hobby for loser nerds.Games do not have particularly difficult math. Baseball's math is harder. Football's organizational and strategic  demands exceed those of RPGs.The horrible truth is that gaming is not an elite hobby. Gamers are not particularly smart or insightful people (and it's worth nothing that the last 3 gamers I've met have been through my job as a remedial educator). The only observation I can make about gamers as a group is that, in groups, they tend to be bad tippers and embarass me at restuarants (this is so well known that a few years back Gareth plead with Gen Con goers to improve the reputation of attendees by tipping decently).Stupidity, violence and sex? Violence is considered so essential to play that Greg Costikyan wrote a short game to parody it. Sex? Have you looked at RPG covers' portrayals of woman compared to anything besides fannish art and porn (and the occasionally overly close intersection between the two)?The basic narrative elements of RPGs are not alternatives to anything. They are emulations of the most popular print and filmic entertainment genres in the world. Hell, Paris Hilton was tagged to star in the D&D movie sequel, wasn't she? The most popular SF game is based on the most popular SF film series.We *are* pop culture -- a niche of it that's concerned itself with irrelevant convolutions in its form instead of its essentials. One that has been, by and large, defensive about its right to exist but ashamed of its distinctiveness. In the 90s we got lots of bad mechanics because everyone wanted RPGs to be justified as artistic narrative. Now the pendulum of shame has swung the other way, so that having any "artistic" ambition is considered arrogant. The only thing left between these two poles is the very pop culture mediocrity you decry, but fan-approved practices contribute to.It should not be beneath gamers to sup from the very pablum they ground between the two halves of their self-loathing.The entertainment industry does have the advantge, though, because it is hungry for something gamers are not: novelty. Novelty may be a new coat of paint on an old surface, but it *is* new. And this hobby's failure to renew its image -- its hatred of any change to its image -- means that it can't do that.Even wthin the limited subset of D20 and WotC OGL-derived games, this creative bankruptcy is pervasive. Mike Mearls has commented on how the system is rarely used to its potential in favour of continuing retreads. Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed showed that having even the minimal bravery to abandon frickin' elves has a payoff, but with almost anyone else I can expect a long march of books about copyright-sanitized drow or an endless selection of 5x5 flagstone floorplans (with the occasional archway or stalagmite for "originality").I'll say what I've said before: I understand the need for broadly appealing products, but if publishers can't go past that and make a leap of faith into something distinct ( not even original), then you should give up. You're dead weight.For the ones that will take that step, though: Good luck.</blockquote>

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