Failed promises

[GMSkarka]

I have wanted to get this off my chest of ages. As for your product, Skull and Bones, it has to be one of the most......Brilliant.....pieces of gaming material that I have ever bought! I loved it and I really appreciate you and the others that worked on it!


Plus I am really looking at getting your Thrilling Tales stuff too! It looks GREAT!!


so there!

You heartless BASTARD!

How DARE you!!!

 

[GVDammerung]

Still, not to sound mean or anything, but anyone who sells a product should be prepared for bashing, whether it's through inane, fanboy comments or well-thought out reviews.

I agree with this sentiment 150%.

When you buy a product you buy a ticket to praise it to the skies or burn it to the ground as you see fit as it was your dollar. You buy the right along with the product.

Designers unable to stand the heat need to avoid the kitchen. If they are looking for uncritical acceptance, to borrow a phrase - get a dog.

The internet is a known quantity as regards "discussion" and "criticism." Enter at your own risk. Nothing says criticism must adhere to some standard of "fairness" or "objectivity." The best criticism will be of the constructive variety but most will fall short of the "ideal," particularly as gaming is a hobby in which many "invest" at a personal level and as taste is so subjective in any event.

 

[d20Dwarf]

I agree with this sentiment 150%.

When you buy a product you buy a ticket to praise it to the skies or burn it to the ground as you see fit as it was your dollar. You buy the right along with the product.

Nobody's talking about rights, but retards. Just because you have a ticket doesn't mean you aren't a retard. Reasonable or intelligent criticism is good, unreasonable or unintelligent criticism deserves to be mocked. (And misguided criticism deserves attention, discussion, and correction. There's definitely room for different tastes, but erroneously calling a product bad because of your own...limitations...isn't a fair criticism and should be addressed.)

 

[GMSkarka]

Saying "I was disappointed with a product" is not being uncivil.

No, but:

• " it bored me to hell. Dull writing, unimaginative content..yuck! "
• "crappy "
• "The biggest stinker for me"
• "the twin abominations...."
• "I'm so sick of writers giving us their vision...."
• "fills me with dread..."
• "Horrible horrible book."
• "It did, in fact, suck worse than the previews suggested."
• (Product) "was crap."

...and that's just from the first two pages.

Hardly what anyone would call civil.

 

[GMSkarka]

Designers unable to stand the heat need to avoid the kitchen. If they are looking for uncritical acceptance, to borrow a phrase - get a dog.

I'm not talking about uncritical acceptance....I'm talking about treating designers like they're people, and not the shadowed memories of bullies from your past that you feel the need to demonstrate your superiority over by lambasting them with Kewl Insults on Teh Intarweb.

 

[GVDammerung]

So, in other words, being insulting is OK, but only if you're insulting to a writer...because they're asking for it.

Depends, I think.

Hypothetical. Setting X canon says the sky is blue. Writer Y does a product for Setting X and says the sky is orange without explanation.

One can, I think, legitimately criticise the work for failing to adhere to canon for Setting X.

One can also, I think, legitimately criticise the writer for sloppy design that defeated expectations for Setting X without rationale.

Writers have ownership of what they write - and you can criticize BOTH legitimately in the right circumstances.

IMO

 

[GMSkarka]

Writers have ownership of what they write - and you can criticize BOTH legitimately in the right circumstances.

Pay close attention: criticism DOES NOT EQUAL insults. They are two different things.

Criticism is fine, when based in reality. "THIS PRODUCT SUXX0RZ & TEH WRITAR IS CRAP" is not.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Midnight. I knew it was going to be depressing, but I thought there would be some way to win.

Now that's an odd comment.

Midnight's whole raison d'etre is that Evil has already "run the ball in for the big win". Every bit of literature I've ever read about Midnight made it pretty clear (to my mind) that that's what the setting was soffering.

How that qualifies as a "Failed promise" is a bit beyond me.

 

[GVDammerung]

I'm not talking about uncritical acceptance....I'm talking about treating designers like they're people, and not the shadowed memories of bullies from your past that you feel the need to demonstrate your superiority over by lambasting them with Kewl Insults on Teh Intarweb.

No argument - everyone should be treated like they are people. Even demi-humans and humanoids.

However, when a writer invests in their work and a gamer invests in the game and the specific product, I think it can be a fine line between legitimate comment and insult, with both sides as likely to step over the line at a percieved slight.

Sure. The critical gamer should try to keep it civil. So should the writer. I've seen both fail to do so, each with a palpable sense of entitlement. Nobodies entitled to anything. You earn whatever.

IMO

 

[d20Dwarf]

No argument - everyone should be treated like they are people. Even demi-humans and humanoids.

However, when a writer invests in their work and a gamer invests in the game and the specific product, I think it can be a fine line between legitimate comment and insult, with both sides as likely to step over the line at a percieved slight.

Sure. The critical gamer should try to keep it civil. So should the writer. I've seen both fail to do so, each with a palpable sense of entitlement. Nobodies entitled to anything. You earn whatever.

IMO

In my experience, writers and designers handle criticism of their work better than internet badasses handle criticism of their complaints.