Has Enworld made you better?

[Gundark]

No. I give credit where it's due -- and the credit in this case goes to a small group of individuals (here at ENWorld and elsewhere). The site is great, mind you, but the site didn't give me advice, prompt me to look at new ideas, or introduce me to great new games -- people who post here did that. Here, at ENWorld, I credit Crothian, Turanil, Treebore, Aus Snow, Auld Grump, Diaglo and a few other posters with helping me broaden my horizons as both a Game Master and a gamer in general.

And this is what I was talking about to begin with

 

[Thanee]

I'm sure, that the EN World community did have some positive impact.

At the very least, it's a lot of fun around here.

Bye
Thanee

 

[ThirdWizard]

No, but I've made ENWorld better.

Yes, it has!

 

[Nightfall]

I, on the other hand, consider you Señior Posterito.

-- N

Nah that's Crothy's title. But thanks!

Third,

I think your hat is on your head on too tight.

 

[maggot]

To be brutally honest, EnWorld does have a negative influence mixed in with it.

The positives of fair rules interpretation and good gaming practices are mixed with a lot of antagonisms. These antagonisms are pretty diverse: adversarial comments, time wasting and this internet culture.

All that said, it is really my responsibility to control the negatives, which I have learnt to do pretty well. So at the end of the day the positives outweigh the negatives, which is why I bother to post.

QFT. Although I'm working on the "control the negatives" part myself.

 

[RFisher]

A thread that should've been a poll.

I don't know if I am better, but my game is certainly better because of the discussions I've had with people here. & by better I mean more enjoyable for me.

These antagonisms are pretty diverse: adversarial comments, time wasting and this internet culture.

All that said, it is really my responsibility to control the negatives, which I have learnt to do pretty well.

Here's the secret: Don't take it seriously. If you read something that seems adversarial or antogonistic, mentally insert a smiley after it. Assume everything you read was written with the best--or at least the funniest--intentions. If you can't see good intentions behind a comment, try harder. If you still can't--& this is the hardest part (& the preceeding advice is itself hard enough to put into practice)--ignore it.

 

[Rel]

Here's the secret: Don't take it seriously. If you read something that seems adversarial or antogonistic, mentally insert a smiley after it. Assume everything you read was written with the best--or at least the funniest--intentions. If you can't see good intentions behind a comment, try harder. If you still can't--& this is the hardest part (& the preceeding advice is itself hard enough to put into practice)--ignore it.

Congratulations, RFisher! You've figured out the secret to ENWorld (if not the entire internet)!

Unfortunately we now have to ban you before the secret gets out. We hope you enjoyed your stay!

 

[Nightfall]

Rel,

Darn it! I wanted the secret for myself!

 

[Chaldfont]

I don't think it has. I don't think it's ENworld specifically, but the instant access to all these game discussions on the web has, I think, made my game suffer.

I never used to worry about broken rules. If we didn't like something, we just changed it and moved on. Now I read threads about this is broken or that is broken and a small part of me worries about it in my game. I have to constantly remind myself--Hey, this is OUR game, not that one guy on that one thread's game! If we are having fun, who cares what he thinks! A side note of this is that, like MMORPGs, changes to the game are made based on the "loudest" posts on the net.

It's also taken all the fun out of anticipating and discovering new game books. Now that I know the release schedule of everything I'm intersted in (a list that has only gotten bigger with internet access!), I'm less likely to just go to the game store to see what they have.

Internet message board rules discussions tend to lead to similar discussions at the table. I think its harder these days as a DM to just go, "This is how it works, game on."

I know a lot of these are just my own hangups. But I had to seriously stop and take a look at how the net was affecting my game lately and decide to just quit listening to what the message boards say and listen more to what my heart and my players say.

So in that spirit--don't listen to a word I've written! It's your game! Go have fun with it!

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Here's the secret: Don't take it seriously. If you read something that seems adversarial or antogonistic, mentally insert a smiley after it. Assume everything you read was written with the best--or at least the funniest--intentions. If you can't see good intentions behind a comment, try harder. If you still can't--& this is the hardest part (& the preceeding advice is itself hard enough to put into practice)--ignore it.

Now that I've given it a bit more thought - the truth of the matter is that the time spent on the internet, not just ENworld, is the real negative.

When I look back, the majority of the time I did most of my posts was when I wasn't spending enough time on my relationship and career. It was just classic bad time management, i.e. an easy hobby winning out over harder but much more rewarding stuff.

To a lesser extent I found the general internet culture is not a healthy substitute for going out and meeting people and doing things. Especially that last part. :\

The adversarial posting is the least of my concerns. I simply no longer have the time to even entertain the thought of a debate over what really is just trivia.

All this aside, like I said earlier, ENworld is worth it. Just as long as I have my house in order it can be a great site to visit.