D&D 5E Is 5e's Success Actually Bad for Other Games?

[Umbran]

...you’re not playing an RPG you’re playing a board game.

Mod Note:
Please don't engage in gatekeeping who is, or is not, playing an RPG.

 

[Parmandur]

Organized play only involves a fraction of a percent of D&D players: great that the Adventurers League exists, but it is a niche, not a juggernaut .

 

[Retreater]

Organized play only involves a fraction of a percent of D&D players: great that the Adventurers League exists, but it is a niche, not a juggernaut .

A ... juggerniche?

 

[Umbran]

If you don’t take actions your character might take because they might be hard…

Real-world people consider difficulty in how they approach real-world challenges. If the character knows the action may be difficult, this is a realistic playing of the role.

 

[Marc_C]

Well, doing something that isn't on your sheet in 5E is very uncertain. On the other hand, if my character is doing something that isn't covered by a move available to her in AW, I know what will happen next -- the GM will make a move within their restrictions, which means:

• The move can't be hard
• The GM is always a fan of my character
• Their move must organically flow from fiction

Flawed argument.

If my character goes to the latrines I know exactly what will happen in D&D and that is not on my character sheet.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think I'm not being clear. I am not saying that it is the same everywhere, at all times. That would be nonsense.

I am saying it is not particular to FANS. Fans, as people, are not significantly different from any random sampling of humans put into a similar place/context. It is an issue of the form of social context, not of the topic of that context.

I’m saying that an online fan community is a particular form of social context, not just a topic, and that online fan communities tend toward eventual toxicity in different ways from other types of communities.

Indeed. Deep investment demonstrably tends to lead humans to behavior based on their emotional state, in which we tend to reject information that conflicts with our current feelings about the situation.

Indeed, that is true. In this case, it’s enabling the “dog-pile” impulse in a pretty toxic way.

 

[Parmandur]

A ... juggerniche?

Brilliant.

The numbrI found might be off or a bit.outdayes, so it seems that only about 100,000 people participate in the Adventurers League: a drop in the bucket of D&D players.

 

[darjr]

Organized play only involves a fraction of a percent of D&D players: great that the Adventurers League exists, but it is a niche, not a juggernaut .

sigh so very true.

 

[Parmandur]

sigh so very true.

I mean, 100,000 people seems pretty robust, but it's not a black hole eating the hobby, either.

Having boxed sets at Target probably does a lot more to make the brand boom than organized play.

 

[dragoner]

I mean, 100,000 people seems pretty robust, but it's not a black hole eating the hobby, either.

Having boxed sets at Target probably does a lot more to make the brand boom than organized play.

It is part of a broad marketing strategy probably, they work together.