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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7692982" data-attributes="member: 4937">I think the food analogy is very appropriate.I like a garden salad.  You can make a delicious garden salad.  While I consider it a bit strange if a person really only wants to eat salad, I can sympathize with that because I understand the deliciousness of crisp fresh vegetables where the ingredients are artfully considered to form a great whole.  I might say, "That's a great salad." Now, on the other hand, I also like cheesecake.  Cheesecake is a very delicate and difficult dish to make well.  Many professional chefs can't even do a great job of it.   Many baked goods are similar in this.  They require deep understanding of the chemistry that goes into baking, great precision in technique, and lots and lots of practice to pull off well.   I can't really say that salads are better than cheesecakes from an objective standpoint.  I eat salads more often than cheesecake on purpose, because a diet too rich in cheesecake would be bad on several levels.   I likewise can't say that cheesecake is objectively better than dishes I don't particularly like, like roasted red beets.  If a person likes salad, or cheesecake, or roasted red beets, or dislikes these things, then good for them.  I'm particularly admiring of persons who appreciate the goodness in all sorts of foods, in the way I just can't of red beets (or potato chips), but if a person likes relatively few foods that is there preference.  And, as I'm likely to like many of the same foods that they do, I will sympathize with their preferences.But I can objectively state that cheesecake requires more skill to pull off adequately than a garden salad does.  A garden salad is an appropriate dish to give to a novice cook to begin learning how to prepare good food.  And there is an art underneath a good garden salad and we could actually discuss at great length the elements that will make a garden salad good and worthy of praise.  And we can do that without diminishing the fact that you might have enjoyed that garden salad from Wendy's rather well.  But a cheesecake now, and many other similar baked goods, is likely to turn out disastrously in the hands of a novice.  Much greater skill and effort is required to prepare a good one.  And we can say that without insisting that anyone is wrong for not liking cheesecake much.  Just because something is fancy and complicated and difficult doesn't mean it is necessarily more enjoyable, much less more enjoyable for everyone.That is to say, admiring the craftsmanship of something is different than enjoying it.   You can appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into things you don't particularly care for, and you can enjoy things that don't have much craftsmanship in them.This is the same way I feel about modules.  Taken for what it is, S1 is like a rather well crafted cheesecake (though not perfect of course) - or if you prefer like a near perfectly executed dish of caramelized Brussels sprouts with whole roasted garlic, duck bacon, and a balsamic drizzle.  G2 is like a rather average garden salad.   Now, you may well enjoy G2 more than S1, and that's fine and perhaps natural.  And there is certainly nothing wrong with not liking cheesecake or Brussel sprouts at all.  But to claim that a module is 'the worst adventure ever', when in fact it is well crafted and enjoyed by a very large number of people, is like claiming any dish with red roasted beets in it is the worst ever just because you don't like beets.UPDATE: A bit more thought on the food analogy.Often when we are discussing the quality of a module, the very appropriate question comes up which is, "What could we do to make the module better?"  This is an appropriate question because it gets to the heart of the question of the module's craftsmanship.  The module will, as almost any dish will, have flaws and refinements that could be made to improve it.  The very best dishes - and adventures - are going to be the sort that we can not easily find ways to improve, and which we must confess honestly we couldn't do better ourselves.But what typically happens in the case of a module when we do this is something that is absurd.  If asked, "What could we do to make Tomb of Horrors better?", people will begin to say things like, "We could make it less deadly.",  We could make it less challenging.", "We could give it more monsters.", and when people say that they indicate that not only do they not understand how to make the module better, but they don't even understand what the module is.  They are like someone asked to criticize a cheesecake who says, "Well, we should take some of the eggs out, indeed I think it would be better with no eggs.   And no sour cream as well.  And we should use a bit of olive oil.  And we should start with cottage cheese rather than cream cheese, but not as much.  And we should replace the flour with lettuce.  And then add some palm hearts, some tomatoes, and a bit of fresh basil."  And if you respond, "But that wouldn't be a cheesecake, it would be a salad!", they say, "Well of course, salads are better than cheesecakes!"  Or in the same way, you might say, "How could this salad be made better?", and they might say, "Well, we need bigger less crispy croutons.  And less lettuce.  Indeed, a lot less lettuce.  Maybe some basil.  And we should mash up the tomatoes and cook them.  And we should use much more cheese and pepperoni.  A few of the onions and peppers can stay, but the cucumber has to go."  You might respond, "But that's not a salad; that's a pizza!", and they respond, "Yes, that's how you make a salad better, you turn it into a pizza."Now that's funny on some level, especially when meant as a joke.  But it's ridiculous if you don't see how ridiculous that actually is.</blockquote>

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