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<blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 5781387" data-attributes="member: 8158">We live in a time when self-esteem is a susbstitute for personal achievement rather than a by-product of it. A person can be close-minded, lazy, fickle, foolish, inarticulate, and truculent, and that's all okay as long as they stand tall and proud. Hey, who's anybody to judge anybody else?Rules are not the problem with achieving unity in our community. Complacency and--most of all--selfishness are the major hurdles. Making the most of D&amp;D is like making the most of any group activity: the prime ingredient is the capacity to value other people's satisfaction as well as your own. I think that a lot of gamers--notably those in the DM's seat--don't make that connection. They are mired what is essentially a competitive frame of mind where they must be the ones to have their way.&nbsp; That's why we see people who think that the satisfaction of other players at the table should take a backseat to &quot;flavor&quot; or &quot;verisimilitude&quot; or some other fine abstraction. It's more than paranoia. There are &quot;yes&quot; DM's and then there are &quot;no&quot; DM's. Some of the &quot;no&quot; DM's want to create the impression that they're more fair and just than they actually are. They do so by specifying that anything from point A to point B is okay, even they think it's overpowered, but anything else is verboten. Pure self-deception.Bottom line: I don't think rules or editions were ever the prime reasons our community got divided. I think people divided themselves with their disinterest in compromise. They drew lines in the sand and patted themselves on the back for their obstinance.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Felon, post: 5781387, member: 8158"] We live in a time when self-esteem is a susbstitute for personal achievement rather than a by-product of it. A person can be close-minded, lazy, fickle, foolish, inarticulate, and truculent, and that's all okay as long as they stand tall and proud. Hey, who's anybody to judge anybody else? Rules are not the problem with achieving unity in our community. Complacency and--most of all--selfishness are the major hurdles. Making the most of D&D is like making the most of any group activity: the prime ingredient is the capacity to value other people's satisfaction as well as your own. I think that a lot of gamers--notably those in the DM's seat--don't make that connection. They are mired what is essentially a competitive frame of mind where they must be the ones to have their way. That's why we see people who think that the satisfaction of other players at the table should take a backseat to "flavor" or "verisimilitude" or some other fine abstraction. It's more than paranoia. There are "yes" DM's and then there are "no" DM's. Some of the "no" DM's want to create the impression that they're more fair and just than they actually are. They do so by specifying that anything from point A to point B is okay, even they think it's overpowered, but anything else is verboten. Pure self-deception. Bottom line: I don't think rules or editions were ever the prime reasons our community got divided. I think people divided themselves with their disinterest in compromise. They drew lines in the sand and patted themselves on the back for their obstinance. [/QUOTE]

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