Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 5962503" data-attributes="member: 17106">I'd go back and reread the columns by Ryan Dancey from around the new year. FWIW, he's about as much of an &quot;expert&quot; as there is in this business.I would not use organized gaming as a barometer any more than I would use any other type of hobbyist convention as a barometer for anything. Nor would I use online venues as a barometer for a game that is played in person. I would look at the demise of small gaming companies and the gradual death of the FLGS.In our defense, &quot;armchair quarterbacking&quot; refers to a situation in which novices ignorantly criticize experts whose craft they don't entirely understand. The rpg business is different, because there aren't any real experts (at WotC or anywhere else). D&amp;D is a young hobby with little to no educational or professional structure underlying it. It's entirely likely that there are people on ENW (not necessarily myself) who could write a better game or run a better business than anyone in the rpg indistry. Whereas I doubt that any of us would succeed as NFL quarterbacks. Thus, we criticize WotC, but fairly I think. WotC is in a rather tough position, which is to some extent of their own making but is also due to inherently unfavorable circumstances.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ahnehnois, post: 5962503, member: 17106"] I'd go back and reread the columns by Ryan Dancey from around the new year. FWIW, he's about as much of an "expert" as there is in this business. I would not use organized gaming as a barometer any more than I would use any other type of hobbyist convention as a barometer for anything. Nor would I use online venues as a barometer for a game that is played in person. I would look at the demise of small gaming companies and the gradual death of the FLGS. In our defense, "armchair quarterbacking" refers to a situation in which novices ignorantly criticize experts whose craft they don't entirely understand. The rpg business is different, because there aren't any real experts (at WotC or anywhere else). D&D is a young hobby with little to no educational or professional structure underlying it. It's entirely likely that there are people on ENW (not necessarily myself) who could write a better game or run a better business than anyone in the rpg indistry. Whereas I doubt that any of us would succeed as NFL quarterbacks. Thus, we criticize WotC, but fairly I think. WotC is in a rather tough position, which is to some extent of their own making but is also due to inherently unfavorable circumstances. [/QUOTE]

Verification