Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 5469952" data-attributes="member: 18280">Sorry, but I disagree.  It is an attempt to stop people arguing by making them accept a premise (All Roads Lead to Rome) endorsed by one side of the argument.  People would also stop arguing if those who believed all roads led to Rome accepted that this was not so, but expecting them to simply reverse their position because it would make things sweet and light for those who believe all roads do not lead to Rome, would be equally irrational.Rationally, the only way to stop arguing is to accept that people have differing views, and to choose to accept that.Any argument that fails to understand, acknowledge, and answer the "other side" has automatically failed.  A person can accept that 4e is a D&D Brand game without accepting that it leads to Rome.  A person can accept that 1e is a D&D Brand game without believing that it is really anything more than a pale imitation of D&D (cue diaglo).If a person believes X is Y, and you want to convince him that X is not Y, you cannot do so unless you understand why he believes X is Y, and actually address the reasons for that belief.  Anything else is great to get marks on the EN World XP system, and it is great to convince the people who already agree with you, but that's it.  The people who don't agree with you....still don't agree with you.And, in fact, by failing to acknowledge their reasons (or, in the case of some, by belittling reasons you clearly don't understand and cannot be bothered to understand), you've actually made things worse.  Now you have the initial disagreement, plus whatever resentment you accrue from failing to understand/acknowledge/respect the other side.  Rather than working toward healing the rift, your actions are making the rift larger.If you want to heal the rift, here's what I recommend.  And this goes to WotC as well as to EN World posters:(1)  Acknowledge that the other side has valid reasons for feeling as they do.(2)  Attempt to honestly understand and appreciate those reasons.(3)  Change your approach based on (1) and (2) above.  Sometimes, this means admitting that you were wrong, and have changed your mind due to a wider perspective.  Sometimes, this means realizing that both views are equally valid, and letting it go.  Sometimes, this means discovering an actual middle ground.But without steps (1) and (2), all you can do is roll a critical failure.RC</blockquote>

Verification