MERGED - "About Edition Wars" threads x9

[HealTheSquad]

Folks, I've been lurking here for around five years and today I created this account to say one thing.

Please don't stop the edition wars.

I always head straight for EW threads and read them avidly. Much in the same way as people slow down when passing car crashes on the motorway I suppose.

In point of fact it was an edition war thread that persuaded me to buy 4E, and they have also convinced me never to play Pathfinder. So they're not entirely useless.

However, I would like to make one suggestion if you are serious in cutting down on EW threads - make it against the rules to put snarky anti-4E quotes in sigs. I have yet to see anyone with sigs dissing previous editions, which for me is pretty convincing evidence where the majority of the blame lies for edition wars in the first place.

Cheers, HealTheSquad

 

[D'karr]

It is anyway. Sparce, sic, etc., that is.

Compared to only a few years back, when it seemed full of people nearly all the time, full of threads, full of posts, full of enthusiasm. . .

Seems rather cemetery-like (i.e., post-war, hur hur) when I check in here nowadays. Well, in comparison, anyhow.

Maybe, and this is simply a hypothesis based on what I've pretty much done, a lot of people got tired of the constant warring going on and moved on. They moved to either other forums or endeavors.

Discussing things that make you "enthusiastic" becomes much more of a drag when anything you say about what you like has to be countered with a denigrating remark from those that don't have the same likes.

After trying to read through some threads that did not start as edition wars but ended that way you waste so much time that you reconsider if the entire site is really worth the hassle.

It seems like few people want to take the time to discuss their likes if everytime they do it seems like some asshat needs to jump in and tell them, "yeah, but this other edition does it better and your edition sucks."

My thought process at that time becomes, "yes I understand that you don't like peanut butter, but do you have to jump into every thread about peanut butter and crap on it?" It's kind of interesting that we are always told to put someone on ignore. So why can't the guys that "hate" peanut butter just "ignore" threads with that title too?

Oh, that and the endless anti-WotC threads.

The truth is that coming to ENWorld to interact with other gamers has become one major hassle due to the asshatery of a few. Even if that statement is not entirely true, and I know it isn't, the perception is there.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Maybe, and this is simply a hypothesis based on what I've pretty much done, a lot of people got tired of the constant warring going on and moved on. They moved to either other forums or endeavors.

Quite possibly, yeah. Sounds likely enough.

And hey, that's a whole lot *less* depressing than some of the other possibilities. Er, depending on one's PoV, I guess.

 

[Umbran]

I get where the OP is coming from, but, there is another issue. How do you draw the line at game specific?

Loosely.

Usually, it is determined by the original post - if the question or topic set out there is edition specific (explicitly or implicitly), we tend to move it. If the OP isn't specific, we tend to leave it in general.

 

[TarionzCousin]

It IS what I'm known for.

Now, what are you alluding to here? Hmmm....


Also note that the new "2011" car on the lot was for sale a few months ago in 2010.

 

[Aurumvorax]

OD&D was literally called 1st edition in Dragon magazine. Holmes' Basic was 2e, Moldvay's Basic was 3e, and Mentzer's Basic was 4e. Eventually they changed the name to Basic Set to differentiate from AD&D and they eventually changed it to Classic D&D and finally D&D Adventure Game.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Technically, every roleplaying game out there is an edition of D&D because they all try to fix something the designers though was wrong with D&D.

No.

Many are, sure. All, though? Nope.

Just for starters, there are those RPGs that were created by gamers who've never even seen D&D, let alone played it. And so on. . .

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

Nice. The full size version really shows off the blended map styles.

 

[weem]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I have been wanting to make that image for a long time, so I'm glad to have finally gotten it out of my system, hehe.

I myself have no favorite edition - I enjoy all of them for various reasons, so I made no assumptions when deciding placement, or 'tactics' on the map. They don't reflect any opinions I have, for example - not that anyone has said as much, I'm just saying

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[Imperialus]

Now it just needs NATO unit markers and you could include Board Wargames in the analogy.