"Monte Cook Presents" Iron Heroes?

[Akrasia]

....it's gotten to the point where I think it might be a pathological kneejerk reaction against the ghosts of the past, when some gamers were oppressed or otherwise put down by the "popular kids", and now lash out at anything that smacks of any sort of hierarchy....

This isn't fair. We chess club members were plenty popular!

 

[Numion]

Akrasia, aren't you just going out of your way to be insulted by this? Take a deep breath, calm down, and realize that its a pretty trivial and normal matter. Especially when considering that Monte is actually presenting the damn product!

 

[Akrasia]

Akrasia, aren't you just going out of your way to be insulted by this? Take a deep breath, calm down, and realize that its a pretty trivial and normal matter....

Yeah, it is pretty trivial.

It rubbed me the wrong way when I first saw the title on Friday. The whole "Famous person presents...." style of promoting products is a pet-peeve of mine -- I really dislike it. I find it to be an extremely annoying form of marketing.

But obviously, in the grand scheme of things, it is an amazingly trivial thing.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I'm not saying that's what's happening here...only pointing out an odd sociological trend I've noticed in this particular subculture.

The members of this particular subculture (myself included) tend to be long on ego. I find this manifestation no more surprising than, "I could have written X so much better than Z."

To put it another way, I think INTJ's are over-represented in our subculture.

 

[Odhanan]

(The arrogance is a sure turn-off in my case.)

It would be arrogance if it had to do with ego.

But it doesn't have anything to do with ego. It is marketing.

 

[Felon]

In over a decade in this business, I've seen this attitude time and again from a small vocal segment of gamers---a vehement reaction against anything percieved as "arrogance", "pretentiousness" or the setting of something "higher than its place"....it's gotten to the point where I think it might be a pathological kneejerk reaction against the ghosts of the past, when some gamers were oppressed or otherwise put down by the "popular kids", and now lash out at anything that smacks of any sort of hierarchy. Almost like a "if something is being promoted, it's at my expense, and must be fought against" kinda thing.

Yep, never did hear anyone explain what was actually admirable about humility. I wonder in how many cases it really amounts to "I admire the humble, because they don't me feel as insecure as the people who promote their accomplishments".

Also, you are correct to factor into that a heavy dose of anti-corporatism. We've actually come a little ways on this here at ENWorld. We don't see so many threads these days damning WotC to hell because they're aggressively publishing books. It's been a while since I've seen one of the following posts:

"WotC doesn't care about me! They're publishing one book after another just to try to make money off of me! What do they think I am--a consumer? I expect to spend no more than $30 over the course of 10 years on this hobby, and if that's not enough for them to stay in business, then maybe they should trim the fat at the hom offices rather than trying to sell one product after another like big, fat, mean greedy businessmen!"]

Or something like that. Never really grocked what their point was, if any.

 

[Odhanan]

No offense meant, but if Monte is famous in the hard-core D&D nerd crowd, he's no Gary Gygax or Mark Rein "Insert Any Symbol But A Hyphen" Hagen. That said, since his target audience is hard-core D&D nerds, it may work.

This is a completely subjective argument. Others would say that Rein Hagen is no Gygax. By the same token, Gygax is no Tolkien, and Rein Hagen is certainly no Shakespeare. Does that mean their names have no marketing value? Certainly not.

If you want another countering argument, you can have a look at the awards for overall design achievement on Pen & Paper. You'll find Monte Cook aside people like Gygax and Tweet. Is it the perfect counter-argument? No. Gamers are just as subjective as anyone. But the number gives this annual survey much more credibility than our posts.

 

[gobber]

A bit like posting the same thread to multiple websites is vain and crass, IMO.

Shame on you. He's defending your rights as an author and an artist. And you know it.

You're not furious about "Monte Cook Presents?' Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

 

[Captain Tagon]

Yep, never did hear anyone explain what was actually admirable about humility. I wonder in how many cases it really amounts to "I admire the humble, because they don't me feel as insecure as the people who promote their accomplishments".

Because being humble makes you a non-pretentious jerk and thus you're likely to survive when the proletariat rises up. Or something.

 

[mearls]

Shame on you. He's defending your rights as an author and an artist. And you know it.

You're right. Where would I be without the Internet's fearless crusaders?

If anyone from the Internet wants to do me another great service, like washing my car, just let me know. I'm so hapless.... have you any hap to spare?

You're not furious about "Monte Cook Presents?' Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Perhaps I merely have already used a subtle method of gaining revenge. Yes, it's true. I was the Best Buy manager who denied Monte his refund. It took the deaths of a 100 strong men and two sex change operations, but my flame of vengeance burns brightly.

Oh yes it does.

EDIT: Note that I traveled through time to see the plan through. Did I not say the flame of vengeance burns brightly?