D&D General On gatekeeping and the 'live-streaming edition wars'

[DND_Reborn]

While I find watching live-streaming personally silly (why not play instead of watch I would ask?), if others do it as a form of entertainment it is not any different that watching a play, movie, reading a book, going to a comedy club etc.

As far as if someone is a "D&D fan" simply because they watch live-streaming, that is perfectly fine. I am a fan of football. Do I play it? Nope, but I LOVE watching it.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Umbran]

why not play instead of watch I would ask?

Why read a novel, when you can write your own?

 

[DND_Reborn]

Why read a novel, when you can write your own?

I do write novels, but obviously the time commitment for writing a novel is MUCH greater than reading one.

While there is a slight time commitment to playing D&D (more if you are DMing) compared to watching livestreams, it isn't nearly the same or close to it. Instead of trying to be controversial, I ask you respect that and thank you.

 

[prabe]

Why read a novel, when you can write your own?

Because I can read one in a few hours, and if I'm going to write one it's going to take months if not years, and if I'm going to be taking words out of my head I need to spend time putting words into it.

As @dnd4vr said, the relative time commitments for writing and reading are nothing alike, while for D&D they're pretty much the same. Comparing the active and passive modes of enjoying fiction and enjoying D&D doesn't really seem like good faith.

 

[GameOgre]

Been playing D&D since 1977. I play a lot of OSR games and have played every single edition of D&D.
I'm also a Critter. Love me some Critical Role and thinks it's the BEST thing about D&D since Mystara was first created.

I love that not only can i play D&D when I want but I can listen to it as well when i'm working or on a long drive. I love the setting of Exandria as well.

The folks at Critical Role are real good people and frankly a lot of fun to watch.

If someone doesn't like the show or their products, it's all good. I got no beef with that. To each his own.

I do think a lot of what I have seen is people just being people.

You know you have a hobby you love for 50 years, some people feel like they know that hobby. Inside and out. They ARE that hobby.They got their fingers on the pulse of things because they are the pulse of things.

Then things change. Change with them or you get left behind. Nobody likes getting left behind. So people get angry. Change is bad when you loved how it was and never expected it to change and then it did and you don't even get Why!

Critical Role changed D&D. For better or for worse depending on where you sit but either way it's different.

Critical Role is the Tiger Woods of D&D. Things are just different now.

But it's still the same game, Heck you can even keep playing the same edition you did before and thanks to the OSR keep getting new stuff for it!

Heck you can even keep playing the brand new edition and just ignore the critical Role stuff. It's easy enough to do.

Just take a step back and hold in the outrage at something you don't like THE same way you did before.

I hated Birthright. Faerun was some upstart wet behind the ears world that stole my Greyhawk things! 3.5 was the downfall of D&D till I played it. So I didn't play them. I let others enjoy them in peace and just was happy for them while I kept playing my Greyhawk 2E(lol).

if some aspect of the game or what people are doing with the game irk you. Just don't play it. Let other people have their fun and look forward to the next book that is something you like.

It's very human to end up trying to destroy what you love. It just isn't behavior that leads to happy endings. Lets shot for a Happy Ending.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I think it's flawed to make generalizations that CR is a generational thing. Has nothing to do with generational, but personal preference. Some people like to watch others play. Others do not. I can't watch CR because I just don't get enjoyment watching others play. I need to be involved. But others do like to watch. And I don't think that has anything to do with older players vs newer players. My 18 year old son and my 44 year old friend love watching it. Their 16 year old son doesn't. Why does everything have to be divided on old tribal stereotypes?

 

[DND_Reborn]

I think it's flawed to make generalizations that CR is a generational thing. Has nothing to do with generational, but personal preference. Some people like to watch others play. Others do not. I can't watch CR because I just don't get enjoyment watching others play. I need to be involved. But others do like to watch. And I don't think that has anything to do with older players vs newer players. My 18 year old son and my 44 year old friend love watching it. Their 16 year old son doesn't. Why does everything have to be divided on old tribal stereotypes?

You know, this reminds me of when I played Tomb Raider in college. My girlfriend loved sitting with me and watching as I played. She actually found it interesting and fun watching me figure things out and enjoyed the action, etc. of the game and considered herself a "fan."

I don't see any issue with someone who watches CR thinking of themselves as a fan of D&D, and I would ask them if they had any interest in coming to our table to watch a live game, and maybe join in if they thought they would like it.

How many people pick up hobbies (chess, cards, sports, etc.) by watching other people doing it first? Just about everyone IMO.

 

[Reynard]

Because I can read one in a few hours, and if I'm going to write one it's going to take months if not years, and if I'm going to be taking words out of my head I need to spend time putting words into it.

As @dnd4vr said, the relative time commitments for writing and reading are nothing alike, while for D&D they're pretty much the same. Comparing the active and passive modes of enjoying fiction and enjoying D&D doesn't really seem like good faith.

But watching streams and playing are not equivalent experiences. At all. The things that are fun and entertaining about a good stream/video/podcast are not the same things that are fun and entertaining about playing the game. Asking the question "why not just play" not only fundamentally misunderstands the entertainment value of actual play, it is dismissive of it (which leads to that whole gatekeeping thing we're talking about).

 

[TwoSix]

I think it's flawed to make generalizations that CR is a generational thing. Has nothing to do with generational, but personal preference. Some people like to watch others play. Others do not. I can't watch CR because I just don't get enjoyment watching others play. I need to be involved. But others do like to watch. And I don't think that has anything to do with older players vs newer players. My 18 year old son and my 44 year old friend love watching it. Their 16 year old son doesn't. Why does everything have to be divided on old tribal stereotypes?

I think we'd need more data to say it's not a generational thing. I'll be honest, my gut feeling is that if you polled D&D fans as to their age and whether they watch CR (or streaming D&D in general), you'd see a higher percentage response among the 18-29 cohort than the 40-59 cohort. But that's a gut feeling.

To be clear, every "generational" observation is a observation of personal preference, and how widespread the preference is within your cohort. You can have personal and idiosyncratic reasons for any preference and still fit the general trends of your age group.