[POLL] What style of game do you prefer? (please respond!)

[Lalato]

edit: Is it just me, or does the D&D community seem to be somewhat more hack&slash oriented than other systems?

I don't think the D&D community is any more or less Hack & Slash than other gaming communities. I'll venture to say, however, that D&D probably has a larger community than most other games so you might encounter more Hack & Slashers than in other games by virtue of the greater numbers.

One group that is distinctly less Hack & Slash than the general gaming population, would be the Live Action Role Playing (LARP) folks. This style of play was mostly started by folks playing the White Wolf games like Vampire... so one might make a connection and say that White Wolf players are less Hack & Slash than D&D players... but I don't think that overall D&D players are more Hack & Slash than other gamers.

Me personally, I enjoy balance. I voted 50/50. I want a reason for my character to go to the Festering Swamps in order to defeat the Evil Necromancer Zugzug beyond just let's Hack him to bits for the fun of it. However, I still want to have something to fight... and since I don't believe in destiny... I'll have to take my chances with the dice.

--sam

 

[Cygnus]

I must admit that I chose the "Mainly Hack'n.... enjoy some Role-Playing" option. I don't think that there is anything wrong with any of the choices. It just depends on what you like.

I enjoy saving the world by imitating a cuisinart or fireballing the bad guy to death. Yes, I primarily enjoy D&D. I am one of those supposed masses of hack n' slash D&Ders, but at most of the tables at which I sit, the ahh-lets-go-whack-the-bad-guy faction is balanced by the no-no-lets-over-dialogue-the-guy-in-bar#3-for-possible-information-about-his-stepmother faction (not to forget the lets-go-shopping faction ) So, I would say that the you are probably as like to find any gamer type in one group as any other.

 

[Sanackranib]

balance

As a DM I work hard to maintain a balance between encounters. some you fight, others you think of negotiate and some its best to just run. I also work to include traps and puzzels along with the roll playing aspect.

 

[kingpaul]

This rolls nicely into 2 questions I had in my MBA research study. I asked people what type of sesseion they preferred to play and what type of session they currently played.

1. mostly hack'n'slash (H) > then role-play (R) > then puzzle-solving (P)
2. H>P>R
3. P>H>R
4. P>R>H
5. R>H>P
6. R>P>H
7. H>P=H
8. P>H=R
9. R>H=P
10. H=P>R
11. H=R>P
12. P=R>H
13. H=R=P

These were the results, first currently played, then preferred:

1. 101
2. 33
3. 4
4. 3
5. 72
6. 33
7. 39
8. 5
9. 39
10. 159
11. 34
12. 25
13. 54

1. 18
2. 18
3. 6
4. 2
5. 86
6. 60
7. 16
8. 3
9. 71
10. 135
11. 18
12. 39
13. 129

If you have any questions, please ask.

 

[Buttercup]

As a player, I'm right in the middle. I like to spill some blood, but I also like role playing. As a DM, I also like both, and try to balance them. It's true that I've held whole sessions without any combat, but I've also held sessions that were almost completely hack n' slash, so it evens out.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'd love to play in a campaign where every combat mattered, and had a good reason to happen. that's what I consider the most important thing.

 

[Conaill]

kingpaul, could you check some of those numbers? There seem to be some errors and discrepancies with your MBA web page. Here's what I found so far:

1) I assume what you listed here as choice 7. should be "H>P=R", not "H>P=H"

2) Are you sure 10. H=P>R is the most preferred? I suspect you've got this switched with 11. H=R>P. (That's the order they're listed on your web page) I was rather surprised to see that the most preferred style seemed to be one where roleplay was least important!

3) The 13 different styles are numbered differently internally on your survey form. For example, option 3 is H=R>P on the form, P>H>R in your results (and in the list you posted here). Just checking...

4) The histograms for CurrSess and PrefSess seem to be totally off. Both of them show choice #3 to be to most prevalent, whereas it should be #10. I'm guessing this is based on the internal ordering of the survey form, not on the ordering listed in your results.

5)In your Research Results chapter, you seem to have mixed up the headings for PrefSess and CurrSess. And you're again mixing up the internal survey form labeling and the final labeling of the session types:

PrefSess

The average score for the current session [...] However, the mode was ten, [...]

CurrSess

The average preferred session [...] However, the mode of the preferred session was also, like the current session preference, three. [...]

6) In several places (including for the type of sessions), you're taking averages of categorical variables. THIS IS NONSENSICAL! Essentially, you've placed arbitrary numerical labels on a categorical variable (like assigning "1" to "Afghanistan" for nation of residence), and now you're trying to do math on those arbitrary lables. If I were the person grading this study, this is probably the place where you'd be losing a lot of points. Here's some quotes straight from your web page:

The average score on the participants’ religious preference was 5.339, with a standard deviation of 4.824. This indicates that the participants tended to have a religious preference of Hinduism.

The average participants’ nation they reside in was 177.87, with a standard deviation of 77.16. This indicates that most participants reside in the nation of Rwanda.

Hmm... I didn't know there was such a large community of Hindu roleplayers in Rwanda!

If it looks like I'm being picky, it's only because I think a study like this can be hugely valuable to the field. And I greatly appreciate the work you've put into this. However, you also need to make sure your analysis is correct and appropriate if you want people to pay attention to it!

 

[Zappo]

I think that D&D players do have a greater tendancy towards hack'n'slash on average, because D&D is almost always "the" entry game. The vast majority of beginners play D&D, simply because of its overwhelming popularity. And beginners generally do more hack'n'slash, because it usually takes time to develop the mindset where you find "roleplaying" more enjoyable than "rollplaying" - newbies struggle thinking D&D or RPGs in general as different from, say, Hero Quest, or the average CRPG.

After that, you have to take into account that the hack'n'slash in D&D is a bit of a self-perpetuating myth. I have met heaps of people who liked "roleplaying" and avoided D&D because they thought it can only be played as hack'n'slash. This of course increases the percentage of hack'n'slashers among the D&D population.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I'm not sure...

You see, my games tend be in the Cinematic High Adventure category. Lots of action and suspense.

That doesn't mean the players fight a lot or ever set foot into a dungeon or roll any dice for that matter.

 

[Shapermc]

As a player I feel that I can get easily distracted from the plot when it is just H'n'S and it becomes more about the rules, so I have a tendancy to turn mainly combat orented sessions into a "rule learning experience" by tweaking and questioning the rules. This also leads to alot of side talk, which I then try to turn the group back to the plot. It is a mess.

As a DM I try to leave all situations and encounters open ended - where if desired the route of combat or disscussion can be taken to acheive the goal. I find that by leaving the situation at a branch where both routes can (if successful) lead to the same outcome. I think that this is where the balance lies.

I voted 50/50