D&D General Rant: Sometimes I Hate the D&D Community

[Mind of tempest]

I know people who would read the post, agree with it, and then turn around and say "but Robots shouldn't be in D&D, and neither should Artificers". There are quite a few people that are still salty about Eberron.

I don't think anyone would truthfully, willingly admit that they disagree with this post. And there are also people that will say they agree with it but still try to gatekeep the hobby.

I agree. A major part of this is just the nature of the discussions happening online. More controversial posts will get more attention, and it will appear that unpopular opinions are actually popular (and vice-versa) just due to that fact. A thread that says something simple like "I like Gnomes" is almost definitely going to get less posts and reactions than one about how they dislike/hate them (or think they shouldn't be a part of the game). Which can be hard to remember sometimes, and certainly doesn't help make the online community feel less toxic.

Don't get me wrong, I don't completely hate the online D&D community. If I did, I wouldn't be active on this site. However, sometimes, the stuff that I ranted about in the OP happens and overwhelms the positive parts of the community.

It also kind of sucks when most of those angry comments about how other people are playing badwrongfun are almost always directed at your specific playstyle (optimizing/powergaming, mostly, but also the occasional Eberron-hater or person that declares everything after AD&D 2e as not being "true D&D").

I know this whole rant is like the world's smallest violin, but it still sucks.

everyone ends up like this for some reason all communities seem to, I enjoy the spirited arguments when we can see why something may be lacking or could be better implemented like say gnomes but the blind hate you sometimes get is just worthless.

 

[OakenHart]

Like everyone's said here, online hobby communities can get a bit crazy. I'm not personally familiar with the community, but I've seen a YouTube game channel said she switched to videogaming from being a makeup channel because the YouTube makeup community was unbelievably toxic, which surprised the heck out of me because up to that point I was under the impression that videogame communities were some of the most toxic places you could put yourself in (so to leave the prior community and move towards videogames...).

It's best to just remove yourself from the places where discussions can get way out-of-hand like that. For what it's worth, and I'm not just kissing ass here, I think ENWorld does a pretty good job with its moderation and steering things back on track or halting things before they ever get out of hand. I know your examples are more along the "complaining/gatekeeping" side of things, but I don't think it's particularly bad here. Mostly just giving opinions and not so much saying X is horrible.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Like everyone's said here, online hobby communities can get a bit crazy. I'm not personally familiar with the community, but I've seen a YouTube game channel said she switched to videogaming from being a makeup channel because the YouTube makeup community was unbelievably toxic, which surprised the heck out of me because up to that point I was under the impression that videogame communities were some of the most toxic places you could put yourself in (so to leave the prior community and move towards videogames...).

It's best to just remove yourself from the places where discussions can get way out-of-hand like that. For what it's worth, and I'm not just kissing ass here, I think ENWorld does a pretty good job with its moderation and steering things back on track or halting things before they ever get out of hand. I know your examples are more along the "complaining/gatekeeping" side of things, but I don't think it's particularly bad here. Mostly just giving opinions and not so much saying X is horrible.

I hear the beauty community has some strange addiction to tea, which is not the leaf drink to my knowledge it is something else but I am not well versed in matters of beauty.

 

[Shiroiken]

Everyone's going to have their own opinion, and the internet tends to bring out the worst in us. The only real points of contention that should matter are about the direction of the game, since convincing others to your cause might actually help via the surveys. Yes, I could simply not play 5.5/6E, but I'd really rather try to make it something I'd like to buy.

 

[aco175]

At the Badwrongfun Anonymous meeting;

"Hi, My name is aco175, and I like flanking."

 

[beancounter]

So people shouldn't express their opinion on aspects of the game for fear of offending someone else?

 

[pogre]

I like watching heated arguments and train wrecks over minor differences in rpgs from time-to-time. It's a guilty pleasure, but I'll cop to it.

What really gives me joy in the community is reading and feeling people's genuine passion about the game. Sometimes that can come off as one-wayism, but more often I feel their gaming enthusiasm. That is refueling and refreshing. I am not into Eberron or artificers or Gnomes, but I will happily read about you extolling the virtues of your game involving the same. I often read about games that are nearly the polar opposite of mine and are told with such passion - it's really neat so many people love to play the game in different ways.

One of the greatest compliments I received on here, and sadly I cannot remember who said it, was one person posted that I have such enthusiasm for miniatures and terrain and combat, that even though they were a pure theater of the mind person they would love to play a session at my table. I really feel the same way about many of the games I read about on here - the style is not for me, but the deep passion about playing their style attracts me.

People get "judgmental" or "whine" when their styles of game is unsupported or not receiving validation. Their passion for their style of game can lead to some of the posts you hate. Posts like = "I wish WOTC would stop making MTG crossover setting books," can really feel like an attack on your Strixhaven campaign when the person is really just saying they wish WOTC would concentrate their efforts that more closely aligns with their style of play. It can escalate quickly. And, I kind of enjoy reading it. I don't troll to cause it, like some posters do, and I do hit my limit pretty quickly. So I get your point overall. Be tolerant and enjoy the community is certainly a good idea.

 

[Reynard]

So people shouldn't express their opinion on aspects of the game for fear of offending someone else?

As someone who is sometimes guilty of being abrasive, I think the point is that we should try and express our opinions and preferences while observing Wheaton's Rule.

 

[Remathilis]

So people shouldn't express their opinion on aspects of the game for fear of offending someone else?

There it is.

No one is censoring your opinion, but I think it's fair to understand that your opinion is not fact and that people who don't share it are wrong or bad. It's one thing to say you prefer cake to pie, it's another to say pie has no place in the game and people who like pie are wrong and should feel bad.

 

[beancounter]

There it is.

No one is censoring your opinion, but I think it's fair to understand that your opinion is not fact and that people who don't share it are wrong or bad. It's one thing to say you prefer cake to pie, it's another to say pie has no place in the game and people who like pie are wrong and should feel bad.

Yea, I know. But you wouldn't believe how often people get offended by someone expressing their opinion on an aspect of the game. (That has nothing to do with person A telling person B that their play style is wrong)