The Moral of the Story Is....Maybe there's such a thing as (D&D being) too big

[gamerprinter]

Corporations are bad, M’kay?

I don't disagree, but I consider Capitalism a separate system than what a corporation does, though the latter is derived from the former, it's a completely different inhuman animal, not capitalism at all, something altogether different, not in a good way. Corporations are entities owned by shareholders with shareholder profits as the only goal. Capitalism involves individuals, families, it's human to human interaction. That's not what corporations are. They aren't all bad, but potentially can go bad fast...

 

[overgeeked]

Over in the #dungeon23 thread we're making things with just pens and notebooks. Admittedly my notebook is somewhat fancy. My ttrpggoal for 2023 is to do more making and sharing and much less buying. I wrote about it here way back in August. Helpful links:

Traverse Fantasy - Steps to Demonetize the TTRPG Hobby


Tom Van Winkle - The Commodification of Fantasy Adventure Games



Jacobin - Dungeons & Dragons Is a Case Study in How Capitalism Kills Art

From the start Gary was confused by people needing him and the writers to sell players their imaginations. That’s why D&D used to be a toolkit that players and referees had to tinker with and the world was a blank they had to fill in rather than pre-packaged…everything. Don’t ask us how you should run your game. Call us up and tell us what you decided to do so we can learn from you. Now we have corporate approved social media accounts giving orders from on high how the game should be run. Blerg. Analog folk RPGs all the way.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Over in the #dungeon23 thread we're making things with just pens and notebooks. Admittedly my notebook is somewhat fancy. My ttrpggoal for 2023 is to do more making and sharing and much less buying. I wrote about it here way back in August. Helpful links:

Ok enjoy.

 

[gamerprinter]

Jacobin - Dungeons & Dragons Is a Case Study in How Capitalism Kills Art

It depends on how you pursue your art career, I suppose. I'm definitely not typical, but I was a freelance cartographer since 2008 for dozens and dozens of publishers in that time. I did one for Paizo, and a Call of Duty strategy guide, but most of my commisisons were with smaller companies. My work with Legendary Games, some of authors are very particular with a high expectation with how a given map will appear, however most of their authors fully trusted me, and let me wing it in places aside from meeting their requirements - I've created around 450 maps just for Legendary Games. I've done extensive work with Kobold Press in the past.

However, I've been a publisher all along as well, producing map products and map symbol sets initially, but I published a setting with 15 books for Pathfinder, and I've published a dozen supplements for Starfinder. I don't take map commissions anymore. All the illustrations and maps I create now are exclusively for my own products that I publish. So now I am creating many illustrations and maps, but capitalism has provided me to be the artist with guaranteed work, because I'm also the publisher. Capitalism didn't kill my career, it built it into what I am today...

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't disagree, but I consider Capitalism a separate system than what a corporation does, though the latter is derived from the former, it's a completely different inhuman animal, not capitalism at all, something altogether different, not in a good way.

I get what you're saying, but it's a No True Scotsman argument in the end. There's never been when capitalism existed and corporations didn't. They came into being at the same time (actually corporations slightly earlier depending how you count it).

 

[Charlaquin]

I don't disagree, but I consider Capitalism a separate system than what a corporation does, though the latter is derived from the former, it's a completely different inhuman animal, not capitalism at all, something altogether different, not in a good way. Corporations are entities owned by shareholders with shareholder profits as the only goal. Capitalism involves individuals, families, it's human to human interaction. That's not what corporations are. They aren't all bad, but potentially can go bad fast...

Corporations are the natural trajectory of capitalism; profit as the only goal is exactly what the system incentivizes. The way to prevent this is to empower the human element: the workforce. Democratize the work place, give the laborers part ownership over the means of production. In other words, socialism.

 

[gamerprinter]

I get what you're saying, but it's a No True Scotsman argument in the end. There's never been when capitalism existed and corporations didn't. They came into being at the same time (actually corporations slightly earlier depending how you count it).

I'm not incorporated, I'm a sole proprietor. I got some Scottish blood in me, even some royal blood, but I'm no True Scotsman.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

In other words, socialism.

That's actually syndicalism more than socialism, but they're connected concepts. You can theoretically have syndicalism without most of what we regard as socialism though. To be fair syndicalism is largely forgotten today (booo!).

 

[gamerprinter]

Corporations are the natural trajectory of capitalism; profit as the only goal is exactly what the system incentivizes. The way to prevent this is to empower the human element: the workforce. Democratize the work place, give the laborers part ownership over the means of production. In other words, socialism.

I don't see it as natural at all, just one way it can go. While there are many LLCs, the majority of businesses in the world are small family businesses, not what I consider the corporate environment. The truly big A type corporations are very few, but since they make all the money they get all the Capitalist attention. To me the attention should be placed on the 99% that aren't that kind of corporation, and what truly defines capitalism - to my perspective.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't see it as natural at all, just one way it can go.

I mean, but it's never gone any other way lol. And 99%? By what methodology are you measuring that? If it's terms of ownership of capital it's more like 30-40% isn't. I feel you're conflating mere exchange-based systems with capitalism specifically, which is not the same thing. Having money as a form of exchange does not equal capitalism.