The Willingness to Embrace Joy in Things.

[AnotherGuy]

It's not about fandom negativity except insofar as one shouldn't let other peoples' constant critiques of material affect your feelings about it.

Sure but I'm skeptical how much that truly is a factor of people's enjoyment of something.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I think it is always good to step back and enjoy things, not get too caught up in the discourse around those things. Criticism is fine, but I think what Reynard is talking about is what happens when you carry anger and negativity around you (I don't think he is saying you have to agree with his opinion about a Disney ride being joyous).

I definitely find a lot of the anger and hostility when talking about media online to be perplexing. I am as critical as they come, but it is the interpersonal anger, the taking criticism to the level of obsession and hate watching I don't get. I tried to make this point in the Doctor Who thread but I think it was a little lost in the confusion, but its why I often wait a long time to watch something that has just come out or play something that has just come out (I want distance from the intense online emotions around it so I can enjoy it for its own sake and have an authentic reaction to it, not influenced by this camp liking it for X reason or this camp hating it for Y reason)

On Disney, I wish I could share your love Reynard. I always found when I went to Disneyland, and the one time I went to Disney World, I get so dazed by all the noise and the crowds that it feels uncomfortably surreal (like I am in a dream). Literally every time I went as I kid I had a whole conversation with myself about whether it was real or a dream. I did always like Pirates of the Caribbean though (something about the atmosphere they create with that ship battle)

 

[Bedrockgames]

Sure but I'm skeptical how much that truly is a factor of people's enjoyment of something.

My sense is these days people are reacting almost more to other peoples opinions about the thing, rather than the thing itself

 

[Reynard]

Sure but I'm skeptical how much that truly is a factor of people's enjoyment of something.

Well, I know that as much as I like The Acolyte and want to discuss it here, folks' inability to do anything besides complain (usually under the guise of some pretty sus motivation) definitely impacts my enjoyment. So I stopped engaging a thread I started to avoid that negativity and just enjoy it.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Well, I know that as much as I like The Acolyte and want to discuss it here, folks' inability to do anything besides complain (usually under the guise of some pretty sus motivation) definitely impacts my enjoyment. So I stopped engaging a thread I started to avoid that negativity and just enjoy it.

I see, that's fair.

As an aside, my friends know me as someone who doesn't follow the Star Wars universe (in fact I've only watched Rogue 1 from the new SW era) so they constantly fill me in about their likes and dislikes on the various series that have been made, and I listen because they care and so I didn't even know about The Acolyte until literally yesterday when a friend mentioned it.

 

[Scribe]

Sure but I'm skeptical how much that truly is a factor of people's enjoyment of something.

Depending on the medium, the type of media, it can matter quite a bit.

A novel? Frankly thats mine. Its in my head, I sit, alone, and I read a book. If its part of a shared setting, with a wide range of other elements to interact with, then sure there is room for discussion, but largely if I hold a book, read it, I'll have an opinion on it and I can very easily brush off anyone elses thoughts on it.

A game? Thats whole different scale. Now we are talking presentation, crunch, intent, design goals, and direction. At that point I (and I would argue pretty much everyone on this forum) has been dragged into the arena of 'debate' around what is or is not good. This is thing I took away from Reynard's OP, and something I have come to my own peace on over the last few years. Its up to me to engage or not. Its up to me to allow someone else (who is wrong btw) to impact my mood, view, or take on a piece of work.

Now sometimes the owner of the IP/Game/Whatever, takes it in a direction I just cannot engage with. Thats fine as well, its still my choice on how to carry my attitude towards it, and a negative one is just damaging to me, more than anything else.

So at this point, I'm wiping my hands of various IPs, or in some cases just cutting out the stuff that is crap and moving on.

Even the guy that owned the IP is not immune from this. Han shot first.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

NOTE: This is going to be sort of meandering and unfocused, as I am just back from a week in Disney and still trying to collect all my thoughts on the subject.

NOTE 2: While this post was prompted by spending time at Disneyworld, I think the subject applies to many things, including TTRPGs as well as general fandom.

As stated above, I spent nearly a week at Disneyworld with my wife and two adult children. We had not been in 7 years, since our last planned trip was canceled due to Covid. Before that, we went about every 3 years. Note that I did not grow up going to Disney, but my wife did. i first went with her and her family before we got married when I was 21 or so, and fell in love with the place so much that we got married there.

What I fell in love with most was the artifice of the place: how deep the design went to convince you that your were in whatever fantastical world the ride or experience presented to you. As a lifelong TTRPGer and lover of video games, as a writer and creator, it struck me deeply that Disney was so dedicated to immersion.

This trip was the first time I had been to Disneyworld since the Star Wars Galaxy's Edge portion of the park had opened. Despite all its flaws and uneven presentation and nonsense ephemera and accoutrements, I love Star Wars. When I came around the corner and saw Galaxy's Edge for the first time, I was dumbstruck. Even for Disney, it was a level of immersion and attention to detail that shocked me. Previously, Pandora had held that status, but Galaxy's Edge was a level above in that regard.

A note about rides: Despite Galaxy's Edge being, in my opinion, more immersive than Pandora, Avatar: Flight of Passage is still far and away the most amazing virtual experience I have ever had. I like the Rise of the Resistance and Smugglers run, but I LOVE Flights of Passage. We did it 3 times this last week, even with the heat and long lines. Even my cynical son who grumbles about being in Disney the whole time loves that ride/experience. I want a version I can free fly for an hour in. Alas...

Anyway, to get to the point: it struck me at some point that what Disneyworld really was was a magic show that you are a part of. You certainly can choose to peak behind the curtain and spoil the trick for yourself, but if you don't, if you embrace the illusion and allow yourself to be amazed by it, you can find joy in the artifice of it.

And that is the larger point: you can choose to find joy in things. I tried to explain this to my son who was perpetually frustrated (except on Avatar). Whether you are walking through Galaxy's Edge or watching Star Trek or playing D&D, you can choose to release the cynicism and negativity and embrace the craft and illusion and find real joy in these fantasies and these worlds. I have grown increasingly frustrated with Star Wars and D&D of late, and it took this trip to Disney to make me realize that what I was really growing frustrated with was cynical and angry fans -- and my own cynicism and anger at times.

I am especially guilty of this with D&D, having allowed myself to become unhappy with WotC and its choices and not cultivating my own joy in D&D -- which, as much as I love Star Trek and Star Wars and super-hero comic books and films, D&D has been the single greatest source of this kind of joy in my life for 4 decades now.

tl;dr version: find joy in the books, movies, theme parks and games that you love and don't let "fandom" negativity take that from you. Embrace the illusion and artifice and dive in deeply.

The struggle is real.

Everywhere there are pundits tearing down things you like without having even watched or played them!

For my part I decided my vocal dislike for some D&D stuff needs to be quieter in some respects.

I have found that you can just do what you like and offer preferences for things without being noxious.

To the point about criticism and flaws…most fiction simply has some issue somewhere. I willfully look through it most of the time.

Living in the moment and peak investment does not come from nitpicking. The high of D&D—-yelling when you roll a much needed 20 or when yours or your friend’s character says something outrageously funny by accident perhaps! Is so much better that the fact it does not make sense with the laws of physics or whatever…

Don’t be this guy:

 

[Richards]

There was a Joy in my third-grade class I would have loved to embrace...I doubt she'd have been up for it, though.

Johnathan

 

[MarkB]

There was a Joy in my third-grade class I would have loved to embrace...I doubt she'd have been up for it, though.

And talking of personified Joy, I'm reminded of the central message of Inside Out, that trying to force yourself to take joy in things and deny your other feelings isn't really healthy. Ultimately, it's a choice, and one that you can't impose upon others.

That said, I fully support the notion that a thing doesn't have to be perfect in order to take joy from it. It's why CinemaWins is one of my favourite Youtube channels, replacing the more cynical comedic commentary channels that I used to watch.

 

[Autumnal]

Agreed with a lot. If you start asking me about books, movies, comics, etc, in genres I like, once I cover some of what I regard as true greats, you’ll hear me talk about works that maybe have one or two great moments that’ve really stuck with me, or one really good half and a dud one, or whatever. I look for reasons to be pleased, and worry about the opposite only when it really seriously gets in my way. I used to be very much fussier and critical, but spent some hard years training myself out of it.