What's really at stake in the Edition Wars

[jdrakeh]

Can someone XP Kamikaze Midget for me?

I tried.

You have given out too much Experience Points in the last 24 hours, try again later.

 

[Mark]

Can someone XP Kamikaze Midget for me?

Done.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

I imagine she focuses the book primarily on narrative, as the name implies. Of course, I'm sure the thesis is suitably geared toward "outsiders" since hoping that your thesis readers would happen to be gamers, too, might be risking a lot of work.


(I might not get the chance to dive into it for a few months as time is tight but I look forward to reading it.)

I hope you get a chance to. I've only skimmed parts of it. I only mention the audience thing because I imagine someone looking it up and proclaiming on the site "UR doin' it rong," because she may have had to be somewhat reductive at certain points.

 

[Garthanos]

For me, I think the most important rule is to assume the other person is being genuine. They aren't a troll, they aren't an internet tough guy.

As much as I generally agree about positive assumptions....
Hard to do with those who use there sigs as a forum for as direct as this site allows insulting characterization of other fans ... they hit my ignore list fast.

One of the social fallacies mentioned earlier applies... some people really are obnoxious enough they should indeed be ostracized.

 

[Rel]

Me? What's my stake?

I'm just here to put down the rabid dogs and stack up the bodies. Maybe someday the pile will be big enough to get the message across. But I'm not fooling myself.

*pats the cold blue steel of the banhammer*

 

[diaglo]

Diaglo, can I ask what you mean about remediation and my bias? I'm not trying to be defensive here, I just think I need some clarification before I can address it. Thanks!

i'll try. i ain't very good with w3rds. also not meaning this as an attack or defense. just what i read at the time i was directed to this thread.

when i read your first 2 posts of this thread i got the impression you were saying that edition wars only exist because of remediation. if you are saying that then i am trying to say i disagree.

if it is the case you would be cutting me out of the conversation. i feel biased by your assumption.

i engage in the "edition wars" as the guy trying to recruit others to my cause.
i have but one cause in this whole war. OD&D(1974). a game i want back in print. i have been at this push since 1979.

 

[diaglo]

No, that's talking about your edition. I'm talking about your game - that thing you did at the table with your friends, with the munchies and the soda/beer, and the laughing and the good times?

You see, rule sets are not cool, in and of themselves. The rules could put on expensive sunglasses, wear the "in" sneakers, drive around in a car with the funky spinning hubcaps, and date the hot actress du jour, and still not be cool. Rules sit there like a lump thoroughly uncool. It is only what we do using a given set of rules that may reach coolness.

i guess you will just have to sit down at a table with us sometime.
next session is this Sunday at my house.

 

[Mark]

I hope you get a chance to. I've only skimmed parts of it. I only mention the audience thing because I imagine someone looking it up and proclaiming on the site "UR doin' it rong," because she may have had to be somewhat reductive at certain points.

I think that most of us who are steeped in the hobby for years can use regular doses of reductive analysis to keep us from losing sight of the core issues. I game fairly regularly with friends and their youngsters who are not yet teenagers and it has a similar effect. Understanding the basics helps to keep the complex from seeming complicated.

 

[Anselyn]

I'd be careful of attributing too much to identity crises; because then you appear to come off as dismissive and patronizing of those who engage in edition war behavior---as if they don't have any "real" issue other than their lack of a strong sense of who they are, so they have to substitute their gamer-tastes as their identity, etc. While I'm sure it's true for many gamers, I think it's a poor explanation for edition wars generally.

While not wishing to be dismissive or patronising about anyone, my point would be that they _do_ have a strong sense of who they are. It's just it's bound up in their hobby.

The non-gaming equivalent might be football (soccer- e.g Man U etc) fans whose happiness, even mood at work, is deeply bound to their club's fortunes. Of course, these clubs continue to exist, playing the same game even through the ups and downs of the years.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

I like the sports team identity analogy.


Which made me think:

Why EDITION wars instead of GAME wars?

You don't see "Vampire is SOOO better than D&D" threads continually boil out of control.


The edition wars are not really about which game version is better. If they were, we'd see wars about which GAME is better too. I think they're about the fact that one thing is sort of "wiped away" (when 4e came, 3e could have entirely dried up...and it certainly got much smaller) and the fact that the identity of the game is changed.


It's interesting to put these other comments to the test of "what if it were a different game rather than a different version"? i.e. Someone mentioned their group splitting into 4e and 3e. What would have happened if someone introduced, say, Call of Cthulhu to the group? Would it have been as likely to split?


There seems to be something a great deal more here than just different games, but it's hard for me to pinpoint it beyond itentity of something we care about being changed or wiped away.