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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 3901215" data-attributes="member: 158">Don't forget imagery and memes, too. Along with specific game rules (such as mana or feats) there is also the imagery of such influences. Remember the backlash over impossibly huge swords in fantasy art of the early 2000's? A lot of detractors traced that back to good ol' Cloud Strife from FF 7 (the game that made me buy a Playstation, btw). And don't forget that with multiplayer RPGs like World of Warcraft and Everquest, there comes the imagery of "d00d, buff me!!!", "my alt toon is a 70 lock!!!" and "U can 50000g for just $349!!!" Say "video game" to a lot of tabletop players, and these are some of the negative images that come to mind for them.Honestly, I couldn't tell you, but my thought is that it is in part due to the connotations I mentioned above. Note also that "video game," dumbing down," and "for the kiddies" are phrases that are all usually drug out at the same time.Humans might get stuck if a player pulls an off-the-wall action, but they'll get stuck FAR less than a computer will. You can find a decent GM for far cheaper than you can find a computer game programmed for nearly anything off the map -- at least, for now. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />That obvious, huh? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> I do admit I find tabletop superior to computer RPGs in almost every way; I play a good bit of World of Warcraft, Civ, and Star Wars KOTOR, but if someone wanted to play a tabletop RPG in that same space of time, I'd drop the computer game in a heartbeat -- it just doesn't compare on any scale. About the only thing computers do better in my opinion is being ready any time I feel like it.I totally agree with video games evolving from D&D, but why would taking inspiration from video games be an evolution? Maybe I'm shortsighted, but I can't see video games adding a lot of variety to RPG's -- rather computer RPGs seem to strip out the best parts of tabletop innovations and put them to best use in its medium. Per-encounter resources certainly didn't come from computer games, and neither did mana points or feats, to my knowledge. There may well be some innovations that originated from computer games alone without first starting at the tabletop, but I can't think of any.I agree, which is why I said if they start getting into tabletop games, it's time to take a step back and say "whoa, Nelly."If I were leery of change, I'd be playing AD&D still. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> And the per-day and per-encounter stuff is fodder for whole other voluminous threads on the subject. It's got some nice advantages, especially to designers, but having played a good bit of the new Star Wars, for me the jury's still out on all its supposed benefits.3E was cool as heck seven years ago; it was bright, promising, and expanded areas that 2E had really seen no innovation in, with additions from other RPGs that had some great ideas. If a computer game has a good idea, I'm all for it; but it needs to be a good idea, rather than just being a good idea because it worked in lots of computer games.</blockquote>

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