Which RPG designers don't play RPGs? Are they evil?

[William Ronald]

I see no problem with an "idea" author and a "mechanics" author. Truth is, I'm a heck of a lot more annoyed by designers who create new rules systems and then don't rigorously playtest them. 2e AD&D was chock full of products that clearly never got playtested. Less so with 3e, but they're still out there. Those drive me nuts.

I think lack of playtesting and poor editing were some of my biggest gripes with 2nd Editition AD&D products. I saw products that seemed to be hard to use or that had glaring typos, such as one part of an adventure referring to an encounter that was not even listed in the adventure.

Also, I think a good product should be useful for more than just a small subset of gamers. I think it is important for writers to remember their audience.

 

[Belen]

Categorically...no!

I would not blame someone for not playing if they spent all their time writing and playtesting material. I can imagine spending 40-50 hours a week writing RPGs could make it less than fun to spend weekends playing it.

I know that my enjoyment of the game was greatly lessened when I was writing for d20 companies. I had to make a decision between playing and writing. I chose playing after a year and a half writing.

I'd just rather write for my game and my friends rather than turn it into a job. Not to mention, I am far more interested in writing novels.

 

[billd91]

I'd feel more sorry for someone who writes game stuff but doesn't game. The real fun is in the playing, as far as I'm concerned.

With respect to playtesting, the author, ideally should do some. But if he's writing adventures, the bulk of the playtesting should be done by someone else to test whether the author has successfully communicated his ideas to the reader DM. So even intense playtesting doesn't imply that the author is playing the game..

 

[Umbran]

see Truth is, I'm a heck of a lot more annoyed by designers who create new rules systems and then don't rigorously playtest them.

While it really does make a difference for the product, good, rigorous playtesting is not so easy to come by. It requires a lot of coordination and many man-hours of play. Time is soemthignthat smaller publishers don't have to spare.

Someone in the know really ought to write a solid article (or series of articles) on how to playtest a product.

 

[d20Dwarf]

I'd feel more sorry for someone who writes game stuff but doesn't game. The real fun is in the playing, as far as I'm concerned.

That's silly to "feel sorry" for someone for doing something they enjoy. That's like the same guy feeling sorry for you because you still like to game.

 

[Monte At Home]

For what it's worth, that piece was written quite a while ago. As far as WotC people are concerned, there has been some significant turnover of employees. I've no idea if the situation has changed or not, but I've no reason to doubt that it has. Also keep in mind the "people working on D&D products" means more than just game designers.

And yes, I've always found the "I don't actually play the game anymore" syndrome to be a lot worse among non-d20 designers, of whom I've know many over the years. (I've been one.) Why is that hard to believe?

In general, though, this "problem" is one that seems to be getting better over time, not worse. People who claimed to not play anymore have found there way back into gaming, and others who didn't play have left the industry. I think the topic in general is worth a small rant, but I don't think it's worth the time pointing fingers or labeling someone involved as evil, even in good fun.

 

[Akrasia]

... And yes, I've always found the "I don't actually play the game anymore" syndrome to be a lot worse among non-d20 designers, of whom I've know many over the years. (I've been one.) Why is that hard to believe?...

Sure, it's not hard to believe that you have heard these comments more often among non-d20 designers. It is just that one person's impression/experience -- even if he has talked to lots of people -- does not warrant a generalization of this sort. Anecdotal evidence is simply not a reliable basis for making a broad claim like this.

 

[RFisher]

I don't know of any RPG designers that don't play RPGs, but I don't doubt their existance.

I don't believe they are categorically evil, but I am certain some are.

Really, the important thing is playtesting. I can imagine someone being a good designer without playing, as long as they depended upon rigorous playtesting. (Ideally, the designer is only an observer of the playtest, not a participant.)

Any playtesting is just as important if the designer does play.

 

[Umbran]

It is just that one person's impression/experience -- even if he has talked to lots of people -- does not warrant a generalization of this sort. Anecdotal evidence is simply not a reliable basis for making a broad claim like this.

Um, be careful there. One person's impression/experience may not be enough to generalize about the RPG community as a whole, but that's because the community is a couple of million people. The RPG designers and workers are a much, much smaller sub-population. It is not necessarily unreasonable that one active insider could have spoken with enough of them to have a solid sample.

 

[Akrasia]

Um, be careful there. One person's impression/experience may not be enough to generalize about the RPG community as a whole, but that's because the community is a couple of million people. The RPG designers and workers are a much, much smaller sub-population. It is not necessarily unreasonable that one active insider could have spoken with enough of them to have a solid sample.

Even if it were a solid sample, the categories -- d20 versus non-d20 -- are incredibly uninformative. Whereas d20 games might form a coherent group, there are so many different kinds of non-d20 games (and corresponding designers), that to lump them all together makes no sense. It could be that one system (e.g. Unisystem) is vastly superior to d20 in terms of designers-also-being-players, whereas a larger non-d20 system (e.g. WoD) is slightly worse than d20. (Just using Unisystem and WoD as examples here, of course; I have no data on this.) Even if Monte is right in asserting that d20 is slightly (greatly?) better than the non-d20 sector, that tells us almost nothing, given the heterogeneity of the non-20 sector.