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<blockquote data-quote="CharlesRyan" data-source="post: 5348533" data-attributes="member: 5265">As several people have already pointed out, many people play RPGs precisely because of the complexity, not despite it. In fact, that's probably at least part of the appeal for the vast majority of players. The game gives them something to learn and master; trying different options and exploring ways (ways that are not immediately obvious) to better one's character gives the game an extra dimension of challenge that isn't really offered elsewhere.Go to the game's primary acquisition market--13-year-old boys--and this becomes extra doubly true. Kids at that age are obsessed with rules. They don't want to know just what they can do, they want to know how they're supposed to do it. In fact, in Basic Game focus groups (lo those many years ago) we saw over and over again that if kids couldn't find a rule they needed, their games simply stalled; the &quot;you're the GM; make it up&quot; or &quot;it doesn't really matter, move on&quot; thoughts were not on their radar screens.In other words, the presence of additional rules facilitated play for these guys. Removing rules in favor of GM/player judgement was a game-killer.One last point: Suppose you took the words &quot;Dungeons &amp; Dragons&quot; and replaced them with &quot;Magic: the Gathering.&quot; (Granted, the psychographics are not identical, but they're closely related.) Magic is a game that draws an audience =precisely= because it's complicated. But it's doing pretty darn good--gangbusters, lately--with the &quot;kids these days.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CharlesRyan, post: 5348533, member: 5265"] As several people have already pointed out, many people play RPGs precisely [I]because[/I] of the complexity, not despite it. In fact, that's probably at least part of the appeal for the vast majority of players. The game gives them something to learn and master; trying different options and exploring ways (ways that are not immediately obvious) to better one's character gives the game an extra dimension of challenge that isn't really offered elsewhere. Go to the game's primary acquisition market--13-year-old boys--and this becomes extra doubly true. Kids at that age are obsessed with rules. They don't want to know just what they [I]can[/I] do, they want to know [I]how they're supposed to do it[/I]. In fact, in Basic Game focus groups (lo those many years ago) we saw over and over again that if kids couldn't find a rule they needed, their games simply stalled; the "you're the GM; make it up" or "it doesn't really matter, move on" thoughts were not on their radar screens. In other words, the presence of additional rules facilitated play for these guys. Removing rules in favor of GM/player judgement was a game-killer. One last point: Suppose you took the words "Dungeons & Dragons" and replaced them with "Magic: the Gathering." (Granted, the psychographics are not identical, but they're closely related.) Magic is a game that draws an audience =[I]precisely[/I]= because it's complicated. But it's doing pretty darn good--gangbusters, lately--with the "kids these days." [/QUOTE]

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