Will the real Mike Mearls please stand up?

[fjw70]

His personal feelings are irrelevant. The important question is whether he can give the fans what they want.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Still, it would be nice for Mearls to provide his views on the subject. Has his POV really evolved? or is he just doing his job?

 

[Agamon]

What do you think? Is it weirding you out that the guy who despises Keep on the Borderlands and coined the term "Mother May I?" is now singing the praises of old school D&D and "rulings not rules"?

I would like to see him talk a bit about how dramatically his opinions about RPGs have apparently changed. Until then I think I'm going to have to take everything he says as DDN team lead with a pinch of salt from now on.

If I call it weird, that would be hypocritical of me. Seven years ago, I would have agreed with him, but now I understand the difference between Mother May I and Rulings not Rules, which is subtle but significant.

 

[Incenjucar]

Who we are changes every day, and responsibilities often dictate our statements. His opinion may have changed over time, or he may simply be doing his job despite his personal opinion. Given that he is still under contract, I don't think it would be fair of us to try to get him to jeopardize his and his family's future simply for our curiosity. It doesn't change what he's going to DO.

 

[am181d]

I will say that I strongly disagree with much of what Old Mearls had to say about D&D. (Despite the fact that I liked quite a lot of Old Mearls' game design.)

I'm much happier that New Mearls is in charge of 5e.

 

[satori01]

Mike Mearls would post at En World before he got hired at Malhavoc and WOTC. Just like any D&D player, he is going to have opinions..some which people are going to agree with, and some will disagree with.

His posts always struck me as knowledgable and reasonable, even if I did not agree with them.


I have held similar views when saddled with less than optimal DM.


The problem is you can not design a game to be an Asperger proof, inconvenience free rule set.


Someone is always going to play a cooperative style game like D&D, like they are playing a single person, break the level, get as many points as possible game.


Don't design the game around the jerk, by trying to prevent the jerk.


Someone, somewhere is picking their nose, visibly in the middle of a restaurant. You do not redesign the restaurant for this abnormal behavior, you kick the jerk out of the restaurant .

 

[n00bdragon]

I am beginning to think 5e is nothing more than the most elaborate trolling the world has ever conceived. I realize the danger in statements like "How else can you explain X?" but really the choice of Caves of Chaos as a playtest was eyebrow raising enough, then to find out he's taken the time to give it the internet drubbing it so richly deserves?

This man was totally on board with 4e and the game design principles shown above straight up through that cheery set of Christmas layoffs then in the course of weeks the game shut down all production of new material for a year and then Essentials rolled out to the tune of "Wow did we mess up. Here's us trying madly to fix 4e."

I find it hard to swallow that a man's strongly held and longly held beliefs could alter so quickly. Either he had a traumatic brain injury and the man at the helm of D&D is not the man we once knew or he's pulling a Glen Beck "Screw it. If they want crazy I'll give them 110% crazy."


It is one thing to show disagreement, another to post derogatory remarks. Claiming "he had a traumatic brain injury" is the top of uncool I have seen in the 5e talks until now. Please be less rude in the future.

Lwaxy

 

[Rogue Agent]

What do you think? Is it weirding you out that the guy who despises Keep on the Borderlands and coined the term "Mother May I?" is now singing the praises of old school D&D and "rulings not rules"?

He's also the guy who designed elaborate, skill-based stunt systems for Iron Heroes and Book of Iron Might; then a couple years later said that you should ditch all untrained skills and just use ability checks; then designed 4E; and is now back to the ability check thing.

Mearls is a flip-flopping cipher.

 

[Saracenus]

Dang it, Mearls has now ruined evolving. This is why we cannot have nice things!

 

[Walker N. Waistz]

He's also the guy who designed elaborate, skill-based stunt systems for Iron Heroes and Book of Iron Might; then a couple years later said that you should ditch all untrained skills and just use ability checks; then designed 4E; and is now back to the ability check thing.

It seems to me, good game designers experiment. They try four bad ideas for every good one. Being creative types, that make stuff up just to make stuff up, and follow a chain of concepts just to see where it goes. They formulate theories that get taken apart. They put stuff out there, see how it goes, learn, and try to do better the next time. Mistakes teach them more than success.

If Mike Mearls had the exact same game design goals and philosophies now as he did 7 or 12 years ago, whatever they might be, I would be afraid to trust him or his work.