WOTC ad - insulting to gamers?

[The Persian]

I meant the general attitude of said gamer...not everyone is going to want to laugh and carouse with others about their new glasses, pocket protectors, chilling in an isolated room with no windows and the latest Star Trek episode.

Some people genuinely come into D&D solely for what they consider to be the ultimate in creativity in regards to gaming, I guess you could equate it to old-school MMORPGs!

The most "odd looks" i've had was with a friend who smirked at my Dungeons and Dragons for Dummies book, but after a while and when we went to the mall, he started to remark D&D was "coming back in a big way". So that was a pleasant surprise, someone who's mind was open enough to recognize this is a legitimately and loved hobby for all ages.

Granted, not everyone is as open minded or has such a relationship with me, but when or if i encounter some jerk who shoots off a few remarks, i'll brush them off.

 

[DonTadow]

In this month's Dungeon magazine I spied a full page WOTC ad promoting D&D that I beleive is insulting to it's target audience, and probably gamers in general. I am referring to the ad on page 11, which shows a scruffy, half asleep looking guy staring at his computer monitor in a darkened room with the caption "If you're going to sit in your basement pretending to be an elf, you should at least have some friends over to help."

Obviously, this ad is aimed at online/computer RPG players, and is presumably appearing in mags devoted to online gaming. I commend them for trying to attract online gamers to what I think is a more rewarding and enjoyable type of gaming, but I'm afraid that their ad just smacks their audience in the face with one of the most obnoxious stereotypes of gamers around - that of the loser/slacker who lives in their parent's basement and spends all hours of the day and night pretending to be Mr. fantasy alterego in their game addiction of choice. The only thing they didn't do was show a fat guy with coke bottle glasses. Hardly the way to attract new recruits.

And IMHO its indirectly insulting to us tabletop gamers too. Are losers who live in their parent's basements the types we play with, or want to show up at our games?

Someone mentioned this ad two months ago and as a marketing person its brilliant and pretty funny.

It got my brother to try out d and d and he was an online junky. It also got a couple friends of mine who were online junkies to try out d and d in my gfs game. Analyzing the ad its a good concept. MMORPGs are big right now but a sudden decline is inevitable. Its about time wtoc started agressive advertising at trying to bring console gamers into traditional rpgs and this is the right way to do it.

It's an advertising gimic no different than the tv geico commercials. Take it tounge in cheek. As someone else said this is a brilliant ad.

 

[Pielorinho]

I meant the general attitude of said gamer...not everyone is going to want to laugh and carouse with others about their new glasses, pocket protectors, chilling in an isolated room with no windows and the latest Star Trek episode.

Sure--but if they don't find the humor funny, that's their burden, not mine. I think most folks enjoy a good-natured teasing, if it's clever. This one was clever and good-natured.

Yes, if you describe people's sporting accomplishments, they can sound pretty funny, too. That's why you'll hear some sports fans talk about baseball as a chance to watch sweaty men smack each other's butts. Many sports-folk laugh at themselves, too; the ones that can't are the ones that I don't want to hang around with so much.

I take myself very seriously about some things: my career, my family, my sense of right and wrong. My habit of pretending that I can talk to elephants? Not so much.

Daniel

 

[fusangite]

Can I give you a hug?

Sure. Hugs are always appreciated. We must be more organized about hanging out at next year's con.

A player shouldn't have to come into PnP roleplaying expecting to be mocked or insulted.

This TLA has a very particular meaning in popular culture; I am hoping that it means something else in gamer culture. Otherwise, I may have to retract my positive statements about overweight men sitting in the dark, furiously typing on their computers.

 

[The Persian]

What does TLA stand for?

 

[Hecatol]

Didn't offend me one bit. I thought it was rather amusing, and a bit creative as well. At least they tried something other than the lame "heroes wanted" type ad...

 

[MonsterMash]

What does TLA stand for?

Three Letter Acronym - often an addiction for IT and government workers (actually it can often be multiletter acronyms trying to spell a relevant word)

Examples of TLA
DUI
MIS Management Information System
MIA Missing in Action

 

[Staffan]

Sure. Hugs are always appreciated. We must be more organized about hanging out at next year's con.This TLA has a very particular meaning in popular culture; I am hoping that it means something else in gamer culture. Otherwise, I may have to retract my positive statements about overweight men sitting in the dark, furiously typing on their computers.

PnP = Pen & Paper, to differentiate "real" role-playing from computer RPGs.

 

[The Persian]

Ah, i just call it Pencil/Pen and Paper, PnP, because it did start out with those implements to begin with.

No hidden meaning here folks, move along

 

[Pielorinho]

This TLA has a very particular meaning in popular culture; I am hoping that it means something else in gamer culture. Otherwise, I may have to retract my positive statements about overweight men sitting in the dark, furiously typing on their computers.

Plug and Play roleplaying doesn't sound especially bad to me; in fact, I could almost see it being used as a name for a D20-like system.

Daniel