I did something I knew I should not have. A few days back a blog post started getting bandied about the social media highways and I looked at it and I said;
Don’t read it Mark, you know it will make you annoyed
I need to listen to myself more often.
I knew the post would annoy me because it was being shared around by people that I like to read stuff from because they are interesting, but they sometimes share things that make me wonder about how their own comments actually fit in with the shared material.
So I decided not to read it until someone else, someone new that I don’t see commenting on every post offers up a comment. That happened about an hour ago. I was in the middle of writing a different blog for tomorrow but that one was put on hold for my rant here. Err, did I say rant? I meant informed commentary here.
The person that shared the post shared it as an aside comment after putting up a post that in essence simply said;
Dear person who wrote the blog
No.
Someone else commented and asked an aside and as a result the initial sharer put the link up. I knew it linked to the blog I had told myself not to read. But the conditions under which I would read it fell into place and so I clicked the link.
STOP TELLING ME HOW I AM GETTING IT WRONG!
Insert the angry font here. This post started by saying;
Hey I make a lot of games
Or words to that effect. Here is the justification as to why, apparently we are meant to listen to the writer. He knows apparently. He then inserts a definition of what a Role Playing Game is, and after all he is right – because he makes lots of games. He then proceeds to tell us that;
- Weapon lists are a waste of time;
- Statistics are window dressing – if you can’t “role play a high charisma character, don’t play one
- All these books and books of rules are just wastes of space and if we want value we should start blacking all the rules out.
- If we do not do the above then we are not playing RPG’s
That is a modified version of the points that stuck in my brain after the read. There were other ones where he out and out named some games and specifically told us that they are not RPG’s including every version of D&D apart from 5E.
So what I have to say is I get what you want to say Blog Writer but refer to the title above. I play a lot of games that are simulationist and story telling based and BOTH are Role Playing Games. Just because you do not like one form of RPG and prefer one style over another does not make you the arbiter on what is and is not a Role Playing Game.
We here at RPG Knights believe that if someone can not play a smooth talking criminal effectively FOR WHATEVER REASON that they should be able to fall back on a system that helps them simulate it, not be told that they can NOT play at this table because there is a board game they can take their fantasy to. I HOPE that you read this Blog Writer and realise that perhaps your gently worded blog post that purports to be one thing but changes to something completely different in the end. What it is is elitist and discriminatory. I play the games I play and they are Role Playing Games because I play Roles in them.
Stop telling me how I am getting it wrong Blog Writer and start writing games that are inclusive to every style of play. Don’t expect me to buy them though, with your blog detailing your arrogance I will now be looking for your name in credits and staying away from those games. Sorry, but if you espouse turning people away from gaming, that is how I roll. For everyone who is inclusive keep rolling!