There's this D&D con that's being advertised as a fan event with a performance by some AP losers I've never heard of.

This put me in mind of something that has really struck me about returning to the hobby online in its current form...

Back in the day, publishers were off in the aether somewhere and everyone else was equal. You'd have different groups and a degree of horizontalism.

It was more like being in a small regional music scene.

Nowadays the ttrpg scene is wildly and rigidly hierarchical.

You literally have people looking at you weird if you say that you think people like Matt Colville and the Alexandrian have boring ideas about running games and people get really upset if you are disrespectful towards your betters.

The idea of travelling and paying to *watch* and applaud someone I have never heard of play D&D is wild.

This is what the Frankfurt school were on about when they talked about fear of freedom and authoritarian personalities.

You have a structurally horizontalist and creatively decentralised hobby, add the Internet, and people immediately sign up for rigid social hierarchies. They *hurl* their freedom and equality away in order to belong on someone else's terms.

This is what the Frankfurt school were on about when they talked about fear of freedom and authoritarian personalities.

You have a structurally horizontalist and creatively decentralised hobby, add the Internet, and people immediately sign up for rigid social hierarchies. They *hurl* their freedom and equality away in order to belong on someone else's terms.

There's this D&D con that's being advertised as a fan event with a performance by some AP losers I've never heard of.

This put me in mind of something that has really struck me about returning to the hobby online in its current form...

Back in the day, publishers were off in the aether somewhere and everyone else was equal. You'd have different groups and a degree of horizontalism.

It was more like being in a small regional music scene.

@Taskerland Over here in my silo, I don't seem to be short of people to talk to about games, and they aren't like that.
(Yeah, I am in an AP group, but it's a group of friends who happen to like sharing our games with the world. We aren't picking the most marketable game to bring in that sweet sweet Patreon money, as I've been seriously advised to do.)

@Taskerland Maybe that's what I find odd about current gaming. The lack of horizontalism. There's lots of "BeardMinge says he does this in his youtube" vs "Our group gets its snacks in a rota"

Nowadays the ttrpg scene is wildly and rigidly hierarchical.

You literally have people looking at you weird if you say that you think people like Matt Colville and the Alexandrian have boring ideas about running games and people get really upset if you are disrespectful towards your betters.

@Printdevil We have much to learn from venerable men who mutter into their beards while compulsively touching their faces.

Nowadays the ttrpg scene is wildly and rigidly hierarchical.

You literally have people looking at you weird if you say that you think people like Matt Colville and the Alexandrian have boring ideas about running games and people get really upset if you are disrespectful towards your betters.

@RogerBW I've listened to your AP and I find it preferable to that of failed stand-up comedians and people who do non-union anime voice over work.

@Taskerland I'm glad. But also, I'm not going to upsell you on Premium Whartson or whatever.
I think my history helps here - largely playing in one extended group, White Dwarf, saw occasional issues of Dragon some years later, but that was all "here's what other people are doing, I'll take this and leave that". Gary was already a bit of a joke by the time I became aware of him as having a distinct style of gaming; I went along to Reading Games Fairs, and there were Official! tournaments, but they seemed to be a completely separate group of people from the ones I was playing with in the open gaming.

@Taskerland I'm glad. But also, I'm not going to upsell you on Premium Whartson or whatever.
I think my history helps here - largely playing in one extended group, White Dwarf, saw occasional issues of Dragon some years later, but that was all "here's what other people are doing, I'll take this and leave that". Gary was already a bit of a joke by the time I became aware of him as having a distinct style of gaming; I went along to Reading Games Fairs, and there were Official! tournaments, but they seemed to be a completely separate group of people from the ones I was playing with in the open gaming.

We always had gaming tournaments but it was a 90s thing when we were organising cons, and the scoring was cross player and GMs, not the TSR tournaments things. It was very much a few scraps of "who did well at your table"

and in the case of Qcon 97, "did the writer of the CoC Scenario later marry the overall winner to much scowling at said author"

@RogerBW @Taskerland

This is what the Frankfurt school were on about when they talked about fear of freedom and authoritarian personalities.

You have a structurally horizontalist and creatively decentralised hobby, add the Internet, and people immediately sign up for rigid social hierarchies. They *hurl* their freedom and equality away in order to belong on someone else's terms.

@Printdevil @Taskerland My first question is did they have a prior relationship or did the writer use it as a means of picking a potential spouse? 🤨

@Taskerland So there weren't Luminaries who were Getting It Right, and the people who were competitive about their gaming were over there in the tournament rooms, so it was all give and take. By the time I got onto USENET my habits were formed, and I was never on Twitbook.

@Taskerland One of the structured things I've noticed is people's inability to see gaming as a tool kit. Doom Clocks, etc etc. Yes, they have a place, but you shouldn't need to design a game around them. If it suits *a scenario* use it, if you want to track inventory because it's a survival precise game, go ahead. I don't get why the "this is a good trick for that one time" has become the cornerstone of whole games. There's a definite authority fear going on with all of that. Lack of agency .