A Letter from Jaxel, Owner of 8WAYRUN

[Countee]

As a person who has played TTRPG's for 20 years now; the players are what kill the interest in that genre. Bringing them here is just asking for trouble, and would worsen an already existing problem, in my opinion.

I've been playing longer than that. My only attempt, however, to interact with others interested in the genre outside of my own circle, random conversations at hobby stores, and the occasional convention back in the day was the message board for TTRPGs on Gamefaqs. They were pretty caustic and I gave up quickly...but I blew it off as being Gamefaqs.

Anyway, I pictured a bunch of people talking about their Soul Caliber based campaigns and arguing over how much STR Siegfried has - We have so many people on this site, and fans of the game in general that lean towards RPing it just seemed like a good fit. What I did not imagine is a boiling pot of nerd rage as one geek tells another they are playing make-believe wrong. I've certainly seen enough of that over the years, but it wasn't what sprung to mind.

Side Note: I actually had to look up 'grognard'. I'm filing it along with with 'weeaboo' and 'try-hard' as an insult that tells me more about the person making it than the target.

 

[IdleMind]

I've been playing longer than that. My only attempt, however, to interact with others interested in the genre outside of my own circle, random conversations at hobby stores, and the occasional convention back in the day was the message board for TTRPGs on Gamefaqs. They were pretty caustic and I gave up quickly...but I blew it off as being Gamefaqs.

Anyway, I pictured a bunch of people talking about their Soul Caliber based campaigns and arguing over how much STR Siegfried has - We have so many people on this site, and fans of the game in general that lean towards RPing it just seemed like a good fit. What I did not imagine is a boiling pot of nerd rage as one geek tells another they are playing make-believe wrong. I've certainly seen enough of that over the years, but it wasn't what sprung to mind.

I play RPG's for the opposite reason that I play Fighting Games. A fighting game is created with an objective in mind, designed in a certain way, etc. So to me the casual or competitive debate has some place in a reality. On the other hand, I play RPG's because it has no intended constraint, as such, it is basically a game of creativity with some rules guidelines, and typically a flavor skewing. Then I see people making "class tierlists", talking about broken builds, and generally treating the game like a number crunching contest, and it always comes off as missing the point of why the genre exists in the first place. Kind of like playing FG's for the story, haha.

Side Note: I actually had to look up 'grognard'. I'm filing it along with with 'weeaboo' and 'try-hard' as an insult that tells me more about the person making it than the target.

The way I see it thrown around, I assumed Grognard was industry standard by now, theres even a website based around a tongue in cheek usage of the name. "Neckbeard" is a funnier one than grognard, and perhaps more in line with try-hard, etc.

2. Neckbeard

Talkative, self-important nerdy men who, through an inability to properly decode social cues, mistake others' strained tolerance of their blather for evidence of their own charm.

 

[Countee]

I play RPG's for the opposite reason that I play Fighting Games. A fighting game is created with an objective in mind, designed in a certain way, etc. So to me the casual or competitive debate has some place in a reality. On the other hand, I play RPG's because it has no intended constraint, as such, it is basically a game of creativity with some rules guidelines, and typically a flavor skewing. Then I see people making "class tierlists", talking about broken builds, and generally treating the game like a number crunching contest, and it always comes off as missing the point of why the genre exists in the first place. Kind of like playing FG's for the story, haha.

I'm 100% agreement with this right here. The rules are just the tools you use to make your stories come about. Though I do feel a certain satisfaction in the face of well-crunched numbers, I also recognize that when they become the focus the game becomes very boring, very fast. When they become the focus of discussion things also go very poorly.

The way I see it thrown around, I assumed Grognard was industry standard by now, theres even a website based around a tongue in cheek usage of the name. "Neckbeard" is a funnier one than grognard, and perhaps more in line with try-hard, etc.

2. Neckbeard

Talkative, self-important nerdy men who, through an inability to properly decode social cues, mistake others' strained tolerance of their blather for evidence of their own charm.

Neckbeard is an awesome phrase and one I've already added to my daily use. It also reminds me to not be half-assed when I shave in the morning.

I loop grognard in with try-hard and weeaboo because they are all insults based on something that inherently isn't a bad thing. Neckbeardism might just be the hidden piece that makes all of these benign things into defects though. Neckbeardism...I'm going to continue to use that one.

 

[Tocool]

;.

You stole my avatar idea. Quit it.

 

[WindupSkeleton]

Along with quite a number of people, I don't have much to do with SC anymore, and yet I keep coming back to the forums because there's a real sense of community, and it's just so well built and maintained, and so the idea of taking those things and employing them for other games too is a fantastic one.

The only other forums I know of that exist in such a similar manner are the ones on Serebi, and lord knows I haven't been THERE for years.

An excellent candidate, in my humble opinion, for a series to focus on, would be the Souls (Demon/Dark) series. There's a HUGE fanbase there, a real, genuine community, and yet the main hub of activity are the two Wiki forums or, heaven's forfend, Gamefaqs.

Having a mix of these forums and Dark Souls would get me wetter than an otter's pocket.