In my latest video, I talk about the so-called "Mercer Effect", a phenomenon causing problems for a lot of D&D DMs with newbie players joining their groups.



And Matthew Mercer, executive-producer of the "Critical Role" D&D-themed Reality Youtube Show, has expressed a lot of faux concern on twitter about DMs complaining about the Mercer Effect, but he won't admit the fundamental truth that is behind the effect. He could, but he just doesn't want to for selfish reasons.



Check out the video!


[video=youtube_share;59VEDTIDhNo]https://youtu.be/59VEDTIDhNo[/youtube]






RPGPundit


Currently Smoking: Neerup Hawkbill + Image Virginia

I agree with most of the video except with it not bringing in new players to the hobby. Yes some will want it to be like critical role. Some just want to play D&D and anything and everything that makes more people want to come into our hobby is a good thing. Stop being the old man shaking his fist at a cloud in the sky.

Your becoming the stereotype of the grognard afraid of change at this point. With a word of advice do not go too much on a mega rant in your videos it kills any interest to want to watch the whole thing.

IME Critical Role has attracted lots and lots of new players, of whom a tiny minority expect and demand something resembling the show. Of the few dozen new players I've GM over the past year I can recall one "snowflake" who resembled Pundit's characterisation. Overall the show's influence has been highly positive IME.

You know what boring in general, listening to other gamers talk about in detail about playing in a campaign.

What even more boring is watching a video of RPG hobbyists playing in a session.

Matt Mercer was one of the people to figure out how to make a video of hobbyists playing a session NOT boring.

Kudos for him. Not my cup of tea but I will give props to him for figuring it out and making it work enough to earn money from it.

And I agree with S'mon, Critical Role has been a benefit to the hobby. There is more than enough room on the ship to accommodate what he is doing.  

If turns out in the long run to be something different enough to be own thing. Then the tabletop RPG hobby will continue chug along like when CRPGs turned out to be their own thing and one that grew to a far larger audience than the hobby that spawned them.

Quote from: estar;1070456You know what boring in general, listening to other gamers talk about in detail about playing in a campaign.

What even more boring is watching a video of RPG hobbyists playing in a session.

Matt Mercer was one of the people to figure out how to make a video of hobbyists playing a session NOT boring.

Kudos for him. Not my cup of tea but I will give props to him for figuring it out and making it work enough to earn money from it.

And I agree with S'mon, Critical Role has been a benefit to the hobby. There is more than enough room on the ship to accommodate what he is doing.  

If turns out in the long run to be something different enough to be own thing. Then the tabletop RPG hobby will continue chug along like when CRPGs turned out to be their own thing and one that grew to a far larger audience than the hobby that spawned them.

That's a good take on it. Normally watching people play sucks. I bet everyone else wishes they got as much attention.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1070465I bet everyone else wishes they got as much attention.

I hope you're not suggesting Pundit has taken such an intense disliking to Mercer because the latter's success and online popularity dwarfs his own efforts at becoming an RPG social media star.

There will always be a market for fake drama shows.

[video=youtube_share;5RdU51fKc_4]https://youtu.be/5RdU51fKc_4[/youtube]

Pundit to me at least comes across as someone whosee hobby has passed him by. Yet refuses to gracefully accept it.

The hobby is no longer played in dark basements by dedicated gamers. Instead casual gamers and has become somewhat mainstream.

End of rpg gaming as we know it video

Narrartive rpgs are becoming more popular with more in the hobby.

Similar video.

Dms willing to engage in players and have them develop the world. It's not my dming style but others can and will play differently.

Similar video

Possibly a handful of players in the hobby thinking all rpg sessions of rpgs are like critical role. If a player thinks that it's on them not critical role or the hobby.

I used to look forward and recommend Pundit videos now it jyst serms to be turning into rants against a hobby and gamers that refuse to temain static and unchanging. Well change happens whether we like it or not.

Quote from: sureshot;1070471Pundit to me at least comes across as someone whosee hobby has passed him by. Yet refuses to gracefully accept it.

The hobby is no longer played in dark basements by dedicated gamers. Instead casual gamers and has become somewhat mainstream.

End of rpg gaming as we know it video

Narrartive rpgs are becoming more popular with more in the hobby.

Similar video.

Dms willing to engage in players and have them develop the world. It's not my dming style but others can and will play differently.

Similar video

Possibly a handful of players in the hobby thinking all rpg sessions of rpgs are like critical role. If a player thinks that it's on them not critical role or the hobby.

I used to look forward and recommend Pundit videos now it jyst serms to be turning into rants against a hobby and gamers that refuse to temain static and unchanging. Well change happens whether we like it or not.

Change is not always for the better.

I've never been entertained by watching people play RPGs, and I made it through about 5 minutes of a Critical Role episode before turning it off, so I suppose I don't understand any of this. Why would you want to WATCH someone do something you can do yourself? I watch a lot of sports, baseball in particular, and while I was a decent collegiate player there's no way in hell I could ever have played MLB. I can certainly run adventures for my friends, though. Watching the World Series gives me an appreciation for the highest level of achievement possible in the sport; things like Critical Role aren't the "highest level" because my character isn't involved at all. RPGs aren't a story, they're games. I suppose if you treat this sort of thing as a "fake drama show" per Ratman, they make sense, but then you get people wondering why whenever they play D&D you don't have nearly as much theatrics, nor funny voices or costumes (if any), which I suppose is Pundit's entire point.

I guess the solution is to just not GAF and, once again, get off the Internet. Does anyone read ANYTHING on Twitter and take it seriously? Every time I see links to a Tweet that "broke the Internet" it's always some whiny fucks bitching about the most inane minutiae possible.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1070472Change is not always for the better.

Which I did say in my above post. Sometimes you can't stop it no matter how hard you try. Progress and change will happen.

I don't think these shows are making watching RPG's "watchable". They're not playing a RPG. And it's not driving people into playing more narrative games. Note that Matt et al aren't playing Drama System or something like that. They're playing traditional games. The only positive effect is that it's kind of made RPG's less weird to the general public. I say kind of because many of these shows imply that you're supposed to dress up in costume. How would you play DCC (I assume you'd have 4 costumes that you rapidly change in and out of). I do agree that there's nothing that can be done - no matter what pundit or anyone says. Players have definitely become ever more entitled over time. You can say that's progress. Society has become more entitlement focused over time, so this is a general trend.

This seems to be a generational thing. I hear that a popular activity with The Kids These Days(TM) is watching youtube videos of other people playing computer games rather than actually playing the games themselves. I don't get it, but whatever. Role Critical seems to be an extension of this.

I suspect that the folks who make the leap to actually playing are probably more likely than the general population of watchers to be open to the idea that the experience of playing themselves is different from watching someone else do it..

Have any of ya'll read the article Pundit references in the video?

https://bleedingfool.com/rpg/remember-when-there-was-no-mercer-effect-to-worry-about/

Ultimately, is seems to me that the big concern here is that people are getting turned off from the hobby because they have this grand expectation (due Critical Role is misrepresenting D&D as some big almost-LARP nonsense), and the reality is so completely different, and they give up on the hobby because of that.

I think that concern is valid.  Statistically, disappointed customers are more likely to trash product/retailer than satisfied customers.  I can't expect that similar behavior doesn't happen in this context.  I honestly don't believe these "shows" are good for the hobby, long-term.

Quote from: Brad;1070473I've never been entertained by watching people play RPGs, and I made it through about 5 minutes of a Critical Role episode before turning it off, so I suppose I don't understand any of this. Why would you want to WATCH someone do something you can do yourself?

I used to think that way, but then I got into X-Wing miniatures, and now the Transformers CCG, and I do enjoy watching youtube matches for those games. But I've become a fair bit competitive, and watch them for ideas and game play.
I wouldn't be interested to see some X-Wing match where the players were doing some goofy ass drama.