Biggest Villains of the RPG Industry?

Fifth Element · August 17, 2010, 02:55:25 PM

Quote from: David Johansen;399897So yeah, I'd nominate Darren McLennan for one of the biggest villains. His methods are largely responsible for the big purple toilet as it exists today.

The problem is, RPG.net (like any other message board) is basically irrelevant to the RPG industry as a whole. Being people who spend their time on such messageboards, we naturally overestimate their importance. But the moderation policy on a particular board has near-zero effect on the RPG industry, and as such calling a mod one of the industry's biggest villains is silly.

Benoist · August 17, 2010, 02:58:58 PM

Quote from: Fifth Element;399946The problem is, RPG.net (like any other message board) is basically irrelevant to the RPG industry as a whole. Being people who spend their time on such messageboards, we naturally overestimate their importance. But the moderation policy on a particular board has near-zero effect on the RPG industry, and as such calling a mod one of the industry's biggest villains is silly.

I agree we widely overestimate the importance of message boards in general. Yet it seems some professionals themselves give some weight to what people say on RPG boards. So I would say that if generally they do not matter at all, they can have a selective influence on some game designs out there, depending on the particular people building the games and how they consider message boards content as far as feedback/research is concerned.

Fifth Element · August 17, 2010, 03:06:19 PM

Quote from: Benoist;399949I agree we widely overestimate the importance of message boards in general. Yet it seems some professionals themselves give some weight to what people say on RPG boards. So I would say that if generally they do not matter at all, they can have a selective influence on some game designs out there, depending on the particular people building the games and how they consider message boards content as far as feedback/research is concerned.

That's fair, but I don't think the moderation policy of a board has a whole lot to do with the content you're referring to here. It's easy to overestimate the effect of moderation policy as well. I don't see the signal-to-noise ratio being any better here, despite an utter lack of moderation. All the cunting gets in the way of the freedom of speech, making this place as messy as any other board.

King of Old School · August 17, 2010, 03:56:43 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;399388I'm saying, let's assign a number to the people who joined RPGs because of white wolf. Let's say "100".

Ok, great, you say, that's a net gain of 100 gamers!

Except that White Wolf swine weren't particularly keen on crossing over to other games, lots of those people saw playing "vampire" as part of a totally different hobby, they weren't so much getting into rpgs as a whole, as they were playing ONE RPG (vampire) as part of their existing hobby (pretending to be a vampire, being a goth, pretentious wankery out of touch with reality, etc.).
So let's say that 40 of those 100 never play anything but Vampire and quit the hobby after a relatively short while.
That means that the gain is +60.

Do you say similarly stupid shit about the hundreds of thousands of D&D players who only play D&D? Christ almighty...

KoOS

ggroy · August 17, 2010, 06:56:58 PM

Quote from: Fifth Element;399946The problem is, RPG.net (like any other message board) is basically irrelevant to the RPG industry as a whole. Being people who spend their time on such messageboards, we naturally overestimate their importance. But the moderation policy on a particular board has near-zero effect on the RPG industry, and as such calling a mod one of the industry's biggest villains is silly.

This isn't much different than people who like to constantly argue about politics at a local watering hole, and think that they're actually making huge waves politically. The "echo chamber" of the local watering hole.

Same can probably be said about letters to the editor of a newspaper or magazine.

Vellorian · August 17, 2010, 07:07:56 PM

Didn't the-site-that-shall-not-be-named face a defamation lawsuit due to McClennan?

Pseudoephedrine · August 17, 2010, 07:12:02 PM

No, just the threat of one. Koltar is banned for making a joke about it, which as much as he and I don't get along, I will admit is an overreaction on the rpg.net mods' part and an injustice to him.

J Arcane · August 17, 2010, 07:16:29 PM

Well, there was also that T-Shirt guy too, I forget his name, the crooked fucker. Showed up here after he got banned from there, threatened to sue the both of our sites because everyone was mean to him.

Vellorian · August 17, 2010, 07:24:35 PM

I've never been there, nor shall I ever go there, but one of my friends reported to me that he got banned when McClellan (McClennan?) and his "posse" started jumping on this guy for just expressing something about vampires--and it turned into a shitpile.

He posted something like, "Isn't is a violation of the rules for all of you to jump on him and make personal attacks?"

He was banned for something about a "group attack" for using the term "all of you"....

...by Darthy (butterass) McClellan -- who started the shitfest to begin with.

The guy is a waste of skin, a waste of air and a waste of 200 chicken mcnuggets at every lunch...

Fifth Element · August 17, 2010, 10:07:32 PM

Quote from: Vellorian;400020Didn't the-site-that-shall-not-be-named face a defamation lawsuit due to McClennan?

Voldemort.com?

Just call it rpg.net already. We're grownups here.

Koltar · August 17, 2010, 11:04:50 PM

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;400023No, just the threat of one. Koltar is banned for making a joke about it, which as much as he and I don't get along, I will admit is an overreaction on the rpg.net mods' part and an injustice to him.

Nah, we get along better than you might think - but you are right, I DO often disagree with you.

The Big Purple really doesn't have any sense of humor about itself.

- Ed C.

Cylonophile · August 18, 2010, 12:31:29 AM

Quote from: Vellorian;400027I've never been there, nor shall I ever go there, but one of my friends reported to me that he got banned when McClellan (McClennan?)

It's Maclennan.

See: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=529887

StormBringer · August 18, 2010, 01:58:46 AM

Quote from: Koltar;400070Nah, we get along better than you might think - but you are right, I DO often disagree with you.

It's times like this when I am not sure if Ed is a brilliant satirist, or fortune really does just favour the foolish.

Benoist · August 18, 2010, 02:01:08 AM

Quote from: StormBringer;400111It's times like this when I am not sure if Ed is a brilliant satirist, or fortune really does just favour the foolish.

"Aux innocents les mains pleines."
Roughly... "To innocents the hands full."

DKChannelBoredom · August 18, 2010, 02:26:41 AM

Quote from: J Arcane;400025Well, there was also that T-Shirt guy too, I forget his name, the crooked fucker. Showed up here after he got banned from there, threatened to sue the both of our sites because everyone was mean to him.

T-shirtfuckerwhatnow?!? I generally catch most of the villain references, but this one I've never heard of. Could someone get me up to date on this one?