(no subject)

[benlehman]

Most painful thing I've had to write in a while

Why? Because I spend a lot of time and emotionally energy in said isolated circles.

Ahw, fuck it all.

Comments

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

John -- you're doing a thing here which is a bad thing. You are taking my words in one post and twisting them into a deformed monstrosity by ignoring the context of the posts before it.

Stop.

yrs--
--Ben

[jhkimrpg.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll speak purely in my own words here.

I think that designing by mass commitee is bad. However, hearing a variety of voices in design is good. This means especially listening to people who aren't exactly like you. Game design is not like a painting or a novel. It has less personal expression of the author (though it is expression), and more a tool for others to use for their personal expression.

Demographically, the typical traditional role-player is a white male American who started playing RPGs in his teens but is now older. I think it's good to listen to people from other perspectives -- people who haven't been role-playing for years, people who aren't male, people who aren't American, and so forth. That doesn't mean asking them to tell you what your game should be. It means having them read and hopefully try out your ideas and listen to what they think.

It might make me uncomfortable at times to hear people's opinions, but I think that's a good thing.