Vrock_Summoner
2014-04-25, 10:08 PM
This might've belonged in the Roleplaying section, except that I see this problem in almost no other tabletop game except this one. A few MMOs, sure, but not tabletop roleplaying games except for 3.5.
Why are you all so spiteful towards other playstyles than your own!?
I suppose it applies to everything, but I'm really focused on optimization right now most of all.
Occasionally, I will encounter a gem here where somebody says something that actually warms my heart compared to the coldness displayed in most other posts, things like "if you and your group are having fun the way you're playing, don't let anything else I say deter you from keeping on doing that" and other similarly acceptance-showing things.
Yet all too often, I find myself encountering people speaking spitefully about legitimate playstyles other people have for no reason whatsoever. I'm not talking about justified things, like arguing against the idea that it's okay to put your own fun first at the total expense of everyone else's enjoyment, but more things geared towards worldbuilding and playstyle.
Too often, I read things like people chastising each other for allowing their friends to play low-op characters, commenting that "a high-Int character like a wizard doing anything other than optimizing to the extreme is not being roleplayed properly" and "your character should be optimized or else everybody smart would leave you in favor of finding better team members and you can and should die if you adventure without achieving a level of mechanical competence." Heck, even things that are adequate by the game's normal expectations often receive cries of "if your concept is supposed to involve an impressive character than you've already failed."
Before you think I'm going on a tirade against optimizers, I'd like to point out that many low-oppers are actually way worse about this. Often, any strong mechanical advice is countered by such comments as "that's OP, you're being cruel to your DM and he's stupid if he allows that" and "OMG, everybody on this board just totally ignores roleplay and just cares about making god-characters out of a salad of abilities that weren't meant to go together so they can break everything and never be challenged" which are equally condescending and unhelpful to say the least.
Heck, I've seen people say really directly hurtful things like "if you play your game with such broken/worthless characters, I can't believe anyone ever games with you", and while I hate being the person saying cheesy stuff like this, it just makes me sad.
So why do we keep doing it? Can I get some actual insight from these people as to why they're so convinced that playing at the different op-levels is somehow wrong? If anything, we should be encouraging people to try everything so they can make the choice that suits themselves best, but even when that isn't relevant to whatever thread you happen to be responding to, I feel there doesn't need to be so much animosity.
So if somebody or everybody could answer this question for me, I'd be infinitely grateful: Why?
Why are you all so spiteful towards other playstyles than your own!?
I suppose it applies to everything, but I'm really focused on optimization right now most of all.
Occasionally, I will encounter a gem here where somebody says something that actually warms my heart compared to the coldness displayed in most other posts, things like "if you and your group are having fun the way you're playing, don't let anything else I say deter you from keeping on doing that" and other similarly acceptance-showing things.
Yet all too often, I find myself encountering people speaking spitefully about legitimate playstyles other people have for no reason whatsoever. I'm not talking about justified things, like arguing against the idea that it's okay to put your own fun first at the total expense of everyone else's enjoyment, but more things geared towards worldbuilding and playstyle.
Too often, I read things like people chastising each other for allowing their friends to play low-op characters, commenting that "a high-Int character like a wizard doing anything other than optimizing to the extreme is not being roleplayed properly" and "your character should be optimized or else everybody smart would leave you in favor of finding better team members and you can and should die if you adventure without achieving a level of mechanical competence." Heck, even things that are adequate by the game's normal expectations often receive cries of "if your concept is supposed to involve an impressive character than you've already failed."
Before you think I'm going on a tirade against optimizers, I'd like to point out that many low-oppers are actually way worse about this. Often, any strong mechanical advice is countered by such comments as "that's OP, you're being cruel to your DM and he's stupid if he allows that" and "OMG, everybody on this board just totally ignores roleplay and just cares about making god-characters out of a salad of abilities that weren't meant to go together so they can break everything and never be challenged" which are equally condescending and unhelpful to say the least.
Heck, I've seen people say really directly hurtful things like "if you play your game with such broken/worthless characters, I can't believe anyone ever games with you", and while I hate being the person saying cheesy stuff like this, it just makes me sad.
So why do we keep doing it? Can I get some actual insight from these people as to why they're so convinced that playing at the different op-levels is somehow wrong? If anything, we should be encouraging people to try everything so they can make the choice that suits themselves best, but even when that isn't relevant to whatever thread you happen to be responding to, I feel there doesn't need to be so much animosity.
So if somebody or everybody could answer this question for me, I'd be infinitely grateful: Why?