Nerd Rage Rage
I spend a lot of time on ENWorld. And I love the site. And I love talking Dungeons & Dragons there. I love helping new DMs, getting new ideas, answering questions, suggesting house rules, and so much more. But nothing, nothing makes me angrier than some posters on that site. Some topics of discussion.
Everyone has their own way of playing D&D, their own style of running and playing the game, and every one of those methods is right. But everyone things their style of play is more right than the others.
There’s so many other places to talk D&D right now. #dnd on Twitter for one, or the D&D Facebook group. There’s also a number of popular Reddit communities. ENWorld is useful as it’s one of the older D&D/ RPG forums on the net, and also absorbed a number of “refugees” from the close of the Wizards of the Coast forums. There are a lot of super knowledgeable and experienced gamers on the site, both grognards and grogn4rds alike. Which really skews the tone of the discussion. It’s a much more academic and rules, and less crazy excitement of discovery or obsession with this new hobby. Less sharing cool idea or asking for advice or help. Less joy in the game and in playing the game. There’s just less wonder in D&D for the forum goers.
I’ve taken short sabbaticals from the site on occasion, when driven to rage or sheer frustration with pointless arguments. But I always end up going back because it is a great site for news and there’s still a lot of fantastic people there. But I find myself wondering what it could be like if we spent less time arguing and more sharing our love of the hobby.
I hear you, man. Ten years ago, I hung out at ENWorld and the WotC Community for a short time, before discovering firsthand how annoying most people there were. A good community should not require a “sabbatical”! When the WotC Community closed, that was a good thing, as there was way too much drama to get anything meaningful done, and woe to the bastard who dare suggests chainmail bikinis have a place in fantasy! I do not miss them one small bit.
When I discovered the old-school community, I initially discovered The Knights & Knaves Alehouse and the OD&D Community around the same time. The K&K had an air of Grognard elitism and snobbery that made it heard to breath. Despite having a number of same members from K&K, the OD&D Community is the most chill and reasonable D&D community I know — everyone just respects each other’s ideas and opinions.
In the end, its all about trying different sites and finding that one community that works for you.