The Culture: Pat Notes That Current Edition Causes The Problems By Design

Pat may be pozzed, but Pat gets that something is wrong.

Pat's right: Wizards of the Coast wants players to engage in Mary Sue cozy power fantasies where there is, at best, the illusion of the illusion of danger.

The rules of the game, and the way they design and publish playable content, as well as how they present that which they design, shows this in action. That's why we're seeing so much more dysfunction in the hobby, and why Theater Kids are running rampant in Conventional Play; they sense that there is no real danger by design, so they are entitled to win and thus are entitled to pop the Loot Pinata if they put in sufficient time doing performantive bullshit.

Because of the Network Effect, the only effective move for Conventional Play Cargo Cultists is to tap into The Only Network That Matters by offering sidegrade products that appear to address the problem but don't because they only serve to reinforce Official Game's dominance, just as has been the case for the last 25 years. The claim of commercial success should have an asterisk affixed; it is less than nothing compared to WOTC (and WOTC's real competition), but something in the microniche world of Tabletop Also-Rans and Bottom Feeders that Shadowdark and others inhabit.

This is how they intend to endure: by simultaneously cleaving harder to The Only Game That Matters while claiming to be the alternative to it. Wherever you are, Ryan Dancey, I hope you're happy with being proven right so hard that if you got a dollar for every instance of it you'd be a billionaire by now. At the rate things are going, there will soon only be WOTC and its bottom-feeders still around. The consolidation and centralization trend will only accelerate as the collapse continues because that's where the value will go.