The Culture: The Normie Problem (Part One)

Recall those Mearls videos that I posted yesterday--if not, go back and watch them--and then recall one of the persistent findings he reported.

What is that? "Most people just want to show up, say "I swing my sword", kill things, and level up. It's hangout time with the boys."

This is the Normie in the hobby. This is a problem.

Wizards of the Coast, being made up of MBA Brained executives, are long-accustomed to pacifying and accomodating Normies. This is a mistake and always has been. That same mistake trickles down the commercial side of the hobby, and always has, to the detriment of both commercial and hobbyist sides.

The Normie wants to show up, not engage with the game or its setting save in the most shallow and facile manner ("I hit him with my sword", "I don't know or care about the lore; I only want to kill things and take their stuff."), only engage with the game when at at the table (and not at all otherwise), spends no money whatsoever on the hobby, and has no attachment or commitment to it- it is purely a social activity, and thus it is 100% fungible for any other.

We have a perfect Tabletop alternative for this man.

And yes, that $100 (US) pricetag will pay for itself within a month or two of weekly boardgame nights; you'll be happy buying the expansions when the base game is exhausted.

This is what the Normie actually wants out of the hobby, as Revealed Preferences for over 50 years shows:

• No complex rules: roll dice, Hit With Sword, win or die, kill things, get stuff.
• No continuity needed: every game can be a discrete singular experience, with no ongoing commitment so if the Normie misses a week or so it's not a problem
• No Theater Kid crap: no lore to learn or remember, no complex plots to figure out, no relational webs, nothing to pay attention to that is not Hit With Sword
• Crystal Clear Conditions: go here, get/kill that, get out- fail to do that and you lose
• No need to buy: the Normie just needs to know someone that has it to play

Not going to lie; I will get a copy and keep it hereafter solely to do Fantastic Adventure Gaming on Tabletop with Normies and stop wasting their time and mine with the real thing- at least until I can get a copy of Orcs at the Gates (with its strict two hour time limit, so very Normie friendly).

Corporate, due to Dodge v. Ford, cannot get away from reflexively changing whatever it is that they own or control to accomodate Normies. This is why 4e became Analog WOW, and why Current Edition is Analog Baldur's Gate 3 (but worse, as Normies who tried Tabletop after BG3 and bounced off routinely say). Yet neither TSR nor WOTC ever thought to teach a damned thing about How To Play The Game; this is why so many, in error, take Critical Role as exactly this despite CR being fake and gay kayfabe performative bullshit.

The problem, as Mearls' videos (and Dancey's ancient posts before that) revealed is that NO ONE TEACHES THE NORMIES HOW TO USE THE GAME PROPERLY. This was tolerable--not acceptable, not sensible, not a Good Idea, merely tolerable--in an era before the Internet and social media made it piss-easy to cut videos showing how to play the game.

For fuck's sake, Battletech has that and it was done by a player--not the publisher--years ago.

Yeah, I added the guy with the app-based alternative because it works.

No, this is not just about the mechanics--that is NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT--but also about PROPER GAMEPLAY BEHAVIOR.

Take a page from the American Firearms Industry. It's NOT ENOUGH to teach a new owner how to use his new firearm; he must be told--TRAINED--how to clean it, maintain it, carry it safely, not cause undue risk of harm to himself or (especially) to others, and this comes not only from the various advocacy organizations but also from the manufacturers, distrubutors, retailers, event organizers, etc.- Turtles all the way down. You can, and will, get shit on and even denied service or purchase for not conforming to the culture.

Only Games Workshop and WOTC even try this, and they do it wrong. You need to create and maintain a specific cultural norm for things to work as desired for C-Suite.

Normies can be trained, but they have to be bullied into it or they won't get on board; the Firearms Industry experience reveals this repeatedly. Corporate in the Firearms Industry is oh board with this due to it being a significant reduction in their liability exposure, legally and politically. This pressure does not yet exist in Tabletop, but it could- and I daresay it should.

This failure of leadership has opened the door to letting the Normies be used as stalking horses for the Death Cult.

Tomorrow.