There is a particular joy to be taken in someone hating things as strange, alien and harmful that are exactly the things you want more of.
I admit, it is much the same malicious joy I would get if I sold a hammer, and got 1 star reviews complaining that it is a terrible skin care product.
"I KEEP HITTING MY FACE AND MY COMPLEXION IS NOT IMPROVING!!! 1 Star! -10/10!"
"I KEEP HITTING MY FACE AND MY COMPLEXION IS NOT IMPROVING!!! 1 Star! -10/10!"
That may sound unkind, so to clarify: it is my *hope* that there are people who don't like Fate, and I do not begrudge that at all! If you make anything with enough of an opinion to resonate with some, then there will be others who dislike it. THIS IS A GOOD THING!
So while I poke fun at a certain type of review, I do not do so because the review is negative. More power to that.
But I might poke fun if it's hilarious. :)
But I might poke fun if it's hilarious. :)
BUT!
Let me make this guy's argument for him . The oddest note in this is the idea that the GM must be actively malicious. I think he really believes that, and I think it is the *heart* of the disconnect he feels.
Let me make this guy's argument for him . The oddest note in this is the idea that the GM must be actively malicious. I think he really believes that, and I think it is the *heart* of the disconnect he feels.
I *suspect* he genuinely feels that there is a specific idea of "fairness" in GMing, and that the GM should introduce a certain amount of challenge that is well tuned to her audience, then from that point have the world respond reasonably to player action.
In that model, if the GM were to adjust the final encounter's difficulty based on where things stand (like if the party is very healthy or unhealthy), then that would be *cheating*. it would be *unfair*.
I get that. And the logical extension of this is that *anything* the GM pulls out of the ether to make life hard for a player is a similar cheat.
This is all predicated on the simple idea that BAD THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO CHARACTERS ARE UNWELCOME AND ANTAGONISTIC.
This is all predicated on the simple idea that BAD THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO CHARACTERS ARE UNWELCOME AND ANTAGONISTIC.
If you buy into this idea, then yes, Fate is going to seem monstrous. The reward for successfully overcoming a challenge is...more challenge! That's counterintuitive! it's Unfair! It's mean! Reward should be a reward!
And there's the rub: what is rewarding about play to you?
If the reward is a proxy for victory, then drama is a dirty word.
But if the expectation is that *play* is the most fun thing, then it might make sense that the reward for play is *more play*. And that's Fate's goal.
If the reward is a proxy for victory, then drama is a dirty word.
But if the expectation is that *play* is the most fun thing, then it might make sense that the reward for play is *more play*. And that's Fate's goal.
I can get into all kinds of fiction and writing advice about the necessity of conflict and adversity, and that's all useful stuff, but first you have to buy into the premise that you are HERE TO PLAY. That a game where the GM just gave you all you wanted would *not* be optimal.
And the thing is, even if you don't quite *get* the idea of being rewarded with conflict, you probably *understand* that a no-challenge, all reward game would be DULL AS HELL. If so, examine *why* that is, and through that, find where your fun *actually* lives.
And that fun? There's a good chance it's not where Fate is! It could be somewhere else entirely!
Once you *get* that your fun might be coming from somewhere else, that helps you look at games, even games you won't like, with a better understanding of why someone else might.
Once you *get* that your fun might be coming from somewhere else, that helps you look at games, even games you won't like, with a better understanding of why someone else might.
And it will also help you find the game you *do* like!
So, despite my laughing, thank you to that enthusiastic reviewer, who was willing to lay out his thoughts. I think you missed something, but you did so well enough as to make it a teachable moment!
So, despite my laughing, thank you to that enthusiastic reviewer, who was willing to lay out his thoughts. I think you missed something, but you did so well enough as to make it a teachable moment!
And also, a reminder to publishers that a well-thought out, well articulated 1 star review can be worlds more valuable than you might expect, especially when they hate your game rather than hating you (that latter group offer no value).
(More and less interesting is the 1 star review for Numenera because the GM doesn't roll dice, and that's SUPER WEIRD. Obviously, that mostly tells us about the reviewer, but it's useful to realize how *absolute* his sense of this weirdness is, since we all do this sometimes)
A CRITICAL caveat.
There are MANY different things to find your fun from in RPGs, and it is a trap to expect that anyone finds their fun in only *one* of them.
We all like a range of these things, and different games offer distributions, and finding a match is approximate.
There are MANY different things to find your fun from in RPGs, and it is a trap to expect that anyone finds their fun in only *one* of them.
We all like a range of these things, and different games offer distributions, and finding a match is approximate.
If you think there's 1 kind of fun and 1 kind of game, you buy into a lock and key model that will leave you VERY MAD that all those people are out there having fun when they should not be!
(And this is just as true for the victory-driven as the drama-driven!)
