— Jan Gillisz. van Vliet, mid 17th century
I’m writing a series of dev diary posts about a work-in-progess. Sometimes, I feel an impulse to describe my design choices in terms of how they differ from others. But what I found is that defining my game through negation didn’t help me arrive at a much clearer understanding of my own design goals. It did, however, incite me to levy unnecessary criticisms. Now, I’m doing my best to discuss my game without negative references to other games or styles of play. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has been remarkably productive.
It’s easy to fall into the negativity trap. You see it in RPG discussions across the internet, particularly in discussions about play styles and play cultures.
It’s easy to be dismissive of what you don’t understand. It’s easy to discount experiences that aren’t your own. It’s easy to let preferences mutate into value judgements.
What’s more difficult—but much more worthwhile—is to articulate a positive vision of your ideal play experience, and to elaborate steps towards achieving that experience. I’d like to see more of that, so I aim to do more of that.
I can be a grouch and a snob at times, but I’m trying not to let those tendencies leak into my blog. A while back I wrote 10 Things I Hate About Your Adventure, but I wish I’d written something even half as good as the Designing Dungeons Course instead.
If more bloggers, vloggers, commenters, and skeeters offered positive visions of their ideal styles of play, rather than disparaging what others enjoy, engaging with the hobby’s online spaces would be more enjoyable and more fruitful.
It’s a simple, obvious idea—but one still worth expressing.
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