When is the #TTRPGCommunity going to start acting like a real community?

Communities come together. We lift one another up. We encourage one another. Admittedly, I’m coming at this from more of a commune, woo-woo, New Age spiritual angle, but I’ve noticed the Love & Light communities tend to do pretty well by one another.

There’s plenty of space for love and diversity over in the TTRPG community. It’s very possible. I find it amazing that I can post about people coming together on four different social media platforms and the Threads/Instagram folx wasted no time agreeing and getting together. The X (Twitter) people were quick to question and criticize. The other two platforms who I shan’t name were a very resounding meh (crickets chirping.)

Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.

One of my favorite memes says, “It’s not a competition. We’re all crazy.)

Funny all on it’s own, this meme serves as a reminder that there is always room to grow in any industry or community. There’s no real need to attack one another in a hobby space where we play imaginary characters in fictional situations and use dice to determine outcomes. I understand many of us have differing tastes and takes on what the hobby should be. That’s normal human behaviour.

Why must people be so divisive on social media? I truly wish I could repost the thread from X(Twitter) that I’m thinking of, but it simply can’t be done without outing the participants. I don’t want either one of them angry with me, so we’re going to skip that for now.

I wish I could just say, “All of us Old Grognards are just not the same.”

This quote will continue being used until Kyle apologizes or really leaves WotC and/or the hobby.

I flogged that line for quite a while on social media every time someone started in with the latest round of hate on all of us OGs. (Old Gamers.) The problem is there are some real edge lords, jerks, and a🦆🦆🦆oles out there who constantly insist on making us older guys look like total idiots. (Some of them don’t even work at Wizards of the Coast.)

I can’t defend guys who attack anyone and everyone in their YouTube comments. I’ve seen plenty of screenshots of people tearing into one another. It’s even getting to the point where some of the more well-meaning content creators are jumpy and lashing out at things preemptively.

Servant of Shiloh (RPG Elite on YouTube) recently called us (older) Caucasian Males the “Cultural Piñata.” I’m comfortable quoting him because I firmly believe he’s correct in that statement. Older Caucasian guys do tend to take a beating online these days, especially in the TTRPG sphere. Servant of Shiloh also socked it to my old buddy, Kyle Brink over that one quote.

I just gave what I feel is an ideal example of the subcultural divide in the TTRPG hobby.

Monitoring YouTube and other social media daily as I often do…

Any time racism, ableism, Safety Tools, LGBTQIA issues, or anything remotely political comes up in TTRPGs, out come the bitter arguments. I’ve got a couple of blog articles I can’t even release back onto the site because I get accused of being “confused, misinformed, inflammatory” or “misappropriating the cause.” I freely admit I’m not everyone’s cup of tea.

BUT, I am pro-LGBTQIA, all in favor of BIPOC content creators, and I have my share of mental/physical disabilities. I’m pro Safety Tools when used in a sensible manner. I’m old, Caucasian, and male too. Yeah, I probably do cheese some people off. My point it, I want to make sure I’m cheesing off the right people and keeping my #ttrpgfamily or #ttrpgtribe around.

I’ll also say that I’m anti-corporation or pro consumer. I’d be happy if WotC disappeared tomorrow. It’s not going to happen, but we can dream. I was annoyed with their shenanigans before the OGL Debacle and I’ll never trust that particular bunch again. I don’t necessarily see that as a huge divide with the community, though.

No, we’re probably not going to agree on every single point all the time. I’d actually be worried if that happened because no one wants to live in an echo chamber full of “Yes” folx. Yes, it’s nice to hear that someone agrees occasionally.

You’re only ever technically competing with yourself.

I hear that comment in the entrepreneurial and self growth spaces a lot. I feel it’s true. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing on Kickstarter or Patreon. If they succeed, good for them. If it resonates, all the better. If not, oh well.

That’s where we need to get with the hobby, especially on social media. Sure, I have a handful of creators I would rather not support because we don’t have a lot in common ideally. For every one of those, there are probably three who I do agree with and will go back their projects. Just take what resonates and leave the rest.

I have to leave it here for now. Thank you, family. I appreciate you being here so much.