Jeff Vogel Soapbox Thread

[Daemongar]

[Did you miss the part about Saruman taking over the Shire and turning it into an industrial hellscape? That's what I was referring to.

I don't think Tolkien was very fond of "The Scourging of the Shire" portion. In fact, I think the book would have been much better without it. It was unnecessary, and in that respect, the movie was correct.

 

[Acrux]

Gandalf literally tells the hobbits that their journeys so far had been preparing them for the return to the Shire and dealing with this problem.

'I am with you at present,' said Gandalf, 'but soon I shall not be. I am not coming to the Shire. You must settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you'.

The Scouring of the Shire is at the heart of what makes LOTR "realistic" rather than modern escapist fiction, or nihilistic writing like George Martin. There's real cost and loss that they return to - but not hopelessness. Among the many things it does is show the characters growth now that they've returned home. Excising it shows that Jackson (and you, apparently) don't really understand what the core of what the story is about.

As to Tolkien not being fond of it, you're just making that up.

 

[c u in da ballpit ashren]

Gandalf literally tells the hobbits that their journeys so far had been preparing them for the return to the Shire and dealing with this problem.

'I am with you at present,' said Gandalf, 'but soon I shall not be. I am not coming to the Shire. You must settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you'.

The Scouring of the Shire is at the heart of what makes LOTR "realistic" rather than modern escapist fiction, or nihilistic writing like George Martin. There's real cost and loss that they return to - but not hopelessness. Among the many things it does is show the characters growth now that they've returned home. Excising it shows that Jackson (and you, apparently) don't really understand what the core of what the story is about.

As to Tolkien not being fond of it, you're just making that up.

I'm curious why you consider George Martin's nihilistic "unrealistic"?

 

[Acrux]

Gandalf literally tells the hobbits that their journeys so far had been preparing them for the return to the Shire and dealing with this problem.

'I am with you at present,' said Gandalf, 'but soon I shall not be. I am not coming to the Shire. You must settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you'.

The Scouring of the Shire is at the heart of what makes LOTR "realistic" rather than modern escapist fiction, or nihilistic writing like George Martin. There's real cost and loss that they return to - but not hopelessness. Among the many things it does is show the characters growth now that they've returned home. Excising it shows that Jackson (and you, apparently) don't really understand what the core of what the story is about.

As to Tolkien not being fond of it, you're just making that up.

I'm curious why you consider George Martin's nihilistic "unrealistic"?

Because it's shit.

 

[Daemongar]

Gandalf literally tells the hobbits that their journeys so far had been preparing them for the return to the Shire and dealing with this problem.

'I am with you at present,' said Gandalf, 'but soon I shall not be. I am not coming to the Shire. You must settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you'.

The Scouring of the Shire is at the heart of what makes LOTR "realistic" rather than modern escapist fiction, or nihilistic writing like George Martin. There's real cost and loss that they return to - but not hopelessness. Among the many things it does is show the characters growth now that they've returned home. Excising it shows that Jackson (and you, apparently) don't really understand what the core of what the story is about.

As to Tolkien not being fond of it, you're just making that up.

Yes, Gandalf tells them that, but it would have been the same ending even if they went to the shire and things were normal. TSoTS adds a completely unnecessary second ending and... it's completely unrealistic. Unknown to anyone, the greatest mage in the land goes and harasses the Shire. For no real benefit than payback. Just seemed to distract from a great ending. It blunts the edge of Frodo going away. Again the movie had it right.

The counter is that the conversation with Frodo and Saruman is phenomenal, but the context of the Shire being blowed up was unnecessary for the exchange. There is great conversation with JRR Tolkien on YouTube on the ending of the Lord of the Rings where he underscores some points I made, but I'll admit saying "he isn't fond of it" may be an overstatment.

 

[Glop_dweller]

it's completely unrealistic. Unknown to anyone, the greatest mage in the land goes and harasses the Shire. For no real benefit than payback.

You underestimate malevolent spite, and the extents that it can drive individuals for sake of it. I saw nothing unrealistic about it. The once great Saruman [veritable fallen angel] brought low; become a street vagabond thug pent on revenge by destroying their beloved Shire... what could hurt them more?

 

[Old One]

It's also a commentary on the petty evil of Marxism. There's a reason Saruman's half-orcs call themselves "sharers" and declare their purpose is to make sure everything is shared out equally.

 

[Daemongar]

it's completely unrealistic. Unknown to anyone, the greatest mage in the land goes and harasses the Shire. For no real benefit than payback.

You underestimate malevolent spite, and the extents that it can drive individuals for sake of it. I saw nothing unrealistic about it. The once great Saruman [veritable fallen angel] brought low; become a street vagabond thug pent on revenge by destroying their beloved Shire... what could hurt them more?

Yeah but all speeches and motivations of the characters are derived by their feeling to return to the life they once knew. They longed to return, etc. To throw a monkey wrench into it "Well the Shire was attacked and nobody knew about it, etc..." even though the rangers were supposed to be keeping an eye on the place, well, just seems shabby. "Well, yah, you all went to Mordor, but the folks in the Shire suffered just as much."

That whole thing with Sharky blunts the return. Ya, they telegraphed it somewhat in "Oh, they dug up Bagshot Row..." at the mirror of Galadriel, but they could cut out that entire part and the book would overall be better. Then the king was crowned, they went home, Sam found a beard, Frodo got on a boat. The end. Much tighter.

 

[Infinitron]

Jeff recycling old posts: https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/how-i-deal-with-harassment-abuse

How I Deal With Harassment, Abuse, and Crazies In General.​

A survival guide for the scared creator in the Internet Age.​

Whenever I write about a topic that upsets me, I calm myself by illustrating it with charming, reassuring stock photos. I used Google Image Search. If you get uncomfortable, stare at the photos.

"People are a problem." - Douglas Adams

I’ve received many requests for advice from young creators. Some of these questions regard advice on how to deal with being harassed online. Sometimes, these requests come from people actually experiencing harassment. I get nervous about talking about this. It tends to draw firestorms.

Also, it is an issue that affects other individuals WAYYYYY more than it affects me, and I don't want to be a callous buttinski around other peoples' troubles.

But I do get asked. And I do want to respond. I don't think young developers should value my feedback, yet they do. They certainly deserve to get fair warning about what awaits them. So.

This is how I, me personally, handle the threat of online harassment. Your mileage may vary. No, it WILL vary.



Actually, these macarons look sort of gross. Also, who ever thought it'd be ok to charge two bucks for one small cookie?

I Am a Public Figure

When I release a game or write something visible to the whole world, even a tiny something (Warning: Twitter counts!), I am acting as a public figure. A teeny tiny one, but a public figure nonetheless. Public figures have always received hate mail, abuse, threats, and messages from the unhinged, and they always will. Alas, the internet makes hostility much easier to deliver.

If you are a public figure, you will be abused eventually. Maybe mild insults. Maybe much worse. This abuse can spread to those around you. (Employers. Loved ones.) You should start thinking about this (and your tolerance for it) now.

This means that, unless something changes very drastically, from Day 1 of your life as a public figure, you should be thinking about your public image and how you will manage it. What is your mental resilience? How much abuse can you take?



Yeah, these chocolates are really reassuring, until some rando finds your street address and gets 100 boxes of them shipped to your house.

1. Harassment is real, and it has a real effect.

Being harassed is harmful. It's easy to say, "Just toughen up. Walk away from the screen." until you've actually experienced it.

Humans are tribal creatures, and tons of insults are upsetting to us on a deep lizard-brain level. Anonymous threats are terrifying, even if they aren't credible. Organized swarms of bad Steam/iTunes reviews can sink a vulnerable business. Organized swarms of angry people can cost you your job. And getting swatted (someone giving an anonymous call to your local emergency services to get a SWAT team sent to your house) might kill you.

By the way, these days, they don’t just come after you. Your family and loved ones will be considered targets as well. You may be capable of ignoring being called every dirty word in the book. But is your mom?

So complaining about harassment isn't just whining by sheltered nerds. The more visible and outspoken you are online, the higher the chance that a whirlwind will land on the heads of you and those you love. There is no chance of this changing in the foreseeable future. This is serious business. I am scared. Everything I do online is weighed against the risk of harassment.

Actually, that's another good reason why I haven't written about it. I don't want to be yet another sheep, bleating loudly in the middle of wolf-infested woods.



This adorable puppy wants you to know that relentless internet harassment (plus loss of job, death threats, Swatting, and so on) is OK if it is directed at someone who says a political opinion you don’t like. This is how justice works in a free republic.

2. I filter my input. Mercilessly.

I know a lot of creators of nerd culture. Game designers, writers, comic artists. Old, gnarled, crabby, battle-hardened pros with decades of experience. You'd have heard of a bunch of them. Even the toughest of mercenaries can be tilted by the entirely predictable response of a handful of crabby people.

All these creators have something in common. It never fails to amaze me, but a single mean email or bad review can send them into a spiral. Like, they'll still be obsessing over it days later. I think, "Wow. After all these years, they still won't let this stuff roll off of them?" And then it happens to me.

So we filter our inputs.

Consider this. Suppose you are, like all right-thinking people, a big fan of Taylor Swift. So you want to write her a piece of kind fan mail, telling her how awesome she is.

She might read it. It's entirely possible. However, before it hits her iPhone, I bet it will have been filtered by at least one handler. (All of this is just my guess, of course. I would NEVER presume to speak for T-Swizzle.)

There is a super-good reason for these handlers. I've never met Taylor Swift, and I likely never will, but I do know one thing about her: She is a human being, so she is heir to all human vulnerabilities. If hit with the wrong email at the wrong time, she will be thrown off her game for a day, or three. If Taylor Swift is thrown off her game, major corporations lose millions of dollars. So they filter.

I do the same thing. Your messages to me are checked before I get them. I almost never read forums. I'll bet most public figures with any kind of profile do the same thing.

Some people are mean. Some people are crazy. Some people are both. I do not let people in these categories pour poison directly into my ear.



That's odd. I don't find this picture reassuring at all. Keep it together, Google.

3. I remember that life is not fair.

Suppose someone gets angry at me for what I write. He gets a bunch of friends together and they give my games bad reviews on Steam and iTunes.

This is really mean and genuinely harmful, and there is not a damn thing I can do about it. They will cost me earnings, and I have no recourse. They walked up, punched me in the nose, and strolled away, and I could do nothing.

Meanwhile, anonymous hordes gather and attempt to cause real suffering to their targets (and their targets’ loved ones). Targets often chosen for silly, trivial, or even factually incorrect reasons and given punishment utterly out of proportion with what they might possibly have done (or not). There is no logic to it, no justice. Just mad lashing out. I have tried to understand it, and I have failed. It is simply maddening.

Life is not fair.

If there was a solution, I would be suggesting it. If I had ever heard or read an answer which would really work and not be a bandaid and would actually make things better, I’d be shouting it at the top of my lungs. But I got nothing. What can’t be changed must be endured.

So, when I get scared or angry (which is often), all I am able to do is attempt a measure of Zen acceptance. I mean, sure, I could rail about how mean the Internet is. But the Internet is what makes my business and awesome life possible in the first place, so it seems a little churlish to hate the Internet.

I will never be totally safe. There will always be fights. Afterward, I get up, dust myself off, get back to work, and try to make enough money to endure the occasional asshole assault.



Well, this is kind of reassuring, I guess. Bones are good. We need them to live.

4. I am very careful about poking the beast.

The main way to draw abuse is by saying things that anger people. Saying true things still makes people angry. In fact, nothing makes a person angrier than telling them a true thing they don't want to hear.

That is why I don't write about politics.

When I chose to make a living as a creator, I picked a very difficult job. Very hard, long hours, with a minimal chance of success.

Suppose I also decide to try to change the world in some way. In this case, I picked another very difficult job. Very hard, long hours, with a minimal chance of success.

But there's a key difference between these two jobs. When I try to make stuff to make people happy, most people like me. Only mean, nasty people are out to genuinely hurt someone who only wants to share neat things with the world.

When I am trying to change the world, it's different. Human beings naturally hate and fear change. If you try to change the world, no matter how noble your cause, you will make some people angry.

Remember what I have egotistically termed Vogel's Iron Law of Anger: If you try to make people angry, intentionally or not, you will succeed.

Now what I am not (NOT NOT NOT) saying is that you should be quiet and never state your opinions. I am NOT saying that. In fact, as a citizen of a republic, I believe it is my sacred responsibility to occasionally speak up and try to nudge opinions.

However, a republic is not a suicide pact. What I AM saying is that I weigh my opinions very carefully. When I decide to speak up and try to change minds, I must ask: Am I currently ready to be shouted at? How much? Is the piece I am about to write a ticking time-bomb that will explode and destroy my career in five years? Then I pick fights that will not overly distract me from my first work: creating.



OK, my reassurance-evaluation algorithm is definitely on the fritz. Give me a second.

5. Beware Twitter.

Twitter in the worst medium for human communication in the history of human communication.

This doesn't mean it can't be valuable for a business. Just don’t forget a snake is always a snake.

Twitter was designed, from Day 1, to enable any random person to send messages directly to any public figure. In other words, from Day 1, it was designed to be an abuse and harassment engine. It's not a bug. It's a feature. All that abuse and controversy is how it gets clicks and money.

They are a publicly traded, for-profit corporation, so they will never change in a way that brings them less money. In fact, being a publicly traded corporation, they receive overwhelming pressure to not do so. They may seem to be on your side for a minute, now and then, but they are purely mercenary. They will sell you out in a second.

Do not trust corporations to make the world a better place. They are not your pal. They do not love you. Beware.

6. I have obtained a weapon for self-defense, and I have become proficient in its use.

Ha. Ha. I'm just kidding.

Or am I?

I'm certainly not going to tell you here.

Online harassment has been around for a long time. Every year, it increases in prevalence, ingenuity, and raw damage. I see no reason why this trend will change. I suspect, five years from now, things will be even worse. I don't know what will happen or how I will deal with it when it does.

I've been lucky. I've never gotten to the point where I seriously considered calling the cops. Not yet. Not because I didn't want to, but because I knew it wouldn't help.

Because who are we kidding? They won't do anything. The Law's ability to deal with crimes that haven't happened yet is pretty much zero. (As so many who have gotten restraining orders against an abuser can sadly testify.)

However, the police might make a note in some database saying that SWAT teams heading to my house should be a little extra-careful. That's more than zero.

Look, I've gotten legit scary messages. I've had nights where I sat up on the couch, scared to death, listening for someone trying to break in. I am familiar with gunpowder-based self-defense options.

(If you think I am being over the top here, please bear in mind that I am very intentionally leaving out the details of problems I have personally encountered, as I will NOT say anything publicly that might reawaken those problems.)

Writing about this topic, all I can do is shake my head slowly and take deep breaths and try to calm the anxiety. I tell myself that the person who actually comes to kill me probably won't bother to send a polite warning first. Weirdly, this doesn't make me feel better.

I don't know. I just do what I do and hope for the best. Does this count as advice?



GAH. The Image Machine is out of control. Time to wrap this up.

Scared Yet?

If you're thinking of being a public figure, you need to be ready for it. I guess I do have advice. If you are nervous now, you have taken it: Be nervous. It's OK. It's the rational path.

And that's all I have to say about it. This is a very unsatisfying way to end the article, but the online environment now is very rough, angry, and in a state of flux. I think things will get worse before they get better. (I’m joking, of course. Nothing ever gets better.)

I respect the damage harassment can do. I don't blame the victim. I don't back down from every fight, but I am prepared for others to fight back. I am nice and respectful whenever possible. I remember some humans are mean, some are crazy, some are both, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I also remember that the vast majority of people are quietly decent. Finally, I remember that being a public creator is a tough, noble path, and I am proud of it.

I hope you can pick something worthwhile from this heap of scraps. Good luck.

The original: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/jeff-vogel-soapbox-thread.91814/page-15#post-4489757

 

[Infinitron]

https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/video-game-thoughts-bonus-bag-2

Video Game Thoughts Bonus Bag #2​

A nice sample of the world's fresh crazy. Plus, new game!​

Eighteen full-length games now complete. This may have been too many.

Time for a quick survey of neat stuff that caught my eye the last few months!

1. Crass Self-Promotion!

Our newest indie adventure, Queen's Wish 2: The Tormentor, is out for iPhone and iPad! Our innovative Empire-maintainance RPG will be playable on the subway.

If you want to be notified when we release things or have a Kickstarter, join our mailing list. It's the best way to find out what new goodies we have available instantly.


No families allowed.

2. So Is Halo Still a Thing?

One of my fondest gaming activities is playing shooters on the couch with my wife. Our peak experiences have always been with the Halo series, which has had couch co-op since the beginning. The early Halos are a blast played together in a living room.

When Halo Infinite came out in December, 2021, we were really looking forward to it. Then they said couch co-op was delayed. Then, in September, 2022, they canceled it completely.

This struck me as weird, and it still does. I mean, this is a trademark feature of a major, major game series being published by only, like, the biggest software company in the world. It's a software feature so crushingly difficult to implement that they did it with no real difficulty in 2001.

If they canceled it at the beginning, that would be one thing. When they say they’re going to do it for a year and THEN cancel it? This smells like dysfunction.

Also, couch co-op is still a hugely popular feature. Look at Mario Kart or Smash Bros. Nintendo really gets this, which is a large part of why the Switch is an enormous success.

So I'm pretty curious what the deal is here. Why couldn't they manage this? I mean, Microsoft's quality control has always been a little iffy, but at least they've always been able to ship things.

3. My Own Paranoia

I wonder about it because, and this might be my own confused imagination, has software been getting worse over the last two years?

I've been noticing that every app I use, by Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and just about everyone else, seems to have more bugs, and those bugs are slow to be fixed. (Psych! They are never fixed lol!)

This is just an idle musing, but I'd love to hear if anyone else has had this same deranged observation.


All stock photos of pictures of working from home look like this. No papers. No supplies. No clutter. Open concept kitchens in expensive houses. My home office is a messy hobbit hole, and I like it that way.

4. Which Makes Me Think About Working From Home

So, to be clear, I love working at home. Being able to work at home is a large part of the reason I write games, even though I could have easily made more money with a Real Job. I think most tech jobs could be done in part from home, and it's shameful that it took a plague to make some working from home standard practice.

Yet, there is one open question about widespread working from home: Can large products, with big teams that require a lot of coordination, be done as well by people who are spread out over the world and never meet each other?

Humans are pack animals, and being in contact with each other is one of the ways we maintain the standards of a society. I don't have any comment on the whole idea of "Quiet Quitting." Yet, I also wonder how many people will day-drink (or day-toke) if they don't have to be visible, functional, and free of the smell of booze around co-workers.

I don't have answers to any of this, and I want as many people to work at home as possible, if just to keep traffic low. It's just, this is still an open question, and I'll be fascinated to learn the answer.


We finally found a way to bring back the three martini lunch.

5. Children Need To Feel Physics

I kind of want to write a full piece on this. It's interesting.

At the recent TwitchCon, there was an agonizingly unsafe foam pit. Basically, a thin scattering of foam cubes on a concrete floor, with ledges providing a 6 foot drop onto the unyielding floor below.

It resulted in multiple injuries, including this spectacular one. (Painful to watch, but highly instructive.)


Dear God.

This was not the only video from Twitchcon about young people with only a passing familiarity of how physics work in the real world. I could make a cheap shots here about how this symbolizes Twitch's attitude towards its streamers.

Let’s be clear. That second train video? That is how people die.

Here's what I'm really thinking. I'm a parent. Over the last couple decades, I've watched perfectly good, awesome playgrounds all over the place torn down to make them "safer". Any chance to slip or fall or get a bump must be purged, in order to make them perfectly safe (read, "boring") places for kids to play.

It turns out, playgrounds SHOULD make it possible for kids to fall. Why? Because it teaches them how gravity works and how hard different sorts of falls feel. A three foot fall feels like a bump. A six foot fall gives a MUCH harder impact. I've tried both, and I know this in my bones.

When I look at that poor streamer jump, I wince because I know, at an instinctive level, how hard she's going to hit the ground and how bad it will hurt.

At some point, she was denied the chance to learn that information as a child. The results were inevitable.


These are the best of all possible playground toys in every way, and they are being rapidly eradicated. By the way, our society hates kids.

6. Vampire Survivor

I put a bunch of hours into Vampire Survivor, a super-cheap indie twin-stick shooter that only uses one stick.

It's a hit, and it deserves it. It gets everything right with this deceptively tricky genre in ways most don't. Lots of fun.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Vogel predicted NFT games back in 2011.
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/will-jeff-vogel-pay-you-to-play-his-games.64945/

 

[Infinitron]

Jeff Vogel on the Ogle: https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/when-your-cute-little-game-business

When Your Cute Little Game Business Suddenly Explodes​

One indie designer's summary of the Dungeons & Dragons debacle.​

The most important thing to know about Dungeons and Dragons is that all the coolest art for it was made before 1980.

The big, fun news in the gaming world recently was that it looked like Wizards of the Coast (WotC for short, owned by Hasbro) was going to drastically change the Open Gaming License for Dungeons & Dragons.

WAIT! COME BACK!

Yeah, I know. It's a really incomprehensible, inside-baseball story, but it's also really interesting if you're into games or business.

First I'll try to summarize it. Then I'll ramble about what might be learned.



The most important thing to know about Dungeons & Dragons is that it will make you go insane, run around in sewer tunnels, worship Satan, and kill yourself. Renowned news show 60 Minutes laid down the law in 1985, but here is a highly informative shorter version.||

The Story So Far

It's a complex story with a lot of moving parts. When I get something wrong, yell at me in comments and I'll fix it.

1. Dungeons & Dragons (D&D for short) is a very old game, popular among oddballs like myself. It's great because it provides socially-awkward, nerdy people a comforting structure in which to get together and hang out. In this game, you sit at a table and communally make up a fantasy story about murdering people and taking their stuff.

2. The current edition of D&D is very popular. Importantly, it has a set of rules that are pretty put together and easy to use.

3. A few years back, WotC created an Open Gaming License for D&D. This means, if you want to make your own game using D&D's rules, go for it. You can even sell it. You just can't use D&D's existing names or stories. (So you can't use D&D spell Magic Missile, but you can make up your own identical spell called Missiles That Are Magic).

4. This really caught on. A bunch of people made successful businesses selling board and video games using this license. D&D grew much more universal and successful. (By the standards of the tabletop game industry.)

5. WotC got new management. (When you hear this phrase, you should always brace for impact.) They decided that they weren't extracting enough money from D&D fans. (NB: One of the key reasons for D&D's enduring popularity is that it can be a very cheap hobby.)

6. Some insider at WotC leaked a new version of the Open Gaming License, which basically took away all the good stuff. You may not own your own work anymore. Having to start paying royalties on products and also streaming (!). Some feared that the old license they depended on would vanish. All this info came from a leak and traveled via rumor, so all of this is very vague.

7. Everyone who makes a living selling these products or who likes to use them (a fair number of people for this industry) got very mad.

8. WotC backed down with a kind of mushy-mouthed statement. Status quo continues for now, but now everyone knows how they feel and what they want.

This is where we stand, until a few months from now when things quiet down and WotC does whatever they want.



Pictured: Dungeons & Dragons.

The Results Were Predictable.

When someone leaks something vague that affects your ability to stay in business, a lot of freaking out happens. And when all you have to go on are rumors and a leaked document that may be out of date, the freaking intensifies.

Suppose this change happens. What happens to products released under the original license? Can they still be sold? Can they be expanded? The answers seem unclear. They can only be made concrete with the sort of expensive lawyers most game developers can't afford.

Suppose you're making your money selling books of monsters for D&D. What is your plan? Think about it. Assume you can't afford a full-on lawsuit, but you have another book in the works now. What is the plan for the future?

I don’t have an answer. I get the shivers thinking about it. It’s really tough, and I wish everyone in the path of this juggernaut the best of luck.

It's a mess. At least they have a reprieve, for now.



I am biologically incapable of writing about D&D without including examples of actual, published, back-in-the-day art. Why isn’t THIS in Stranger Things?

What have we learned?

The Open Gaming License was a Good Thing. Once.

When I first heard of the Open Gaming License, I couldn't believe something so cool could exist. (Apparently, it couldn't.)

It's a great idea, because it's good for everyone.

It helped WotC by turning the rules for D&D into the default thing everyone learns. It makes D&D into Windows 10. It created many independent developers who make content to make D&D more fun and interesting. I can't say this is why D&D shot up in popularity over the last few years, but it sure didn't hurt.

It was great for game creators who had a great idea but didn't want to do all the grinding work of designing and testing their own ruleset. I mean, I can do this because it's my full-time gig and I enjoy it and am decent at it. However, this isn't in the skill set of a lot of smart people.

(The license has also been used to make computer games. The legality of this has some questions, but the games in question, like this one, have not gotten super-sued.)

Finally, it's great for players because a lot of cool products have been made using this license over the years. Products that don't require learning a ton of new rules to enjoy them. A healthy industry with easy to access games is good for all of us.

Anyway, that's all gone now lol.



OK, one more. Dr. Seuss was trippin’.

There's Now a Stink On the Whole Business

WotC backed down on these changes. Maybe they meant it. Even if they keep the old license, there's a stink on it forever.

Seriously. Who is going to start a business based on this license now, knowing that WotC despises it and wants to monetize it? Running a game company is already near financial suicide as it is. Now any investment in Open Gaming License products is done with a pistol held to your temple.

Trust takes a long time to build up and moments to destroy.



It is important to teach children to self-advocate.

But It's Still a Good Idea, For Someone

Having a general, generic game ruleset everyone knows and can use is a great idea.

WotC rival Paizo is making their own open source ruleset run by a non-profit. This is a great idea, and it already has some serious backers. Honestly, it's been proven this is something that should exist, and it'll be a month of Sundays before anyone trusts their business to WotC's tender graces again.

Personally, I hope their’s also a route to using the rules for computer games. Indies need all the resources they can get.

Also, regular board games should have something like this. There should be one set of rules used by all board games, and buying a new game just means you get a new set of plastic components. Kids would learn these rules when they are four, and a lot of time would be saved.



In the end, only one force can save you from having your Open Source License kicked out from under you.

The Main Rule To Learn From All This Mess

Whenever you run a successful, small business, you will be at someone's mercy. A supplier. A distributor. My business depends on Steam, for example. Everyone gets a gun held to their head at some point. No man is an island, and all that.

So whenever you can, make your choices to minimize the number of people who can destroy your business. When you use something like the Open Gaming License, you are vulnerable. Hasbro is a big company with lots of lawyers, and anyone can sue anyone at any time for any reason.

If you based your business on the Open Gaming License, you seem safe for a while. I really hope you are safe forever. But ... I’m glad that many are looking for escape routes now. At least you got a warning. Not everyone does.

It's a fascinating bit of business, and I'm sure some prospective MBAs will study it in future. Best of luck, game makers!

We make really nifty indie fantasy RPGs with out own eccentric rulesets. We’re doing a Kickstarter for our next big title soon. If you want to learn about it, follow this Substack or join our mailing list.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Lolth is so horny because her hired help has malformed hands that aren't pleasant to the touch. Note: She's actually topless but Spiderman thought she needed to cover up so a quick web squirt and she's covered. She's bemused he'd have the gall to do that. It also got her slightly aroused.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Jeff Vogel on the Ogle: https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/when-your-cute-little-game-business

The most important thing to know about Dungeons and Dragons is that all the coolest art for it was made before 1980.
...

...

...

Claim that "all the coolest art" for D&D was made before 1980, then proceed to use Erol Otus illustrations from 1980 and 1981, the latter of which even has the year written on it.

Spoiler

Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits, 1980

A4 In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, 1981

This first image, by David C. Sutherland III, is from Q3 Vault of the Drow, 1978, and therefore the one piece of art created prior to 1980, unless you want to count the flumph from the Fiend Folio.

 

[Infinitron]

https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/five-bucks-to-feel-like-a-god

Five Bucks To Feel Like a God​

The glorious, sparkly carnage of Vampire Survivors.​

Note: The game doesn’t actually contain vampires. Which makes sense. It’s about the people who SURVIVED the vampires.
I haven't been blogging lately, because, honestly, sometimes it feels nice to be quiet for a while. I’m only being driven out of my shell by my need to push the Kickstarter for our next indie RPG, Geneforge 2 - Infestation.

OK. I did my begging. Let’s talk about games.

There is a surprise hit indie game I really like, and breaking down that kind of thing is very much in my job description, so let's talk about Vampire Survivors.

What Is It?

It's one of those great, plucky little indie hits everyone loves. A low-budget production from a tiny company, selling for a comically low price, that is carried to huge success by word of mouth and basically perfect implementation.

Vampire Survivors is inspiring. As in, it's the sort of indie title that inspires people to follow their dreams, quit their jobs, spend years weaving their ideas into a game, and completely ruin their lives.

Many people can create a competent game. However, the Muse of Vidya Gaems deigns to visit very few.

(Protip: If your idea involves punching a tree to get wood to make a wood axe, just set your computer on fire now. ALSO, WOODEN AXES WON'T WORK. WHY DID ANYONE EVER THINK THEY WOULD?)



No, really, you can’t make an axe out of wood. Wood can’t cut wood, for the same reason that, in Rock Scissors Paper, rock doesn’t beat rock.
But What Actually Is It?

Vampire Survivors is part of a new genre called the Single-Stick shooter. It's like a Twin-Stick Shooter, but aiming is automatic. (Brotato is a fun game in the genre when you're tired of Vampire Survivors.)

You get dropped on a battlefield. Waves of monsters run at you. Your guns automatically fire to kill them. You pick up experience gems. Get enough gems, and you get a new weapon or upgrade. A fixed period of time into a run (usually 30 minutes), Death appears and kills you. (Usually.)

It's a Pure Experience

I think one of the best things a successful game can do is give you a pure experience. As in, you forget you're playing a game. You aren't being distracted by lots of stuff. You are just doing one thing, and you completely lose yourself in it for a while.

It's a game that passes the Pee Test. You're so involved you forget to go pee.

(In other words, the opposite of what God of War Ragnarok gives you. Vampire Survivors got big at about the same time and really showed what the much bigger AAA game does wrong. It was great timing.)

When playing Vampire Survivors, you are doing one of two things:

1. Wasting tons of bozos with giant, sparkly weapons.

2. Choosing how to make your weapons more awesome and sparkly.

It has the perfect amount of design. You can just lose yourself in it for a while.'



Once you’re really rolling, you can just stand still and watch huge waves of pixel dudes get threshed by your guns WWI-style. It’s the world’s coolest screensaver.
Of Course, It Has All the Other Crappe

It's a game released in 2022, so of course it has to have all sorts of extras bolted on. Currency. Permanent upgrades. Secret characters. Secret levels. Tarot cards. It's all there.

But it works. First, it's all managed between games. Second, it all makes you stronger, so it feels good. Third, the new characters and levels are fun and prolong how long you play the game.

There's no balancing. No downsides. You just get relentlessly bigger and more able to make pretty light shows that incinerate zombies.



This price is a perfect “high risk, high reward” strategy.

Video Game Pricing Will Never Be Solved

One notable thing about Vampire Survivors is the price. In Early Access, it was 3 bucks. Now it’s five. So, cheap. It’s a ridiculously good deal.

On the other hand. indie megahit Factorio is constantly raising its price and never has sales.

It is very tempting to try to learn lessons from this. I recommend against it.

The only thing you can learn from this is: If you write a hugely popular and addictive viral indie megahit, you can get away with whatever you want. If you still live on Earth, you’ll be charging $20. $25 if your game is extra-fancy.

Twin-Stick Shooters Show the Perils of Game Design

This has been my favorite genre since the first of its kind, Robotron: 2084, came out in 1982. If you find a copy of it in a hipster bar somewhere, totally play it. It's one of the few retro games that still totally holds up. It's a banger.

A lot of indies have gone to this well over the last few decades, and very few do it well. Here's one example. Here's one. Here's another. Here's another.

It's very easy to blow this formula. For a Twin-Stick Shooter to really tap into the visceral quality of the genre, it needs two things:

1. Relentless Carnage. It's the most Power Fantasy of genres. You point a joystick, and hell pours out in that direction. Don't be a fussy designer here. It's not about math and prissy game balance. When you fire, it should be AWESOME.

2. Visual Legibility. The screen has to be clean. Because so much is coming at you so fast, you need to be able to decode the things that can kill you, and you have to do it REALLY QUICKLY.



If you find Robotron: 2084 in a retro arcade, be sure to play it. It’s still a blast. Save the last human family!

Not Every Game Where You Shoot With a Stick Is a Twin Stick Shooter

Nitpicking about the True Meaning of Game Genres is always a dumb waste of time. That being said, suppose a game has one joystick that moves and one that shoots. It's not necessarily a twin-stick shooter.

If you are spending lots of game design wandering empty rooms, hoping you get good loot, and planning where to go (all valuable time that could be spent kickin' ass), you are playing a Roguelike that uses twin-stick combat. Potentially fun and generally popular, but a very different sort of game experience.

Give It a Try

It's practically free, it's a hoot, and, if you care about games, there's a lot to learn in there.

If you want to learn about our newest game when we announce it, follow us on Twitter or join our mailing list. It will be the opposite of Vampire Survivors, but it'll have its own humble charms.

 

[Infinitron]

https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/the-heart-of-gaming-is-the-power

The Heart of Gaming Is the Power Fantasy​

Never forget what product you are selling.​

Now it is time to decide who MUST love me.

(All articles this month are to get attention to our new Kickstarter. If you like weird, retro indie games or RPGs, it’s worth a look.)

Video games function best as power fantasies.

This is a statement that can generate controversy, though fifty years of video game history show that it is true.

We've seen debates about whether video games can be art. Whether the word "fun" has meaning. Whether a Walking Simulator is a game (though that genre has mostly vanished, unlamented).

Yet, relentlessly, through it all, the most popular and beloved games are almost universally about the exercise of power.

Understanding this can help you (and me) to write more popular and effective games.


You might as well write your Game Manifesto. Everyone else has. Get it out of your system!

What This Article Is Not. A Quick, Important Aside.

Video games are a very young art form. This often inspires ambitious young people to write their MANIFESTO about the TRUE MEANING OF VIDEO GAMES.

This is always a waste of time. Art is a slippery thing. It resists rules. As soon as you say art IS THIS, it goes “Whoopsie!” and proves you wrong, simple as.

So no. Not all games are power fantasies, and not all gamers want that.

But I’m a businessman and a practical person. I don’t care about art theory. I care about buying food. I don’t care what you thing games should be in your ideal world.

One of my mantras is, “Never forget what product you are selling.”

When most gamers come to your product, they are looking for a specific sort of experience, which makes them feel a certain way. Ignore this at your professional peril.

Let’s continue.

Video games that sell? They sell power, if only in our minds.


Has any video game ever been as satisfying as Chess? When you take a piece, you don’t just kill it. You ERADICATE IT. It VANISHES. FOREVER.

What Do We Mean By "Power Fantasy"?

"Power Fantasy" is usually used as a pejorative term. The phrase often has the word "adolescent" tacked on before it for a fun bit of ad hominem.

Yet. What makes video games different from other artistic media? It is activity. Video games aren't about consuming words or sounds or images. They are about action, doing things.

In almost every game, what are you doing? You are making changes in your environment. You are giving gifts in a dating sim. Designing roadways in Sim City. Shooting bad guys in, well, just about everything else.

When you change your environment, you are exercising Power.

You are doing this inside a game, a space that does not exist. Every video game takes place in a mental construct that is imagined. In other words, all video games take place in Fantasy. (In the dictionary sense, not the "casting fireball at an orc" sense.) Yet, in your brain, the Power FEELS real, and that is what counts.

Video games are about using power to make changes in a fantasy space, for pleasure. They are power fantasies.

There is nothing shameful about this. The only error is denying it. This will make you not understand video games.

The Main Takeaway, To Save You Reading

When players end a session with your game, aim for one of two things:

1. They feel better about themselves.

or

2. They feel that, with effort, they will feel even better about themselves. The delay of gratification should make the feeling stronger.

If your game isn't offering either sensation, beware. You are in the Danger Zone.


God of War Ragnarok upgrades were fiddly and incremental and filled me with a feeling of confusion and FOMO. Improvements should make you feel powerful. People have said a lot of nice things about this game, but they ain’t about the equipment system.

"I don't think this is what players actually want."

Players are very clear about what they want. Look at the list of the most popular games.

Most games are about two things. One is overcoming: Defeating puzzles, challenges, other people. The other is building: Creating and reshaping an environment.

This is what people want. It is what they expect. When you sell them a game, in their mind, that is the bargain: Customers give you time, attention, and money. In return, you give them a feeling of power, of success.

There is nothing shameful about Power Fantasies. If you think there is, consider instead that the problem is a world that systematically makes us feel small, meaningless, and helpless.

"Video games should aim for a higher goal."

Sure. Why not? It's a young art form, and there may be ways that it can develop and mature.

Yet, many developers have tried to make games with higher artistic goals. They have not met with much success, artistically or financially.

I'll grant Gone Home, The Beginner's Guide or What Remains of Edith Finch are decent games, had some sales, and aren't power fantasies. They are also a tiny portion of the market, part of the fading walking simulator genre, and pale in comparison to the best artistic achievements of other media. The Last of Us has an excellent story, but nobody would have bought it without the awesome zombie stabbing.

The Stanley Parable was really good and a big hit, but it got there using the sooper sekrit cheat code of being really funny. This is a rarely used out to make a popular games that breaks out of the usual templates, but it is hard to do. Not many people do funny well.

Sure, it's nice to dream. However, I'm a businessman. I'm a practical-minded person, and I have to see the World That Is. And in the world as it stands, most people want games that make them feel powerful and/or competent.


Ahhhhhhhhh. Satisfaction.

What Is Power? How Is It Expressed?

Power is a vague word, deliberately so. I claim video games are so popular because they let their users feel intermittently powerful. There are, however, many, many routes to this goal.

The purest expression of raw power in video games is a dating sim. Dating sims give you the ultimate power: The ability to choose who loves you. Not even the Genie in Aladdin could do that!

Sim City is a double fantasy. First, that we live in a world that works under rational rules that we can comprehend. Second, that we can affect that world.

Fishing in video games lets you have the power to make fishing interesting.

Horror games give you the power to survive, no matter how horrible your surroundings are.

All the most popular games are PVP. When you beat another player in a game, you have affected that human being's emotions in REAL LIFE. That's so good a Power Fantasy that it's hardly even fantasy anymore.

Idle and clicker games let you gain and use power without even the indignity of actually doing anything. They are the best example of how compelling and seductive video games are: They let you feel satisfaction and accomplishment even when you aren't doing anything at all.

Puzzle games create a very simple, abstract world in which you can be smart, competent, and have mastery. If you dispute the power fantasy element of this, I merely observe this: When you solve a difficult puzzle correctly, you feel powerful.

And of course, the ultimate expression of instant, overwhelming power: gunzzzzz ...

What Brings This To Mind, Part One

I wrote a blog post about indie hit, Vampire Survivors, a very good and much loved game.

Vampire Survivors refines video game power into its purest, crystalline form.

I've played this game a lot. I've watched streams of it. This game creates a feeling of relentless glee, all of it coming from the waves of raw, ludicrous power you unleash.

Nothing distracts you from this. When you are succeeding, you don't even move. You just watch as gigantic waves of pixel-monsters come at you, and your magic, automatic sparkle guns lay waste to them. The only break from this is when you gain a level and choose how to make your guns even more awesome.

When you are in the game, every other element is ruthlessly pared away. This purity is what makes the game great.


The trademark quality of our Geneforge games (Kickstarter happening now!) is being able to summon hordes of disposable monsters to fight for you. Brutal, yes, but very satisfying. Some monsters explode when they die, and you can send them on kamikaze runs.

What Brings This To Mind, Part Two

We recently released a game called Queen's Wish 2: The Tormentor. Like most of our games, it is soaked in politics, factions, arguments, and tough choices to make.

I've written tons of games like that, where, once you pick a side, you can fight your way to a happy ending where the things you want to happen happen and there are few things to feel bad about.

The difference with Queen's Wish 2 is that there aren't happy solutions. You change the world in dramatic ways. However, there is no sparkly ending, where you're totally happy with the result. You have to make compromises. Bad things always happen somewhere.

I made it this way because it's honest. I've read enough history and lived enough life to know that there is almost never a clean answer. You fight and negotiate and take what you can get, and the best you can hope for is 55%. Honesty is not a power fantasy.

A lot of my fans hate this. And, honestly, they should. By doing this, I'm breaking the Video Game Contract. Video games are at their best when they deliver satisfying power fantasies. I used to do that. It doesn't feel honest to me anymore.

That is why my brain, at this point, is not able to make all-new games that will be satisfying and successful to my audience. I don't have more to say about that now, as I'm still working it out for myself.

Sell People What They Want

People who play video games want a chance of having a feeling of triumph and satisfaction. It’s a little depressing, but I didn’t make the world.

Steakhouses sell steak. Barbershops sell haircuts. We sell victory. It's not real, it's fantasy. But it feels real, and that's enough. There are other routes to profit making video games, but you have to work very hard to find them.

Now I'm going to go back to work on a remaster of one of our old successes. I wrote it back when I could make games that gave players the triumph they craved, and I will be sure to leave that part alone.

 

[Mauman]

Hey, I don't care if your game has political leanings or meanings in it, I just want to have fun and feel like someone isn't browbeating me to death on one side.

Geneforge was always did a great job by making EVERY SIDE either:

A - an asshole
B - naive and doomed to failure
C - both

So as long as Vogel doesn't change that, I'm happy.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

The Heart of Gaming Is the Power Fantasy​

I've heard him say stuff like this before.

Power fantasies are just a cheap bribe to the player. The real heart is reactivity. Power fantasies do offer reactivity, but I think the bribe of power is mostly to help the player overlook whatever flaws or other lack of reactivity may be there. The important thing is the reactive elements regardless.

Is your world a static land, filled with lemming, no-name npcs who might as well die? Not very interesting. But what if you could have ultimate power to kill all of them, or to help them, or to whatever? Well, there sounds like there might be some reactivity there.

However, is your world a very interesting land, filled with novel npcs, whose stories evoke emotional responses and make you care about helping them? Cool. But unless there's at least some reactivity to your actions, you're really just reading a decent book.

People may naturally gravitate to more childish, destructive acts in a game, but that doesn't mean that power fantasies should be the primary goal of your implementation of reactivity. Being able to solve a mystery or unlock a different route because you talked to all the right npcs, made the right choices or have the right skillset can be just as rewarding as gaining a new level and being able to beat the tough enemies that previously defeated you, if not more so.

The difference with Queen's Wish 2 is that there aren't happy solutions. You change the world in dramatic ways. However, there is no sparkly ending, where you're totally happy with the result. You have to make compromises. Bad things always happen somewhere.

I made it this way because it's honest. I've read enough history and lived enough life to know that there is almost never a clean answer. You fight and negotiate and take what you can get, and the best you can hope for is 55%. Honesty is not a power fantasy.

This makes me want to play Queens Wish more than "you get to be powerful", which is a promise every other RPG makes.

People who play video games want a chance of having a feeling of triumph and satisfaction. It’s a little depressing, but I didn’t make the world.

No, you just underestimated it, ignoring sites like this that have been telling you for 20 years that they want a deeper design philosophy in RPGs.

 

[Tyranicon]

What I find funny is that Jeff constantly rails against developing the game of your dreams, or pursuing gamedev as art, instead treating it as a pure business venture.

This coming from a guy who makes hyperniche RPGs with clipart level graphics.



I have a lot of respect for what he does, but also personally feel like Jeff would've been happier if he made something like Vampire Survivors, made a ton of cash, and then just retired to spend it on drugs and hookers.

 

[Tweed]

Jeff thinks he's Chris Crawford.









He ain't.

 

[Viata]

Jeff will never do something as great as this:

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

I have a lot of respect for what he does, but also personally feel like Jeff would've been happier if he made something like Vampire Survivors, made a ton of cash, and then just retired to spend it on drugs and hookers.

I don't know about happier, but perhaps less jealous.

Holding up Candy Crush sales figures isn't a valid excuse for being cheap or lazy with your game design in a completely different genre.

 

[Tweed]

I just wonder if Crawford is happy now that there's lots of these godawful touchy feely and "slice of life" games he seemed to be alluding to so long ago. Has anyone shown him Undertale or Disco Elysium?

 

[Glop_dweller]

Jeff will never do something as great as this:

Spoiler

That was epic; probably to the point of being legendary.