I have been into role-playing games for over fifteen years. Gamed with real regularity for less than ten and been on-line, checking out gaming sites and participating in what some call the gaming community. I have to laugh at that term because gaming is hardly a community. We’re more like neighbors who sometimes tolerate each other.

The fact of the matter is gaming is exceedingly cliquey. Each game has its fans and those fans tend to not care about other games out there. It’s not this cut and dried. An individual can be a fan of multiple games. But those games they are not into they just plain don’t care.

There had been attempts to bridge this gap, such as the partnership between Flying Buffalo’s And Hero Games’ cross compatible adventures for their Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes and Espionage games. But such attempts are short lived and not very far-reaching.

However there is a tie that binds the role playing game community together. It came to me a few days ago. It was an epiphany. What alcoholics call a moment of clarity. The gaming community can be summed up in two linked phrases:

D&D sucks.
No it doesn’t.

That’s it. That’s what brings us all together. That’s what makes gamers some of the most intelligent, well-rounded people you’re likely to meet.

D&D sucks.
No it doesn’t.

A bit of clarification:

There’s Dungeons & Dragons, written by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson first published by TSR in 1974, now published by Wizards of The Coast. Dungeons & Dragons has seen many editions over the years. While it may not be to everyone’s taste, it remains a very, very fun game to play.

D&D, on the other hand is the greatest game ever written and a bane on the industry. It is written by a seminal genius that hasn’t got the first clue about how to write a good game. An Evil Empire out to bleed its audience dry publishes it and their staff are among the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

You get the drift.

You’ve seen ‘em. You see them all the time on role-playing game forums and newsgroups and, god, wherever gamers get together and talk about gaming.

Some boy genius decides to dazzle us with his findings that D&D sucks. It is no fun to play. Its mechanics are clunky. The publisher is trying to bleed its fans dry. Then some similar boy genius (or possibly girl genius. The female of the species is not above such idiocy. Apologies to Phil Foglio) decides to further dazzle us by poking great big holes in the first person’s case. Then the rest of the world’s geniuses, and there are quite a few of them, smell the smoke and descend of the scene like the carrion birds they are.

No doubt there are some that think that they are not swayed by this dichotomy. Rest assured you are dear friend. You must remember how proliferate the game is. It has by far the widest distribution of any role-playing game. It’s impossible to get away from. It’s even more impossible to get away from its players. They’re everywhere like the lemmings they are. Your lack of opinion is carefully cultivated like a hothouse flower. And like a delicate bloom, it will wilt and die if ever exposed to the elements.

Now I could act all hoity-toity and holier-than-thou about this but I am not guiltless in this. I have started and perpetuated such heated debates on the virtues and lack thereof of D&D. I’m not proud of that. However I have learned from participating in these futile arguments.

First of all, don’t bother trying to argue in these discussions. This goes beyond the traditional “do not feed the trolls” that is just good advice on forums and newsgroups. Rather, the discussion has much, much less to do with the dubious merits of D&D and more to do with the egotism of those discussing.

It’s all a matter of “check me out. I’m incredibly smart. I know the truth about D&D and I’m right.” It quickly becomes personal since it’s not statements you challenge but their imagined genius. There is no way around this, I’m afraid, because the geniuses refuse to back down. They give no quarter. The are correct and you must be an idiot to think otherwise.

The word is “futile.” It’s a waste of time to argue with these people. You can’t win. There is no winning in this situation, really. The fact that D&D is the subject of the debate is incidental. In the end the debaters could care less about D&D and your opinion of it. It is the debate itself that they love.

Some truth in the matter:

There is nothing wrong with Dungeons & Dragons. It’s no better or worse than any other role-playing game available now or ever. It is usable, fun to play but not without it’s flaws. It is not the be-all and end-all of role-playing games, as some would suggest. But it is still a fun game to play.

All of this goes a little deeper than the face D&D gives the hobby. You know, as that “dee-un-dee stuff.” D&D is the one thing all role-players have in common. There is such a wide range of titles and genres on the market; the only thing all gamers have in common is the debate over the virtues of D&D or lack thereof.

D&D is the glue that holds us all together, love it or hate it. An opinion of that old war-horse is the one thing we all have in common. For better or worse. I wish there was some sort of lesson to impart from all this. I suppose like your own opinion of D&D, what you take away from this depends on you.

I have no illusions that this little article will cease the entire useless debate. But maybe the debaters will be a tad more informed.

I suppose D&D will remain the common denominator for the hobby. Like the primordial ooze the ancestors of man came crawling up into the air, gasping, Dungeons & Dragons is where it all began. As a point of origin for the hobby, and those who enjoy it will often return to it from time to time. It’s like…going home.