Mike Mearls is firing you from D&D

[Ulairi]

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Mike Mearl's was on Twitter and from this Tweet and I couldn't find any other follow up Tweets basically was coming across that people that enjoy more "complex" rules (whatever that means) are gatekeepingthe hobby. He then basically told people that they are fired from D&D. I guess this is stemming from a "controversy" around the fact that he hired a young woman to be a designer. I couldn't find any "anti-woman" posts on RPG.net, ENWorld, or Dragonsfoot. I did see some posters on EnWorld saying that it's surprise that she was hired when she has no design credits to her name and/or published modules. I searched on Twitter *which I'm not great at* and I couldn't find these outrageous Tweets. I don't know if this is just people virtue signaling or if there is something there, there. I thought I went to some of the more popular D&D forums and I did a search on Twitter. I'm surprised that Mike Mearls is telling people that he is firing customers from a product he didn't create and doesn't own.

I didn't know if this should go in Pundit's forum but I wanted it here. Do you guys think that game complexity is "gatekeeping" the hobby from new players? I don't. D&D had the largest mass appeal back during AD&D when the game was considered more "complex" than it is now. I don't find AD&D complex but I have heard from many millennial type gamers or iGeners that they do but are fine with 5E. As a big supporter of "complex" games such as GURPS and Palladium, again which I don't find complex and pre-teen daughters do not find complex.

When did the narrative that wanting rules complexity (which doesn't mean anything or means whatever someone wants it to mean) become bad? I also think it's funny that he's going after people for narrative density when he and his company are responsible for that with D&D. They published the Forgotten Realms. They made the FR the default setting for D&D. So cry me a river.

[Apparition]

This reminds me of Posthuman Studios "firing" the MRA fans of Eclipse Phase...  It's just virtue signaling.

[danskmacabre]

From my personal experience. DnD 5e is pulling in LOTS of new players..  Lately in RPG clubs I attend, people coming to play and run DnD are drawing off players of DnD games at these clubs to run and play other RPGs.
Some of these RPGs are complex, some not so much.
I don't think complex RPGs are somehow "Gatekeeping" new players from RPGs, I just think simpler RPGs are easier to get into, especially for those who don;t have a lot of  time.

Going back to women and gaming. I don't care what gender an RPG maker is either way and personally I don't particularly want to know or care.
I DO know I'm for the most part happy with products that WotC makes for DnD atm and if it happens to be made by women (or men, or both), well, that's fine with me.
I just know I like DnD 5e and it's my favourite edition.

Still, at one of the clubs I administer and attend, I've been running DnD 5e for several months, but as I'm running 5e at that club and another, I'll be dropping 5e in favor of other RPGs I want to run.
Not because I don't like 5e, but because I've been running it a LOT and want to run other stuff too.

[mAcular Chaotic]

Well, I think the idea of the tweet was that there are guys who think D&D is a "boys only game" and use "girls can't get into heavy rules" as an excuse to push them out.

Hilariously, my friend's girlfriend is literally the living example of that "won't even try to look at the rules" stereotype.

But as for me, I definitely always avoided D&D back in the day because of how ridiculously dense the rules came off as. It was when 5e was advertised as a streamlined edition that I decided that this edition was finally the one I would take the plunge.

[Shawn Driscoll]

Women, as in 3rd-wave feminist women probably.

[dar]

Never heard of reddit?

[Gronan of Simmerya]

The only thing more bathetic than his tweet is this thread.

[Kyle Aaron]

I don't think complex RPGs are somehow "Gatekeeping" new players from RPGs

If they were, Mearls would have to abolish 5e and just publish B/X. I can see why someone might say that complex games put off newbies. But why would they put off women in particular? Is Mearls saying that women can't handle complex games? I'll try to remember that next time my wife is explaining Pandemic's latest expansion to me. This is the SJW position: women are delicate, soft-headed and more or less retarded little flowers who need protection and being patronised.

I don't think Mearls has been down to a game club recently. I don't see male players excluding women, quite the contrary. The only all-male group I saw at the club was ours, and that's because as married men 40-55yo, we just don't know many women outside the workplace except our wives and their friends. You can only invite who you know. But the other groups were mostly university-aged, and they were a pretty even spread of men and women, and of ethnic groups, too. I don't get the impression they're trying to be "diverse". They just invited the people they knew.

The wargames and CCGs are still a sausage-fest. But the rpg tables, of which there are many in both clubs I know in the central city, are very mixed. And they're not all playing 5e, there's lots of Pathfinder and Cthulhu and all sorts.

Out of touch as usual, Mearls. No wonder your game sessions are "twenty minutes of fun packed into four hours."

[Krimson]

D&D had the largest mass appeal back during AD&D when the game was considered more "complex" than it is now.

Citation please. That is data I would love to see. As for the rest of it, I'll wait until the women of this forum show up and give their opinions.

[Dumarest]

Can't fire me. Don't work for him. Don't play D&D hardly ever but when  I do it isn't the new version. In short, who gives a shit? Never even heard of this guy.

[Bren]

The only thing more bathetic than his tweet is this thread.

At least his tweet was shorter.

[danskmacabre]

My daughter (15) comes to the RPG clubs with me and all the males (and females) there are respectful to her and treat her as an equal.
She likes to play DnD 5e for the most part and likes tanking it with her main character, a Moon Druid.
She knows the rules well and has a great laugh.

My anecdotal experience is in either clubs I run and play RPGs, sexism is not a thing and I don't feel there's any particular RPGs run there that are somehow excluding women or pushing people out of said RPGs.

If someone DOES behave in a prejudiced manner, whether to do with gender, age, race, religion or whatever, I and other admins would come down on it immediately and it's stated specifically in the club rules that this sort of behaviour is not tolerated and will ultimately result in expulsion from the club.

[mAcular Chaotic]

Out of touch as usual, Mearls. No wonder your game sessions are "twenty minutes of fun packed into four hours."

I really hate that mentality I see on the internet a lot. It's like players are looking at it as a one player game and any time they aren't doing something, it has nothing to do with them and it's a waste of time.

Well, even if the time was evenly spread between 4 players for 4 hours, that's still 1 hour of fun packed into 4 hours.

Is that how we're supposed to look at the game? It just sounds selfish and short sighted to me.

[Omega]

Im not even sure what hes talking about? Is this even a real thing? Is there really a faction demanding complexity and insisting the lore (setting? books?) be adhered to are also driving away women?

Though anything that gives the boot to these "The metadata is ruinin muh game" and "me for not be able to play hero cause mean novels has heroes" idiots is good.

[jeff37923]

Can't fire me. Don't work for him. Don't play D&D hardly ever but when  I do it isn't the new version. In short, who gives a shit? Never even heard of this guy.

Yeah, this. Mike Mearls is just virtue signaling.