Let me preface my explanation of the above question with a little about who I am, why I'm personally apalled, and why I (or you, or Paizo) should care. I'm a 25 year-old RPG gamer, and I've loved the fantasy genre ever since I learned how to read. When I was around 6 or 7, I was given a copy of the first edition of AD&D. I was entranced. It began my interest in RPGs that has lasted to this day, and has remained my favorite hobby. However, at one point, somewhere between second and third edition, I left D&D behind. It was nothing specific that made me leave, except it might have had something to do with the fact that I had become an (only slightly) angsty teen that bought White Wolf RPGs. D&D just didn't interest me any more. I bought the core books for 3rd edition out of a sense of nostalgic duty more than anything else, but I didn't really get into it. I made a complete pass at 3.5 until the Eberron Campaign Setting came out, a product so good it not only interested me in playing in a system I had previously lost interest in, but also made me reconsider D&D and what D&D settings had to be like in a way I hadn't since buying Al-Qadim many years earlier.
Despite my renewed interest, the 3.5 system became a disappointment to me. I'm not going to go into the various reasons, as they aren't so much relevant to the point of this post other than to say that when 4e was announced and many of the intended changes started to flow down the grapevine, I was impressed. As I heard more, it just got better. It was like they had heard all of the things that prevented me from playing D&D, and wanted to address them ALL. In the intervening time, I've heard some details that I'm less enthusiastic about, but all in all, it sounds like this edition will appeal to me in ways that D&D has not for some time. I'm excited. Many of my friends are excited, much of it due to my excitement, and much of it due to the fact that they, too, are interested in many of the upcoming changes. I've already committed to running a game in the new system, something that I wouldn't attempt in 3.5. (WARNING: INCOMING RELEVANCE) I was, in fact, so excited, that I was looking onto getting some well-regarded third party D&D products, because nothing sparks off my personal creativity like diving into someone else's imagination (like Eberron had done for me, and Al-Qadim. And other products like those). And I had heard that Paizo made a darn fine adventure from a number of people, both online and in meatspace.
And because of this, I ended up at the Paizo web store, browsing through items, and thinking about purchasing things. The Shackled City adventure path intrigued me, and I had heard good things about the newer Rise of the Runelords. I like pretty tiles to push minis around on, so some of the Game Mastery products appealed to me as well. I was about to register a store account so I could buy some things. And then, I saw that Paizo had message boards. I read a lot of message boards, and occasionally I'll find one that's a real gem. A good example is the Atomic Think Tank for Mutants and Masterminds, where you can ask a question about the game and get several excellent answers very quickly. I saw that Paizo had a board devoted to the upcoming 4th edition. I thought that this could be relevant to my interests, and that seeing how people might look at existing Paizo products under the lens of a new edition might be interesting. And then I came into this forum and saw what was contained within. And it is only because I checked this message board that Paizo lost my sales. I'm going to stress this point, because it's the most relevant thing I'll say in this post. Paizo would have assuredly had my money had I not entered this board. Paizo may have even had my long term patronage if I had liked what saw. I don't usually get turned off to a product because of the fan base. It's only happened one other time I can thing of in my history of consuming RPG products.
Where the Atomic Think Tank for Green Ronin spurred my interest in a well made game and led me to buy a number of supplements, reading this forum killed the interest I had in looking at Paizo adventure paths with its negativity and outright hostility toward those who might be looking forward to what's coming in D&D. I'm going to talk about some of the tendencies I found particularly aggravating in posts here. I don't want this to become a thread about specific posters, since that's a kind of negativity this forum doesn't need help with, so I'm going to paraphrase slightly and leave out screen names of posters. Rest assured, I can back up any of these examples if pressed, I'd just rather it be about types of posts rather than specific posters.
First, and foremost of the offending posts on this boards are the insulting remarks that are commonly made toward people who are looking forward to the new edition. These are usually (not always) not direct insults. The indirect insults are pretty common though. Anytime someone disparages the intended market audience for 4e, you're insulting someone here. Specifying that you're talking about subliterate teenagers (that probably play WoW, the miscreants) doesn't make it less of an insult. If I asked WotC if I were in the intended audience of 4e, they'd say yes. Since I like many of the upcoming changes, when someone states that the changes were made to entice brainless MMORPGers, you're insulting me too. Not in a direct way, but in an indirect passive aggressive way. On some other boards (like RPGnet or ENworld) this behavior gets called out frequently, because the inhabitants of the board don't want to discuss issues in that sort of environment. Most of the time this board gives behavior like that a pass. The one time I recall seeing it called out, one of the other posters immediately after defended a completely direct personal attack. Classy.
Another type of post that's sadly common here are posts that have no substance other than negativity. You can see the pattern in a number posts here. Someone will post some new tidbit of information, and sure as the tides, someone will post some staggering piece of negativity without any reasons given. Claiming that the D&D page spread on currency or armor makes you physically ill doesn't add anything to the discussion if you don't give any actual criticism on the issue. It just shows everyone that you're familiar with hyperbole. This wouldn't be much of a problem by itself, but it certainly doesn't make these boards more pleasant.
The level of insults that gets leveled at specific WotC personnel from time to time here is disgusting. The level of discourse in the thread about Shelly Mazanoble's column for Dragon, for example, is one of the few times in my recent memory that I've been embarrassed to share this hobby. This includes, but is in no way limited to the amount some people in that thread seemed convinced that D&D must be taken completely seriously. There are other sentiments expressed in that thread that make me very angry. I'm pretty laid back overall, but I can get pretty offended due to shabby treatment of other people. And some of the sentiments expressed in there should be beneath everybody.
The last type I'm going to mention is the slandering of other boards, specifically those of WotC and ENworld in another thread. That thread is, in part, the impetus for this post, as it made me wonder if the people here are aware of how things look from the outside. To the outsider, a thread in THIS FORUM, calling another forum a slop bucket is pretty darn funny. Do any of you folk realize how folks on the outside see this forum? It doesn't come up often, as most boards that value civility look down upon posting disparaging remarks about other boards. But time to time, a tidbit will slip out. And believe me, unlike say, the Atomic Think Tank, well known for it's friendliness, this forum is known for vileness. I've heard everything from the relatively mild "contains some unhinged people" to the more judgmental descrptor of "thought poison". But I have never heard anyone outside of this board say anything positive about it. Ever. And I read a lot of message boards. So when I see someone complain that other boards moderated their criticism of 4e away, I believe them. Because frankly, their posts here don't meet the standards of civility on other boards, not by a long shot.
Why did I write all of this? I occasionally get bothered by something, and I find it's better to vent in a constructive way than to just stay pissed about something. I know it's not something I should let bother me this much, the state of some random message board that I don't post to, but it apparently does. It was a community I might have joined, but I was too put off by the level of hate here. I came here wanting to like what I saw, and hoping to be impressed, and that didn't happen. I think this forum can do a lot better, and that's why I bothered to post this here. I think Paizo would rather hear why they lost the sales they would have gotten from me than to have me quietly walk away and just not consider their products again. And so maybe when Paizo is considering the reaction on their forums to 4e, they might consider that some of the people who were excited and might follow them if they went to 4th ed might not be speaking up because of the sort of reception they get on this forum. I know that the atmosphere here has already cost them one customer. I doubt I'm alone.
Thanks for listening.
