Karai Snillore wrote:
JuliusUK wrote:
They damaged Organized Play when they decided to tell players how they should play, rather than supporting the ways players already wanted to engage with the game.
I haven't been on here in nearly 7 years, and missed the entire transition to 2e. In fact, I actually barely have even got to try 2e and when I took a gander at my local society play they got weirdly closed off.
Can you uh, fill me in. How did Paizo tell players how to play, as opposed to encourage them to play the way they were playing?
The Article wrote:
Authors and members of the community interested in producing sanctioned independent adventure scenarios for use with the current Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society programs will be able to do so under clear guidelines that we will release before Gen Con.
While I am having the same response as most, and hope the best for Paizo and it's staff, my brain and eyes can't help but drift to this. Are they saying 3rd party individuals will be able to publish Society Scenarios with paizo? Like anyone can just, post a scenario and it will be good as long as it fits the guidelines?
I've missed ORC and Pathfinder Infinite's introductions, so maybe I've missed some serious junk. So am I reading this right?
During the pandemic, a lot of organised play moved online and, for many of us, that was a genuinely positive development. We could play with people from all over the world, join games that fitted our schedules, and participate even when travel wasn't practical.
When restrictions ended, it was entirely reasonable for Paizo to want to encourage a return to in person play. What frustrates me is that, rather than supporting both formats and letting players choose, they appear to have tried to drive people back to physical tables by limiting online play. One example was preventing the Discord channels that had been used to advertise online games from continuing to do so.
To me, the better approach would have been to make in person play attractive enough that people wanted to participate, while still supporting the accessibility and flexibility that online play provides. Organised Play should be about making it easier for players to engage with the hobby, not reducing options in order to steer people towards a preferred format.
