
Tormsskull |

Hello all,
I've noticed a trend with 5e in which a lot of the players that are new are being introduced to the hobby by way of watching recorded / livestreamed games.
The expectations that these new players and DMs seem to have is far different from what I am used to.
The two expectations that stand out to me are high production values and a fairly railroaded type of game.
Has anyone else noticed this or have any experience with the impact of these type of games on the player base?

bookrat |

Which ones are they listening to or watching?
I listened to Godsfall - it was decent production; good sound quality and the GM took time to cut out the non-game parts. Definitely not a railroad, though.
A friend of mine watches a lot of live stream, and he says they're all very low production value, and hit and miss for railroads depending on the GM and the adventure.
Even Matt Mercer's stuff isn't that high of production value, although I can't comment on the railroad aspects of it, as I haven't listened to it. My friend says it's pretty much a 3 hour recording or live stream with no cuts, but his players are good at staying on topic most of the time. He also says Matt lets his players go around and do whatever a lot, and that doesn't speak to railroads to me.
Authors and Dragons I would expect to be a by higher, as they're all professional writers with published audiobooks. But I haven't listened to it yet.

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Hello all,
I've noticed a trend with 5e in which a lot of the players that are new are being introduced to the hobby by way of watching recorded / livestreamed games.
Really? That's kind of fascinating. Where can I look at this data?
The expectations that these new players and DMs seem to have is far different from what I am used to.
The two expectations that stand out to me are high production values and a fairly railroaded type of game.
To make sure I'm understanding you, you mean when you're looking at bringing a new player into your game, they're demonstrating these expectations? Or are you encountering this expectations in some other context? (Also, when you say "expectation", do you mean "requirement" or "anticipation"?)
Has anyone else noticed this or have any experience with the impact of these type of games on the player base?
I was barely aware that these gameplay videos even existed, so I've got nothin', sorry.

Tormsskull |

Which ones are they listening to or watching?
The two that I can recall by name are Critical Role and Acquisitions Inc.
Never watched streamed games, have no interest in them, never met another player new to the game or not who was either, so I can't say I've noticed this in the slightest.
Thanks for the feedback.

Threeshades |

I haven't met any players who were introduced to DnD by livestreams, but as a longer time player and DM I do take inspiration from the DMing style of Critical Role's Matt Mercer. Really acting out the characters and even the monsters is something i kind of forgot how to do with time and my enjoyment of the GM's chair suffered for it.

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As a GM of 23 years, I've found watching live streams like Dice, Camera, Action and Matt Mercer's various things are great because I get to study masters working their craft. Chris Perkins is SO AMAZING at what he does and drops gothic horror like a BOSS.
Personal opinion: I think players SHOULD have expectations as long as they don't impose those expectations on a group with clashing expectations. At that point, it's that players responsibility to perhaps find another group where their expectations match more accurately the group they're playing with.

Kalshane |
I haven't watched any of the new weekly series of Acquisitions, Inc, so I can't speak to that, but the live PAX games definitely felt very rail-roady (but I think that comes from trying to cram a complete adventure into a one-hour session in front of a live audience.)
Critical Role, on the other hand, is very much not railroaded. While Mercer might strongly hint the party should go in a particular direction on occasion and has a general story arc he anticipates the players pursuing, he lets his players decide where they go and what they do. (For example, it's kind of a running joke among the fandom about the party's blind refusal to go to a place called Marquet despite Matt dropping clues about the goings on there for over six months now.)
The only thing he does that I don't care for is he will occasionally flavors his descriptions of situations with a character's emotional state (eg "You bite down on your fear as you drive the blade home...") rather than leaving that entirely in the player's hands.