Dungeons and Dragons is for losers

Dungeons and Dragons is an abomination. In both terms and action, it has stifled the birth of emerging art forms, making it nearly impossible for interactive storytelling to move from its infancy to the realm of being a mature and accepted art form.

The game itself is pretty brilliant. There are a complex series of rules, which are used to create a fairly realistic imagined scenario, which is flexible enough that others can easily participate in controlling the direction in which the story goes.

The problem is that it is inherently exclusive. To participate, you must undergo a relatively complex character creation process, with dozens of options available and a variety of numerical choices that can stun anyone who wants to be a casual gamer.

Even if the character is made for you (eliminating any choice you have in its result), you still have to participate in a game with rules that govern almost all actions. By looking at the stats written on a character sheet, you need to determine numerically if it is a smart move to attempt to scale that wall. This is not Candy Land, this game is difficult.

This can undermine the creativity and fun of the game for all less agile participants.

In many ways, it’s like playing poker, except you have to go through an elaborate application process to get into a game, and then when you’re there, everyone is using monopoly money.

Another major problem with the game is that it is difficult to attract the audience. People don’t want to expand the effort to imagine that four dice-rolling guys are really brave adventurers marching through an ancient castle. It doesn’t translate well to an audience, so getting people to play is a process of convincing them to go through the elaborate setup process and then learn the rules.

LARP’ing, is a kind of role-playing game, similar to D&D, except that people dress up and go out into the real world as the imaginary characters in the game. Unfortunately, even this has failed to find a way to create work that can engage and interest an audience.

However, just because it’s a difficult and exclusive waste of time doesn’t make D&D bad. All hobbies are like this, and spending time collecting stamps has no more social value than exploring a cave with your elf friends.

The problem with D&D is that it hides a much more powerful and powerful art form behind its intricate ornaments. Interactive storytelling, live action games, real time, fictional creation, these are the cutting edge art forms that are just now emerging from the dark age of dice.

In chat rooms, forums and social networks we are seeing real stories written by multiple authors, sometimes hundreds of people working to tell the best story possible. These stories are being fused with photos and images that are being created to help bring these interactive worlds to life.

As technology improves, we also see video and animation coming into this. Slowly, Hollywood is merging with the box on your desk. As the future draws near, we will see films we create, populated by a cast of thousands, each behind a camera, screen, or pen, adding their own personality to the living novels that are being born.

Unfortunately, D&D no longer helps in this process. It may have started as a way to get people to think about stories interactively, but it has since become a debasing and debilitating word. The inherent complacency stems from the fact that it is a game. However, as people begin to open their eyes, they see that the act of playing a role is more than a game, it is a form of expression, it is an emerging art.

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