I would love all campaign games to have this option. It feels like legacy/campaign games are built for people who have a regular gaming group and gaming days they somehow get on the schedule on a monthly basis. Me? I have a scattered collection of groups - the one where I am the "master gamer", the one where I am the "newbie" and a few others in between. They just don't fit my lifestyle.
I've already setup a time to learn and play Arcs with my friends I only see at conventions at this year's PAX Unplugged and I'm excited to experience it all and also REALLY glad that it won't be a campaign we only play every December LOL (though I was also happy to hear that the campaign is do-able in a few hours so if I ever do want to try it out, it feels more attainable than some of the other big boxes)
I've been following your article and the discussions on it, and find myself alarmed at how some sections of the community want to lock "Arcs" behind a door of complexity that only they hold the keys to.
Of course, it is a version of the arguments over who may or may not be a "true gamer", but it seems to come with something unpleasantly dismissive of the designers (I use the term more broadly than just Wherle) intentions, and question the designers ability to have intentions.
Grown in culture is the idea of a prelapsarian world in which things were as they should be, and our attempts should focus on reinstating that world. Games should be complex, and difficult, and exclusive to people who want that complexity and difficulty.
Attempts to create something which differ from that are then in error. It is not that Wherle et al have an intention which differs, it is that they have made a mistake, and by playing, reviewing, enjoying Arcade Arcs in itself own terms you fail to recognise this.
Personally, I think this idea that we have the perfect version of culture and should not allow people to deviate from that is dangerous, for many reasons, and should be challenged.
Arcade Arcs, FTW, and more power to your elbow Adam.
I would love all campaign games to have this option. It feels like legacy/campaign games are built for people who have a regular gaming group and gaming days they somehow get on the schedule on a monthly basis. Me? I have a scattered collection of groups - the one where I am the "master gamer", the one where I am the "newbie" and a few others in between. They just don't fit my lifestyle.
I've already setup a time to learn and play Arcs with my friends I only see at conventions at this year's PAX Unplugged and I'm excited to experience it all and also REALLY glad that it won't be a campaign we only play every December LOL (though I was also happy to hear that the campaign is do-able in a few hours so if I ever do want to try it out, it feels more attainable than some of the other big boxes)
I've been following your article and the discussions on it, and find myself alarmed at how some sections of the community want to lock "Arcs" behind a door of complexity that only they hold the keys to.
Of course, it is a version of the arguments over who may or may not be a "true gamer", but it seems to come with something unpleasantly dismissive of the designers (I use the term more broadly than just Wherle) intentions, and question the designers ability to have intentions.
Grown in culture is the idea of a prelapsarian world in which things were as they should be, and our attempts should focus on reinstating that world. Games should be complex, and difficult, and exclusive to people who want that complexity and difficulty.
Attempts to create something which differ from that are then in error. It is not that Wherle et al have an intention which differs, it is that they have made a mistake, and by playing, reviewing, enjoying Arcade Arcs in itself own terms you fail to recognise this.
Personally, I think this idea that we have the perfect version of culture and should not allow people to deviate from that is dangerous, for many reasons, and should be challenged.
Arcade Arcs, FTW, and more power to your elbow Adam.