Enjoy The View

Because I enjoy roleplaying games, I sometimes watch YouTubers who opine on the subject. I found one I like recently, and her videos were mostly short enough that I could watch a few of them in one sitting. Then I came upon a longer one where she and a D&D-loving physicist had a long debate about a recent online brouhaha. Apparently, some people thought other people were playing D&D incorrectly, and they didn’t like it, and they were making a lot of online noise about it. The YouTuber and physicist discussed the issue. Was there truly a right way? Should anyone be criticized for how they play? Exactly how much should one change the rules as written? On and on, with me, I should point out, listening right along to it like it mattered.

Until, that it is, I remembered that in the end everyone was going to play the game the way they wanted and there was nothing anyone else could do to stop it. People who played with each other might haggle over rules or approaches as my group sometimes does, but otherwise what happened at our table was no one else’s business. Unless, of course, we made those other people our business by wondering if we were, in fact, playing wrong, and what would they think about us if they learned how we played.

In defense of everyone really immersed in this back-and-forth, the point of roleplaying games is to have fun, and I’m always tweaking and noodling with my weekly game so it’s that much more enjoyable. Having fun, after all, is the most important thing in all of life. Without it, life has no appeal to me whatsoever. The stories we love is where many of us turn for pleasure – but, oh, is it annoying when I’m subjected to some storyteller who, in my estimation, is doing it wrong. There’s no fun there. Why can’t they all please me?

Pleasing me, it turns out, is no one’s job but mine. Fortunately, there are a few people out there who like what I like. Though maybe there’s nothing really fortunate about it. It’s as natural as a multitude of flowers all blooming after the same rainstorm. Some flowers need more sun and some need less, and some need a lot water and some just a little, details gardeners can squabble over while the rest of us enjoy the view.

Check out Fearless Writing with Bill Kenower on YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt
You can find William at: williamkenower.com