thread: 2011-02-17 : Ben Lehman: Playtesting: Stop
On 2011-02-18, Evan Torner wrote:
I do believe that Ben's actually ranting here against playstorming, but put in the following defense mechanism...
("But what about playstorming!?" Go ahead. Ask me that. I dare you.)
...so as to denigrate that cultural practice entirely, while then ratcheting up the hyperbole on the practice of playtesting that, at best and at worst achieves mixed results.
But you cannot title a post - Playtesting: It's Kind of a Mixed Bag, Really - and farm a lot of high-profile attention from the indie game community, as this one does. And playstorming as a process is even more unstable, sorta like Calvinball.
That being said, I am one of those meticulous composers of AP reports on behalf of the gaming community, in part, because I've perceived an increasing demand among all sorts of RPG communities to see their practices documented. What Ben states about the craft of RPG writing/design is clear and sound: do it well, and filter out the voices that seem confused or have their own agenda vis-?-vis your product. But AP, like it or not, has become an integral part of the publishing constellation as well, and playtesting forms a cornerstone in that arc: what does this game look like when it's played, and how do those people who aren't the designer receive it?
Otherwise we get into 19th Century Romantic notions of the independent genius artist and their craft, etc.
