Being myself a collector, I fully understand your point, you have all my sympathy!
In any case we are what we do (or the other way round...) and I am happy surrounded with my unused games! ...the positive aspect for me is to provide the so called 'Astrifiammante reportages' here on Substack... at least I share a bit of RPG knowledge with all the substackers!
Yes--more on my shelves than I'll get through in this lifetime. How many times have I told myself I don't need more?
I was drawn into this hobby primarily because DnD was a toolset to unleash my imagination. Worldbuilding took hold of me at an early age. I love homebrewing. Love.
But I grew up, got married, had kids, got a job and time to do anything comes at a much higher premium. I had to make piece with a balance between homebrewing and finding stuff I can run to save me time. Although I've never, ever been able to run something off the shelf without making substantial changes. Temple of Elemental Evil? Don't get me started.
But all the stuff on my bookshelf that I'll never run, and the hundreds of digital copies of stuff are quick and easy ways to have feels about my hobby, and they do keep me inspired. And I do have adventures that I create for my group, and even a few that I've had published. Like so many things I find it's a balance. In the last year I've devoted an hour a day to writing, which has been incredibly satisfying.
And I still can't stop buying stuff. In my older age I'm now drawn to specific adventure writing authors to keep abreast of how they do things.
I’ve been trying to move away from the collector mindset into a use mindset. I too have far more products purchased than I could feasibly use. Lately, I have been going through my piles of pdfs and trying to adapt them for use in my current game. It’s an interesting puzzle: the assumptions of a ruleset make themselves glaringly obvious when you attempt to remove or replace those rules.
I understand the desire to rail against the commodity of imagination. But I really do think that imagination needs inspiration. I also think there is value in a community that appreciates and supports its artists... and game designers are artists. This is especially true in the indie scene where so many great OSR and OSE games come from. Why not support the author of Vast in the Dark, a setting I fell in love with? Why not support the author of Elegy, a book I just picked up today? If no one had been willing to buy games and system when they first came out, I'm not sure we would have a hobby today.
There is definitely space to worry about consumerism. But there is room for art and appreciation too... and critics and reviewers have almost always come along with art. A good review helps me decide ahead of time if something is worth supporting, and that's valuable when I have limited funds for an unlimited appetite.
I think that in itself outside content isn't any problematic, be it as just a thing you run or inspiration. I'd actually argue that for a lot of people it's going to be of immense use, whether as a time saver or to expand their horizons beyond just what their mind could come up with.
Now, collecting over playing is something to consider, possibly harmless in itself (same as people collecting wargame miniatures without interest in playing or without people to play with), though indeed it is separate from the real play and might lead to some distortions. I'm thinking here of those adventures written to read like a novel, but impractical when brought to an actual table.
As it's often the case, real trouble starts when money comes into picture, from soulless cash grabs to marketing which might resort to building up hype and creating FOMO instead of providing a product one would happily pay for on its own merits. I honestly believe that this makes a counterbalance in the form of practical and freely shared resources important to maintaining a community, passing down knowledge, setting up a certain "quality standard" and honest expression, as opposed to making money a priority and hobby just means to an end (which can happen even in projects starting with the best of intentions).
Being myself a collector, I fully understand your point, you have all my sympathy!
In any case we are what we do (or the other way round...) and I am happy surrounded with my unused games! ...the positive aspect for me is to provide the so called 'Astrifiammante reportages' here on Substack... at least I share a bit of RPG knowledge with all the substackers!
May the fun be always at your table!
Yes--more on my shelves than I'll get through in this lifetime. How many times have I told myself I don't need more?
I was drawn into this hobby primarily because DnD was a toolset to unleash my imagination. Worldbuilding took hold of me at an early age. I love homebrewing. Love.
But I grew up, got married, had kids, got a job and time to do anything comes at a much higher premium. I had to make piece with a balance between homebrewing and finding stuff I can run to save me time. Although I've never, ever been able to run something off the shelf without making substantial changes. Temple of Elemental Evil? Don't get me started.
But all the stuff on my bookshelf that I'll never run, and the hundreds of digital copies of stuff are quick and easy ways to have feels about my hobby, and they do keep me inspired. And I do have adventures that I create for my group, and even a few that I've had published. Like so many things I find it's a balance. In the last year I've devoted an hour a day to writing, which has been incredibly satisfying.
And I still can't stop buying stuff. In my older age I'm now drawn to specific adventure writing authors to keep abreast of how they do things.
I’ve been trying to move away from the collector mindset into a use mindset. I too have far more products purchased than I could feasibly use. Lately, I have been going through my piles of pdfs and trying to adapt them for use in my current game. It’s an interesting puzzle: the assumptions of a ruleset make themselves glaringly obvious when you attempt to remove or replace those rules.
I understand the desire to rail against the commodity of imagination. But I really do think that imagination needs inspiration. I also think there is value in a community that appreciates and supports its artists... and game designers are artists. This is especially true in the indie scene where so many great OSR and OSE games come from. Why not support the author of Vast in the Dark, a setting I fell in love with? Why not support the author of Elegy, a book I just picked up today? If no one had been willing to buy games and system when they first came out, I'm not sure we would have a hobby today.
There is definitely space to worry about consumerism. But there is room for art and appreciation too... and critics and reviewers have almost always come along with art. A good review helps me decide ahead of time if something is worth supporting, and that's valuable when I have limited funds for an unlimited appetite.
I think that in itself outside content isn't any problematic, be it as just a thing you run or inspiration. I'd actually argue that for a lot of people it's going to be of immense use, whether as a time saver or to expand their horizons beyond just what their mind could come up with.
Now, collecting over playing is something to consider, possibly harmless in itself (same as people collecting wargame miniatures without interest in playing or without people to play with), though indeed it is separate from the real play and might lead to some distortions. I'm thinking here of those adventures written to read like a novel, but impractical when brought to an actual table.
As it's often the case, real trouble starts when money comes into picture, from soulless cash grabs to marketing which might resort to building up hype and creating FOMO instead of providing a product one would happily pay for on its own merits. I honestly believe that this makes a counterbalance in the form of practical and freely shared resources important to maintaining a community, passing down knowledge, setting up a certain "quality standard" and honest expression, as opposed to making money a priority and hobby just means to an end (which can happen even in projects starting with the best of intentions).