I’ve been sick this past week. Nothing too major, just ongoing stuff that I should have sorted ages ago, mostly just requiring a full stop, and resting. My recovery period (and subsequent not being in work) has coincided with the explosion of BlueSky as a place where a lot of gaming chat happens – it’s finally overtaken twitter and seems to be becoming the major place for short-form TTRPG discussion, memes, and general bantz. Which of course has led to me spending a lot of time on my phone scrolling through feeds and being barely entertained by gaming “discussion.”

And with it, there’s been an opportunity to practise good social media management, for many of us starting from scratch the way we wished we started on twitter. And subsequent accusations of BlueSky being an echo chamber, and a few of the bad actors from twitter trying to make their way across.

So it’s a good time to remind myself, and you, that a useful approach with gaming social media is to remember that you don’t have to like everything. In fact, you might like things that some other people think are terrible, and you might dislike things that other people think are good. And that’s fine; even (especially) in TTRPGs.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

Why do we have to remember this? Because every day I see people replying to posts about enthusiasm commenting they don’t like stuff. It happens often with D&D – if ever there were a game that is indifferent to individuals liking it. But you also see it with OSR, PBTA, and any segment of the hobby. People feel compelled to respond to enthusiasm with their own opinion. And that’s all it is. Opinion.

I’ll give a few examples. There are several properties, mostly in science fiction, that I cannot stand. Doctor Who is the biggest one. Maybe it’s because it returned to the British TV screens much vaunted with, er, Sylvester McCoy in the title role just as I grew out of Blue Peter – or maybe just because everybody else seemed to stan it when the BBC’s big relaunch came, but I just can’t bear it. Daleks, FFS. What even. I don’t like it, but – crucially – I don’t really care that I don’t like it.

There’s other properties I don’t really like, too – some of which I can see objectively might be good for other people. Babylon 5. I’m utterly dumbfounded that Old School Essentials is a game anyone would like to play, let alone run. Traveller. MERP. The Silmarillion. (Conversely, in case you think I’m a curmudgeon, I quite liked Rings of Power.) Battlestar Galactica (this comes up in games so many times, I don’t think I can ever watch BSG – I’ve had what the Cylons (?) are explained to me in games so many times in reference to some betrayal at the table that I have no interest in seeing what the original is.)

I don’t really like these things. That’s OK. I don’t care. But I don’t reply when people post about them. I don’t offer my opinion on why the Dr Who RPG isn’t for me, or bitch about how many games of OSE there are at conventions. We can like different things, and like multiple things. I try to roll my eyes and walk away when a post about, e.g., PBTA is met with a negative response from somebody because they don’t like the system. Because, it’s OK that they don’t like it. They don’t have to like everything, either. It’s their issue that they need to share it with the world.

So, as we’re starting a new brave frontier of social media interaction, and have an opportunity to start our feeds cleansed and happier than they were before, let’s all just be happy not liking some things. 

Or don’t. You don’t have to like what I’m saying here, either – and yes, I am poised for a pack of replies saying how great Babylon 5 is. You’ll get a stern eye roll from me.