Fear of Change is Natural or How I Learned to Stopped Worrying and Love Edition X
People fear change. We’ve all been in situations where change, small or large, was occuring and people, perhaps yourself included, started to panic, voice negative opinions, complain how things have always worked well and don’t need to change, etc. Like it or not, this is a completely normal and natural response. There are people out there with Masters degree’s in Change Management. They go to school for years to learn how to help people cope with change in their environments. Professionally, I’ve seen many, many changes in the offices I’ve worked in. Whether it was in the Air Force or in the private sector, change happens and people typically react the same way. When it comes to different editions of D&D or different RPGs in general, I notice the exact same reactions to change as I do in a business setting.
So why the reaction to change? There are typically two reasons; 1) A fear of the unknown and 2) An expectation of loss. For example, people who played D&D had been playing 3rd edition for many years before 4th edition hit the shelves. They had time to digest the ruleset, play with it, and make it their own. But 4th edition had new features and updates of which they were completely unaware. And, because of that, they expected to lose features of their game that they hade come to know and love. And even when the new edition did hit the shelves, the people who resisted change would read with a critical eye, looking for anything that would support their theories. By the way, replace “3rd edition” and “4th edition” with “2nd edition” and “3rd edition,” respectively, and you have the same reaction. 
What about the edition wars? Should you try to assuage people’s fears or argue with them? In short, no. The longer answer is, “it depends.” If you read something on the internet and a person/people are grousing about the changes to “their beloved game,” then you’re not going to be able to change their minds and you’re just going to get frustrated at their “inability to see things my way.” And why is that? Because you have no personal stake in them. In a personal setting, you interact with people directly. You are there to help them along the way, holding their hand when necessary, and present a friendly face to let them know that the change is not going to hurt them. In the anonymous environment of the internet, these posters don’t know you from Adam and so you’re rebuttals to their arguments will fall upon deaf ears.
In real life, however, that’s where it goes from “no” to “it depends.” If you have a friend or acquaintance who is complaining about changes, then you might be able to calm their fears and, perhaps, get them to at least reasonably examine the changes before forming a negative opinion. Even then, it may not be worth your time, but your relationship with them will give you a better idea on how to proceed. You may even be able to convince them to take the rules out for a test drive to see how they run and then see if their opinion still holds water.
So, in the end, it all boils down to the fact that people are people and human nature regarding change has not changed much (read: at all) in the centuries we’ve been on this planet. In gaming, edition wars will come and go. The best that you can do is to try things out for yourself and then form your own opinions. And if you come across someone with a negative opinion of something they’ve never really taken the time to get to know, you only have one option: Kill them and take their stuff.
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Stuart June 8th, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Once you give something a try, that’s no guarantee that you’re going to “Love Edition X” though.
I don’t think it’s as much a “fear” of change as people having different preferences for what they think is fun, what genres and conventions they like, and how they want to spend their Saturday nights.
We’ve spent a couple of weeks playing 4e, and it’s okay… but not the game I want to keep on playing week after week.