Where have all the merrymakers gone?
There is a general feeling of exploitation I have felt from the scene as of late. Tabletop and videogames seem to have this problem with deluding people into the pursuit of the ultimate fun. So of course that has been distilled into a quantifiable thing to be marketed at us.
The videogames industry makes an amount of money that is beyond comprehension and is always finding new ways to get people to fork over money for "fun". Audiences have been conditioned that part of playing new games involves some form of paying for fun, or more commonly access to have fun. All these ongoing monetization aspects push player's into looking at all game time in the lens of return on investment. Criticism and discussion of games then fail to leave the orbit of "worth" and "hours played" as they offer what is essentially an entry in a Kelly's Blue Book with an uninspired bean counting of systems but no investment into what they do or how they operate. This consume, assimilate mode of play has completely overridden the style of play I find most authentic. It becomes increasingly hard to stoke your imagination when you are constantly reminded about how much money you've put into something. The problems seem worse (if you choose to acknowledge them) and what good there is can be hyperbolized.
Star Citizen stands in naked isolation from the rest with how far it has gone to completely embolden people to leave behind their critical eye in exchange for power and access. There are entire gameplay loops inside the game that remain sealed away unless you pay hundreds of dollars or grind digital menial labor for someone who has access to said equipment. It's a wild moment for the hobby where the suburbanite fantasy of exchanging money for power and access has been openly revealed and turned into a monetization scheme. There is simply no other game that hooks into the neoliberal ideas of opportunity and connection being brought about by spending money. Excuses dress it up as buying in to support a promise of good to come. Purchasing gives you the freedom to imagine it being better.
With TTRPGs we live in the era of system deluge. Week after week we are presented a dozen new ways to play. So many systems and so little time to play any of them. All these insights, fixes, breakthroughs they offer and most of us simply will never have the chance to experience it. People feel the urge to buy these systems because they think it will fill a lack at their home table or give them some breakthrough into imagining better. Or just like our friend the video gamer, they are hopping from system to system just for the sporadic joy of having bought something, chewed it up, and spat it out. Just like the Star Citizen backers we exchange money for access for permission to imagine. Can't help but imagine how much more liberating it'd be if people asked themselves: "Could this system be an adventure?" honestly. Might be we see more people making things that encourage play rather then endlessly trying to codify. For the rest of us at home running games, listen to what you and your table want, you'll find the fun that way.