Peering into rec.games.frp.dnd

I was going to post about something I ran across on rec.games.frp.dnd awhile back, but when I checked Google Groups the original post was gone. Ah, well. It was someone complaining that their players were bored since 4E wasn't offering enough options for their PCs - powers, feats, whatever. I was going to make the point that the campaign should offer enough of interest that a lack of mechanical options didn't have to be a problem, but without the original post the point is a bit moot.

I poked around a little more to see what was being discussed. The population of that newsgroup is steadily declining, in sync with the ever-decreasing relevance of Usenet (something I've addressed before). Years ago I used to regularly read and post to the group, but these days I may at most pop in a few times a year to see what's being discussed. Given the type of people who still use Usenet, I wasn't surprised to see how many bytes were devoted to anti-4E rants, though I was somewhat disappointed to see some long-time veterans spewing out sophomoric vitriol that I would expect to see from grade school kids, not men in their 30's and 40's (yeah, yeah, I know - "welcome to the Internet!").

This is nothing new, but it still is something I don't get. From a gaming hobby standpoint, it's one thing to say you dislike a particular game or edition of a game. It's another to go to great lengths to show just how much you dislike it. You'd think people would spend that energy doing something for the things they do like. I mean, if that's how you want to spend your time, that's your business. Just seems like a waste to me (of course, for people who lack imagination or creativity, perhaps negativity is all they have...).