All For One?

There's two new things buzzing in the blogosphere this weekend. I'm too lazy to link to either, and don't have a whole lot to say. One's something about dungeon exploration versus character exploration. I can't think of anything deep to add to that conversation right now, although I may say something later. I'll just say that I do prefer character development through play instead of through prep, and I prefer play to be shaped by actions and consequences rather than character arcs.

The other big buzz is about Mike Mearls calling for party gamer unity. Most people are focusing on how a call for unity is kind of empty if WotC isn't going to do something relevant to our interests, but I didn't even get that far. I'm just completely baffled about what Mearls is asking us -- or the Pathfinder gamers, or even the 4e players -- to do. What's "gamer unity"? Does he mean we should all buy WotC products? It doesn't sound like it. Does he want us to spend 10% of our game time playing the editions we don't like?

So, unlike other bloggers, I've come to the conclusion that Mike Mearls can't actually be asking us to do anything. He just needed a broad, general topic to start out his new column, and thought this would be of the broadest relevance. His real topics will come in future columns.

And since he's not asking me to do anything, I'll keep doing what I want.