I signed back up for the Fudge list maybe a week ago to see what I could do to help with this whole 'Fudge is dead' sentiment that cropped up... and today I unsubscribed again. Some folks are just too innovation-averse for me to want to use my breath on. Certainly not a malady afflicting the entire community, but man, nothing kills joy like someone who looks at efforts you're making and dismisses them on the basis of 'nothing's wrong here'.
Why have I been upset about all of this? Well, let me tell you. Fred Hicks quit the Fudge list. That's cool, I've quit it before too but at the same time I realize that it is one of the true lifelines of the Fudge Community (even if I have disagreements with the people who run it) and because of that I came back and stayed. I stayed because I like the people of the community, even when they disagree with me or I them, and I like the fact that they like Fudge. That's kind of important to me.
The thing with Fred, to me, came off as a Triumphant Return To Save Fudge. Unfortunately, from that viewpoint, Fudge didn't need to be actually saved. And, there were those from the community who said so.
Now, when people from the Story Games/Forge communities run into a roadblock they start saying the sorts of things that Fred says in his LiveJournal post above. People are resistant to innovation, usually in some variant that is a bit more negative. Innovation is all fine and good, and there's a place for it. After all, frankly, the last that anyone in this hobby wants is for all of us to still be playing brown box D&D (despite what Old Geezer on RPG.net may think about the system). Innovation for its own sake is, in my opinion, pointless. I really don't see the point behind it, to tell the truth. I know that it means something for the people doing it, and the people getting something out of those games but it just comes off as hollow to me.
The thing is that this doesn't discount what those people are doing. They aren't going to be relevant to everyone. I'm not really sure why this would come as a shock to anyone (that different people have different preferences). There's nothing wrong with the people who don't share those preferences.
Now, part of the reason why I used Fred's post as a springboard for this is because I think that it really typifies a lot of the attitude of the Story Games/Forge communities. If they don't get their way, they pick up their toys and leave, blaming the people who aren't interested in their message. I guess that I don't see it as a productive way to bring your ideas across.
I await the flames that will come over this, and I know that they will. I wanted to get my opinions out on this because, this might come as a shock to some, but everyone gets to have opinions even if they're contrary to those of the "cool" kids.