# Reviewers Should Know How to Play tags: #thoughts There's a problem endemic in the RPG space that really bothers me, especially when I read reviews like this. Here it is: *I don't think the people currently involved in RPGs like to **play**.* ![[Discworld Review in Wargamer (illo).jpg]] -- https://www.wargamer.com/terry-pratchett-discworld-rpg/review No, I don't mean they don't like to play RPGs. I mean they *don't like to play at all*—the process of play, the freedom of play, the idea that play might be unbounded is lost on them. They are exactly the people you expect them to be—the kind who really aren't good at or care about banter, that don't bounce off other people at the table, who provide the most staid and plodding scenario presentations when they're running somebody else's work. They need guide rails so they can feel safe when they're making things up. They don't want to *play*. Now, here's the thing. You absolutely, positively should not give somebody like that a copy of the *[Discworld RPG](https://modiphius.net/en-us/pages/discworld-adventures)* and tell them to review it. It's not just a recipe for disaster, it's a recipe for ongoing soul-crushing misery. Ironically, it's the other side of the common complaint that goes up about a lot of people in the hobby: *"they don't really play."* These people play the game. They know the rules. They want more rules. But they don't really *play*.