# Tribalism is Normal, Exploration is Weird tags: #thoughts/tribalism ![[Tribalism (illo).jpg]] You know, the real problem with having to put together an idea that somebody else is going to publish, no matter what the length is, becomes very quickly that you want to make something accessible.[^1] And if the platform you're going to be publishing on tends toward a certain style of game, and you're *definitely* not doing that, you have to consider how you want to frame it up. Yes, I know I'm vaguebooking a little bit right now, but go with me. It's never good to lock your work or, really, your entertainment into one single type of thing. The interesting stuff is always on the fringes, where one thing touches another—that space where they bleed into one another. That may not be where you want to *play* all the time. It may not be the thing that you embrace as what you do at your home table all the time. But if you want to ever expand the audience for what you do, you have to be willing to go out and meet people partway. Likewise, you have to be willing for people who don't do exactly what you do at the table to meet you partway when they want to reach out to you. This is a problem in a *lot* of fandoms. Truth be told, it always has been. There is an easy sense of tribalism that comes out across the board, no matter where you're at or what you're doing. A lot of the screams about gatekeeping fall into this tribalist rejection of anything that is a little bit different, out of a fear that connection with ideas that aren't your own are going to lead to a degradation of your ideas. In a sense, it is truly about trust in your own beliefs, trust in your own decision-making, trust that what you're doing really does make you happy, and that you aren't just going to be flipping on a dime because you heard something new. Not only that, but also trust that *others* who like the same thing that you do are going to continue to like that thing and that you're not going to be all alone. I get it. I really do. I understand how you can get there. I understand why you might build that reactionary sort of response to anything outside of your tribe. I get it. But if you want to ever improve your tribe, if you want to ever expand your tribe, if you want your tribe to get better in general at doing that thing that you love, that you've chosen to make central to that identity, you have to be willing to explore the fringes. Sometimes you find stuff that you definitely don't like. Sometimes you find stuff that's intriguing and that you can bring back to the village and share amongst your friends. You all look at it, admire it, and figure out how you can use it in your day-to-day. Sometimes I forget that the people who want to go out to the edge of the known map ideologically, conceptually, and intellectually as much as physically are not normal. They're "weird," in the very original sense of the word. I think of it as something absolutely imperative to my intellectual satisfaction. But that's not normal. Just some random thoughts kicking around my head tonight as I think about stuff on my plate.[^2] [^1]: Well, aside from writing the damn thing in the first place, which is always the hardest part of writing. Don't let anyone tell you different. Writing is the hardest part of writing. [^2]: Some of these thoughts are a side effect of wrestling with something that's literally on my plate in terms of a potential gig, but also an observation of how the reception of Chubby Funster's **[ShadowCity: Blood and Neon](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chubbyfunster/shadowcity-blood-and-neon)**, [[Vampire - the Masquerade|Vampire: the Masquerade]]-inspired, **[[ShadowDark]]**-derived game has been from certain quarters, as though he is engaging in a betrayal of the tribe. It's a weird thing to watch, even though I've watched it over and over again for over 40 years at this point.