Being Professional

Zak S. just went on a fairly pointed rant about how D&D OSR folks should not aspire to be professional, and argues in fact that being 'professional' has mostly negative connotations to creating quality products.  I think this is bullshit.

I do not disagree that the corporate products have often been terrible, and for many of the reasons that Zak provides, like targeting as large a market as possible by making intentionally generic products, making products designed for 'the average DM' or playgroup, etc.  But I feel that the word 'corporate' is far better than the word 'professional' for what Zak is describing.

I have 20 years of theatre experience, gleaned from youth theatre, community theatre, and professional theatre.  As an actor, professionalism will get you jobs.  Given a choice between an actor who is great and unprofessional will often lose to someone who is good but professional.  And professional, for an actor, means showing up to rehearsal on time (and not inebriated/intoxicated), rehearsing in good faith with the director and scene partners, and following through on their responsibilities (for example, some directors expect actors to have memorized their parts before showing up to rehearsal, while others might wish to run through a scene once with the actors before having them memorize it).  They are respectful and collaborative.

One can be 'professional' in community or youth theatre.  The big difference, in fact (besides money and skill) between professional theatre and community theatre is the degree of professionalism found in the actors, director, and technical crew.  I was in a community theatre production and the sound designer quit four days before we were supposed to open - he threw a hissy fit when the director asked him a question he disliked (a perfectly reasonable one, at that) and walked out of the door.  It was the absolute definition of unprofessional.  That gentleman did not find work with the director or theatre again.

Professionalism is, at its core, the choice to follow through on one's commitments, to deliver a quality product (as good as is possible).  Folks who are unprofessional, who are unreliable or just a pain in the ass to work with, do not tend to find repeat work (without mitigating factors, like nepotism or something similarly unpleasant).  Word gets around.

And so, if you are interested in producing a product to sell, RPG-related or otherwise, you must be professional - answering e-mails in a timely fashion, being polite to both your co-collaborators, the people you hire for different parts of the task, and so on.  I am not saying you must "[n]ever upset... a potential customer in the target audience" or "[n]ever upset... a potential business partner where no money is at stake."  But be respectful.  If someone is being a dick to you, being a dick back is unhelpful - it reinforces their idea that dickishness is an appropriate means of communication, while potentially alienating other people from your product who agree with you but don't like how you handle yourself (I lose track of the number of fabulous musicians who do not see formal recognition or rewards because they are perceived as egotistical or irreverent).  If someone is being a dick, hold onto the high ground and either attempt to earnestly engage them in dialogue or let them know that being a dick is an excellent way to get banned (or go one step further and simply ban them without a warning).

A lot of people, I think, get confused between professionalism and a 'professional' - someone who is actually paid to perform a type of work, regardless of their drive to actually do it.  In RPGs, I doubt there are actually very many people who do work in RPGs and secretly hate it.  I think there can be a huge aesthetic difference in what different RPG people want and create for their games.  I think there are absolutely judgmental folks in the RPG community, as in every community.

And I do agree that some larger corporations' choices to mass-market their product instead of specifying it can severely limit the quality of that product.  While an independent game developer or content creator, thinking like a corporation is a stupid choice.  But one does not need to be corporate to be professional.  One can, in fact, be professional without succumbing to corporatism.  Alexis Smolensk is an excellent example of this.  Honestly, Zak S. is a good example of this as well - he delivers on his promises and does not equivocate.  While not polite in a traditional sense, he listen to what others have to say and enjoys collaborating with people he respects.  He does enjoy returning fire at people who impugn him, his work, or the people in his community, but I think most of us would be defensive and wish to go on the offensive in any of those scenarios.


tl;dr: be responsible and respectful - i.e. professional - if you are serious about making a product that other people might use.