On Taste

I was sparked to write this by Viz's comment on my LOTFP review.

One of the problems that I struggle with day-to-day is that my taste exceeds my ability. The term taste carries a connotation of elitism, but it really just means that you have an appreciation of aesthetics with respect to some art form. Someone who has good taste in film has the ability to seperate good ideas from the bad ideas. They know the nuances of film, the techniques of film, and they are aware of the history of film. This person thinks about film a lot.

I feel that way about RPGs. I voraciously consume RPG content, I think about RPGs a lot, and I theorize about RPGs. I connect dots between concepts, I judge content vs standards of excellence, etc.

Unfortunately, my ability to create content does not exceed my own standards. So I consistently create things that I look at and say "well, this is crap". That's why I publish all my work as public beta, because I don't trust myself enough to go with my first attempt. I need to refine continuously for a long time before I reach that level of comfort.

Ira Glass has a great discussion of this paradox with respect to his own work.



I said in my reply to Viz that the positive comments on Errant's layout don't really sink in to me because I am so highly critical of it myself. However, I am also cognizant that I need to move past that and just keep working on improvement. And that was the spirit in which I embrace my LOTFP review. Improvement is necessary for our art form. I feel like we have a long way to go.