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"just homebrew it out" as a sentiment falls flat in general, but it's especially hollow when you don't give guidance or provide your audience the appropriate tools to actually do that
beyond doing game design, I'm also someone who works in the technology change leadership field, helping companies make large-scale technology transitions effective for their employees
so I want to talk about "just homebrew it" from the perspective of making effective change
so I want to talk about "just homebrew it" from the perspective of making effective change
in general change is very difficult to implement, and it's even more difficult when the people that are going to be affected by it are resistant to changing their behaviour
usually, the majority of people are more likely to want to stick to the status quo than make changes
usually, the majority of people are more likely to want to stick to the status quo than make changes
so some of the absolute key factors in making change successful are:
a) getting buy-in/engagement from the people affected by the change by addressing the benefits for them
b) making change easier for them by providing them resources and support
a) getting buy-in/engagement from the people affected by the change by addressing the benefits for them
b) making change easier for them by providing them resources and support
getting back to the "just homebrew it out" statement, what it's essentially saying is "if you don't like X, make the design changes yourself to remove X"
and often, those changes are addressing something deeply mechanically structural, such as bioessentialism in a game's races
and often, those changes are addressing something deeply mechanically structural, such as bioessentialism in a game's races
so the obstacles for the player/GM to implementing homebrew change is incredibly high with the labour/skills/resources needed to untangle deeply mechanical/structural elements of a game, adding to the base resistance that already occurs in all change
and then not providing the resources and support through official guidance or tools or structural design to help players/GMs/designers to actually implement their homebrew changes?
that's the nail in the coffin
that's the nail in the coffin
"just homebrew it out", aka telling players/GM/designers to make their own design changes to address issues that are in the core/base text without providing them the reasons or the way to do so, is extremely ineffective
and on a higher level, "just homebrew it out" as a response to people saying "please make changes within the core/base text to remove content that is harmful" is an ineffective and half-hearted (at best) way to address the necessary changes to actually remove that harmful content
you can't say you're committed to changing and making a game better in terms of addressing harmful content and improving DEI, and then place the onus of that change on your audience while also removing the ability and incentive for them to do so
