This is a forum for discussing roguelikes. Now you may ask: aren't there already plenty of perfectly good places to do that? Well...
Some Background
You see for the last 10 years, the place to discuss roguelikes was r/roguelikes. But over those 10 years, that community encountered significant growing pains. Much of it had to do with the shifting meaning of the word roguelike which, for most people, has come to include action games with procedural elements and permadeath. Since the veterans are holding tight to the original definition (i.e. grid-based, turn-based games only), a war of sorts has broke out. It seems that most of the discussions in recent memory have devolved into gatekeeping, flamewars, and arguments about definitions. Tensions are high.
In an effort to explain this situation and beg the involved parties for a return to civility, I have become the most hated man on r/roguelikes. Woops! While most of the feedback to my post was positive, the most common negative response has been along the lines of "we don't have a problem with rudeness here; go fuck yourself for saying so." I've been called "dickish", "a textbook troll", "straight up stupid", and "pigheaded". In short: point proven.
Introducing Rogueish
A roguelike community for the rest of us. Here's what we're going to do here:
- We're going to discuss roguelikes, no matter your definition. You can talk about Rogue, traditional roguelikes, rogue-lites, roguelikelikes. Whatever.
- We won't be arguing about definitions. Because it's boring.
- We're going to be friendly.
That's it.
So to answer your original question, yes there is already a place that is (implicitly) about traditional roguelikes, another that is (explicitly) about traditional roguelikes, and another that is about roguelites. I have nothing against these communities. I wish them the best and you'll probably see me in each from time to time.
Yet there is no single place to discuss all of those types of games. And because no one agrees on what these words mean, there's definitely nowhere to discuss roguelikes without endless linguistic nitpicking. Even the most knowledgeable players will argue about whether games like FTL or Unexplored fit the bill.
By including all of these kinds roguelikes, we can bypass the whole argument and we can do so while being welcoming to everyone.
So I think that makes Rogueish rather unique and if you agree, please join us! ✊
