There is truly no activity invented by humans which is viewed through the same lens as some people see Dungeons & Dragons through. And I do basically mean this as an insult.
For every other group activity; be it acting, or Magic: the Gathering, or cricket, or sex, et cetera; understanding the basics or having a willingness to learn is pretty universally agreed to be a prerequisite.
D&D is the exception where expecting someone to actually know what it is seen by many as a gross faux pas which ruins the fun.
I don't think it's too surprising to anyone that an inordinate amount of my time is spent thinking about game systems from a mathematical perspective. Which could be seen as time wasted as games aren't "real". But they get to become real when everyone collectively agrees that they are.
Like, there's nothing inherently meaningful about Don Bradman hitting some leather with a bit of wood, or about me moving some cardboard around a table at my LGS. But because everyone agrees that games matter, he gets to be the greatest sportsman of all time, and I get to win some games of Magic.
Regardless of your feelings on D&D, it is still a game. So when somebody refuses to "buy-in" like this, by not going along with the façade of the rules, it shatters the illusion for everybody. No longer a game. At that point you're basically just writing fanf- this is the point where I realised why this attitude is so prevalent on [tumblr] and gave up
















