I'd say every White Wolf book EVER has been poorly researched, too.
There are 3 real reasons why Changeling failed:
1) Chimerical reality vs actual reality was just stupid, both in theory and in execution. Â Chimerical reality was simply so far divorced from the actual world that Changelings were much more like people playing pretend than actual supernatural beings in most cases. Â Admittedly, this was an intended theme of the game, but that intended theme damaged its fun factor.
2) Glamour vs Banality was never really sufficiently explained. Â Glamour could JUST ABOUT get away with not really being defined or explained well because it was supposed to be chaotic, but Banality should have had a rock hard explanation. Â Technological process and science were supposedly banal... but Nockers did the exact same stuff for the most part. Â Cynicism was banal... but creativity and cynicism can go hand in hand. Â It was supposedly banal to not believe in this you couldn't see... but Changelings didn't really believe in anything they couldn't see either, they just could see MORE. Â That doesn't even get into the totally wacky and arbitrary Banality assignments that were handed out (e.g. for some reason Werewolves are very low Banality on average, while Vampires are very high on average).
3) The game mechanics were just lame. Â The Art + Realm system ensured you were very limited in what you could affect (particularly with the Actor Realm being such a pain in the ass). Â Glamour was REQUIRED to cast ANY Cantrip that had a real world effect (and generally you'd have to spend more than one point to get your dice pool down), but Glamour was also a huge pain to get without Ravaging, with Musing sometimes taking SIX MONTHS to POSSIBLY get Glamour. Â
Overall the game's theme and systemology is what damned it, not things about white people or poor research.
There are 3 real reasons why Changeling failed:
1) Chimerical reality vs actual reality was just stupid, both in theory and in execution. Â Chimerical reality was simply so far divorced from the actual world that Changelings were much more like people playing pretend than actual supernatural beings in most cases. Â Admittedly, this was an intended theme of the game, but that intended theme damaged its fun factor.
2) Glamour vs Banality was never really sufficiently explained. Â Glamour could JUST ABOUT get away with not really being defined or explained well because it was supposed to be chaotic, but Banality should have had a rock hard explanation. Â Technological process and science were supposedly banal... but Nockers did the exact same stuff for the most part. Â Cynicism was banal... but creativity and cynicism can go hand in hand. Â It was supposedly banal to not believe in this you couldn't see... but Changelings didn't really believe in anything they couldn't see either, they just could see MORE. Â That doesn't even get into the totally wacky and arbitrary Banality assignments that were handed out (e.g. for some reason Werewolves are very low Banality on average, while Vampires are very high on average).
3) The game mechanics were just lame. Â The Art + Realm system ensured you were very limited in what you could affect (particularly with the Actor Realm being such a pain in the ass). Â Glamour was REQUIRED to cast ANY Cantrip that had a real world effect (and generally you'd have to spend more than one point to get your dice pool down), but Glamour was also a huge pain to get without Ravaging, with Musing sometimes taking SIX MONTHS to POSSIBLY get Glamour. Â
Overall the game's theme and systemology is what damned it, not things about white people or poor research.