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What Will Influence the Next Generation to Play D&D?
Some folks in another thread were talking about how reading fantasy books is what got them into D&D. I know for me reading those books went hand in hand with playing D&D.
There are studies out which are showing dramatic drops in reading amongst kids today.
The study referenced in the article below is attached to this post, as well as another.
We all know about the Harry Potter craze, and how kids were into that. Now we have the Twilight craze, and teens are into it big time. With both series, there is an adult audience as well. A lot of us have read from both series.
Did the Potter series bring in new gamers? Do you think the Twilight craze will? Is there a carry-over from reading this genre of books to playing D&D?
There are many more multimedia distractions today with kids. When I was growing up it was basically TV. Now with the Internet, Facebook/MySpace, IPods, Cell Phones, IM, MMORPG's, the window of opportunity in a kid's day to read has shrunken down to be much smaller than what we had. Plus, a lot of what books compete with is social in nature, whereas books are not.
Selling the social aspects of gaming seems to be the way to go in order to get more people into the hobby. We know 4e has incorporated elements of MMORPG's. WOTC is trying to sell the electronic social aspects with DDI. Smart moves, I think. For reasons stated ad nauseum in other threads, the results don't seem to be what was originally hoped for so far.
Even worse, we still don't know how many new people have been brought into the hobby.
I know based on some recent polls that we're mostly a bunch of old geezers on this board, not many kids. I'm 38, been playing since '84. Our perspetive may be a bit different, and we may be a bit out of touch. Probably those of us who do have kids in the target market, don't have the typical kids, bcause they were influnced by the gaming hobbies of their parents.
But still it has to be asked--where is the next gaming generation coming from? Are they coming at all in the numbers needed to sustain the hobby? Can more be done to get them involved? How do you sell it to them? How do you deal with a lack of young readers of the type of books that inspired us to play? How does gaming compete with all the rest of the things that take up their time?
We all know what we want th future of gaming to look like, in that we all want a bunch of new gamers to help the hobby grow. How do we get there?
__________________ ~Joe
If you like what I said, throw me some XP. I was a goblin sharpshooter for far too long.
Given that rpgs have always been a niche hobby, I don't find it implausible that the general decline in reading will not affect the gamer population all that much. Since you're likely to see some self selection going on, even if the pool from which you are drawing shrinks, you could easily see a corresponding increase in the rate at which readers move to gaming.
aside: I also have some reservations about this sort of report. It always has the air of old fogey "kids these days". Does reading a paper book impart its content less truely than in audiobook form? Is reading the latest pop-culture dectective crime story by the fact that it's on paper do something more for a person than watching "The Wire"? If I read a magazine in individual articles online over the course of a month, does that not count as reading just as buying the paper version would.
__________________ All we want to do is eat your brains
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All we want to do is eat your brains
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We’ll all come inside and eat your brains
Last edited by malraux; 11th January 2009 at 09:09 PM..
Reason: i are good righter
I really think the way new players will get into the game is through video games. That's how I got into it. Actually, I got into fantasy books from getting into Dungeons and Dragons and various CRPGs. I think, for the time being, the new generation of gamers will come from video games.
__________________ IF IT EXISTS, NERDS WILL ARGUE ABOUT IT
I don't see things being as different as some do. How are video games anything different than advanced versions of the ATARI? How many of us didn't have either those of the Nintendo growing up? The internet makes it a lot easier to talk to people in far off places, but how is that different than long distance telephone calls, letters, and home movies? Cell phones make it possible to take the phone with you wherever you go, but so what? People can get in touch a little easier. Texting is the equivalent of sliding notes into your friends' lockers.
As much as people try to say that things have changed, I tend to look at how technology makes it possible to do the things we used to do more efficiently. Information is more accessible, friends and family who live in far away places can still be part of your everyday life through sites like Facebook and Myspace, and shopping is easier because you don't even have to leave your house to purchase many things. In addition to this, online ordering makes it so that you can buy things that otherwise wouldn't be available in your area.
So what of roleplaying? Roleplaying has become one of the major genres of computer games, and there is good awareness of what led to those types of games. The younger generation will likely start with video games and experiment with tabletop as a means of having a good time with their real life friends. Really, how much fun is it to have a group of friends over and everyone get on their computers to experience an RPG together? It's not as fun, so as long as they know that tabletop is an option, I think it will continue to appeal to certain groups of kids.
It is true that fantasy fiction now means more than it did when I was growing up. When I was younger, there was Tolkien, David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, and then there were a few others who were starting to become popular, but there certainly wasn't the same number of authors out there as there are now, nor was there as much variety in the genres covered. Harry Potter is its own sub-genre, as are the horror inspired stories that probably have their roots in Vampire the Masquerade and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This just means that future roleplaying games may incorporate more of these elements.
And remember that Tolkien style fantasy is far from dead. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings have become some of the most important movies ever made. I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of kids look at them in much the same way as we look at Star Wars. They may not be reading the books, but they're watching the movies, and that's just as good an introduction to traditional fantasy as I could hope for.
In addition to this, there's Star Wars, which is more alive now than it was for the sixteen years in between Jedi and Phantom Menace. Again, that may be science fantasy, but its another path to geekdom and roleplaying.
All in all, I don't think the future is bleak for RPGs. Also, I've said this before but it bears repeating, I'm back in school finishing my degree and I actually see more college age D&D players than I did the first time I went through. Young people are still getting exposed to it.
__________________ Darrin Drader
Freelance Writer/Game Designer
Previously posting as Whisperfoot
I really think the way new players will get into the game is through video games. That's how I got into it. Actually, I got into fantasy books from getting into Dungeons and Dragons and various CRPGs. I think, for the time being, the new generation of gamers will come from video games.
This. We aren't losing that many people to video games. Rather, more non-geeks are playing video games. A small fraction of those will make it to WoW, and a small fraction of those will make it to RPGs.
Rather than the bane of table-top games, I bet we see a growth in gamers as geekery becomes more acceptable.
__________________ ENworld OAF (Old-school Admirer of 4th edition)
A per capita decrease in reading doesn't guarantee a drop in absolute numbers of readers.
A general decrease however calculated in reading doesn't guarantee a drop in readers of fantasy and science fiction literature.
Also, for the record, some amount of internet-as-leisure-activity can be just as useful to you as reading, because it involves... reading. Also writing!
I think we have already seen dome influence from both Harry potter, and Harry dresden...then again I also see starwars infleuence...Darthmaul/double weapons...Swordmage/soulknife/jedi
I am sure that 5e will show influence of others too...I just don't know what will last and what will be a flash in the pan
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Remathilis
Planescape
It should be given special award to Die Vecna, Die: a module that manages to trash no less than THREE different settings (Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Planescape) in the course of one module.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Remathilis
Those of you who fretted that monsters have too many hp and fights take too long: meet the barbarian. The ULTIMATE "Lets speed this combat up, I need to whiz" class!
Parents that play D&D are probably the biggest influence on the likelihood of kids getting into D&D.
And it's going to be a tough sell to keep them playing once they are tought.
And, while I can see some similarities, I really don't think you can compare the Atari of yesteryear (and its very simplistic gameplay) with the game systems of today, that are capable of very immersive RPGs.
I think 4E could very well be the last version of D&D we see. If it isn't, I'd venture that 5E will be the last, and hopefully it can somehow recapture the D&D gamers lost by 4E as well as retain any new gamers that start with 4E. However, gameplay needs to be more efficient than it is in 3E/4E. IMO, combat in both editions takes too long under the RAW to entice players used to quicker gaming gratification. The next edition should separate tactical combat (using the grid/mins) into a supplement and the core rules should be similar to the old versions (i.e., the game takes place in your imagination). I love tactical play, but it sure was faster in the old days to complete a quest.
I guess that if WotC finishes the Virtual Game Table (in several years) it will be used as basis for 5E where electronic aids are more integrated than now.
__________________ Everything about RPGs is subjective, so everything I say about them is I my opinion and not hard facts
Having a backstory is good. Using this backstory in game is better. And for that you need background skills.
4E, the game where you play HSMFOS
Heroic
Only good, or at least unaligned adventurers are supported and no monster you can fight is good aligned.
Super-
The PCs become masters in any skill automatically and it is impossible for them to be bad at a mundane task
Mutants
Compared to NPCs of the same strength, PCs poses a ungodly amount of HP and can withstand huge mountains of punishment. That or they can spontaneously regenerate wounds.
From Outer Space
Yet despite no matter how powerful the PCs become, they can never do anything special what the "natives" (=NPCs) can do like animating a skeleton.
Also, for the record, some amount of internet-as-leisure-activity can be just as useful to you as reading, because it involves... reading. Also writing!
I think this might be an under-appreciated effect of the Internet, though I am certain it has done wonders for my English.
Of course, I33t and LOLspeak might ... change our language a lot, and I am sure everyone will hate it. But there can be no doubt that this provides a venue for kids to socialize with each other.
Now, you can claim that they just creating an Internet persona that is not their real personality. But: If they are talking to people they consider to be friends, will their Internet persona not effectively be their own personality? Just as we adapt ourselves to our friends and experiences in the "real" world, we do on the web.
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Whatever will influence the next generation to play RPGs, the last place to find it is on a webboard full of experienced RPGers.
I'll take that a bit further...it is also to early to see it...
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Remathilis
Planescape
It should be given special award to Die Vecna, Die: a module that manages to trash no less than THREE different settings (Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Planescape) in the course of one module.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Remathilis
Those of you who fretted that monsters have too many hp and fights take too long: meet the barbarian. The ULTIMATE "Lets speed this combat up, I need to whiz" class!
We all know what we want th future of gaming to look like, in that we all want a bunch of new gamers to help the hobby grow. How do we get there?
Actually, I don't think "we all" agree at all what the future of the hobby should look like, but I'd like to ask a more basic question - should D&D be part of the future? Bear with me - I'm not trolling.
D&D exploded on the scene at just the right time, in just the right way, to reach a critical mass and become the standard for RPG's. But D&D, and what current players want from it, was formed over 30 years ago. One of the most common complaints about any particular edition is that "it's not D&D", whatever that means to the poster. There is nothing uniquely "right" about D&D as an RPG. It was the first RPG for many of us, and we tend to get stuck viewing the hobby through that prism.
But imagine if you were designing an RPG today and D&D had never existed - what would the game look like? First off, it would likely be simple, something that would appeal to casual gamers. It wouldn't have thousands of pages of rules. Playing the game would not require significant prep time. It would have constant little rewards, rather than rarer large rewards (new levels). It would be designed from the ground up with technology and current society in mind - for example, an RPG that is playable on Facebook or some other social site, where those with accounts invite specific friends to participate in telling a story. Texting might be the most common method of playing.
D&D has a lot of baggage from its roots. That baggage helps define D&D and is important to many current players. But that very baggage leads me to believe that the "next big thing" in RPG's will not be D&D, but something that completely breaks from D&D. D&D will continue to be a niche in a niche hobby for decades to come, but expecting something first designed over three decades ago to become more than a niche after all this time...I just don't see it.
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