Non-gamers frequently use "D&D" to refer to the whole hobby, much like Kleenex, Asprin, and Xerox have all become generic terms for their respective products.
While I have seen gamers say something like "<Insert RPG Name Here> is my D&D of choice," I can't say that I've seen gamers using D&D as a truly generic term. When I see them say something like that, they're usually not using "D&D" as a generic term for RPGs, or even as a blanket term for FRPGs, but rather, they are saying that the game in question is used to play the kind of games which they most closely identify as the "D&D style."
After all, D&D has a different feel from Talisantha, Harn, Earthdawn and so forth, and gamers know this. Unlike those games, games like Hackmaster, Pathfinder, True20 and so forth emulate a certain playstyle that closely resembles things we'd all recognize as being D&D...and may even be close to the ideal D&D we all envision in our heads, and try to model with our accumulated HRs.
Personally, though, I don't play with the language that way. If I say I'm playing D&D, I'm playing some published version of D&D. If I say I'm starting a D&D campaign, its some published version of D&D.
That said, while 4Ed being D&D in name, it doesn't fit the playstyle to which I've become accustomed under that brand identity. It definitely didn't let me continue to update the campaign I've been running since the mid-1980s, which had morphed from 1Ed to 2Ed to 3.X.
So, while its nominally D&D, its not a D&D for me. But 5Ed and so forth may be- I'll know when they come out.
While I have seen gamers say something like "<Insert RPG Name Here> is my D&D of choice," I can't say that I've seen gamers using D&D as a truly generic term. When I see them say something like that, they're usually not using "D&D" as a generic term for RPGs, or even as a blanket term for FRPGs, but rather, they are saying that the game in question is used to play the kind of games which they most closely identify as the "D&D style."
After all, D&D has a different feel from Talisantha, Harn, Earthdawn and so forth, and gamers know this. Unlike those games, games like Hackmaster, Pathfinder, True20 and so forth emulate a certain playstyle that closely resembles things we'd all recognize as being D&D...and may even be close to the ideal D&D we all envision in our heads, and try to model with our accumulated HRs.
Personally, though, I don't play with the language that way. If I say I'm playing D&D, I'm playing some published version of D&D. If I say I'm starting a D&D campaign, its some published version of D&D.
That said, while 4Ed being D&D in name, it doesn't fit the playstyle to which I've become accustomed under that brand identity. It definitely didn't let me continue to update the campaign I've been running since the mid-1980s, which had morphed from 1Ed to 2Ed to 3.X.
So, while its nominally D&D, its not a D&D for me. But 5Ed and so forth may be- I'll know when they come out.
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