That said, expanding the very notion of RPGs to people outside of the gaming community as a viable and fun hobby is good, regardless of what game or edition is doing it.
Agreed. The most frustrating part about edition warring is that I have seen potential players turned off from the game entirely because of them.
I have been in the position before where I offered to DM a game of 4E for someone who was curious about D&D. Instead, one of their friends started railing against 4E with the typical 4E bashing catch-phrases, and talked about how 3E and Pathfinder were superior, and took a rude and condescending attitude in regards to my offer to teach his friend how to play.
Now, this potential player has now been turned off from 4E entirely. The thing is, this friend of his never actually helped him try any of these "superior" games, and this seemed to have snuffed out any flame of interest he had in the first place.
For crying out loud, let people game and try games out without burdening them with biases. At the end of the day, we're all in a niche geek hobby, and there's no point in chasing away new blood with our nerd rage. Don't take yourself (and the gaming) so seriously. It's supposed to be for fun.
Along the same lines, I think people getting bent out of shape in comparing the game to a board game are taking the game too seriously. It's still just a game, there's no need to put it on a pedestal. There are many aspects that are like some boardgames, there's nothing wrong with the analogy.
Then again, last time I played Clue, I was role-playing my character, so my board-game experiences may be different than yours. ;-)
