However, nostalgia is by definition a feeling you have about something from your past. It can't explain ...
a) Why people who pick up OS games they played in the past, have fun with them in the present.
b) Why some gamers never stopped playing OS games and have continuously running games or campaigns that span decades of play.
c) Why a new player who plays an OS game for the first time has fun with it.
So, while there is no doubt in my mind that nostalgia is a boon to the OSR in many ways, I think people who trot it out as the main reason for the OSR are mistaken.
I certainly haven't read
every OSR themed blog, but most of the ones I have read were more to the tune of "I played 2e, and 3e, and looked at 4e, and then realized that what I really wanted was to get back to basics." Or folks who got out of gaming entirely and then came back to 1e. Or some variation on that theme.
I have no doubt that what you're referring to has happened plenty. But I doubt that the majority of OSR folks started with old-school games
now, or have played OD&D campaign continuously, or whatever.
"The only reason anyone likes 4e is because it's 'the new and shiny.' Just wait until the bloom is off the rose..."
Understand now?
No. Is that supposed to be insulting or something? Should I feel offended? Even if I played 4e, I mean?
If that's what I'm supposed to understand, what I"m getting from it is that OSR-themed folks who get offended by "accusations" of nostalgia are a bunch of hypersensitive crybabies. Since I'm assuming that's not what you're attempting to convey, maybe you can come up with a better example?
EDIT: Y'know what? Scratch that. That was a bit needlessly obtuse for no good reason other than I was feeling pissy. OK, yeah, that is a bit condescending. I still am surprised by the reaction to it, though.
Plus the counter example is hampered by the fact that 4e isn't really
that new anymore. That must be one heckuva shine. Again; not that I play 4e or anything, because I've actually managed to avoid it almost completely. But, anyway...
I see your point, I guess. It just fails to completely convey to me the apparent depth of the insult that many people demonstrably feel when being told that they're nostalgic.