D&D General Why Is D&D Successful?

[EzekielRaiden]

The only people who thought that 4e's profits were "running on fumes" worked for WotC/Hasbro.

Indeed. Doubly so when 4e had something no previous edition had: A steady, continuous income stream via DDI.

But perhaps it is best not to re-litigate these things (even if, at least this time, I had little to nothing to do with bringing it up.)

 

[nevin]

According to a quick google search of the most difficult languages to learn for non-English speakers, English is in the top 10, but it's last in the list.

1. ARABIC
2. RUSSIAN
3. MANDARIN
4. GERMAN
5. DUTCH
6. SWAHILI
7. SPANISH
8. FRENCH
9. HINDI
10. ENGLISH

Since that list pretty much covers languages spoken by the majority of people on the planet, I wouldn't say English is particularly difficult in comparison to other languages.

spanish has long been considered one of the easiest languages to learn. I'd find a better source.

I school connect says this.

• Hardest languages in the world | An overview
• Mandarin
• Icelandic
• Japanese
• Hungarian
• Finnish
• Arabic
• Polish
• Georgian
• Mongolian
• Korean

 

[CellarHeroes]

WotC's ability to shove their brand down throats. It's almost as bad as Star Wars.

 

[payn]

WotC's ability to shove their brand down throats. It's almost as bad as Star Wars.

Can you elaborate on this?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Can you elaborate on this?

Orbital mind control lasers.

 

[Nikosandros]

Orbital mind control lasers.

They are real. I was hit by one in 1985 and I've never recovered.

 

[CellarHeroes]

Can you elaborate on this?

Someone sees the "D&D" logo somewhere (someone's socks, on the cover of some Mad Libs, a deck of cards, YouTube, Twitch, Steam, etc.) and realizes that this is the trendy new thing everyone is talking about. They want to be trendy and cool, too.

It's the flannel shirt tied around the waist, or the skateboard under the arm. There are those people who play, and then there are those who want to look like they play. The success was merely a matter of good timing and having the business-savvy to take advantage of that timing.

 

[payn]

Someone sees the "D&D" logo somewhere (someone's socks, on the cover of some Mad Libs, a deck of cards, YouTube, Twitch, Steam, etc.) and realizes that this is the trendy new thing everyone is talking about. They want to be trendy and cool, too.

It's the flannel shirt tied around the waist, or the skateboard under the arm. There are those people who play, and then there are those who want to look like they play. The success was merely a matter of good timing and having the business-savvy to take advantage of that timing.

What has kept the poseurs around as opposed to moving on to the next fad leaving D&D less popular and/or successful?

 

[nevin]

Someone sees the "D&D" logo somewhere (someone's socks, on the cover of some Mad Libs, a deck of cards, YouTube, Twitch, Steam, etc.) and realizes that this is the trendy new thing everyone is talking about. They want to be trendy and cool, too.

It's the flannel shirt tied around the waist, or the skateboard under the arm. There are those people who play, and then there are those who want to look like they play. The success was merely a matter of good timing and having the business-savvy to take advantage of that timing.

I think a lot of people on forums screaming about fixing D&D definitely suffer from Apple Syndrome. they want to be doing the "cool...Internet approved game" but they want it to be what they'd rather play.

 

[nevin]

What has kept the poseurs around as opposed to moving on to the next fad leaving D&D less popular and/or successful?

same thing that keeps Apple around. It's not the best, it doesn't have the most options, but it just works even with an untrained DM. And the internet tells them that's the game real gamers play.