First, let me say, LOTS of good stuff in this thread thus far. I agree with a lot of what I've read.
That said...
"Innovation" is a convenient buzzword. It has been for a while now in various industries. And at the risk of dipping a toe into "RW" economics and politics, it is no doubt going to be thrown around way more than it currently is.
It is this perceived fallacy that making something "new" and/or doing things differently will somehow "improve" whatever it is you are "innovating."
But, all I really mean to say here is:
"New [and/or 'Different'] does not necessarily equal better."
Change, for the sake of change, is not innovation. It's not better. It's not even necessarily 'new' (in the case of borrowing mechanics or rules-sets from other types of games). It's just change.
The bright n' shiny is great for an "oo ah." Everyone likes what they get Christmas morning (or insert gift-getting holiday of choice) better than what they had the year before.
But that does not make it "better"...nor even "necessary".
Sometimes what you get on Christmas morning ISN'T better than you got the year before....but it's new. So there is this cultural perception that it must automatically be "better/nicer".
"Innovation", is just that. A buzzword that is supposed to make us think "new is better".
If we're not "innovating" than somehow we are "wrong"...our product is "bad" or old or less desirable...because it's not "innovative."
It's nothing more than, yet another, assumed artificial construct, applied to...well just about anything...to make us believe that New is 1) Necessary and B) "Better."
There have been hundreds (by now, thousands, no doubt) of posts about "well this system does this and that system does that and if we don't incorporate these kinds of things then D&D will suck"...because that system does this "better." The industry has 'grown' to include these other traits, then we must "innovate" to do the same? Because "new is better."
Who said it has to grow? This isn't nature. It's a RPG, not an oak tree. It's not physics (for those who would site "entropy"). It's a fantasy game of make-believe, not the quantum makeup of the universe.
It's the people that want to keep making the money from it. Not the people that want to play the table-top fantasy role-playing game. (Yes, sure, very possibly those that want to do both. But the 'making money" is the driving force here, make no mistake.)
And the people that want to make the money, need us to believe that if we're not playing the new shiny, then we are somehow doing it wrong or the old no-longer-shiny game is somehow sub-standard...because it's not/we're not being "innovative."
Those that DO want "this like it is in this system" and "that like they do in that..." or video game...or some other (fantasy or NON-fantasy) RPG...or like I saw in that movie/tv show/book...Why are you playing D&D? Why all of the assertions (that almost invariably become arguments) saying D&D should do/have/add/change this or that?
"Innovation"? No. I don't really think that is it. Sounds good. Nice buzzword to throw around. But what is that supposed to mean?
"It's not 30 years ago." No..it's not. That defends shredding a game and turning it into something completely different how, exactly?
"Such-and-Such RPG is way better so D&D should have it too!" That's not "innovation" that's just "copying someone else's ideas."
Cuz "new is better"? See above.
And as a few folks have astutely noted already, change something enough and it is no longer the thing it was. That's a Polymorph/Transmutation spell not "innovation." And "change", like "innovation", is not necessarily always for the better.
Rambling a bit...only on coffee #2. But I guess the whole point in here, I am trying to make/assert is...
That, while I do agree with many things that have been said and many proposals and alterations, optional alternatives, I have read in other threads regarding the new edition/incarnation, I think it behooves us to just keep in mind...
New and/or Different does not necessarily equal better.
and "Innovation" is a business-speak buzzword devoid of any objective actual meaning.
--SD