innerdude
Legend
Had to share this article, as it pretty much sums up the last 10 years of the D&D product line. In fact, the very first consumer product that came to mind when I read the MAYA principle was Dungeons and Dragons.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-four-letter-code-to-selling-just-about-anything
In terms of product design, MAYA stands for the "Most Advanced Yet Acceptable" version of a given product, with one of the primary keys being familiarity.
Research suggests that we, "The Consumer," want products that are familiar yet contain just enough novelty to hold our attention. In this light, it's not hard to see why 5e has become the most popular version of the Dungeons and Dragons product line of all time. It hit all the right notes in mapping to the familiar 1e/2e/3e core, while providing enough novelty (adv/disadv, revised feats, revised magic) to keep things fresh.
I think for me, though, it reinforced something that the 4e "experiment" seemed to bear out. Based on the MAYA principle, the actual "D&D" product line (as opposed to one of its many OGL derivatives) is unlikely to meaningfully diverge from its current core. As a result, if at any point you're no longer a fan of the "D&D" core product as-is, you're probably better off looking for wholly different systems as an alternative, as the core is unlikely to radically change from within.
If you want a "new" or "different" "D&D", you're either going to have to kit-bash it yourself, or look elsewhere.
The other thing that was interesting from the article is that it reinforced strongly the idea that exposure is also key. One of the reasons it's so hard to get people off of the D&D product is that it's FAR AND AWAY the system that players are exposed to. So if you want to get your group to switch to a new system, you've got to get them actual exposure to it, probably through several different means.
Anyway, found the article interesting and thought I'd share.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-four-letter-code-to-selling-just-about-anything
In terms of product design, MAYA stands for the "Most Advanced Yet Acceptable" version of a given product, with one of the primary keys being familiarity.
Research suggests that we, "The Consumer," want products that are familiar yet contain just enough novelty to hold our attention. In this light, it's not hard to see why 5e has become the most popular version of the Dungeons and Dragons product line of all time. It hit all the right notes in mapping to the familiar 1e/2e/3e core, while providing enough novelty (adv/disadv, revised feats, revised magic) to keep things fresh.
I think for me, though, it reinforced something that the 4e "experiment" seemed to bear out. Based on the MAYA principle, the actual "D&D" product line (as opposed to one of its many OGL derivatives) is unlikely to meaningfully diverge from its current core. As a result, if at any point you're no longer a fan of the "D&D" core product as-is, you're probably better off looking for wholly different systems as an alternative, as the core is unlikely to radically change from within.
If you want a "new" or "different" "D&D", you're either going to have to kit-bash it yourself, or look elsewhere.
The other thing that was interesting from the article is that it reinforced strongly the idea that exposure is also key. One of the reasons it's so hard to get people off of the D&D product is that it's FAR AND AWAY the system that players are exposed to. So if you want to get your group to switch to a new system, you've got to get them actual exposure to it, probably through several different means.
Anyway, found the article interesting and thought I'd share.