This post is probably about 20 years too early.
Honestly, it's a good old-people game. You're stuck in a place for a long time (I'm convinced the climate of the Upper Midwest, with its long winters when going out is a bad idea, helped shape the game), it's not physically arduous, a character sheet helps people with fading memory, and character growth can be satisfying for people whose other horizons have shrunk. (Let's be realistic about the grim reality of aging here--your senses and strength leave you, you become fragile, and the young desert, patronize, and ignore you.) I mean, there are tons of jokes about old people playing bridge and canasta. Is rolling a few dice so different?