D&D General Boomer/GenX 5e? (+)

[GrimCo]

Can you say that again Sonny? I forgot to use my ear trumpet! Oye, I got news for you, people's brains don't shrivel up at age 60!

It's not about brains shriveling. It's about spending priorities. My parents are 64 and 60, sharp as ever. But they are approaching retirement, same as their friends. I could totally see them forking over for d&d related stuff aimed at preschool kids, cause spoiling grandkids is what they do. And yes, they do know what d&d is, they have been listening to me and my brother talk about it for at least 20 years now, plus, dad is totally into fantasy books/movies.

While there are people in 60+ age range who play and like the game, they are not really prime spending customers. Players != customers.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

35% of 40-somethings. Everyone who is currently 40-43.5.

My point is there are plenty of millennial Karens.

And our point is that there really aren't. Particularly because the "Karen" archetype has been a thing for, at the very least, about a decade or so. Which would make all those alleged Millennial Karens far too young for when the thing started.

It's a Gen X thing, and maybe the first few years of Millennials because, as stated, these are artificial boundaries and the ending of one generation dovetails with the beginning of the next.

The VAST majority of Millennials are below age 40. The starting year is usually given as 1981. That was 43 years ago. The ending year is usually given as 1996. That was 28 years ago, giving a spread of ~15 years. Hence, even if there are "Millennial Karens," they make up less than 25% of that generation, and that's with generous rounding. By comparison, Gen X is entirely within that age range (1965-1980 means the oldest Gen Xers are 59 and the youngest are 44.)

The vast majority of "Karens" are Gen Xers. Period.

 

[Bedrockgames]

The dividing line between Gen x and Millennials is somewhat arbitrary. A lot of this talk of generations is arbitrary and doesn't treat people as individuals. Sometimes it hits on important things (obviously a generation of people who served or lived through WWII for example are going to have a shared experience that is significant). I was born in the mid-70s and am Gen X, my middle sister was born just after the cut off for millennial and my baby sister was born in the late 80s. Me and my middle sister were raised the same, saw most of the same cultural developments in media and society, whereas my baby sister was raised during a very different era of parenting. I think fussing over the buffer zone between millennials and Gen x is not going to capture the realities of what people experienced

 

[EzekielRaiden]

The dividing line between Gen x and Millennials is somewhat arbitrary. A lot of this talk of generations is arbitrary and doesn't treat people as individuals. Sometimes it hits on important things (obviously a generation of people who served or lived through WWII for example are going to have a shared experience that is significant). I was born in the mid-70s and am Gen X, my middle sister was born just after the cut off for millennial and my baby sister was born in the late 80s. Me and my middle sister were raised the same, saw most of the same cultural developments in media and society, whereas my baby sister was raised during a very different era of parenting. I think fussing over the buffer zone between millennials and Gen x is not going to capture the realities of what people experienced

I mean, yes? I was even originally saying what I said because I was pointing out that Boomers get unfairly blamed for a bunch of stuff Gen Xers are generally responsible for, and I've already said (repeatedly) that the boundaries between generations are fuzzy and artificial.

More to the point: I'm 100% of the opinion that the D&D 5e we have is ALREADY appealing to Boomers and (primarily) Gen Xers. Because those were the people who were most active in its previous heyday, and the "lapsed" players that 5e was tripping over itself to appeal to (though I would usually phrase that somewhat differently myself.) There's no need to change anything because it already IS "Boomer/Gen X" D&D.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I mean, yes? I was even originally saying what I said because I was pointing out that Boomers get unfairly blamed for a bunch of stuff Gen Xers are generally responsible for, and I've already said (repeatedly) that the boundaries between generations are fuzzy and artificial.

I think blaming boomers is unfair as well. But shifting blame to gen x unfair too. People are making broad generalizations about both generations without actually trying to understand their points of view or experiences. A lot of these labels that get thrown around are just ways to dismiss groups of people born between year x and y.

More to the point: I'm 100% of the opinion that the D&D 5e we have is ALREADY appealing to Boomers and (primarily) Gen Xers. Because those were the people who were most active in its previous heyday, and the "lapsed" players that 5e was tripping over itself to appeal to (though I would usually phrase that somewhat differently myself.) There's no need to change anything because it already IS "Boomer/Gen X" D&D.

I half agree here. I think there are lots of fans from these generations. But I do think people over a certain age want something different from the game than people under a certain age (and this can be broken up into multiple categories I am sure). Reconcile that to retain and expand the base is likely the challenge. Personally I don't think they have done a great job in recent years of pleasing older fans, but I do think when 5E came out, it did bring back many lapsed people my age and older

 

[Senior_WotC_Janitor]

Those things certainly don't rank amongst my objections to 5e.

Said like a true Boomer/Gen Xer! LOL

 

[Stormonu]

My father used to play, but he named all his characters things like Elrond, Frodo, Bilbo, etc. This is funny, but it is not a joke. He really named them that.

My high school group had Link the elf fighter/magic-user, Bavarian the Monk and Mordor the Paladin.

 

[Umbran]

The vast majority of "Karens" are Gen Xers. Period.

Mod Note:

I seem to recall noting in this thread that we should jot be using it to take big steaming dumps on any generation. You are running on the edge, here.

You might want to consider that a behavior and having a name for that behavior are not the same thing. Whenever someone gave a name to the archetype does not mean that the behavior of that archetype was somehow new.

People acting rude and entitled is not the purview of any particular generation. So let's step back from that. Thanks.

 

[Oofta]

So what, exactly does most of this conversation have to do with D&D? Grouping people as "generations" doesn't really mean much other than they're roughly the same age.

When it comes to D&D and boomers (or any other generation), obviously marketing types are going to target younger customers. Young people are still trying new things, trying to figure out what they like and don't like. Get people invested in a product early and their likely to be a customer for life.

However, even retiring boomers (and older gen Xers) are potential customers. After all, people may find a lot of time on their hands while simultaneously losing much of their social network. Gaming addresses both of those. So for those folks there are two types. Those that have never played before or haven't for a long, long time or those who stayed at least somewhat active. In either case, I'm not convinced appealing to nostalgia for either group buys all that much. You can always get material for older settings if it's what you want. People have always been able to limit options if they don't want and include house rules to modify the game to match their preferences. Having things like the cartoon characters is a cute nod to the past and an Easter egg to boot, but it's not going to convince many people to buy the books or start up a game.

In the same way, many younger gen Xers and older millennials are looking at empty nest syndrome with the kids leaving to go off on their own.

So the answer to the question is simple. Make an approachable game that's easy to pick up and learn. Emphasize the social bonding and fun aspects of the game. Push the idea that gaming isn't just for youngsters.

Now get off my lawn!

 

[Stormonu]

Eh, we can use it to poke fun at the cultural influences that infected our D&D and leads to some of the peculiarities of our play and looking at the game.

I mean, I feel like I came in at the tail end of the players who kept 10' poles in their back pocket. Obviously, our group was influenced by the likes of Legend of Zelda and shows/movies like Beastmaster, TMNT and everything else going on in our lifetime.

One joke you could make is that every copy of GenX D&D comes with a free Charm Parent incantation verified by J.C.