Golden Ages of Gaming

[Thomas Shey]

Cosmere, Daggerheart, Draw Steel, Avatar
not to mention all the legacy systems that remain strong and earning.

They can be viable enough to make a living at them and still create a problem for people trying to get people to try playing them. The only reason it often isn't insurmountable is that post pandemic the VTT playsphere has gotten so strong.

 

[Koloth]

For Star Fleet Battles, it was the 80's. Went to Dallas Origins in 84 and the tactics discussions were filled with hundreds of people. 10 years later at Dallas Origins 94, barely 10s of people attended. The rise of collectable card games in the 90's pushed a lot of other games to the side. Magic the Gathering is one of the more well known but there were many variations on the theme. But the profits from MtG allowed WOTC to rescue D&D from the dying TSR.

Once D&D 3.0 came out, I would say that a fairly continual Golden Age has been in effect since. Specific games have risen and fallen, but gaming has stayed socially acceptable since. Being featured on certain TV shows has helped. As has the rise of online viewing. Kickstarter has helped a lot. Many games and gaming accessories get made via crowdfunding and get into the hands of backers fairly quickly(unless the KS goes bad...). Plus the millions that play computer games. Or the tens of millions that play some game on their smartphones. Gets hard for someone to say 'Gaming is bad' when they just climbed out of a 2 hour Candy Crush session.

 

[overgeeked]

They can be viable enough to make a living at them and still create a problem for people trying to get people to try playing them. The only reason it often isn't insurmountable is that post pandemic the VTT playsphere has gotten so strong.

Exactly. Unless people are actually playing the games, they're nothing more than expensive decorations collecting dust. If money is the most important factor, then the second most important factor is how many people are actually playing those games. At a guess, the actual player base of the entire rest of not-D&D 5E hobby is a rounding error compared to the number of people playing 5E. That's not healthy.

 

[Micah Sweet]

AT a certain point, a problem is a problem no matter why it occurs. I'd think you, of all people, would understand why in a hobby so dependent on network factors, having one game system be quite this dominant is a problem for everyone else.

Oh, I very much wish WotC was far less of a guiding lodestone in the industry. I just don't think there's anything to be done about it, and complaining, (as I've learned from personal experience) just leads people to put you on ignore and ban you from internet forums.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Oh, I very much wish WotC was far less of a guiding lodestone in the industry. I just don't think there's anything to be done about it, and complaining, (as I've learned from personal experience) just leads people to put you on ignore and ban you from internet forums.

All true enough, but when you're defining what you consider a Golden Age, problem areas are going to be part of why you do or don't consider it one. You gotta look at the topic at hand.

 

[GrimCo]

Question for people that put Golden age in the 80s. Why?

Sure, it was age when rpgs where new, there was lot of creativity etc. But also, it was age where availability was limited to what your local store had, information about games and products circulated slowly, by magazines (which were also niche and not that readily available) conventions and word of mouth. Also, you were limited to local pool of players, and if you lived in smaller town or village, good luck with that. Finally, RPGs weren't nearly as accepted as mainstream hobby as they are today. It was way more niche hobby than it is.

 

[TheSword]

We’re in a golden age of gaming right now. It started with the VTT explosion during Covid and we’re riding the crest of the wave! The mainstreaming of VTT was the single biggest shift in the TTRPG world since it was created. Because it fundamentally changed access to real time games. As well as driving the associated online modules, compendium, maps and art packages, tokens. It’s both cheaper and in many cases better - the internet at its best.

As someone who lives one hour from one gaming group, three hours from two others, and has one group all around the world - it was revolutionary.