ParanoydStyle
Peace Among Worlds
I noticed the tiny, tiny, tiny "2nd Edition" logo in the tower & banner ads* Paizo is running on this very site and my immediate instinct was to make a snarky comment on how these Pathfinder ads seems to be downplaying what edition of the game they're for (I haven't been following any news coverage on the quality of PF2E so the snark wasn't motivated by anything except a desire to be snarky). But anyway uh...then I picked up my D&D 5E PHB just to make sure that the 5E logo was bigger...
...and as I imagine most of you know, there IS no 5E logo. As a matter of fact, the only place that D&D5E identifies itself as being the 5th iteration of what it is (although if I recall my old school history it's actually more like the 7th or 8th or 9th iteration of it is with the basic, advanced, blue box, red box, white box, b/x w/e the fudge old editions that proceeded WotC, though that's not relevant) is in what I'm actually tempted to describe as fine print at the very bottom of the BCC (back cover copy, or blurb for any normal person that hasn't published a mess of RPG books).
"When you're ready for even more, expand your adventures with the fifth edition (Insert Book That Is Not This Book)."
And even that now that I think about it seems like a pragmatic necessity: they want to make sure that the consumers are buying the new books because they'll make the most money that way (and, to be fair, this way nobody's gonna buy a 3.5 DMG after being gifted a 5E PHB and find they've bought what amounts to an expensive paperweight in terms of the game they actually wanted to play, so it's not ENTIRELY self-serving).
Still though, my overall question is...as far as the mainstream goes, I mean the big AAA players, are we headed toward a "post-edition" world where every edition of the game that comes out is just THE EDITION as though there were only one (made my saving throw versus highlander reference)? About half of the people (idk let's arbitrarily say 45%) I've played 5E with have been aware of 3.5E & 4E and been able to discuss them, but half (45%) of the people I've played 5E with--nearly all of the people for whom 5E is their first edition--have had so little knowledge of other editions of the games that at times they literally did not know they existed. To them, especially the kids, there was no 5E, this wasn't "5E", there was just...D&D. It was clear that for all intents and purposes in the minds of the younger people that 5E brought into the hobby, there simply was no flavor of D&D except the flavor of the week. A lot of these people hopefully will learn about other RPGs eventually--they'll probably not buy any of them, having spent all of their money on luxury gamer goods, don't even get me started--but they will learn about them. Still, it's so strange that so many people--even if it's a minority that's still a LOT of people on an absolute level--that play 5E believing it is or might as well be the only edition of the game that has ever existed.
I'm curious about how this decision to downplay the fact that "this is the fifth edition of this game" was reached by the marketing wonks at WotC.
(If the incomplete math was bothering anyone, the other 10% of people I've played 5E with are super hardcore TTRPGers like me that have played virtually every edition of everything under the sun.)
* My favorite adds on the site are the ones for Torg Eternity, if you were wondering. Torg was way before my time so it's not something I nostalgia, but I did get a nice long lecture on how awesome it was it from some older Rando Calrissian at a con in 2011 or whatever. Cool guy, I think he also said he'd playtested Shadowrun 1E. Anyway I well never not be delighted to see the word "cyberpapacy".
...and as I imagine most of you know, there IS no 5E logo. As a matter of fact, the only place that D&D5E identifies itself as being the 5th iteration of what it is (although if I recall my old school history it's actually more like the 7th or 8th or 9th iteration of it is with the basic, advanced, blue box, red box, white box, b/x w/e the fudge old editions that proceeded WotC, though that's not relevant) is in what I'm actually tempted to describe as fine print at the very bottom of the BCC (back cover copy, or blurb for any normal person that hasn't published a mess of RPG books).
"When you're ready for even more, expand your adventures with the fifth edition (Insert Book That Is Not This Book)."
And even that now that I think about it seems like a pragmatic necessity: they want to make sure that the consumers are buying the new books because they'll make the most money that way (and, to be fair, this way nobody's gonna buy a 3.5 DMG after being gifted a 5E PHB and find they've bought what amounts to an expensive paperweight in terms of the game they actually wanted to play, so it's not ENTIRELY self-serving).
Still though, my overall question is...as far as the mainstream goes, I mean the big AAA players, are we headed toward a "post-edition" world where every edition of the game that comes out is just THE EDITION as though there were only one (made my saving throw versus highlander reference)? About half of the people (idk let's arbitrarily say 45%) I've played 5E with have been aware of 3.5E & 4E and been able to discuss them, but half (45%) of the people I've played 5E with--nearly all of the people for whom 5E is their first edition--have had so little knowledge of other editions of the games that at times they literally did not know they existed. To them, especially the kids, there was no 5E, this wasn't "5E", there was just...D&D. It was clear that for all intents and purposes in the minds of the younger people that 5E brought into the hobby, there simply was no flavor of D&D except the flavor of the week. A lot of these people hopefully will learn about other RPGs eventually--they'll probably not buy any of them, having spent all of their money on luxury gamer goods, don't even get me started--but they will learn about them. Still, it's so strange that so many people--even if it's a minority that's still a LOT of people on an absolute level--that play 5E believing it is or might as well be the only edition of the game that has ever existed.
I'm curious about how this decision to downplay the fact that "this is the fifth edition of this game" was reached by the marketing wonks at WotC.
(If the incomplete math was bothering anyone, the other 10% of people I've played 5E with are super hardcore TTRPGers like me that have played virtually every edition of everything under the sun.)
* My favorite adds on the site are the ones for Torg Eternity, if you were wondering. Torg was way before my time so it's not something I nostalgia, but I did get a nice long lecture on how awesome it was it from some older Rando Calrissian at a con in 2011 or whatever. Cool guy, I think he also said he'd playtested Shadowrun 1E. Anyway I well never not be delighted to see the word "cyberpapacy".