D&D on CNN!

[fba827]

plus, even if it doesn't attract new gamers to try it out. at the very least, it might help lessen the stigma associated with d&d in general to be just another game rather than "*gasp* _that_ game"

(i was just watching an episode of Quantum Leap the other day and I completely missed it the first time it aired, but this particular episode had some high schoolers involved in a d&d like thing (demons and something, forgot the second word they used)... and, well, it was just put in an unfriendly light).

 

[Treebore]

I'm glad WOTC is finally getting smart enough to do things along these lines. Kudos!

 

[amysrevenge]

It's weird.

I'm the world's biggest D&D/4E fan,, but I went through the whole article, and all I could think was "this isn't news, it's an advertisement".

 

[Festivus]

It's weird.

I'm the world's biggest D&D/4E fan,, but I went through the whole article, and all I could think was "this isn't news, it's an advertisement".

To be fair, this is in the "Living" section of CNN, alongside such great articles as "Job hot spots for the next decade" and "People who look like their pets". Given that vein, it's not really news at all, but more like entertainment. The LA Times has a similar section that is full of human interest stories... I think it applies.

 

[Mark]

To be fair, this is in the "Living" section of CNN, alongside such great articles as "Job hot spots for the next decade" and "People who look like their pets". Given that vein, it's not really news at all, but more like entertainment. The LA Times has a similar section that is full of human interest stories... I think it applies.

Maybe they will do a "Players Who Tell Us About Their Characters" series of articles.

 

[Saracenus]

It's weird.

I'm the world's biggest D&D/4E fan,, but I went through the whole article, and all I could think was "this isn't news, it's an advertisement".

Welcome to the world of business marketing/PR. The whole point is to get the name/brand out in the public. You can pay for it via ads and you can get it for "free" by press release and making your PR guys available for features like this one.

So, yes it was an advertisement. Nothing wrong with it, its a positive portrayal of our hobby which usually only gets in the news when someone does something awful and someone else blames RPGs and/or D&D. Of course the big target right now is video games...

My two coppers,

 

[Mark]

(. . .) its a positive portrayal of our hobby which usually only gets in the news when someone does something awful and someone else blames RPGs and/or D&D.

The only way to tie in with that is to slash prices.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Encounters might be aimed at lapsed players, but we're not talking about Encounters. We're talking about an article about D&D on CNN.com. Your average reader on CNN isn't necessarily a lapsed player; more likely, they're simply someone with little to no exposure to the game at all, and in that case this sort of description does the most good by far.

The article seemed pretty focused on encounters to me. Just about everything they were talking about revolved around how little a time commitment playing in these sessions involved ( a good selling point IMHO)The article did cover a bit of 4E as a whole but the focus was certainly on how easy it is to find time to play in and run the encounter program.

 

[Shemeska]

The Edition Wars are alive and well, and living on CNN...

Dude, I've seen D&D edition wars erupt in places utterly disconnected with D&D, RPGs, or any various fandom online or otherwise (truly bizarre places...). It has popped up where I work, it has popped up on trips to other states both for business and for pleasure. It's not just something small and isolated to fans on internet forums, it's a yawning fracture in the community.

That said, expanding the very notion of RPGs to people outside of the gaming community as a viable and fun hobby is good, regardless of what game or edition is doing it.

 

[Diamond Cross]

Well, the thing is D&D started pretty much as a board game with the old gold box. You just had to supply your own boards and playing pieces. And all editions can seem like a board game.

The grizzled old gamer in me remembers when you had to color your own dice with a crayon. And I still have my very first d20 from my very first game. It's so rounded though it's pretty much a plastic ball that doesn't stop until it hits a wall.

On the other hand though, even board games like Monopoly can seem like a role playing game as well.