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<blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 5656445" data-attributes="member: 54707">I'm gonna say something that might seem odd, but I&nbsp; believe it to be true all the same. One reason I think D&amp;D was so popular,&nbsp; aside from being first to market, with the sub-set of the population it was (and&nbsp; still is) so popular with, is because it was so complex.&nbsp; &nbsp;the younger generations might not remember this,&nbsp; might not have even been born, but D&amp;D and some of the role play Games that&nbsp; followed gave the players a chance to role play, both individually and as a&nbsp; team. But one thing they also allowed, and gave excited Nerds (and later Geeks)&nbsp; a chance to do, was &quot;program things in their own minds.&quot;&nbsp; &nbsp;That may seem strange to say nowadays but D&amp;D&nbsp; and such games really became popular practically upon the cusp of the modern&nbsp; personal computer/internet/very early video game age.&nbsp; &nbsp;But before PCs and the internet and video games&nbsp; you had a lot of local and very bright Nerds (and later Geeks - and I don't use&nbsp; either term disparagingly) with few ways to make good use of their talents, or&nbsp; their interests. Many of the later Nerd and Geeks professions and entertainments&nbsp; had yet to be invented. The younger kids won't know of this at all, but we older&nbsp; geezers remember the dearth of things to do to excite the imagination, to&nbsp; practice our specifically Nerd skills, and of professions to occupy our&nbsp; time.&nbsp; &nbsp;So D&amp;D was a Godsend of an avocation and a&nbsp; hobby. It allowed DMs to construct and &quot;program&quot; whole worlds (good practice for&nbsp; later professions involving the construction of artificial information systems)&nbsp; and allowed players to construct and program artificial and imaginary&nbsp; characters. &nbsp; &nbsp;It was extremely good practice for how the world&nbsp; was about to change, and how Nerd and Geek population subsets were about to&nbsp; interact with the world. &nbsp; &nbsp;So the complexity was actually a boon to Nerds and&nbsp; Geeks and those naturally attracted to such systems, and the game itself was&nbsp; very good preparatory training for the new Computer, Internet, and Information&nbsp; ages.&nbsp; &nbsp;I agree with some of the critics leveled, and&nbsp; think D&amp;D has now become unnecessarily and over complex (just as much of&nbsp; modern technology is for the same reasons seeking to streamline its own&nbsp; designs), but people also forget I think the good D&amp;D did as a form of&nbsp; &quot;mental practice of skills and capabilities&quot; that the new ages of the world&nbsp; would need out of her Nerds and Geeks.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jack7, post: 5656445, member: 54707"] [FONT=Verdana]I'm gonna say something that might seem odd, but I believe it to be true all the same. One reason I think D&D was so popular, aside from being first to market, with the sub-set of the population it was (and still is) so popular with, is because it was so complex.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]the younger generations might not remember this, might not have even been born, but D&D and some of the role play Games that followed gave the players a chance to role play, both individually and as a team. But one thing they also allowed, and gave excited Nerds (and later Geeks) a chance to do, was "program things in their own minds."[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]That may seem strange to say nowadays but D&D and such games really became popular practically upon the cusp of the modern personal computer/internet/very early video game age.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]But before PCs and the internet and video games you had a lot of local and very bright Nerds (and later Geeks - and I don't use either term disparagingly) with few ways to make good use of their talents, or their interests. Many of the later Nerd and Geeks professions and entertainments had yet to be invented. The younger kids won't know of this at all, but we older geezers remember the dearth of things to do to excite the imagination, to practice our specifically Nerd skills, and of professions to occupy our time.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]So D&D was a Godsend of an avocation and a hobby. It allowed DMs to construct and "program" whole worlds (good practice for later professions involving the construction of artificial information systems) and allowed players to construct and program artificial and imaginary characters. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]It was extremely good practice for how the world was about to change, and how Nerd and Geek population subsets were about to interact with the world. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]So the complexity was actually a boon to Nerds and Geeks and those naturally attracted to such systems, and the game itself was very good preparatory training for the new Computer, Internet, and Information ages.[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana]I agree with some of the critics leveled, and think D&D has now become unnecessarily and over complex (just as much of modern technology is for the same reasons seeking to streamline its own designs), but people also forget I think the good D&D did as a form of "mental practice of skills and capabilities" that the new ages of the world would need out of her Nerds and Geeks.[/FONT] [/QUOTE]

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