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<blockquote data-quote="Guest 7037866" data-source="post: 9556329">Popularity and profitability does not necessarily equate to a superior quality product, however. Quality remains in the eye of each indivivual buyer.Look at just about any fast-food chains. Popular, profitable, but low-quality more often than not.To be clear I am not saying 5E and WotC doesn't have some good product, as well, but sales is not the be-all-end-all measure if someone feels WotC has not done a good job as custodian for the game we love.Sure, but then you have to make that statement with a few caveats (and probbably others I've not thought of):1. Is it adjusted for inflation (honestly, I have no idea...?)2. We all know the social stigma agaisnt RPGS is not nearly what it once was during the TSR era. Even 3E had it harder than 5E does.3. Video game popularity and MMORPGS have helped RPGS, D&amp;D particularly, as well.4. In 5E's time influencers and social meda has had enormous impact on driving interest (and thus sales).5. How many people buy 5E products but never use them? IME a fair few (not most maybe, but I know of many who have &quot;buyer's remorse&quot; for 5E products). Is WotC to blame for that? Certainly not and I am not saying they are. But all those get included in the sales numbers.There is no way to measure the merits or impacts these and other considerations bring to the table. Is D&amp;D making WotC more money than ever? Who knows, since I don't know the net they make, just the sales numbers, but I would guess &quot;yes&quot;. Is D&amp;D doing &quot;better than ever&quot; from a quality POV? Not IMO, but that is subjective for each player of the game.Anyway.... back to the actual topic of sandboxes... (you'll hear no more from me on the above):Yep. Totally this. I can present players with a map of the kingdom, a brief history, tell them what is going on locally, and get blank stares back from glazed-eyes.Unless I give them &quot;hooks&quot; and set them literally on the path, they have no idea what to do.I blame video games. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Guest 7037866, post: 9556329"] Popularity and profitability does not necessarily equate to a superior quality product, however. Quality remains in the eye of each indivivual buyer. Look at just about any fast-food chains. Popular, profitable, but low-quality more often than not. To be clear I am not saying 5E and WotC doesn't have some good product, as well, but sales is not the be-all-end-all measure if someone feels WotC has not done a good job as custodian for the game we love. Sure, but then you have to make that statement with a few caveats (and probbably others I've not thought of): 1. Is it adjusted for inflation (honestly, I have no idea...?) 2. We all know the social stigma agaisnt RPGS is not nearly what it once was during the TSR era. Even 3E had it harder than 5E does. 3. Video game popularity and MMORPGS have helped RPGS, D&D particularly, as well. 4. In 5E's time influencers and social meda has had enormous impact on driving interest (and thus sales). 5. How many people buy 5E products but never use them? IME a fair few (not most maybe, but I know of many who have "buyer's remorse" for 5E products). Is WotC to blame for that? Certainly not and I am not saying they are. But all those get included in the sales numbers. There is no way to measure the merits or impacts these and other considerations bring to the table. Is D&D making WotC more money than ever? Who knows, since I don't know the net they make, just the sales numbers, but I would guess "yes". Is D&D doing "better than ever" from a quality POV? Not IMO, but that is subjective for each player of the game. [B]Anyway.... back to the actual topic of sandboxes... (you'll hear no more from me on the above):[/B] Yep. Totally this. I can present players with a map of the kingdom, a brief history, tell them what is going on locally, and get blank stares back from glazed-eyes. Unless I give them "hooks" and set them literally on the path, they have no idea what to do. I blame video games. ;) [/QUOTE]

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