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<blockquote data-quote="Kobold Boots" data-source="post: 5335169" data-attributes="member: 92239">Hobby dying statements are awesome.&nbsp; Here's the thing, they're not just happening in RPGs.&nbsp; They're happening at every forum I'm a member of that has anything to do with paper, pen and text games, including the strategic board game forums.&nbsp;The single biggest reason why any hobby is &quot;dying&quot; (if it is) is not the lack of GMs; really, that's an emergent property of the &quot;problem&quot;.&nbsp; (which I'm not sure is a problem)&nbsp;The &quot;problem&quot; is that Internet enabled gaming whether it's MMORPG, or console gaming or what have you is taking the place of all of these other ways of spending time.&nbsp; Additionally, kids are getting more into sports and after-school programs that have nothing to do with RPGs or gaming in general.&nbsp; Society and the modalities are changing.&nbsp; Kids are going to do whatever is most convenient/accessible to them, and everything is more convenient than pen and paper RPG, even when your dad has all the books on a shelf.&nbsp;I think this really hit home for me when I realized that my son (who is eight) has never sat at a window during a rainstorm and felt bored because there was nothing to do and doesn't have a weekend without some sort of activity or play date with his friends.&nbsp; There's never &quot;nothing to do&quot; and I know that was one of the major things that led to my pouring over books to prepare adventures for my friends over a study period or a lunch break etc.&nbsp;KB</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kobold Boots, post: 5335169, member: 92239"] Hobby dying statements are awesome. Here's the thing, they're not just happening in RPGs. They're happening at every forum I'm a member of that has anything to do with paper, pen and text games, including the strategic board game forums. The single biggest reason why any hobby is "dying" (if it is) is not the lack of GMs; really, that's an emergent property of the "problem". (which I'm not sure is a problem) The "problem" is that Internet enabled gaming whether it's MMORPG, or console gaming or what have you is taking the place of all of these other ways of spending time. Additionally, kids are getting more into sports and after-school programs that have nothing to do with RPGs or gaming in general. Society and the modalities are changing. Kids are going to do whatever is most convenient/accessible to them, and everything is more convenient than pen and paper RPG, even when your dad has all the books on a shelf. I think this really hit home for me when I realized that my son (who is eight) has never sat at a window during a rainstorm and felt bored because there was nothing to do and doesn't have a weekend without some sort of activity or play date with his friends. There's never "nothing to do" and I know that was one of the major things that led to my pouring over books to prepare adventures for my friends over a study period or a lunch break etc. KB [/QUOTE]

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