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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aberzanzorax" data-source="post: 5628619" data-attributes="member: 64209">Overall a good post, and I agree with most of it. One thing I think that is important to recognize, that wasn't covered here is WHY the fanbases are so split (and why they're so emotional). There are a number of reasons for this, including the psychology of "in" versus "out" groups, the levels of compatability of the game editions, the existence of the internet and messageboards, and the nature of the game where people tend to houserule and design on their own, so are naturally more critical of the design elements they see (like how a mechanic might be critical of how my car is built, but I wouldn't have the foggiest idea). I think, though, that most of the elements I mentioned above cannot be changed. There is one (an important one) that can (and could have been prevented to a degree in the first place). WotC's outreach and customer relations. To my eye, it appears that WotC wants or wanted to kill earlier editions of the game. Some of this was merely bringing material back in house (the licenses of Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Dungeon and Dragon Magazine, etc). Some of this was for reasons of piracy (stopping the sale of pdfs of earlier editions). Some of this was discussion/marketing of how their newest edtion was going to be better. Some of it was simply not stepping up and emotionally supporting earlier editions when they were accused of wanting to kill them. Some of it was incompetence by an individual or two (representatives of their company) on their own messageboards. I think they're doing a better job now, in part because they're not launching a new edition, in part with Mike Mearls' columns, and in part because I think they've recognized that it might be worth their while to attempt to unite the community.   I've said this before, but if the holders of D&D somehow supported all editions simultaneously, I think the community would benefit as a whole, and more people might see different editions as different options rather than an "either or" proposition. I usually get answers of "why would they do that?" or "it would be too hard", but the more I think about it (and observe that Open Design frequently DOES it), the more I think it could be good for both WotC and the community.</blockquote>

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