"Family" game?

[Nightfall]

They still have not sold as many copies as Myst or The Sims.

Right but who still PLAYING the Sims online? I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts as my grandma would say, that there are FAR more people playing THOSE games and THEIR sequels than the Sims.

 

[Arcanaloth]

As I'm sure everyone has figured out, "Is D&D a Family Game?" is a question that covers broad ground. It is akin to asking "Are movies a Family form of entertainment?" We all know where the answers to that question would go: answers of yes, no, and everywhere in between. Almost like how the answers to the original question have been...

It may be a bit more appropriate to ask, "Is your D&D campaign a Family Game?" Playing styles on either end of the "adult" spectrum simply cannot represent the game as a whole, regardless of their merits or lack thereof.

Dungeons and Dragons may be a niche pastime, but by its very nature it lends itself to an extremely large variance in play styles (which is a good thing, in my opinion). This large scope is what makes the original question difficult to answer in a yes or no fashion.


Oh, and hi EN World!

 

[Griswold]

Dragon #300 aside....

i keep hearing people refer to d+d as a "family" game. d+d seems far from "family" to me.

snippage

does anyone have a definition of "family" as it relates to entertainment? how many of you feel d+d fits the bill?

I don't think D&D fits the bill for a family game. Certainly if someone feels their children are mature enough to enjoy the game that's great, but i don't think that WoTC markets the game in the sense that it fits in the same catagory as Monopoly or scrabble, ect.

If WoTC were to market a "family" oriented RPG, I would think SW would be the one to market in that fashion, it's a brand that doesn't carry the negative baggage that D&D has with some groups.


I'm a pretty conservative parent, and I have to say that what constitutes "family" today is not what constituted "family" 15 to 20 years ago, to go any further would I think be verboten so to speak.


Gris.

 

[Speaker]

Right but who still PLAYING the Sims online? I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts as my grandma would say, that there are FAR more people playing THOSE games and THEIR sequels than the Sims.

If anybodies playing The Sims online, I want to know how. The original edition of the game didn't come with that feature.

I'm the first to say 'Look, the world's going down in flames, people are changing for the worst, the end is nigh', and so on and so forth. But that makes me very appreciative when I see things that counteract such statements. So I'll chip in here.

Warcraft 3 and the various other Blizzard games have sold very well. They are still played online around the world -- Starcraft is the best example of RTS longevity. They're great games, and I have them all.

But The Sims has sold far more. The sequels have sold many, many copies. Warcraft 3 is the top selling game (see here ), but take a look one spot down. That's right -- The Sims is still there, selling copies by the crateful around the world. Three of the Top Ten Spots are Sim games. If Warcraft 3 lasts as long in the top spots as Starcraft did, it will still not reach the level of sales that The Sim games enjoy.

Of course, these figures might mean that people just like to play god, and playing The Sims comes closer then anything else out there.

 

[S'mon]

There may have been (there is for me, anyway) a loss of revelance, of sophistication and ultimately of interest. Star Wars is a great film (well, even that's debatable, frankly) but it has little to say that I find very interesting -- largely because of its "family" nature.

There's quite a lot of gore and horror in Star Wars ep IV, actually - like the burnt skeletal corpses of Owen & Beru with strips of ragged flesh still hanging from them... the Rebel captain's neck popping as Vader strangles him... men screaming as their X-wings dive into the Death Star and explode... Imperial officers getting smoking holes blown in their chests as Han & co invade the cell block...

 

[Ashtal]

If anybodies playing The Sims online, I want to know how. The original edition of the game didn't come with that feature.

Minor Hijack:

I believe it's in beta-testing at the moment. I've seen some preview clips on a few of the video game shows. It will probably be out this Christmas.

 

[Tsyr]

Minor Hijack:

I believe it's in beta-testing at the moment. I've seen some preview clips on a few of the video game shows. It will probably be out this Christmas.

It's not the same game, though. It feels alot different.

SemperJase:

Yes, non-violent things do attract a broader audience. This only makes sense. Are you going to buy Mortal Kombat for your 8 year old (Ok, I know some parents who did, but that's beside the point), or take your entire family, includding little billy and suzy, to the next Aliens movie? I don't think so.

Violent Vrs Nonviolent, in terms of pure sales, isn't exactly a fair comparison. Nonviolent is ALWAYS going to sell better.

This doesn't mean Quake is a Bad Thing (TM), or Aliens is a Bad Thing (TM). If all that was in the theaters was comedies (I hate comedies), romances (many of which are still rated R anymore), and cartoons (Which are normaly comedy anyhow), I wouldn't buy a movie ticket. Ever. Likewise, if The Sims and Myst (BLECH!) were the only games on the computer, I wouldn't be playing computer games. I don't enjoy either of those games. They are boring as can be.

I know you support the idea of the Comic Book Code. But I do not. And I suspect that if you polled people who read comics, of those who actualy knew what you were talking about, most would not approve of it either.

 

[Ashtal]

It's not the same game, though. It feels alot different.

Continued hijack:

Well, yes and no. But it's obviously built on the same principal, feel and flavor. The main difference is that you control only a portion (or a single) character, and they've upped the detail on the interpersonal relationship coding. Other than that, it's, as far as I am concerned, a logical extension of the game in the same vein. Whereas the first was concerned with controlling everything, now the focus is on interacting with everything; again, if I understand how the current game works based on what I've seen to date on Sims sites. Sort of like how Ultima was a single-player game, then became a multiplayer game? Differences, yes, but the theme and setting and form remains.

Anywho ...

 

[Wicht]

Oh, and hi EN World!

Hi! Nice first post.

The question of whether DnD is a family game is not dependant on whether or not it has gore and violence, it is dependant on whether or not families sit down and play it together. Frankly, from listening to these boards I think the answer is, It will be a Family Game in about another 5 years. I am 90% sure that in my immeddiate family it will be. I have played for years, my wife now plays, and we are teaching our two oldest boys to play a little (ages 5 and 6) and I forsee a night, about 5 years down the road, when all 6 in our family will sit down for a night of role-playing.

IMO, as more of us have children and bring them on board, the game will further evolve into a family game. However I think smart publishers should be looking at this angle now and figuring out how to exploit it.

 

[Ashtal]

But ... like ... the game has been around for 20 years, ya? We've already had about two generations come through, have kids, and go. We're on #3 at the point.

And it remains a game that mostly is picked by people, in their teens and college years.

If the demographic was going to switch, it would have already in the last 20 years. But it hasn't.