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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 3999677" data-attributes="member: 58197">Frankly, D&amp;D has held its position on top of the industry mostly by virtue of having been first and biggest.&nbsp; As Ryan Dancey <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/md/md20020228e" target="_blank">said a few years back</a>:Here's the logic in a nutshell. We've got a theory that says that D&amp;D is the most popular roleplaying game because it is the game more people know how to play than any other game. (For those of you interested researching the theory, this concept is called &quot;The Theory of Network Externalities.&quot;)[ Note: This is a very painful concept for a lot of people to embrace, including a lot of our own staff, and including myself for many years. The idea that D&amp;D is somehow &quot;better&quot; than the competition is a powerful and entrenched concept. The idea that D&amp;D can be &quot;beaten&quot; by a game that is &quot;better&quot; than D&amp;D is at the heart of every business plan from every company that goes into marketplace battle with D&amp;D game. If you accept the Theory of Network Externalities, you have to admit that the battle is lost before it begins, because the value doesn't reside in the game itself, but in the network of people who know how to play it. ] Even in the last stages of TSR's decay, Dungeons and Dragons still held much of the RPG market in an iron fist.&nbsp; It would take an extraordinary competitor or some really heinous moves by WotC to loosen its grip now.&nbsp; And the idea that losing Vancian magic and save-or-die mechanics would somehow put D&amp;D at risk... sorry, not buying it.&nbsp; I think D&amp;D's success has been in spite of those elements, not because of them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 3999677, member: 58197"] Frankly, D&D has held its position on top of the industry mostly by virtue of having been first and biggest. As Ryan Dancey [URL=http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/md/md20020228e]said a few years back[/URL]: [i]Here's the logic in a nutshell. We've got a theory that says that D&D is the most popular roleplaying game because it is the game more people know how to play than any other game. (For those of you interested researching the theory, this concept is called "The Theory of Network Externalities.") [ Note: This is a very painful concept for a lot of people to embrace, including a lot of our own staff, and including myself for many years. The idea that D&D is somehow "better" than the competition is a powerful and entrenched concept. The idea that D&D can be "beaten" by a game that is "better" than D&D is at the heart of every business plan from every company that goes into marketplace battle with D&D game. If you accept the Theory of Network Externalities, you have to admit that the battle is lost before it begins, because the value doesn't reside in the game itself, but in the network of people who know how to play it. ] [/i] Even in the last stages of TSR's decay, Dungeons and Dragons still held much of the RPG market in an iron fist. It would take an extraordinary competitor or some really heinous moves by WotC to loosen its grip now. And the idea that losing Vancian magic and save-or-die mechanics would somehow put D&D at risk... sorry, not buying it. I think D&D's success has been in spite of those elements, not because of them. [/QUOTE]

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