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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Warden" data-source="post: 1805584" data-attributes="member: 11006">I disagree with that.  I may not have any background in social sciences, but I have talked with some people who are taking such courses, and such a topic could be interesting.  Despite the fact that roleplaying may be much more mainstream than before (as you can find D&D books in bookstores and Wal-Mart now), the roleplayer's culture is still viewed with suspicion, if not misunderstanding.  How many of us out there can really say out loud what we enjoy doing in the professional world or freely discuss our gaming in high schools without the possibility of downgrading our status in their eyes?  Most of my staff still listen to me talk about it and think "Geez, this guy's my boss?"  It may be better than when I was younger (10-15 years ago), but there is still a stigma attached to it.  While I may not know the technical terms, that still puts us in a subculture that would be worth studying for thesis, I find.  The trick is probably how it is looked at.As for the attachment for older editions of the game, it's like everyone remembering their first car/favourite sports teams/anything else from our youth.  My group plays both 3.5 and AD&D 2E -- there is a nostalgia in playing the "old game" as that is the one that most of us started with.  Every time that we play it, we reflect back to the good ol' days while we attempt to create new memories that are just as good as those we remember -- remarkably, the new games just never seem to have the same attachment as the old ones, no matter how much they may have actually sucked.  Everyone creates an attachment to memories and the physical objects that reflect on them, so it doesn't surprise me that many people prefer the old games, even if newer versions have more detailed rules and may work "better" (which is the reason that I use 3.5 in my campaign, but would gladly pick up any of the old rulebooks and step back to 1990 all over again...for a game, nothing else, those were mostly bad times for me).However, human culture is progressive.  We buy computers that run faster, cars that get better mileage, and RPG games with new rules.  It's not surprising, I find, that the majority of gamers are using the new rules and visiting sites like EN World over PlanetAD&D because this latest version of the game is much more adaptable and expandable than before.  Ten years from now, when D&D 4.0 comes out or the system goes belly up and everyone starts playing another game altogether, there will be many of us from the present looking back with a smile to the old 3.5 game that brings back so many fond memories.Like the old saying goes: My two cents.</blockquote>

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