D&D 5E How Important is Stranger Things to the Success of 5e

[Ruin Explorer]

Big Bang Theory largely just confirms/exploits the nerd stereotypes and does little or nothing to make the viewer feel that they themselves would actually enjoy playing.

I kind of question whether, certainly prior to this season, Stranger Things did anything but confirm nerd stereotypes, re: the main player group for D&D. The main kids are super-nerdy. They're kids who would have made me at the same age, a nerd, look like a super-cool kid in shades and a letter jacket by comparison.

Now sure, there's a distinction in that BBT (which is horrible) is essentially "nerdsploitation", but the idea that Stranger Things (prior to this season, which I haven't seen all of yet so am avoiding commenting on) made D&D "look cool" seem to me to be pretty wild. Certainly S1-3 it did not do that. It absolutely normalized D&D a bit (much like articles in Forbes and so on, my dad has sent me dozens of articles from mainstream publications about how "D&D is cool now" - but those got back as far as 2010, note - well before this ST or CR became big), and said sane, good-hearted, good-spirited kids play D&D (which I'm sure helped with some families who thought it might be a "dark" thing or something). But cool kids? Nah. YMMV of course.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think your top 5 is solid, but I would account for Stranger Things as a substantial part of your 2, rather than dumping it down at 10 all by its lonesome. It's probably the single largest pop culture element in that category over the last six years.

Why are we only thinking six years, though?

These changes go back 20+ years, not 6 years. They've been gradually building up, and becoming more and more significant, particularly over the last 10. I'd definitely agree if we're solely looking at:

A) Pop culture - i.e. media and not larger cultural stuff, or more niche stuff, even if it has a vastly heavier impact.

and

B) Since 2016 (i.e. since ST has been on)

Then yeah, ST is the largest. No question! But it would have next-to-no impact without the other factors I've suggested. The biggest of which is the generalized normalization of games and nerdiness. As I noted in another post, I've been getting "D&D is cool now" or "D&D is important" articles for more like 12 years than 6, from my dad. Yes the cadence has been increasing a lot, but even that's more since 2014 than 2016. I've been getting new people into D&D a lot more often since about 2010 too, new people show interest. I think I got zero people into D&D 1996 to 2010 (my brother got 2). But it's more like 9-10 since 2010 (4 in 4E, interestingly). I also got other people back into to D&D - but 5E has been particularly great for that I admit. Obviously those numbers are anecdotal of course.

I do think ST is going to have a bigger impact "down the line" though, esp. based on what people here are re: kids talking about it.

 

[Mannahnin]

Why are we only thinking six years, though?

These changes go back 20+ years, not 6 years. They've been gradually building up, and becoming more and more significant, particularly over the last 10. I'd definitely agree if we're solely looking at:

Six years is just referring to the period Stranger Things has been around.

Overall I agree (and wrote) that it's one part of the larger pop cultural current in which D&D has been increasingly normalized for some time.

But being the most prominent such pop culture media for the last six years, when 5E came out eight years ago, certainly means that ST is a prominent factor in popularizing 5E, which was the original question.

 

[ad_hoc]

Stranger Things would still have a D&D bit if it was in the time of 4e and it wouldn't have made 4e popular.

If it has done anything, it has smoothed over conversations between players and non-players.

When asked what are you playing you can say D&D and the other person might know a bit more of what you're talking about. But they aren't going to play because of it.

 

[Minigiant]

In my circle, more people came into D&D from GOT than ST by a significant amount.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

But being the most prominent such pop culture media for the last six years, when 5E came out eight years ago, certainly means that ST is a prominent factor in popularizing 5E, which was the original question.

I don't agree with that logic, at all. That's not actually rational. That's like building a house then acting like the foundations and structure didn't matter, only the wallpaper or something.

Another way to look at it is, what if we take ST out of the equation entirely? Then would 5E be meaningfully less successful than it is now? I don't believe it for a single second. All the cultural arrows were already facing in the right direction. All the foundations were laid. The direction of travel had been well-established for years and years. ST is a symptom not a cause.

Again, in the longer term, that might change, because a lot of people here are reporting ST was particularly big in normalizing D&D with kids/teens (slightly surprised kids are being allowed to watch it but w/e, I would have been allowed so I can't judge!), and if (and this is a big if) those kids keep playing D&D as adults (and a lot of the '80s "D&D kids" did not, note), then that'll be significant longer-term. I suspect for a lot of them it will be a fun thing they did as a kid but not a hobby they keep up as an adult, especially if they just play it rather than DMing it.

 

[Scott Christian]

I based my answer off the high school students I am around. I cannot think of one student that plays that does not watch Stranger Things. It would be like asking us as kids how important the Lord of the Rings books were to our interest in D&D. Or, at the least, the Conan movie. In the end, it is not the most important thing, but it is pretty darn important to the younger generation of players.

On a personal note, despite literally everyone telling me to binge, I have not found the time yet to watch the show.

 

[Bedrockgames]

My view is D&D has had a number of booms over the years. This one seems particularly large, and I am sure there were a lot of reasons, but Stranger Things likely had a pretty big impact on it because it was a highly popular show where the characters weekly D&D game was part of the core premise. Credit where it is due: Stranger Things definitely seemed important for bringing awareness and interest to D&D. But there were a lot of other things going on in the culture that made that possible and things that were already contributing to interest in it. We are also still living in the moment. I always find that a little cloudy and harder to assess than decades down the road when I have more hindsight and less emotional connection to whatever we are examining.

In terms of its longevity in the mainstream, who knows. Just from personal experience, I would say 'enjoy it but don't get too comfortable'. It has had peaks before. It was very much in the culture when I was a kid in the early 80s (probably not to the degree it is now but still very much in the culture), but by the time I started playing in 86 or so, it was becoming a game played almost exclusively by kids considered 'nerds', 'geeks' or 'dorks' at the time. Sometimes something having huge mainstream popularity leads to it having a bit of a bust down the road.

 

[Mannahnin]

I don't agree with that logic, at all. That's not actually rational. That's like building a house then acting like the foundations and structure didn't matter, only the wallpaper or something.

Another way to look at it is, what if we take ST out of the equation entirely? Then would 5E be meaningfully less successful than it is now? I don't believe it for a single second. All the cultural arrows were already facing in the right direction. All the foundations were laid. The direction of travel had been well-established for years and years. ST is a symptom not a cause.

Again, in the longer term, that might change, because a lot of people here are reporting ST was particularly big in normalizing D&D with kids/teens (slightly surprised kids are being allowed to watch it but w/e, I would have been allowed so I can't judge!), and if (and this is a big if) those kids keep playing D&D as adults (and a lot of the '80s "D&D kids" did not, note), then that'll be significant longer-term. I suspect for a lot of them it will be a fun thing they did as a kid but not a hobby they keep up as an adult, especially if they just play it rather than DMing it.

To be clear, I voted "minor but positive effect" for much the reasons you've laid out.

What's irrational about concluding that the most major single media property talking about D&D, in a positive light, in the last six years (75% of 5E's product lifespan) is a significant factor in promoting the current edition of D&D? Stranger Things is the second-most watched show in Netflix history, after Squid Game. And it's not just one big movie dropping in a single year, it's an ongoing show keeping D&D and terms from it in the popular consciousness on a regular basis over that six year period. It's prominent enough that WotC did the ST themed starter set.

IMO, and from the reports of the gaming store owner in the thread and the folks who've piped up as knowing younger gamers, ST is bigger than you've noticed. Though we don't have hard data directly bearing on the question, so our impressions are going to be fundamentally subjective.

 

[MGibster]

Increasing normalization of games and gaming generally in Millennial culture, like person-to-person culture, word-of-mouth. We're famous for our obsession with boardgames, it's like, an identifying trait of Millennials (albeit many younger Gen-Xers are equally keen, and I know from boardgame cafes in London that Gen Z are following, and maybe even more into it). Obviously it goes without saying the Millennials play far more videogames than any previous generation (maybe more than Gen Z will, it kind of seems that way).

Holy cow, I don't know why I never thought of this before. These days you can find games like Settlers of Catan or Cards Against Humanity in Walmart of all places. Back when I was growing up, it was unthinkable to find such games anywhere by a specialty boutique. Approximately 100,000,000 Americans walk into a Walmart each week. Each. Week. It doesn't get more mainstream than Walmart. And even with Walmart to think about, gaming stores have a lot more boardgames these days than they did in the 90s and early 2000s (at least it looks like that to me). Good observation.