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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thunderfoot" data-source="post: 6366379" data-attributes="member: 34175">Great post [MENTION=59082]Mercurius[/MENTION] I think you've brought up some valid points, but let me address a couple.As to the stigma involved - Even those that were the "jocks" in the 80s can't deny the social acceptance of nerd culture; so parents in the 30 to 50 range are much less likely to rely on the "My kid won't be no nerd... (bad English intended)  As a parent of two 20 year olds (the wife and I are in our mid 40s) I can say that we did it the old fashioned way, we birthed more gamers.  And as to the "graying" of the hobby, the number of second, third, & even fourth generation players is solid - GenCon (a small but efficient sampling, showed that attendees under the age of 30 were out in droves, and while some were there for other activities, (cosplay, CCGs and anime) the vast majority were hard core gamers of the Table top variety.  I think the growing number of pop-culture stars that are outing themselves as closet geeks, nerds and freaks is helping to ease the stigma (are YOU going to tell Vin Diesel that D&D isn't cool?  I didn't think so.)  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  And with the increase in fantasy based shows via TV, movies and even the increase in fantasy literature sales shows the longevity of the hobby is not in question.I'm unsure of the "millions" playing D&D but if the numbers supporting the number 7 (Numenera) and number 10 (Reaper Bones) Kickstarters of all time are any indication - the fans of the genre are rabidly loyal and in the hundreds of thousands easily.  So I think your original question will it go "mainstream", is really one of marketing, not popularity (of course that has some merit too, but not with a good PR firm - lol)</blockquote>

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