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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Prime_Evil" data-source="post: 4324203" data-attributes="member: 11984">This is an important point. IMHO, the most valuable thing that D&D possesses is its network of established players. Many good RPGs into obscurity because they can't establish this kind of support base. The current market position of D&D is almost a textbook example of network externalities at work - the value of D&D to a new player depends to some extent on the number of existing D&D players in a given geographical area. The value of the game to each individual player is at least partially determined by the fact that it is easier to find a group of people willing to play D&D than it to find a group of people willing to play almost any other RPG on the market. Think of it as a positive feedback loop - the more potential D&D players that are accessible to you, the  more likely it is that you will play D&D rather than a different RPG. And this means that investing the time and effort necessary to learn the rules of D&D brings you a bigger 'reward' (in terms of actual gaming time) than an investment in mastering any other system - even if you prefer the other system!  Of course, any time that a new edition of D&D is published, there is a risk that this feedback loop will be broken. So far there has been enough continuity between editions that D&D has managed to retain its existing network of players. To a large extent, this phenomenon has depended upon the existence of a shared D&D mythology that transcends individual editions. Even when 'edition wars' occur, there is some sense that the argument is really about which edition most accurately captures the essential experience of D&D. IMHO, one of the most risky things about 4e from a business sense is that it jettisons large chunks of the shared mythology and tries to define what the experience of playing D&D is all about in a new way.</blockquote>

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