SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
I think this point needs to be echoed and generally shouted to the rooftops. When I was growing up, gaming, and being a nerd in general was something you were laughed at about. A friend of mine was literally hung up in his locker at school. That wasn't a gag on TV, it actually happened. I had to pull him down. Beyond that, gaming was (and still is) a repository for people who didn't fit in. If there was one thing I could go back in time and tell myself about my gaming friends growing up, it would be that so many of them weren't "weird", they were on the spectrum. We didn't know what that meant back then.The reality is that the older players suffered constant abuse from the wider public for being "abnormal." This meant that there was always a comradery within the culture even if you shared radically different world views. No matter what you believed, you shared a common bond.
So we got together and played D&D. We had people of various social skills together, but the fact that we were different made us sort of brothers and sisters.
And it's not that way now. Gaming is much closer to being cool. And the big problem I have with it now is that the people who are on the spectrum, who still are drawn to RPGs, who were welcomed to gaming when I was growing up, aren't anymore. Gaming is still the place where people on the borders go. But it's also the place where cool and hip people go. And that's great. What's not great is that if you're a cool and mainstream person, you now can try to gatekeep and get those people out of the hobby.
And no, I'm certainly not saying this is a universal thing by any means, but it happens. The "creepy" kid or adult playing in a game at a Con or a game store gets bounced. I've seen it happen many times. Yes, I gamed with people who I wouldn't want to be friends with, but they were just doing the best that they could, and gaming with people is something that can help them improve social skills and reduce anxiety. It's good to remember that. If you have a child on the spectrum (and I do) there's a saying "kids do the best that they can, until they can't for a moment."
I think Belen's idea that the role of older gamers has changed over the lifespan of 5E is correct. Us Gen Xers were the people keeping the light on during the early part of the 5E era. We're also the people who still buy expensive boxed sets, (only to complain about them). And, naturally, WotC is changing the focus of the game for new people. I'm flippin' old! The kind of game of D&D that most people my age want to play is very different than what most kids in high school are looking for. They are going to be the future.
But at the same time, if you make a game that I'm less interested in, I'm not going to be positive about it. Most of the time I'm going to say nothing, but I will pipe up from time to time. And if you're one to say "Quiet, gramps! You just don't get it," I'll refer you to what Grampa Simpson said about "it" and say that it will happen to you too. When 7E or 8E comes along, you'll see.