Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
(More) ruminations on the future of D&D
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 6365257" data-attributes="member: 58197"><p>I don't regard the prevalence of MMOs as a sign that there is a groundswell of potential D&D players waiting to burst forth. Indeed, I see it as the exact opposite: Back in the day, before MMOs, there were a lot of people who just wanted to hack up monsters. They played D&D because it was the best option available at the time. Then MMOs came along and made it possible to hack up monsters on demand, with superior visuals, without having to assemble a gaming group or do a bunch of math or deal with a potentially-sucky DM. The monster-hackers migrated to MMOs, and they're not coming back, because MMOs are what they always wanted to play--D&D was just a substitute.</p><p></p><p>That's what both we and WotC really ought to keep in mind. Without (I hope!) getting into edition wars, I think it's fair to say that one of the chief goals of 4E was to drastically overhaul the monster-hacking aspect of the game, to add a lot of tactical depth to combats which in the old days often devolved into whacking off chunks of hit points till somebody ran out. And it succeeded quite well at that. But it didn't bring the MMO players home. MMOs still do monster-hacking better than D&D ever can or will.</p><p></p><p>The question then is, if the monster-hackers are gone, is there any <em>other</em> set of people who might be drawn into the hobby? And I think the answer to that is yes. The great weakness of MMOs is that they offer very limited scope for creativity--and the great strength of tabletop is that it offers <em>immense</em> scope for creativity. D&D has always had great appeal to creative people, and that side of the hobby is still going strong. So D&D should be aiming to build on that strength. I see some encouraging signs that 5E is aiming in that direction.</p><p></p><p>Basically, instead of thinking about how to build a game for MMO players, think about how to build a game for fanfic writers. (Yes, this means we're going to see a lot more of Drizzt. Sorry. Better get used to it. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> )</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 6365257, member: 58197"] I don't regard the prevalence of MMOs as a sign that there is a groundswell of potential D&D players waiting to burst forth. Indeed, I see it as the exact opposite: Back in the day, before MMOs, there were a lot of people who just wanted to hack up monsters. They played D&D because it was the best option available at the time. Then MMOs came along and made it possible to hack up monsters on demand, with superior visuals, without having to assemble a gaming group or do a bunch of math or deal with a potentially-sucky DM. The monster-hackers migrated to MMOs, and they're not coming back, because MMOs are what they always wanted to play--D&D was just a substitute. That's what both we and WotC really ought to keep in mind. Without (I hope!) getting into edition wars, I think it's fair to say that one of the chief goals of 4E was to drastically overhaul the monster-hacking aspect of the game, to add a lot of tactical depth to combats which in the old days often devolved into whacking off chunks of hit points till somebody ran out. And it succeeded quite well at that. But it didn't bring the MMO players home. MMOs still do monster-hacking better than D&D ever can or will. The question then is, if the monster-hackers are gone, is there any [I]other[/I] set of people who might be drawn into the hobby? And I think the answer to that is yes. The great weakness of MMOs is that they offer very limited scope for creativity--and the great strength of tabletop is that it offers [I]immense[/I] scope for creativity. D&D has always had great appeal to creative people, and that side of the hobby is still going strong. So D&D should be aiming to build on that strength. I see some encouraging signs that 5E is aiming in that direction. Basically, instead of thinking about how to build a game for MMO players, think about how to build a game for fanfic writers. (Yes, this means we're going to see a lot more of Drizzt. Sorry. Better get used to it. ;) ) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
(More) ruminations on the future of D&D
Top