All of these comments are very insightful. I find it ironic (as pointed out by Odhanan) that the more RPGs try to be like a MMO the more likely they will be replaced by the MMOs, since they offer the "same" experience at that point. This is exactly my point (and all of yours as well) that by making D&D into WOW for example, only makes it so WOW (or another dedicated MMO) kills D&D.
What we need to figure out is how to make using the imagination and embracing that excitment done at that kick in the door and kill the kobold then take his loot level. Make that basic visceral experience (that both PnP and MMOs) have, and boil down where D&D does it in its best way vs how the MMO does it. Then make sure to make it intuitive to build onto that experience the Role Playing depth with "now I want to go explore a whole world, save people, fight badguys" and so on...up to choosing to assassinate the king or stop that assassination sort of events.
I think the personalized hero's journey (in a Campbell manner) is the key. I know that I find the repeative nature of MMOs and that everyone else in the game is doing exactly what I am doing takes from that experience. MMOs focus on nearly the exact opposite world/ story elements of a PnP game aside from the combat encounters. That is where D&D needs to explore expanding and evolving the game I feel, make that marketable and viral.
The first step to making D&D viral is how to share the game with other people (outside your immediate peer group) quickly and easily. It would be intersting to hear what people's ideas are on how to best do this? My initial instinct is a DM reward program for becoming a sanctioned DM who demos the game to new players, or something to that effect. Make becoming a DM easier and more rewarding. More DMs means more players, more players means more sales.
The other place to make the game more viral is to tap into the player's imagination and remove as many barriers to entry to getting to that point. On a side note, we ran some test groups and prototype roleplaying classes in our store, and found that the main difference between a group that was hack and slay style of play and roleplaying style of play was whether or not the characters had backgrounds, motives and goals. When a character is disconnected from the setting and its only goal is power and wealth, then you get kill the monster, take his treasure etc. When you tell the player that as they return to their village it is burning, many of the villagers are dead and they find their father' dead ran through with a spear. Searching through bodies, many are missing, with their younger sister is among them. You notice the warbanner of the evil empire to the east amongst the bloodshed and ruin. What are you going to do? This sort of set up and giving personal goals to a character is key to providing a framework to build heroic storytelling upon. D&D does not build this in or teach this to their DMs.
What we need to figure out is how to make using the imagination and embracing that excitment done at that kick in the door and kill the kobold then take his loot level. Make that basic visceral experience (that both PnP and MMOs) have, and boil down where D&D does it in its best way vs how the MMO does it. Then make sure to make it intuitive to build onto that experience the Role Playing depth with "now I want to go explore a whole world, save people, fight badguys" and so on...up to choosing to assassinate the king or stop that assassination sort of events.
I think the personalized hero's journey (in a Campbell manner) is the key. I know that I find the repeative nature of MMOs and that everyone else in the game is doing exactly what I am doing takes from that experience. MMOs focus on nearly the exact opposite world/ story elements of a PnP game aside from the combat encounters. That is where D&D needs to explore expanding and evolving the game I feel, make that marketable and viral.
The first step to making D&D viral is how to share the game with other people (outside your immediate peer group) quickly and easily. It would be intersting to hear what people's ideas are on how to best do this? My initial instinct is a DM reward program for becoming a sanctioned DM who demos the game to new players, or something to that effect. Make becoming a DM easier and more rewarding. More DMs means more players, more players means more sales.
The other place to make the game more viral is to tap into the player's imagination and remove as many barriers to entry to getting to that point. On a side note, we ran some test groups and prototype roleplaying classes in our store, and found that the main difference between a group that was hack and slay style of play and roleplaying style of play was whether or not the characters had backgrounds, motives and goals. When a character is disconnected from the setting and its only goal is power and wealth, then you get kill the monster, take his treasure etc. When you tell the player that as they return to their village it is burning, many of the villagers are dead and they find their father' dead ran through with a spear. Searching through bodies, many are missing, with their younger sister is among them. You notice the warbanner of the evil empire to the east amongst the bloodshed and ruin. What are you going to do? This sort of set up and giving personal goals to a character is key to providing a framework to build heroic storytelling upon. D&D does not build this in or teach this to their DMs.
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Cookie Monster is one of my favs too 
