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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Radaceus" data-source="post: 6877945" data-attributes="member: 6796086">I remember this happening, and the 60 minutes coverage. I recall Tipper Gore bashing on it. One thing I disagree with is the spike in sales being attributed to the Dallas Egbert story. The spike was due to the mass production of 1st edition in 1979/1980, mainly the release of the DMG, and the 'red box' version of basic, which saw prominent shelf space at the local book stores at the end of the decade.Now as for why we are not able to get past that high water mark of the 80s. Twofold answer. Magic the Gathering 1994, and the combine assault of Ultima Online & Everquest 1998 & 1999 respectively. And actually precursor to that, the shake-up at TSR which saw EGG benched and led to the WOTC take over, which  undermined Ral Partha (no offense Wizkids, but your plastic just isn't as good as the molds you obtained), set the table for that perfect storm when CCGs dominated the table tops.  Bottom line~ I like to refer to it as The Point and Click generation, the 90s and the Ots saw an incline in instant gratification through console and computer games. Short attention span theater which ( edition wars aside) led to streamlining D&D to suit power-gaming munchkins.</blockquote>