Of market leaders, stigmas and widespread appeal...

[Ruin Explorer]

The golden rule of human life is: Everybody has someone he thinks he has a right to feel superior to. You´ll find enough RPGers that wail about "how we are misrepresented in the media" while making lots of "lolhaha" posts about, for instance, furries on messageboards.

It's the circle of like. Or possibly the geek hierarchy. Oh furries, thank you for making all the other wierdoes look good.

 

[Imaro]

It depends, how do you present the question? I can't imagine saying to someone, "Hey do you fancy playing World of Darkness?" without them coming back with, "Dunno, what is it?", assuming they've never heard of it. This invites discussion, and avoids preconception.

But *everyone's* heard of D&D, and the stigmas associated with it. "Hey, do you fancy playing D&D?" is received with mental images of fat, smelly nerds having roleplay sex with eachother in their parents' basement. Response? "Er, no, thanks, I'd rather do something remotely cool."

This, I think comes closest to what I'm trying to convey. The question I'm wondering though is how does one go about combating (from a company perspective) this image when trying to expand the mainstream appeal. It's kind of a double edged sword... D&D controls the lion's share of the RPG market, thus it is recognized for good or bad by most people. Now if that awareness could be turned in a different direction so that the D&D name evoked other images or stereotypes it could probably grow it's market.

As far as other hobbies go, I know people who play boardgames almost religiously, same game, same day and same time each week... yet the same stigma isn't attached. Videogames, ditto (and the funny thing is computer games did have this type of stigma when first starting out). Even building model cars or railroads doesn't have the same stigma attached. It might be looked at as quirky, but still cool.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

WotC/Hasbro could undoubtedly change the way D&D is percieved... IF they were willing to shovel enough money into spinning things their way. But that would take a lot of money, because the image is so deeply rooted. I very much doubt that they are willing to do that. (Sure, it would help their bottom line eventually, but they [Hasbro anyway] don't seem any too interested in spending lots of money on something that might eventually bring in big dividends.)

 

[Mercurius]

I've never gotten the satanic thing from non-gamers, but there is no denying the "Nerd Stigma" that D&D holds. Furthermore, I have experienced a couple instances recently when people spoke pejoratively about D&D without knowing I was into it. Just a couple days ago I was on a baseball forum having a disagreement with someone who said to another poster that I "was probably posting between games of Dungeons and Dragons." Jeez, I wish I tried to press him about why that was an insult, but he wouldn't offer anything.

The other time was in a philosophical/psychological debate when someone said to me "This isn't Dungeons and Dragons" in reference to something having to do with the ontological status of supposed non-physical sentient beings (i.e. whether or not angels and demons were real beyond human psychology); they were in effect saying that my opinion was not based in reality but fantasy. What I should have said, but didn't, was "No, this is Mazes and Monsters, and I'm off to kill the dragon that lives in the tunnels below the city."

On a more serious note, I have noticed myself getting a bit defensive on occasion about my gaming interest, sometimes feeling the need to justify it as more than just a "nerdy past-time" by saying that it is highly creative and imaginative, kind of like Poker Night for People with Imaginations. My wife, who is not a gamer, has wondered why I am defensive about it and I have tried to explain the social stigma, but she seemed dubious. She just hasn't experienced it from the perspective of either the "hated" or the "haters."

Finally, I will play Devil's Advocate for a moment and say that many of the gamer stereotypes are based in some degree of reality. There are quite a few "unhealthy looking" gamers out there, whether obese or malnourished, unhygienic or lacking social grace. Not the majority, but I would say a higher percentage of gamers--or at least patrons of game stores--fit some of these characterizations than, say, coffeeshop hipsters or fashionistas. While I like to look at individuals on a case-by-case basis without culturally stereotyping them off the bat, I don't think there is anything wrong with observing trends.

 

[hong]

When D&D fully embraces violence as the one true method of solving problems, only then will it lose its stigma.

 

[GnomeWorks]

When D&D fully embraces violence as the one true method of solving problems, only then will it lose its stigma.

What makes you say that?

 

[hong]

Have you checked out the video game market lately?

 

[GnomeWorks]

Have you checked out the video game market lately?

That's what I thought you were getting at, but I wanted to double-check.

Mark your calendar, you and I agree on something.

 

[Imaro]

Have you checked out the video game market lately?

That's what I thought you were getting at, but I wanted to double-check.

Mark your calendar, you and I agree on something.

Really... do some research before making broad, sweeping statements. I disagree with both of you, since the best selling games aren't consistently those based on violence... in fact quite a few puzzle, sports, roleplaying and racing games are in the top sellers of various consoles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

http://www.gunslot.com/blog/top-twenty-five-25-best-selling-video-games-all-time

 

[GnomeWorks]

Really... do some research before making broad, sweeping statements. I disagree with both of you, since the best selling games aren't consistently those based on violence... in fact quite a few puzzle, sports, roleplaying and racing games are in the top sellers of various consoles.

Both of your links are "of all time" sorts of lists, which don't really do justice to current trends, now, do they?