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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kzach" data-source="post: 5643936" data-attributes="member: 56189">ADHD isn't a recent development, it's simply recently 'discovered'. Even then, there were theories about it back in the 70's.IME, people are what they're exposed to and choose to latch on to. I've had too many experiences where I've shown new (whether young or old) players roleplaying, as opposed to rollplaying, and they've CHOSEN to latch onto it. In almost all cases, these people didn't understand what roleplaying was until they were exposed to it. If I'd asked them before showing them what real roleplaying is like, if they were playing a roleplaying game (using D&D), then they would've answered yes, despite not really knowing what roleplaying was.Yet I've also experienced the opposite, where new players (young or old), balk at roleplaying and for whatever reason (I suspect usually embarrassment or social stigma) ran away from it screaming (or it could've been running away screaming from ME, but for the sake of argument let's say that's not the case).Point being is that I don't think it has anything to do with generational attitudes or capabilities, I think it's more about what people know and are exposed to and what social pressures there are on the particular individual. The fact is that it's simply more popular and far more widespread to be a number cruncher and optimiser than it is to roleplay.There's also the factor that I think D&D is reaching a far wider audience than it ever has in the past. In the past the exposure of the game was limited to a specific sub-set of, mostly American, culture. Now it's exposed to multiple cultures that all share a common sub-culture: the internet. People are then influenced by this common element and not exposed to other elements of the game, such as roleplaying.Ask anyone who started playing RPG's twenty-plus years ago what roleplaying is and I can almost guarantee the most common responses will be wholly different to what someone who just started playing RPG's five years ago answer.</blockquote>

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