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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Enkhidu" data-source="post: 204091" data-attributes="member: 351">Wow!Lots of good comments so far - let's see if I can continue the trend...To start  let me tell you what perspective I'm coming from. I am a not-quite-an-old-fogey-but-still-remember-waiting-for-Unearthed-Arcana 1st Ed D&D gamer (can it really be going on 2 decades? Yes it can). I've played (heavily) all three forms of D&D, in a variety of settings, and have also branched out to play other systems (Rolemaster, GURPS, and MERP to name a few) and other genres (numerous supers games, the White Wolf lines, Cyberpunk, Paranoia, and even a bit of LARP). So one could say I have a varied background. Not as varied as some, but slightly more than many.In that time I've seen others view the hobby in many different, ad evolving, ways. When I started, it was right about the time the book and movie "Mazes and Monsters," with all the misinformation that brought (Sonar?!? Who the heck uses sonar?!?). And then (circa '85) Hickman and Weiss catapulted gaming into the limelight with a little trilogy about Dragons and Lances. The hobby once again came under scrutiny (cross promotion with fiction on the New York Times bestseller's list will do that). Then TSR started recruiting new gamers - any other comic collectors remember the giant advertising campaigns in the mid to late 80's for the Forotten Realms supplements? This combination - leading up to the release of D&D's 2nd Ed - served to catagorize gaming as a hobby more than anything else, which put it in the same catagory as people who collect comics, stamps, or model trains. Notice that I haven't actually addressed other gaming systems yet. The reason for that is that D&D has been, and perhaps always will be the most recognized name in gaming, and at this point very few people outside of the gaming community even knew some of these systems existed.Now where was I?Ah yes - gaming as a hobby.With gaming being catagorized as a hobby, it began becoming more mainstream. In the late 80's, TSR began publishing the ubiquitous Forgotten Realms books, and in each paperback was a mention of- and more often a full fledged advertisement for - gaming material. When someone would see me reading a TSR published book, they would simply say, "Oh, one of those D&D books? Tell me how it is." And these comments were from people who had never played, barely knew what the game was about, etc.In the 90's, reactions from the people around me got, if anything, more tolerant. Family and friends were - at first - a little concerned (comes from growing up in a fundalmentalist family). But when they realized that it actually took less time than, say, Fantasy Football, they ceased to be worried. Especially when they realized that I as a lot less fanatic about it too. In movies and TV, references to gaming became more common (though still very "geeky" in their connotations). White Wolf's line of World of Darkness games and supplements became popular in the gaming community (and Spelling actually tried to cash in on the concept with a Vampire themed prime time show). Which brings us just about to present, where Wizards makes and airs Magic the Gathering commercials during prime time TV, where LARPing communities do volunteer work, and where you can pick up D&D products at your local Electronics Boutique. Well that turned out to be longer than I though it would...Just my $0.37, adjusted for inflation.</blockquote>

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