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Message: <blockquote data-quote="cdrcjsn" data-source="post: 4838080" data-attributes="member: 60486">No hard data, just anecdotal evidence, but I would say yes.Most of my D&D experience lies with the RPGA.  In the SF Bay Area, we had a community of several hundred people who play together at home, game stores and local conventions.I distinctly recall losing track of several dozen people in the community when WoW first came on the market.  They stopped attending local games due to playing WoW.Does WoW involve a lot of role playing?  For the most part, no.  Is it a role playing game?  Yeah, it is.  People are just as dedicated to their wow characters as some D&D players are.  So it draws from the same pool of people who are likely to play D&D.   The biggest attraction to WoW (and other MMOs), is the convenience, as many have pointed out.  But almost as great a draw is the sense of community.  You form very close bonds with people in your guild.  Even if you never meet them face to face, the fact that you spend several hours a week hanging out with people online, talking through headsets, creates the same sort of camaraderie that you would find in a long term tabletop home group.But WotC is looking to span that gap in community.  A stronger RPGA.  Greater support for local gamestores running events.  Their digital initiative (though stalled slightly, it is still going strong and is likely to expand).Do I agree with Ryan that MMOs have cut into D&D's market share?  Yeah, in the short term, because it offers convenience that currently cannot be matched by tabletop games.  Do I share his doom and gloom regarding the tabletop industry?  No, I don't.  I can easily envision ways for D&D to stay relevant in a world with MMOs.  If anything, MMOs will eventually bring more people to playing RPGs (albeit online games).  If even a fraction of a fraction of those start playing tabletop RPGs, then I would think the industry as a whole will grow.</blockquote>

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