This is actually what I worry about most. 5e is in theory far more hackable than the last couple of editions, and yet every day the social media pages full of new and casual D&D players are flooded with questions like, "Is it okay to add/remove X to/from D&D?"; lowkey disdain for homebrew content; a general zeitgeist that seems reluctant towards (if not outright opposed to) doing-it-yourself; and an undercurrent of gamer orthodoxy that the D&D rules shouldn't be adapted to other genres when a different RPG will serve.
Right here on EN World, there was a thousand-post thread not too long ago where one side of the argument seemed to be arguing that it's not okay to disallow officially published races or classes in your home campaign because reasons.
One shouldn't have to be a "real die-hard" D&D player to know that it's okay to tweak, tinker, hack, and homebrew.
In the original D&D rules, the hobbyist voice of Gary Gygax insisted over and over again that the rules were mere guidelines, a starting point for creating your own campaign. A few short years later, in AD&D, we have the voice of corporate Gary, who argues: "Many products might purport to be satisfactory for use with ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, but only those noted as OFFICIAL or Authorized AD&D items should be accepted. Do not settle for substitutes or second-rate material in your campaign; ask for approved AD&D products only!" and that if you house-rule your campaign, you aren't playing AD&D anymore, you're playing a "variant fantasy game." Which, of course, everybody either ignored outright or laughed at first and then promptly ignored.
I hate to imagine that 50 years later, Corporate Gary has won out over Hobbyist Gary in the end. But that's what it looks like. And through no real effort on WotC's part, either, even though it's obviously in their interest.
