OK, after reading the Warz thread, its clear there is a general agreement that at some point TSR and WOTC chose to favor marketing and commercialism over the "needs" of the players.
I think there are some disagreements however as to when this very first occured.
Personally I think the first major "sell out" of D&Ds soul was with UA. This was the first time we saw money take center stage in a big way. Before this point one got the impression Gary Gygax was still in it for the "love" of the game. After this point, its as if the corporation takes over, Gary's heart just isn't in it anymore, and he's on the way out. Its clear greed and corporate profits become more important then the game itself.
Yep, UA was the first selling of D&Ds soul for a handful of silver. It was the rapids before the waterfall of what was a post-Gygax 2E world. Unfortunately 3E maintanes this corporate philosophy treating D&D as a commodity with "units sold" being the primary objective rather then functionality itself. Thats why 3E (a novelty based system like 2E) will fizzle out and not have the staying power of OD&D and AD&D IMO. But only time will tell...perhaps we'll see with the release of 4E as the majority of 3E players switch over for the newest and hottest D&D eye candy.
I think there are some disagreements however as to when this very first occured.
Personally I think the first major "sell out" of D&Ds soul was with UA. This was the first time we saw money take center stage in a big way. Before this point one got the impression Gary Gygax was still in it for the "love" of the game. After this point, its as if the corporation takes over, Gary's heart just isn't in it anymore, and he's on the way out. Its clear greed and corporate profits become more important then the game itself.
Yep, UA was the first selling of D&Ds soul for a handful of silver. It was the rapids before the waterfall of what was a post-Gygax 2E world. Unfortunately 3E maintanes this corporate philosophy treating D&D as a commodity with "units sold" being the primary objective rather then functionality itself. Thats why 3E (a novelty based system like 2E) will fizzle out and not have the staying power of OD&D and AD&D IMO. But only time will tell...perhaps we'll see with the release of 4E as the majority of 3E players switch over for the newest and hottest D&D eye candy.
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