Hussar
Legend
Um, the same people who bring people into out-of-print games today and the same people who will bring others into soon to be out-of-print games.
Again, I disagree. This might have been true in the 70s/80s/90s but I think your being a bit archaic. With the rise of the internet and it's involvement in everyday life, grass-roots gaming is only going to get stronger and stronger, with or without retail gaming.
The problem is, your signal gets swamped by the noise. Sure, people get brought to OOP games today by existing gamers. No one will question that. But, the basic math question is, are enough being brought in to replace those who leave?
I have no idea. But, I do know that existing gamers + retailers brings more people into the hobby than just existing gamers.
Considering how hard it already is to find a game outside of suburban centers, stripping away the retail aspect is not going to help.
After all, I would doubt that the first game that most OOP gamers play is an OOP game. In my mind, it would be much more likely that someone tries a print game first and then slides into an OOP group.