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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5357319" data-attributes="member: 177">I'm not convinced that is true.&nbsp; The data exists out and about to play games so long as someone can read English, yes.&nbsp; But RPGs are social games - they need a body of players to play.&nbsp; If you cannot scrape together enough people who want to play, you don't have a game, and the hobby, as far as you are concerned, is dead.&nbsp; If nobody can scrape together people to play the hobby as a whole is dead.Gamers are like a species of animals - somewhat rare ones.&nbsp; It is possible that we get isolated into smaller and smaller pockets, until such time as we become extinct.&nbsp; I don't think this is likely any time soon, but I don't think one can reasonably deny the very possibility.&nbsp; No particular element of human culture is &quot;immortal&quot;.&nbsp; Even something as broadly used as a language can, eventually, die.On the other side, every single person who says, &quot;The hobby is shrinking!&nbsp; Doom is coming!&quot; seems to ignore one notable fact - eternal growth is not feasible.&nbsp; So, our hobby, or any hobby, has times when it grows and times when it shrinks.&nbsp; Things come and go and come back again.&nbsp; So, how do you tell the difference between normal ebb and flow, which is transient, from the decline into death?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 5357319, member: 177"] I'm not convinced that is true. The data exists out and about to play games so long as someone can read English, yes. But RPGs are social games - they need a body of players to play. If you cannot scrape together enough people who want to play, you don't have a game, and the hobby, as far as you are concerned, is dead. If nobody can scrape together people to play the hobby as a whole is dead. Gamers are like a species of animals - somewhat rare ones. It is possible that we get isolated into smaller and smaller pockets, until such time as we become extinct. I don't think this is likely any time soon, but I don't think one can reasonably deny the very possibility. No particular element of human culture is "immortal". Even something as broadly used as a language can, eventually, die. On the other side, every single person who says, "The hobby is shrinking! Doom is coming!" seems to ignore one notable fact - eternal growth is not feasible. So, our hobby, or any hobby, has times when it grows and times when it shrinks. Things come and go and come back again. So, how do you tell the difference between normal ebb and flow, which is transient, from the decline into death? [/QUOTE]

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