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The Eternal Braid: Why D&D Continuing Dialogue With RPGs is its Success
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<blockquote data-quote="jmartkdr2" data-source="post: 8669888" data-attributes="member: 7017304"><p>One distinct thing about ttrpgs with regards to market dominance: you need buy-in from multiple players to get a game going. This means once a game gets entrenched as the most popular one, it's <em>very difficult</em> to shift because of network effects. This is an added barrier to market entry that doesn't really apply to board games or video games.</p><p></p><p>This applies to wargames as well: if I want to get into wargaming in the US in the 2000's, I would have a much easier time if my game of choice was Warhammer 40k. Because most other wargamers were playing that it was much easier to find someone to play with. If I wanted to play Chronopia or even Warhammer fantasy, it was much harder to find other people to play with, which might mean I don't get to play and thus drop out. It somewhat applies to MMORPGs as well.</p><p></p><p>Now getting into DnD doesn't cost nearly as much in dollars as wargaming, but it does cost time to learn and you still want to be able to find people to play with. Which means you most likely will get more chances to play if you learn the most popular system. Sending time and money on Exalted might just get you books of lore to think about but no gaming.</p><p></p><p>It isn't a guarantee - DnD lost the clear top spot twice in its history already - but in each case it starts with a mistake by the makers of the game that created an opening and someone else diving in with another good game that capitalized on what people didn't like about the current edition.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jmartkdr2, post: 8669888, member: 7017304"] One distinct thing about ttrpgs with regards to market dominance: you need buy-in from multiple players to get a game going. This means once a game gets entrenched as the most popular one, it's [I]very difficult[/I] to shift because of network effects. This is an added barrier to market entry that doesn't really apply to board games or video games. This applies to wargames as well: if I want to get into wargaming in the US in the 2000's, I would have a much easier time if my game of choice was Warhammer 40k. Because most other wargamers were playing that it was much easier to find someone to play with. If I wanted to play Chronopia or even Warhammer fantasy, it was much harder to find other people to play with, which might mean I don't get to play and thus drop out. It somewhat applies to MMORPGs as well. Now getting into DnD doesn't cost nearly as much in dollars as wargaming, but it does cost time to learn and you still want to be able to find people to play with. Which means you most likely will get more chances to play if you learn the most popular system. Sending time and money on Exalted might just get you books of lore to think about but no gaming. It isn't a guarantee - DnD lost the clear top spot twice in its history already - but in each case it starts with a mistake by the makers of the game that created an opening and someone else diving in with another good game that capitalized on what people didn't like about the current edition. [/QUOTE]
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The Eternal Braid: Why D&D Continuing Dialogue With RPGs is its Success
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