Parmandur
Book-Friend, he/him
Well, the argument dates back to attempts to play down the influence Tolkien had on the game for corporate BS reasons, not trying to overemphasized the influence.I should clarify. I'm not saying J.R.R. Tolkien wasn't a big deal, both for the fantasy genre in general and D&D in particular.
I'm just saying that maybe the size of that influence doesn't matter. At least, not nearly as much as some of the uh, more enthusiastic commentators seem to think. (And comparing him to Shakespeare is...certainly a choice.) The thing is: not everyone enjoys Tolkien's books. And that's fine! To argue that someone is wrong about that opinion, and to insist that they do, actually, enjoy Tolkien because they enjoy other derivative works (including D&D)...is just weird.
Comparing Tolkien to Shakespeare is appropriate when discussing Engliah Fantasy literature, and arguably Engliah literature (given 500 years, it will cease being controversial).