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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5482389" data-attributes="member: 22779">I'm not sure if it's fair to compare 21c D&D to earlier D&D though.  Back in 1980, there were extremely few games (barring a few board games) that came anywhere near the complexity of AD&D.  Compare that to today.  Many video games, particularly MMO's are probably every bit as complex as D&D.  Everquest was many things, but simple wasn't one of them.  Nor would anyone call Civ 4 a simple game.  CCG's have shown that even young people can grok very complex interactions between rules and my students have built bewildering decks of madness out of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon.And, speaking of the little yellow beastie, there's a game that is hardly simple.  Yet my six year old daughter is enjoying it on her mother's DS.I think the people really underestimate the complexity of games out there that are quite popular.  It isn't complexity that drives people away from RPG's.  If it was, then games like The Sims or Civ Galaxy or whatnot wouldn't be doing so well.  What drives people away from RPG's is two things:1.  Time sink.  RPG's require too much time.  I enjoy spending the time, you enjoy spending the time, but convincing someone that they'll enjoy spending hours and hours and more hours a week on a hobby that, from the outside, doesn't provide a whole lot more than what you can get in front of a computer screen is an uphill battle.  ((Yes, I KNOW that's not true.  There are all sorts of things that RPG's offer that MMO's don't, but, dude, you're preaching to the converted here.))2.  Options.  There are just so many options for someone's free time that RPG's are facing a level of competition that was virtually unheard of thirty years ago.  In 1980, what did you do on a Saturday afternoon?  In my tiny hometown?  Go outside and dig holes, watch one of the three channels we got on the TV (and no VCR) or play D&D.  Today?  There's a million and one things I can do that are all fun.  The battle is convincing someone that it's more fun to play an RPG.</blockquote>

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