Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 8458803" data-attributes="member: 86653">Right. D&amp;D is the center of gravity for RPGs. There's no denying that. The question isn't &quot;why is D&amp;D the main intro RPG?&quot; the question is &quot;why do people stick with D&amp;D and ignore basically every other RPG out there?&quot; Especially when those other games do most things (if not everything) smoother, better, faster, and with less cruft than D&amp;D. At some point it really is simple brand loyalty. Which, to me, is the same as conflating RPGs with D&amp;D proper.That's only the game play loop of WotC D&amp;D, not how TSR D&amp;D played at all. Besides, video games do that exact game play loop far, far better. So if that's the draw of D&amp;D, then why are people still playing D&amp;D? If that loop if the main draw (I don't think it is), then they should be seeking the best iteration of that loop. Hint: it's not D&amp;D. So it can't be that.Of course. And D&amp;D is so dominant that it has a greater market share than all other RPGs combined. There's clearly some draw. Since the game play loop clearly isn't it. And since all RPGs have the same fundamental &quot;your only limit is your imagination&quot; premise, it's clearly not that either.That's not what's being said. What's being said is people are conflating the uniqueness of RPGs, that &quot;your only limit is your imagination&quot; premise, with D&amp;D itself. That's clearly not the case as all RPGs by definition have that as their starting point, so there must be something about D&amp;D that's unique. It's not that premise. It's clearly not brilliance of game design. It's not &quot;does combat well,&quot; it doesn't. It's not &quot;does non-combat well,&quot; it laughably doesn't. It's not the game play loop you mentioned, video games do that infinitely better. What we have left is inertia, gravity, and popularity. Name recognition and branding. People play D&amp;D because other people play D&amp;D.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="overgeeked, post: 8458803, member: 86653"] Right. D&D is the center of gravity for RPGs. There's no denying that. The question isn't "why is D&D the main intro RPG?" the question is "why do people stick with D&D and ignore basically every other RPG out there?" Especially when those other games do most things (if not everything) smoother, better, faster, and with less cruft than D&D. At some point it really is simple brand loyalty. Which, to me, is the same as conflating RPGs with D&D proper. That's only the game play loop of WotC D&D, not how TSR D&D played at all. Besides, video games do that exact game play loop far, far better. So if that's the draw of D&D, then why are people still playing D&D? If that loop if the main draw (I don't think it is), then they should be seeking the best iteration of that loop. Hint: it's not D&D. So it can't be that. Of course. And D&D is so dominant that it has a greater market share than [I]all other RPGs combined[/I]. There's clearly some draw. Since the game play loop clearly isn't it. And since all RPGs have the same fundamental "your only limit is your imagination" premise, it's clearly not that either. That's not what's being said. What's being said is people are conflating the uniqueness of RPGs, that "your only limit is your imagination" premise, with D&D itself. That's clearly not the case as all RPGs by definition have that as their starting point, so there must be something about D&D that's unique. It's not that premise. It's clearly not brilliance of game design. It's not "does combat well," it doesn't. It's not "does non-combat well," it laughably doesn't. It's not the game play loop you mentioned, video games do that infinitely better. What we have left is inertia, gravity, and popularity. Name recognition and branding. People play D&D because [I]other people[/I] play D&D. [/QUOTE]

Verification