D&D (2024) Understanding "nostalgia"

[Bayushi_seikuro]

"Nostalgia is our most toxic impulse."

-- Judge John Hodgman

 

[Leatherhead]

Yeah, I'm nostalgic for some of the things from the 80s/90s. But man, I did not have a good time in the 00's over all.

 

[Mind of tempest]

"Nostalgia is our most toxic impulse."

-- Judge John Hodgman

I doubt most toxic but it has to be in the top 10 at least

 

[aco175]

The song I'll never write is called "80s rock and 90s country".

 

[mamba]

I don’t know, for music that kinda works for me, even though I like some stuff from the 60s, 70s and from the 90s on up until today, the 80s were ‘my decade’

For movies and TV series there was a lot of stuff that I consider crap today that I liked back then. For movies I guess it is more the 2000s, or really no particular decade, not sure

Likewise, I would not return to 1e or 2e, 5e is a much better game, and so are many other current ones. There is a certain style of play I like (and I already liked that before 1e ‘discovered’ it eventually…), the ruleset is not that important.

 

[bloodtide]

I think a lot of the "likes what was from their teens or slightly before" comes from a common social ritual..... Music is the perfect example, so I will use that.....

As a pre teen...you start to really to listen to music and you start to form your musical taste. Your young and impressionable......and a blank slate.

Then comes....The Day. Maybe it's a cousin, or an uncle or a friend of your dad or just someone older..and cooler...then you. And you go over and see their music room.

Their Music room is full of posters, pictures, lights, framed items, and more. They have lots of vinyl records, 45's, cassettes, CDs and digital copies.

And they have stories....endless stories....about seeing band or singers live...going to concerts...and more.

But most of all is the passion. When they sit down and talk about the artist/band like they know them personally. About how the Album Dull Needle was when the band shifted their music to neo classic something something and redefined the music scene something something and how much it was amazing to them and meant so much and how they followed along.

When they show you an album cover where the singer wrote a short message....and they come close to crying when they read it to you....

This sort of thing....raw emotion...deep feelings...passion....sticks in the young pre teens mind....and heart and soul. Not too amazingly, they might become a fan.....

 

[MNblockhead]

This sort of thing....raw emotion...deep feelings...passion....sticks in the young pre teens mind....and heart and soul. Not too amazingly, they might become a fan.....

Certainly a lot of truth to that, but I've been noticing this trend on You Tube videos where there will be some new musician--doesn't really matter the genre, though rap and country seem to draw these comments the most--and you'll start seeing a lot of comments like "I'm a 65 year old grandmother and never like rap/country, but your song really spoke to me..." It is enough of a trend that you see people making jokes about it ("I'm 250 years old, but I loved this").

Anyone at any age and fall in love with new music and get emotionally invested in it. But I wonder if it spike not only in one's teens, but also when you are older. You are less absorbed in your career and raising young kids, and also have decades of life experience that you start getting more introspective about. I've noticed in my own life that I've gotten back into listing to a lot more new music in my 50s than I did from my mid-20s through my 40s.

 

[bloodtide]

Anyone at any age and fall in love with new music and get emotionally invested in it. But I wonder if it spike not only in one's teens, but also when you are older.

There are a lot of ways teens and retiree are the same. And free time is just the start.

It does seem like people hit age 20 and just stop. I guess the reason is"life"...

Back when I first started running RPGs at the Rec, I would make references to every sci fi and fantasy movie ever made. And my group of 22-24 year olds had seen none of them. They only had time for Star Wars and Marvel?DC. So I set up movie nights. And they loved them. Movies like Flash Gordon, Airplane! and the Dark Crystal just blew their minds. But they never would have chosen to watch those movies.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I miss the days when I was nostalgic about the past... Things were so much better then...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I think that there is a fundamental misunderstanding when people attribute preferences for nostalgia.

Nostalgia is certainly a powerful feeling, and it drives a lot of decisions. I think it is inarguable that the majority of people form their musical tastes early, and as they age no longer are able to keep up with the changing landscape (not everyone, but most people).

On the other hand, there is also a comfort in traditions and ritual that gets overlooked; for example, many of the things that people thought of as stupid or corny as teens they return to later- the same teen that might roll their eyes at a family holiday tradition will begin recreating it themselves, not because of nostalgia, but because those traditions and rituals have meaning and comfort to them.

When it comes to brands and products, its always a careful balance between pivoting to the new and retaining the old. There is no single right answer. But it needs to be remembered that if you have an established brand, part of that brand is that continuity of the brand, because that is the power. Break the continuity, or call it into question, and the brand itself is called into question.

Given the inherent fickleness of teens, it is usually a fool's errand for brands to exclusively cater to that market long-term. What works for a period of time will quickly be seen as uncool or dated, and if you are constantly changing, then you lose the continuity that the brand would need.

Put another way, if D&D were re-formulated to exclusively appeal to teens today, it would look incredibly dated not just to people in a while, but to those teens themselves in a few years.

This (every word) is the final answer, mic drop, game over, etc etc