D&D 5E (2024) Understanding "nostalgia"

[Mercurius]

 

[Scribe]

you guys must all be old if you remember times when everything was not totally bleak.

Hardly, its just a matter of perspective.

6 years ago was better than today. 8 years ago was way better than today. 20 years ago? Practically a Utopia compared to today, even if I was pretty much broke.

That said, I'm in my 40s, so maybe that counts for old to you.

 

[Yaarel]

We are in complete agreement!

The only thing I would add is that D&D is a brand, and part of the brand's strength is that it is in a continual dialogue with its past; that doesn't mean it should be beholden to the past, but that it derives strength from those decades that is built into the strength of the current product.

I think of the past as a valuable resource to mine for things that might happen to be useful now.

Heh, but the nonuseful stuff needs to stay in the dust of history.

 

[bedir than]

The best surveys were done in the '90s.

I couldn't answer surveys in the 90s. My landline was in use on the pre-Web

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I couldn't answer surveys in the 90s. My landline was in use on the pre-Web

You should've used the infinite number of free AOL CDs to create your own telecom infrastructure.

 

[GuyBoy]

It is true that people tend to view the music of when they were about 16 as the best ever.
They are mainly wrong, of course. The fact is that the best music ever was around 1979 thanks to The Ramones, The Clash, Blondie, UK Subs and other punk/new wave groups. That’s definitive.

When was I born? Oh, 1963 as it happens.

 

[bloodtide]

These surveys have the same problems of most surveys, so they are not accurate. There is just so much to unpack:

1.Most people feel they missed "The Golden Age" by being born just a couple years too late. Only if they could have been born a couple years before.....

2.Anything older, has had longer to attract fans. Something good that has been around for 40 some years will have way more fans then something only around for 5.

3.Peer Pressure. Everyone else likes it, so I have to like it to fit in.

4.Idolization. Everyone who is older then you...and cool....likes it. So you must like it to be cool...and better "cool older".

5.Community. When you like what everyone likes, you get accepted into the 'everyone' group'.

6.Timelessness. Your teens are a magical timeless time. You can spend forever....almost...doing whatever you want to do. Even if you do have some work or responsibilities....it is nothing compared to being an adult. In your teens you can do amazing things like buy an album, movie, or video game...and just stay home with it all week end. That endless fun of getting a new video game and playing it for 72 hours until you beat it.

7.The Spot. When asked a question, many people feel put on the spot. They feel they must give the community or popular or cool answer.

8.Free Time. When your a teen, you have near endless free time. You can "follow" whatever with no effort. you are right there and know all about it, and even "feel" you know the people in and around it.

9.Kid's Stuff. A big problem with liking stuff of "today"....is the kids like it. Young people just automatically like things....as it is part of being young. But you don't want to "be like a kid" and say you like something kids like....you like "old stuff".

10. .Closed Mind. So for many people, their teens is a great wild ride where they can explore and experience new things...and are still deciding on "what they like". But for most people....right after being a teen, it's a hard wall. Their mind is closed to new things. They like what they like....the end.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Hardly, its just a matter of perspective.

6 years ago was better than today. 8 years ago was way better than today. 20 years ago? Practically a Utopia compared to today, even if I was pretty much broke.

That said, I'm in my 40s, so maybe that counts for old to you.

20 years ago I was starting school and most of my memories back then have faded to nothing.
You're younger than my youngest parent which is how I judge these things.

It is true that people tend to view the music of when they were about 16 as the best ever.
They are mainly wrong, of course. The fact is that the best music ever was around 1979 thanks to The Ramones, The Clash, Blondie, UK Subs and other punk/new wave groups. That’s definitive.

When was I born? Oh, 1963 as it happens.

music when I was 16 sucked anything from about 00's onwards has been too interlaced with nostalgia for a proper identity

 

[Scribe]

music when I was 16 sucked anything from about 00's has been too interlaced with nostalgia for a proper identity

Blame the internet.

We peaked in the 90s, thats just how it is sorry.

 

[Vaalingrade]

"That's true for everyone but me and the people who like the things I like. We're too smart and handsome to fall for ~checks notes~ 'the reality of the human experience'" ~Everyone, Ever