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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GregoryOatmeal" data-source="post: 5709868" data-attributes="member: 6667661">WOTC is rapidly dividing the player base and burning bridges with customers. I'm not sure if it was avoidable or their was a more profitable option, but I suspect it isn't sustainable for them to maintain their previous success. They sort of remind me of IBM's fall from power in the eighties. They aren't necessary anymore. I do respect their innovations but you have to understand they come with drawbacks.Well that's the most polite comparison I've ever seen of an idea to soviet communism <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />. It's still utterly ridiculousEditions are like operating systems. The worldwide market for PCs is only big enough to support three big ones - and that's amongst a very very large user base (all computer users worldwide). I'm not deeply passionate about operating systems so I tend to think all operating systems are essentially the same - they are platforms for having an experience. You can have the same experience on all the operating systems if the resources (programs) are available - but if they're not then it's just an inconvenience. And that's how I think of editions of D&D. If I want to play Temple of Elemental Evil by Atari (you see what I did there?) and I have a Mac, well shucks, it was made for Windows. A small number of users have strong preferences between the the operating systems - but most just use the one that's compatible with the most programs.For such a small hobby we have a lot of operating systems. Very rarely are their programs compatible with other operating systems.In your words that's crap. Step back and look at the big picture. We're talking about the potential size of the community rather than the current community. You can always find some random person who will try 2E, who may bug the crap out of you. I'm talking about getting my old best friend the reluctant gamer to play.I've talked to plenty of people in their teens and twenties, many former gamers, who are reluctant to get into D&D because they don't have the time or money. Learning a game, any game, takes commitment. If people don't know a game they're less likely to play the game their friend is bugging them to learn. This is especially true of D&D where people are more likely than not to have played a game that is different mechanically than what they played. The thing this insulated forum seems to fail to grasp is that the barrier in terms of time and money to playing in and especially running role playing games is remarkably high. The point of entry product, a 300-page rulebook, becomes obsolete every five years or so. A 40 year old who played AD&D would rightfully be terrified to pick up where they left off and start DMing with a 30 year old friend and a 20 year old nephew based on their different points of entry into the hobby and available resources.The small portion of the population that sticks with RPGs is remarkably tolerant of new product lines and planned obsolescence. You could not instantaneously discontinue and recreate any game or sport and sell it under the same brand and not expect customers to revolt. You couldn't rewrite an operating system like Windows and discontinue support for all existing Windows products and not expect an uproar.Way off. Have you read anything I've said? I'm not sure how you invented that. Playing the edition I like the least with people I want to play with is far superior to playing my preferred edition with random people I met on the internet. All the editions of D&D get you to the same place. I do have certain preferences, we all do, but the 1% of differences cause so many more problems than they solve.</blockquote>

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