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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jdrakeh" data-source="post: 3820004" data-attributes="member: 13892">I think that helped a bit. After the big 'D&D = Satan' commotion of the early 1980s, I doubt that it helped at all. Visibility in retail typically caters to demand, rather than creating it, which is why the high level of visibility that D&D had in retail stores worked in its favor during the height of its popularity and later only worked to help bankrupt TSR. It is the job of marketing to create demand and, while there is a school of thought that treats retail availability as a form of marketing, situations like TSR's eventual financial loss due to returned stock from retailers illustrate well why this approach is flawed. Marketing, not merely visbility, is the key. I think that WotC understands this whereas TSR fumbled with the concept depending upon who was calling the shots at the time. I think that they're doing a lot to reach new players. Notably, they've done quite a few different things to tap a similar consumer group thus far largely ignored by tabletop RPG publishers -- the MMORPG fans. This consumer base is composed largely of people who have never once played a tabletop RPG but who share many common interests with the existing consumer base for such products. I have no idea how well these efforts will fare. In truth, nobody does, because nobody else has tried this before. People can criticize WotC for deviating from the 'tried and true' all they like but the fact is that the 'tried and true' approach has been consitently failing as of late. The answer is not to keep doing this thing that is clearly not working over and over again in vain hopes that the world will suddenly and inexplicably conform to their wishes, but to try something different.</blockquote>

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