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Message: <blockquote data-quote="eyebeams" data-source="post: 2995898" data-attributes="member: 9225">I'd make it three reasons in no particular order:1) D&D's branding places it at the forefront of recognition. This is because it was first, catchy or what-have you.2) The fantasy genre has broader appeal than any other genre in gaming.3) D&D is structured using the values of mainstream games more than many other RPGs. It does not strive for emulation or theme any more than Monopoly tries to be about the real market forces and feel of trading real estate in Atlantic City.No and no. The TINI (There Is No Industry) crowd doesn't understand that "industry" is not really defined by scale, but by a community with sustainable commercial interests. For example, there ae several local industries in my area far smaller than the RPG industry but with serious, consistent business interests. By that standard, many people that profess to be a part of the industry aren't (they don't have sustainable commercial interests) and in that sense, the TINI crowd are right about such observations but wrong about the rhetoric.The seminal games that came about after D&D did so to pursue genres D&D didn't cover and out of dissatisfaction for D&Ds rules set. This is a fairly constant demand and there's no reason to doubt that the existing network for these games would continue to recruit players. You'd end up with a smaller player base, but among other things, gaming would be more explicitly delinked from computer games that are curently satisfying the D&D play experience better than D&D for people who enjoy fantasy gaming.Other companies would have to choose smart strategies to make their distinct place known to potential customers and help groups along. I think that White Wolf made a strategic mistake in designing their LARPs in a way that increased the barrier to entry. Live action play was *huge* in the 1990s and probably could have been turned into a significant institution of its own. It is still an underestimated segment (Camarilla events and memberships are almost always significant direct sales for White Wolf).A pluralistic industry would also need to have strong, effective collective representation -- something GAMA is unable to fulfill.In fact, if D&D had died in the 90s, the industry might have shrunk and then benefitted in terms of long-term sustainability. The network externality effect was exploited as a negative effect on third parties. That's the nature of externalities, as a externality is, by definition, the effect of a transaction on a third party -- and it was never the intent of the OGL to create a beneficial effect for significant third parties.</blockquote>

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