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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The_Universe" data-source="post: 1738901" data-attributes="member: 8944">I guess I got a very different impression of most of that stuff than you did.  While it was clear that a lot of the people who had been part of the initial boom of the hobby have moved on and disconnected from the community and the industry, I don't really think that it reflects an overall contraction of the hobby.  Quite the opposite in fact. I would suggest that the majority of DnD players are not lifelong gamers.  Instead, it is a hobby that occupies between four and eight years of their life (typically some combination of junior high, high school, and college/university) before social pressures push most people to move on to more "grown up" activities.[1]  It's natural that a lot of these people would be surprised that the industry survived them.   Would you really expect that a game you played in someone's basement and (probably) didn't tell many people about and then quit as soon as you realized it wasn't cool was still being played?  I can understand why you wouldn't.   Yet, the game has grown, exponentially.  The most recent incarnation of D&D has served to draw some of the hallowed first generation back to the hobby (in part because of the quality of the game, in part because they have more disposable income) and has also begun to draw in an unconnected second and third and fourth generation of gamers, all in an era of nerd chic.  Rust monsters and beholders appear on Futurama, and Homer Simpson can proudly report that he played dungeons and dragons before being killed by an elf.    It's part of the culture.  Yet, just like I have trouble fathoming why people are returning to fashions that were popular when I was a child (legwarmers, anyone?), so too would former players be shocked to hear that the game they had long given up for dead had not only returned, but had never left.   Anyway, that's just a long winded way of saying people who used to play are not a good set to ask if the industry is growing.  Furthermore, based on the way I heard it, as well as mountains of accompanying data (including bookstore stocking patterns) D&D is stronger than it has ever been in my lifetime.      [1]Now, before I get caught in a flame war with someone who's been playing since birth, and intends to play until the day they die, I want you to know that I feel very much the same.  I first encountered D&D in the 8th grade at the tender age of 13, but was familiar with some of the proto-RPG boardgames like Games Workshop's HeroQuest from several years earlier.  I'm a college graduate and a married, working adult and I still play.  I'm just talking about a hypothetical *most gamers* which is not meant to include most of the people on these boards, who display uncommon levels of dedication.</blockquote>

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