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<blockquote data-quote="Darrell" data-source="post: 5167235" data-attributes="member: 680">I don't know.&nbsp; It sounds to me like you've got a set of rose-coloured glasses there, man.&nbsp; I was playing in '79 and '80, and I recall news reports treating the Egbert 'disappearance' as a joke.&nbsp; Granted , I was 13-14 years old and living in North Carolina, but every mention I heard was treated with a smirk; and Egbert himself was tagged as less of a 'genius' and more of a 'freak.'The only people who considered D&amp;D a 'game for geniuses' were people who were playing the game.&nbsp; The real 'cultural phenomenon' occurred after right-wingers and Christian fundamentalists started equating D&amp;D with 'Satanism' and suicide.&nbsp; That was really as close as D&amp;D has ever been to being considered &quot;cool,&quot; and once the masses who bought it for its 'Dark Dungeons' aspect found out that it was just a bit of harmless fun, sales began to drop off.&nbsp; The fact is, there is, and has been, a negative social stigma attached to D&amp;D among the mainstream, whether we like it or not, that has to be dealt with.&nbsp; Gamers were, and still are, considered 'geeks' by the mainstream.&nbsp; We have to accept that and get past it if we are to get past that stigma.Regards,Darrell</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Darrell, post: 5167235, member: 680"] I don't know. It sounds to me like you've got a set of rose-coloured glasses there, man. I was playing in '79 and '80, and I recall news reports treating the Egbert 'disappearance' as a joke. Granted , I was 13-14 years old and living in North Carolina, but every mention I heard was treated with a smirk; and Egbert himself was tagged as less of a 'genius' and more of a 'freak.' The only people who considered D&D a 'game for geniuses' were people who were playing the game. The real 'cultural phenomenon' occurred after right-wingers and Christian fundamentalists started equating D&D with 'Satanism' and suicide. That was really as close as D&D has ever been to being considered "cool," and once the masses who bought it for its 'Dark Dungeons' aspect found out that it was just a bit of harmless fun, sales began to drop off. The fact is, there is, and has been, a negative social stigma attached to D&D among the mainstream, whether we like it or not, that has to be dealt with. Gamers were, and still are, considered 'geeks' by the mainstream. We have to accept that and get past it if we are to get past that stigma. Regards, Darrell [/QUOTE]

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