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<blockquote data-quote="Ralif Redhammer" data-source="post: 8229443" data-attributes="member: 30438">Even before the 90s, I don't know that my younger self could've ever imagined the scale of D&amp;D's success and popularity today.One thing the research and scholarly discourse on D&amp;D has revealed was just how poorly-run TSR was. The Random House deal, for example, or the massive splitting of the market with all the settings in 2e. The list goes on. Sometimes it feels like the only reason TSR survived as well as they did was that D&amp;D was lightning-in-a-bottle product. &quot;Well akshully...&quot; I am a QA!Which, as a QA, when you start talking quantifiable metrics like profit, sales, and user base size, and a grognard responds with &quot;well popularity isn't everything,&quot; I am forced to wonder, what quantifiable measure would they like to use instead? As much as I am as subject to nostalgia and putting on rose tinted glasses, warm fuzzies are not a measurable value. Do we start talking paper quality, number of color artwork pieces, number of typos, amount of errata released?Yes, customer satisfaction is important, but it is not easily (directly) measured without survey data. Lacking comparative customer satisfaction metrics for all editions leads us right back to using profit, sales, and user base size to infer customer satisfaction.I get a part of it, though. It's a hard thing for me to be objective about something so important to me growing up. I start looking at Easley and Elmore covers, named character levels, B&amp;W Trampier art, race as class, and something short-circuits the critical thinking part of me a little. I will never fault a person for saying &quot;I like X edition more.&quot; We like what we like. But to say that Wizards is destroying the game (which, there have been people claiming that the game has been being destroyed since 1e came out; it's amazing there's any game left), or not acting as good shepherds, those claims require data.It's wild to think how time has flown. I remember being in college and having not gamed for a few years, then coming back to the hobby and discovering that TSR was no more and that upstart Magic company owned D&amp;D now.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ralif Redhammer, post: 8229443, member: 30438"] Even before the 90s, I don't know that my younger self could've ever imagined the scale of D&D's success and popularity today. One thing the research and scholarly discourse on D&D has revealed was just how poorly-run TSR was. The Random House deal, for example, or the massive splitting of the market with all the settings in 2e. The list goes on. Sometimes it feels like the only reason TSR survived as well as they did was that D&D was lightning-in-a-bottle product. [I]"Well akshully..." [/I]I am a QA! Which, as a QA, when you start talking quantifiable metrics like profit, sales, and user base size, and a grognard responds with "well popularity isn't everything," I am forced to wonder, what quantifiable measure would they like to use instead? As much as I am as subject to nostalgia and putting on rose tinted glasses, warm fuzzies are not a measurable value. Do we start talking paper quality, number of color artwork pieces, number of typos, amount of errata released? Yes, customer satisfaction is important, but it is not easily (directly) measured without survey data. Lacking comparative customer satisfaction metrics for all editions leads us right back to using profit, sales, and user base size to infer customer satisfaction. I get a part of it, though. It's a hard thing for me to be objective about something so important to me growing up. I start looking at Easley and Elmore covers, named character levels, B&W Trampier art, race as class, and something short-circuits the critical thinking part of me a little. I will never fault a person for saying "I like X edition more." We like what we like. But to say that Wizards is destroying the game (which, there have been people claiming that the game has been being destroyed since 1e came out; it's amazing there's any game left), or not acting as good shepherds, those claims require data. It's wild to think how time has flown. I remember being in college and having not gamed for a few years, then coming back to the hobby and discovering that TSR was no more and that upstart Magic company owned D&D now. [/QUOTE]

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