It occurs to me: concerns about whether WoW and D&D compete, or whether WoW is killing D&D, and so on are swinging wide of the real issue: WoW is D&D. Or, rather, it fills the same niche with the same demographic that D&D did all those years ago. It's why the enjoyment of either isn't mutually exclusive of the other -- that has more to do with generation than anything else, I think. D&D can't fight WoW because they are members of the same evolutionary line.
This also suggests that D&D can't try and be, or beat, WoW and must either work to drain the wallets of its remaining, hardcore fans, or it must become something that is neither TRPG nor MMO. Ultimately, the collectible minis/competetive play model is probably the most potentially successful model of the game, at least as a physical, tabletop entity.
This also suggests that D&D can't try and be, or beat, WoW and must either work to drain the wallets of its remaining, hardcore fans, or it must become something that is neither TRPG nor MMO. Ultimately, the collectible minis/competetive play model is probably the most potentially successful model of the game, at least as a physical, tabletop entity.