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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8870245" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>That is absolutely the question, Michael, spot on.</p><p></p><p>I think it will probably work, at least in the short-to-medium term. Because I'm 44 and thus ancient, I don't think anything will work in the longer term, I think as cool as D&D might be right now, the pendulum will swing, and maybe kids who are happily playing it with their parents and cousins aged 10 will be like "Lol that dumb game" when they're 18 or 22 or whatever. We certainly saw a bit of that with '80s D&D/AD&D fans after the boom. Whilst some "kept the faith" and still loved D&D, many others saw it as a game they played as kids, and they then grew out of.* One day Matt Mercer is going to 60, y'know, and will the kids still be so keen on his show? Hell all the kids from Stranger Things will be 30 before we know it.</p><p></p><p>I suspect media oversaturation of D&D will also occur in the next ten years, which contribute to any uncoolness. I do note one smart thing with the D&D movie is that whilst they have some older stars likely to appeal to "grown-ups", most of the leads are in their twenties. You could probably have guaranteed success a little more by using a mostly 30s through 50s cast of bigger stars, but his has a better longer-term profile, maybe it will work out.</p><p></p><p>But in the short-to-medium term I'm fairly confident WotC can make their "digitalization/lifestyle" strategy will work. I know a huge number of 30s/40s parents who are buying D&D merch, are or want to play D&D with their kids, and so on, and a lot of them have a lot of disposable income. They're also mostly very tech-friendly so using digital tools, especially well-designed ones, is unlikely to be an issue.</p><p></p><p>My bigger concern if what this does to TTRPGs. If WotC are really successful with this, they may "raise the bar" so high on what people expect from a TTRPG that D&D becomes something entirely different to other TTRPGs, and with little/no transfer audience. Some would argue this is already happening, but I'm not sure I'd go that far myself. But it would benefit WotC (or so WotC think) if it did, because it means you have a captive audience, who have only your brand or "nothing". Of course if D&D is ultra-successful, it may be that another company gets investment to try and challenge that, but we'll see. That would still not be good because all it would be doing would be confirming that you need all this digital bling and so on to compete.</p><p></p><p></p><p>* = I will note that there's a generational issue where "growing out of" stuff is less of a "thing" for Millennials as compared to Gen Xers, but it remains to be seen if younger Gen Z and beyond follow the same pattern.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8870245, member: 18"] That is absolutely the question, Michael, spot on. I think it will probably work, at least in the short-to-medium term. Because I'm 44 and thus ancient, I don't think anything will work in the longer term, I think as cool as D&D might be right now, the pendulum will swing, and maybe kids who are happily playing it with their parents and cousins aged 10 will be like "Lol that dumb game" when they're 18 or 22 or whatever. We certainly saw a bit of that with '80s D&D/AD&D fans after the boom. Whilst some "kept the faith" and still loved D&D, many others saw it as a game they played as kids, and they then grew out of.* One day Matt Mercer is going to 60, y'know, and will the kids still be so keen on his show? Hell all the kids from Stranger Things will be 30 before we know it. I suspect media oversaturation of D&D will also occur in the next ten years, which contribute to any uncoolness. I do note one smart thing with the D&D movie is that whilst they have some older stars likely to appeal to "grown-ups", most of the leads are in their twenties. You could probably have guaranteed success a little more by using a mostly 30s through 50s cast of bigger stars, but his has a better longer-term profile, maybe it will work out. But in the short-to-medium term I'm fairly confident WotC can make their "digitalization/lifestyle" strategy will work. I know a huge number of 30s/40s parents who are buying D&D merch, are or want to play D&D with their kids, and so on, and a lot of them have a lot of disposable income. They're also mostly very tech-friendly so using digital tools, especially well-designed ones, is unlikely to be an issue. My bigger concern if what this does to TTRPGs. If WotC are really successful with this, they may "raise the bar" so high on what people expect from a TTRPG that D&D becomes something entirely different to other TTRPGs, and with little/no transfer audience. Some would argue this is already happening, but I'm not sure I'd go that far myself. But it would benefit WotC (or so WotC think) if it did, because it means you have a captive audience, who have only your brand or "nothing". Of course if D&D is ultra-successful, it may be that another company gets investment to try and challenge that, but we'll see. That would still not be good because all it would be doing would be confirming that you need all this digital bling and so on to compete. * = I will note that there's a generational issue where "growing out of" stuff is less of a "thing" for Millennials as compared to Gen Xers, but it remains to be seen if younger Gen Z and beyond follow the same pattern. [/QUOTE]
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