Thought of the Day Thursday: Wild Speculation about the Health of Table Top Gaming
As happens from time to time in the gamer community, the topic of discussion swings around to the health of the gaming industry and the pack leaders within the industry. I think many folks have made many insightful comments on Mr. Ryan Dancey’s post on ENWorld about his views on the subject. Especially where it concerns Dungeons and Dragon, Pathfinder RPG, etc. I’m not really going to delve into that here. What I think is going to be interesting to see over time is how the gaming industry is shaped by the children of current gamers. I’m in my late 30’s and have been gaming since I was about ten. I have a six year old son and three year old daughter. They are highly aware of my love of RPGs and comic books (which is another area that experiences very similar death throw speculations). I have friends of similar age and background, with children roughly the same age and from what I can tell from many in the OSR demographic any way, I’m not too far from being a typical OSR gamer. So, let’s speculate and just wildly generalize and hypothesize, and well, OK…
Many of the OSR gamers have been gaming since Dungeons and Dragons was in the popular vernacular of the day. At one point there was the D&D Cartoon, action figures, lunch boxes, Shrinky Dinks, etc. It is safe to say that it had some saturation beyond the scope of gamer nerds and entered the popular consciousness. I’m not quite sure how many of the kids that played D&D (or Star Frontiers, or Gamma World, or Marvel FASERIP, etc) continued to game past high school. How many of those folks kept their gaming material and stashed it away in attics and garages? Now, for the non-OSR adherent, hardcore gamers that find this stuff again, how far a stretch is it that they would come across their old BECMI Basic Red Box and have some fond memories. Let’s say they have kids, how far is it to say, bring the Red Box in on a lark and say “hey kids, look what I found” and maybe on a nostalgic lark, run a brief adventure or two. Now I know Mr. Dancey seems puzzled by the whole choice for the Red Box motif for the current iteration of D&D. He mentioned something about it being targeted at 40 somethings with a nostalgia trip. Well, that I suspect is true to some extent, but I think it is not aimed at getting the 40 something gamer back into the market. Rather, I think it is aimed at getting that 40 something with a nostalgia trip to purchase that set for their kids. But I digress. So, what about the active gamer crowd and THEIR children? I’m not sure that RPGs will ever be able to get the same permeation into the mainstream that they did in the 80’s. I think things have changed too dramatically. However, I think they won’t ever completely die off either. Think about the Rubic’s Cube. I think it is safe to argue that it had the same sort of saturation into the culture and at about the same time frame as D&D. Now, I think it’s also safe to say that the Rubic’s Cube does not enjoy the heights of popularity it once did, but you know what? It’s still around and there are still ardent adherents and young kids still pick it up and try to solve the perplexing puzzle to this day. So, I think as long as there are RPGs being made and sold, there will be an audience to support them. I don’t think that anyone should ever expect an 80’s style resurgence since the mass culture is fickle about its trends. And I think that is OK. But I think it will be interesting to see the current crop of table top gamer’s kids and if they decide to follow their folks into the hobby. I think that several of them just might do that. We shall see…
Many of the OSR gamers have been gaming since Dungeons and Dragons was in the popular vernacular of the day. At one point there was the D&D Cartoon, action figures, lunch boxes, Shrinky Dinks, etc. It is safe to say that it had some saturation beyond the scope of gamer nerds and entered the popular consciousness. I’m not quite sure how many of the kids that played D&D (or Star Frontiers, or Gamma World, or Marvel FASERIP, etc) continued to game past high school. How many of those folks kept their gaming material and stashed it away in attics and garages? Now, for the non-OSR adherent, hardcore gamers that find this stuff again, how far a stretch is it that they would come across their old BECMI Basic Red Box and have some fond memories. Let’s say they have kids, how far is it to say, bring the Red Box in on a lark and say “hey kids, look what I found” and maybe on a nostalgic lark, run a brief adventure or two. Now I know Mr. Dancey seems puzzled by the whole choice for the Red Box motif for the current iteration of D&D. He mentioned something about it being targeted at 40 somethings with a nostalgia trip. Well, that I suspect is true to some extent, but I think it is not aimed at getting the 40 something gamer back into the market. Rather, I think it is aimed at getting that 40 something with a nostalgia trip to purchase that set for their kids. But I digress. So, what about the active gamer crowd and THEIR children? I’m not sure that RPGs will ever be able to get the same permeation into the mainstream that they did in the 80’s. I think things have changed too dramatically. However, I think they won’t ever completely die off either. Think about the Rubic’s Cube. I think it is safe to argue that it had the same sort of saturation into the culture and at about the same time frame as D&D. Now, I think it’s also safe to say that the Rubic’s Cube does not enjoy the heights of popularity it once did, but you know what? It’s still around and there are still ardent adherents and young kids still pick it up and try to solve the perplexing puzzle to this day. So, I think as long as there are RPGs being made and sold, there will be an audience to support them. I don’t think that anyone should ever expect an 80’s style resurgence since the mass culture is fickle about its trends. And I think that is OK. But I think it will be interesting to see the current crop of table top gamer’s kids and if they decide to follow their folks into the hobby. I think that several of them just might do that. We shall see…
Good analogy with the cube!
ReplyDeleteEmotional associations are important in keeping the game alive now. If children today are going to be playing it into their 40s, the same or similar connections seem necessary. Having a good time playing as a family is a fine start.
My teen son is an RPG player. He's in the D&D club at school and knows a number of other kids in the area that play D&D. He's also a LARPER and knows even more RPG players through that.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter plays RPGs now and again and genuinely enjoys them when she does but doesn't seem to be into regular ongoing campaign play.
My infant son has played with a little bit of help from mom.
I do come from a family of game players where late-night cut throat scrabble games at my grandparents home are a decades old family tradition and new games are always welcome.
@Porky - Yes indeed. I think that there is a family aspect. I wonder how many folks do not vocalize on the Internet about breaking out that old red box set or the new 4e red box and think of all the fun they had and pass that on to their kids. I think folks like me are an abberation in that most people do not game into their 30's or 40's. They tend to drop it after High School as they move on to other things. That doesn't mean they will have negative connotations about it. In fact, they might look back on it pretty fondly and pick it up for their kids to play.
ReplyDelete@JD - Cool! I think my kids will pick it up. I've been a lifelong game nerd. While I haven't actively played very much, I've always maintained some level of interest. My son is particularly excited about the prospect.
It is interesting that when I was a teen, my parents marveled about the fact that kids my age were listening to the Beattles, the Who, Hendrix, etc. I think that D&D was such a big cultureal phenomenon for people of my generation, that it has to carry some ressonance still. Even if people don't play, they may still mention it to their kids who are just now really starting to become of the age where that is appealing. Who knows where it will go but I can't help but feel that even if WotC does not keep D&D going or the sky falls, etc that gaming will still be fine.