the power of the D&D brand

Old One Eye · February 28, 2014, 11:58:44 PM

So watching Bill Maher. He does a part on bitcoins where Mt. Gox (the largest bitcoin exchange) filed bankruptcy after loosing some $500 million in bitcoins. His big punchline is something like: You don't trust your money with 3 guys in the basement playing D&D.

Mt. Gox is Magic The Gathering Online eXchange. We all know that Magic is tons more profitable than D&D. D&D does not have anything to do with, Magic does.

But D&D still has such strong brand recognition, that whoever wrote the punchline felt the need to shoehorn in D&D instead of Magic.

Pretty nifty in my book.

Sacrosanct · March 01, 2014, 12:30:14 AM

that's only because those guys remember D&D from their younger days, and by the time Magic came about, they were already grown past their school days. They don't associate Magic with nerds because in their personal experience, nerds played D&D back in the 70s and 80s. Magic wasn't around yet

Chivalric · March 01, 2014, 12:31:24 AM

The game hit full-on 1980s fad levels of popularity, so it's going to be the geeky reference of choice until there's no one left who was around for the 80s and even then it might live on as a general geeky reference well past that.

Old One Eye · March 01, 2014, 12:44:28 AM

Quote from: Sacrosanct;733752that's only because those guys remember D&D from their younger days, and by the time Magic came about, they were already grown past their school days. They don't associate Magic with nerds because in their personal experience, nerds played D&D back in the 70s and 80s. Magic wasn't around yet

I had assumed his writers were a revolving stable of cheap 20-somethings. A modicum of googling says that his writers are mostly folks that have been with him for years.

So, yeah, may be more a case of some old farts.

JeremyR · March 01, 2014, 01:10:57 AM

It's often used as a joke on MST3K/Rifftrax as well.

I'm not sure it's a good meme to be associated with, being nerds who live in their parents basements.

I miss the days when they thought we were satan worshippers...

Rincewind1 · March 01, 2014, 01:37:19 AM

Finally, validation.

Ladybird · March 01, 2014, 07:00:04 AM

Congrats! D&D got associated with the magic beans used by paedophiles, drug dealers and computer extortionists!

Shawn Driscoll · March 01, 2014, 07:05:08 AM

Obvious answer: Don't watch Bill Maher.

Quote from: Rincewind1;733762Finally, validation.

Good one!

Joey2k · March 01, 2014, 07:16:18 AM

Quote from: JeremyR;733757It's often used as a joke on MST3K/Rifftrax as well.

I'm not sure it's a good meme to be associated with, being nerds who live in their parents basements.

I miss the days when they thought we were satan worshippers...

I miss the days when everyone thought we were hot womanizing playboy studs.

David Johansen · March 01, 2014, 12:38:16 PM

Wait...aren't we? We're still cool right? right? ...

JamesV · March 01, 2014, 10:39:29 PM

Cool like the other side of the pillow.

Just Another Snake Cult · March 01, 2014, 10:47:10 PM

There was a period in the very early 80's when the Moldvay/Cook Basic Set was as mainstream as Monopoly or Clue and could be found anywhere that sold toys, even unlikely places like hardware stores and stationary shops.

Third edition at it's absolute zenith didn't even come close.

robiswrong · March 01, 2014, 10:48:37 PM

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;733944There was a period in the very early 80's when the Moldvay/Cook Basic Set was as mainstream as Monopoly or Clue could be found anywhere that sold toys, even unlikely places like hardware stores and stationary shops.

Third edition at it's absolute zenith didn't even come close.

I bought my copy of Moldvay at a Walgreen's.

Old One Eye · March 01, 2014, 10:52:42 PM

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;733944There was a period in the very early 80's when the Moldvay/Cook Basic Set was as mainstream as Monopoly or Clue could be found anywhere that sold toys, even unlikely places like hardware stores and stationary shops.

Third edition at it's absolute zenith didn't even come close.

So ... is it possible that the nerds and neckbeards stereotype is because mainstream folks largely rejected it while nerds and neckbeards embraced it? Hence, not a stereotype, just a reasonable description of participants?

Lord knows the handful of times I have been to a convention or stayed in the FLGS long enough to talk with folks ... they pretty well deserve the stereotype.

Just Another Snake Cult · March 01, 2014, 11:03:58 PM

Quote from: Old One Eye;733948So ... is it possible that the nerds and neckbeards stereotype is because mainstream folks largely rejected it while nerds and neckbeards embraced it? Hence, not a stereotype, just a reasonable description of participants?
.

The 80's "Satanic Panic" (Which was a real, chilling force in rural Illinois, where I was a teen at the time) took a lot of wind out of D&D's cultural sails, or so it seemed to me at the time.

And, as Jaimie Mal used to rightly point out on Grognardia, every fad passtime (Bridge in the 50's, for example) has only a few hardcores that stay with it as a lifetime hobby. Most people just play and enjoy it for awhile and move on. There were certainly a lot of people I met playing D&D back then who were not the stereotypical basement-dwelling nerd. Acxtually, there are a lot of people I meet through D&D now who are not the stereotypical basement-dwelling nerd.