the power of the D&D brand

ggroy · March 01, 2014, 11:08:36 PM

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;733952And, 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.

I think so too.

This seems to be case possibly in other niches too, outside of tabletop rpg games.

From that same time period in the 1980's, for example, how many people today are still into hairspray metal bands? :rolleyes:

Just Another Snake Cult · March 01, 2014, 11:12:46 PM

D&D is actually sort of lucky as far as "Games that were briefly big fads" go. How many people still play pogs?

David Johansen · March 01, 2014, 11:38:39 PM

I've always thought that people in the mainstream media were pretty scared by D&D and every other entertainment that doesn't require passive consumption and pay them to advertise it. They embraced the Satanic panic but later, in the nineties, embraced the idea of attacking it with a whispering campaign (yes that's from the Illuminati card game) and made it a reference that indicated hopeless geekiness.

Not that it's a conspiracy, it's a confluence of vested interests. They don't have to get a committee of wolves together and decide to hunt rabbits.

JRR · March 02, 2014, 03:20:01 PM

Sorry, I stopped reading and threw up at "watching Bill Maher."

Old One Eye · March 02, 2014, 03:22:11 PM

Quote from: JRR;734069Sorry, I stopped reading and threw up at "watching Bill Maher."

You need to brush your teeth after throwing up. Stomach acid is tough stuff.

jeff37923 · March 02, 2014, 04:11:03 PM

Quote from: Old One Eye;733748So 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.

That....actually sounds like some pathetic spin doctoring. Really, "People think that D&D Players suck more than Magic the Gathering Players! Rejoice! We are the butt of more jokes!"

Old One Eye · March 02, 2014, 08:11:16 PM

Quote from: jeff37923;734091That....actually sounds like some pathetic spin doctoring. Really, "People think that D&D Players suck more than Magic the Gathering Players! Rejoice! We are the butt of more jokes!"

It certainty does not bother me. Why would it?

jibbajibba · March 02, 2014, 09:53:51 PM

Quote from: David Johansen;733961I've always thought that people in the mainstream media were pretty scared by D&D and every other entertainment that doesn't require passive consumption and pay them to advertise it. They embraced the Satanic panic but later, in the nineties, embraced the idea of attacking it with a whispering campaign (yes that's from the Illuminati card game) and made it a reference that indicated hopeless geekiness.

Not that it's a conspiracy, it's a confluence of vested interests. They don't have to get a committee of wolves together and decide to hunt rabbits.

The thing is though in the UK, the Satanic panic was a joke and there was no other whispering campaign and .... its still played by geeks and neckbeards.
so if you remove the cultural bagage that seems to indicate a conspiracy to label the game and you still get the same result, ie played by geeks and neckbeards then ....

thedungeondelver · March 02, 2014, 10:10:50 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 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.

I remember when Albertson's (a large grocery chain, mostly gone now) in Florida had a rather nice toy department aisle. I bought some Armored Trooper Dorvack model kits there, and they also had the Basic and Expert (Moldvay/Cook) sets, although that was the breadth and depth of their RPG materials.

Heh; s'funny...a grocery store whose toy aisle was kitted out like most specialty hobby shops of the day

.

Course the aisle went pretty "meh", then they cut it down by half and it shared space with outdoor/pool toys, then the next time I noticed it was outdoor/pool toys and housewares (toasters, pots and pans, etc.)

But yeah, for one brief period, D&D was available at Albertsons!

MonsterSlayer · March 02, 2014, 10:57:29 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 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.

I don't remember ever seeing the game in those main stream stores back then; I remember always having to go to the hobby shops and Waldenbooks. I'm not saying it didn't happen, I just didn't see it.

We did see the 4e ver. Red Box released briefly at Target stores in our area. I thought that was stretching the brand name pretty well and a probable strength of having Hasbro as a parent.

Sacrosanct · March 02, 2014, 11:01:30 PM

Quote from: MonsterSlayer;734196I don't remember ever seeing the game in those main stream stores back then; I remember always having to go to the hobby shops and Waldenbooks. I'm not saying it didn't happen, I just didn't see it.

We did see the 4e ver. Red Box released briefly at Target stores in our area. I thought that was stretching the brand name pretty well and a probable strength of having Hasbro as a parent.

I remember the boxed sets in toy stores, and bought my AD&D books at Fred Meyers

Old One Eye · March 02, 2014, 11:08:45 PM

Quote from: MonsterSlayer;734196I don't remember ever seeing the game in those main stream stores back then; I remember always having to go to the hobby shops and Waldenbooks. I'm not saying it didn't happen, I just didn't see it.

We did see the 4e ver. Red Box released briefly at Target stores in our area. I thought that was stretching the brand name pretty well and a probable strength of having Hasbro as a parent.

I recall thumbing through a MM at Magic Mart as a wee lad long before knowing what it was. Vaguely remember seeing some books at Freds. Couple years later, bought my first dice set at Toys R Us.

Doughdee222 · March 02, 2014, 11:11:47 PM

I grew up in the 80's with D&D and I remember it being sold in all sorts of stores. Sure, mostly book stores and toy stores but also Woolworths and Bradlees department stores too.

The "satanic panic" didn't affect my neighborhood much. However, my mother heard the word "game" and saw the dice and assumed we were gambling. But then she always thought everyone was trying to steal from her every second of the day.

It took me years but I finally forgave Tom Hanks for "Mazes and Monsters." Heck, he was just a struggling actor in those days.

Endless Flight · March 02, 2014, 11:16:08 PM

I bought the "black box" D&D set at Toys 'R Us in 1991. I also bought Top Secret SI about the same time, maybe a year before.

Spinachcat · March 03, 2014, 01:46:27 AM

Quote from: ggroy;733955From that same time period in the 1980's, for example, how many people today are still into hairspray metal bands? :rolleyes:

Death to All Butt Metal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfB7vF7nCdA&feature=kp