A few times I've considered that my gametime was with 2E. Well that was called Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. So D&D and AD&D were different. Character generation was easier with D&D. Like elves, halflings, and dwarfs, were race and class. I got older and out of people so I chat here a lot about this. Character generation for someone who has never played takes about 9 hours with a room full of people.

I run a monthly table top game and am in a weekly table top game.

The computer didn't kill D&D, you just need to find people to game with.

D&D made all these games possible. What do you think computer programmers were doing before they had computers to program? In its own way, D&D is a program for a human computer (ie, the DM) who must calculate, solve problems, and strive for balance in a very non-binary milieu.

The 1st edition AD&D campaign I've been running for a couple years just ended when everyone died in the Temple of Elemental Evil. I'm starting a new campaign in a few months after I read and make some preparations. Living in a rural area or in an urban area, I never had a hard time finding interested, interesting people to join the game.

The AD&D generation of 30 years ago has given way to the ADD generation? I don't think that's entirely accurate. Sure, most self-identified gamers these days define themselves in terms of video games, but there are still plenty of people playing in-person games. Many people still get together for RISK and other tabletop games as well. There's a game and a gaming group for everyone: those who favor instant-gratification or who lack the social wherewithal to assemble a gaming group can easily join an MMORPG, and those who favor the personal storytelling and open-ended sort of gaming experience can find in-person groups.

As for 3rd and 4th edition, I tend to think of it not as a corruption of D&D by a video-gaming mentality but rather as simply a bad product. The iterations of the game between 3 and 4 are proof enough of that. The brand was poorly managed, and the game was poorly designed.

I think the pendulum will swing the other way as the technology progresses. The past 20-odd years of divergence in the gaming community will give way to convergence as computer gaming is less and less about isolation. Already, I'm planning on skyping one person into my new campaign, since she just moved 200 miles away.

Computers aren't the death of D&D any more than radio was the death of journalism: gawker.com/5329503/reme...of-journalism