I tend to agree with this. As a kid, I was huge into video gaming, had very few social skills, and skirted by in college. It probably wasn't until I started working with professionals in my field that I began to develop the social skills needed to deal with people on a face-to-face basis. Yes, I know sometimes it doesn't come across that way on the boards, but most (not all, but most) people warm up to me in person. (Just ask Jack or Nickname.)

I'm not perfect at it (obviously), but I have learned how to deal with difficult people through my job more than anything else. And I've been doing this for 10 years successfully, so I must be getting something right.

I read two books that I think were the most influential. One of those was "How to win friends and gain influence." Great stuff, it's timeless advice written in the 1940's. The other one, which I cannot remember the name of, had some nice suggestions but nothing quite so earth-shattering as in the other.

Sure it will... just as holograms.

While 2009 has been a bad year for every industry 2008 did see a 26% growth in the Board Game industry. Board Games have been growing in popularity the last few years and it looks like RPGs are starting to follow suit too. Personally I think D&D4 is partially to blame, WOTC did what they planned by bringin in new players, but it seems to have pushed many existing players onto other companies.

OT: I am really sad to see Sarah go, and I'm sad I missed her announcement too. Sarah was certainly the shining light at Wizards. She spoke with and listened to the community, and I was always on the lookout for interviews with her in gaming magazines such as GTM.

I wish her well in her future endeavours and hope that whoever takes on her role at WOTC knows they have big shoes to fill.

Mainstream table top gaming has been stagnant in the US for years. The main things you see in core shops are kid's games, a permutations of the same core games over and over.

But there's still a niche out there for a variety of other games, and the quality of those games is up over 10 years ago. Some of them even eventually creep into the the main stream selection of games.

For the past 10 years, Germany is where new ideas in board games have been coming from. And there have US companies taking note and incorporating good ideas in German game design into a variety of US games.

The answer, like ever, is not to look to the larger corporate entities like WotC. They exist at this point to get as much as they can from their successful lines. Look at the independent companies that are constantly putting new ideas out there. When WotC reports drops in market, it's much more likely that those lost customers are moving on to new products by other companies (like Pathfinder or even other RPGs over D&D4).

BTW, right before Thanksgiving, go into a toy store and check out the game isle. Stores put out full palettes of classic kids games even year. There's a hunger for games out there of all sorts, even board games, but the average consumer probably only knows one place to look, the toy store.

Does it say anything besides Sarah is leaving and some other person is taking over? Just asking since I can't get on the Wizards boards.

well, this is probably the end of any interaction we have with the company at this point. Sarah listend and chatted, as did rob. But it at least Sarah is leaving on her own terms. Or so it seems.

I wish her hte best, and hope that SWM can survive without her.

Funny thing is, when driving long distances as a young kid (the 2-3 day long trip kind) I would always imagine myself flying on a speeder bike over the scenery. That's a lot of fun! Not only is the scenery cool, but its also an obstacle course. Ah yes, good times! Alas, I don't get out and drive long distances anymore. A little thing called College seems to drain all your time on a daily basis.

I started out in table top gaming as a kid. When video gaming was popular it was still social as it was on a console with no internet. I know my friends came over and played Atari 2600 for hours on end. It was when the C64 came out I became a recluse. I did still play RPGs through college. I played MMO's for about 10 years but I'm back into face-to-face games because I like the social aspect. I might do some more online gaming if SWTOR is really as good as it looks.

You were riding a speeder bike, I was Force Jumping along from tree to tree to house to powerline to whatever...

I was sitting comfortably behind darkly tinted windows, riding high in a Chevy Suburuban, looking for cleavage in the cars that we passed.

Chuck, you are so short, even in a Suburban, I can't see how you would ever be considered "riding high" I mean, can you even see out a window now, let alone when you were a kid?

Phone books. Lots and lots of phone books.

I would use the chip in the window (or a bug splatter) as my targeting sight and would blow up oncoming cars. The window lever (pre-auto windows) was my flight stick.