Did D&D have mechanics problems? Yes, of course. NO game is perfect. GURPS is a good system too, but you have to really, really love your math to enjoy playing it.

This guy's problem may have been that he stuck too close to the rules. I've never sat down to a game that was totally horrible, because unlike computer games D&D is limited only by your imagination - get a bunch of fun, creative people in a group, and you'll have a great game no matter what you're playing.

In other words, maybe it's not that D&D is a sucky game, dude. Maybe you were just a sucky player.

And Gygax should get mad props for being there first. That's like whining that the Model A Ford only came in black. It may not be the greatest creation of its type, but it's iconic in a way very few other games have been. If it was as crappy as this article makes it out to be, I seriously doubt it would have become so iconic and still played by so many people today.

The author of the article says that "many" people have been turned off after first playing D&D. Hey, got any actual numbers on that? I can't take this as anything more than the usual whiny neckbearded contrarian trollery that happened to have been published as an article rather than posted on a message board without some actual, y'know, FACTS.

I agree. As with any role-playing game, it's the players that provide the best content. The rules just provide a framework.

I think its silly to call video games RPGs. There isn't really much of any role-playing going on. Online ones are a little better, but since everything is mediated through such a limited interface the options are far more limited than the "real" deal.