Why do I play D&D?

Dear Travellers,

This post is (surprisingly) about the D&D product in general, or should I call it - the D&D brand.
My blogging fellow sage Alexis is often sharing his very insightful observations on the Tao of D&D blog. Recently, his musings regarding the direction of D&D product left me thinking. Thinking a lot indeed.

One argument was that what currently WotC  is doing (oh yes, the ever-beating boy) lands far from the original concept of D&D as an ever-adapting and arbitrary set of guidelines, not even rules. Thus, the pursuit of the "one and only right D&D" is pointless i.e. D&D Next is yet another way to pull the money from their Clients' pockets.
That is an interesting point indeed, but knowing that it was written mainly to stir a controversy I believe there's no point discussing it - again. Given that WotC is a commercial company after all - and all that.

The other point, more interesting from my POV was about the published rpg material in general, ending with a spectacular, yet only projected (thank God) burning of the old Dragon Magazines (BTW Mr. Tao, if you don't need them would you kindly send them over to me? I'd be more than glad to take them in).
I have myself a collection of AD&D products and I proudly display them in my living room. One reason for this is my collectors nature - I am a fetishist of storing things. For sentimental reasons mostly.
The other reason is simply that I use them, yes, even the old-old modules.
I am currently running a campaign using the AD&D2e rules and some classic 1e and 2e modules for Forgotten Realms (and beyond). I have a helluva time trying to figure out how to combine the modules in a linear storyline that makes sense and is engaging and entertaining at the same time. I treat it as building from blocks. And I do this also - for sentimental reasons. Because we all (my players) want to get that feel of 80'/90' when we played these modules for the first time. Because this is what holds the essence of the game we once knew.
Sure, I could create my own campaign from the scratch, as many people do or boast of doing. But I really don't need or want to now.

I really do understand the argument that the old modules do not make the game. They don't and should not create the canonic D&D universe, storyline, what have you. But we have lived through it, they created our idea of the game and there are times when you want to innovate and cross the marked borders, but there are also times when you want to play the vanila game in the book as you bought it.
When you just enjoy the product that was prepared for you by the manufacturer and as was prepared for you by the manufacturer. Rpgs give you the opportunity to work on it, but it does not always have to be hard work. It can be pure entertainment if you are looking for it.
This is a bit like arguing whether to play commercial modules at all. For some people it works for some - does not.

I like the idea that there is history in the books I display on the shelf. History brings meaning to things. History brings meaning to us. It is about tradition. And a healthy balance with "the new".
So my fetishist feeling for the books is not just about collecting gadgets. Yeah, I do like gadgets. I have 5 sets of dice, each one completely different. But I collect modules because they all tell a story once conceived by some devoted mind. I collect accessory books because if I don't use their content word for word, they inspire me to come up with my own ideas.
That's how the creative process flows after all. New things are built on old things. By contradiction, by evolution or revolution - yes, but they don't exist in the void. There would be no Runequest if not for the OD&D.

So, why do I play D&D? Because the original idea captivated me. Because it taught me how to play the game. Because it formed my taste for fantasy, sword&sorcery themes and because it gives me that sense of participating in a decades long tradition. And sure, the current state of the game as per WotC is not "the one and only D&D" and will never be. At least not for me. Because the "one and only D&D" is different for each of us, it is formed through the years of playing and built on our experiences, sessions played, chests looted, monsters defeated and kingdoms saved. My "one and only D&D" lies somewhere there in the early 90'. Where doth thy lie?