When I first heard that TSR (or T$R) was being purchased by Wizards of the Coast, I though "serves them right." Years of crappy products, rising political correctness, and upgrades that were nothing of the kind such as players option books had burnt me out of doing much with any TSR product. Even when they came up with good concepts, I wouldn't touch them with an stock ten foot pole. Wizards then told the world that it would release again the flagship product of the TSR world. They would combine the good elements of D&D along with AD&D and come up with Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition.
But this is all old news to the gamers reading this. You all know what happened next. Taking a cue from the open source computer movement, Wizards release an open source license for their new d20 system. What GURPS, ICE's Rolemaster, R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk, Infinity, Hero System, Fuzion, White Wolf, and even Chaosium had tried to do would happen: A near universal and popular gaming engine.
When it first came out, I so wanted it to fail. Wizards of the Coast had abandoned my favorite game, Ars Magica, for the lure of endless collectable card games (CCG's) such as Magic: the Gathering. I got my copies of the Players handbook and the Dungeon Masters Guide the day they came out.
It turns out that I liked it - a lot.
While I am still no fan of level based systems, the new D&D worked. Levels make it easier for new GM's to gauge threats and challenges. More game masters makes for more games, games that I can participate in.
Since Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition came out, I have had a number of excellent campaigns along with a few false starts.
I am a fan of gaming, and I have been lucky to be in quite a few excellent campaigns, many of them long lived.