What "is" D&D?

I've been out of the RPG circuit for a long time. I made a half-assed attempt at running a one-shot 3.5 game back in 2006, but that doesn't really count. The last time I seriously ran a game, or played in one, was probably back in 1999, so it's been awhile. As I've been preparing notes on my new campaign, drawing maps, painting miniatures, creating NPCs, and doing general research on things that I deem relevant to my game (such as how ore was actually processed once mined back in the medieval age), I've also started to take a look at all the D&D sites out there, as well as troll the Wizards of the Coast forums.

This has given me a lot of insight into the many different styles of play when it comes to Dungeons & Dragons, and what the game means to different people. As I've been doing all of this, and reading the new players handbook, etc., a few things struck me. There seems to be a major emphasis on encounters and hack-and-slash as opposed to roleplay and genuine character development. Maybe this is me idealizing the past, and maybe I'm dead wrong about this, but a lot of what I've been finding online is more about encounters, combat, and tactical play, rather than creating a good story and weaving a little magic into the lives of friends once a week.

This could be totally unfair - and granted, my sample size is pretty damn small, but to me, D&D was all about storytelling and imagination. Sure, combat was there, and it was almost a given that there would be at least one combat encounter per game session back when I was both a player and a DM, but the very emphases placed on miniatures and battle maps makes me a little wary - it almost feels like Hero Quest instead of a role playing game.

Of course, it's up to the DM, not Wizards of the Coast, to create the kind of campaign he wants. But part of me wonders if the mindset of the player base has changed over the past decade or so, and if the influence of MMOs like World of Warcraft and Everquest are adulterating the game that I grew up on in ways that make me uncomfortable. Again, this isn't that big a deal in theory. After all, your game sessions consist of you and your friends, and you can do whatever you want, but I can't help but feel like there's been a kind of cultural shift. Perhaps this is just me showing my age.

I suppose the reason I'm so contemplative about this is that my very first session is this Friday, and I don't know what to expect from my players. I'm hoping their attitude won't be "yadda, yadda, whatever, just get us to the dungeon, already." And if it is, then it's my job to pull them in and make them care about the world, the NPCs, and their characters. It's my job to make them look down at their character sheets and see more than rows of numbers and plus signs. I'm not sure if I'll be successful, but I'm going to do my damnedest.

Any advice?