companies staying away from rpg gamers

ggroy · Jun 22, 2010

Article about why some companies are staying away from tabletop rpg gamers.

Why You Can’t Have Nice Things | Mob | United | Malcolm | Sheppard

ExploderWizard · Jun 22, 2010

Heh. This can be very tricky for a tabletop rpg company.

wedgeski · Jun 22, 2010

I'd have to chew on the article for a while to be sure, but I'm afraid my initial reaction is: yeah, he's right. I'm not convinced that TRPG gamers are somehow the sharp end of the spear, though, as I've seen plenty of similar behaviour in many other gaming segments.

Dausuul · Jun 22, 2010

Interesting article, but totally devoid of specifics. I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what he's complaining about. What companies are staying away from tabletop gamers? What are those companies selling? What are the "desired behaviors" the tabletop gamers are resisting, and why is it bad for them to focus on concrete goals instead of social conversations? Why does it matter if they relate cynically to the content? What content?

I have the feeling there's a giant lump o' context that I'm missing here someplace.

ggroy · Jun 22, 2010

Dausuul said:
Interesting article, but totally devoid of specifics. I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what he's complaining about. What companies are staying away from tabletop gamers? In what context? What are the "desired behaviors" the tabletop gamers are resisting, and why is it bad for them to focus on concrete goals instead of social conversations? Why does it matter if they relate cynically to the content? What content?

It appears to be talking about companies in the "transmedia" area, which don't want to embrace rpg gamers.

The Designer Monologues » Blog Archive » Transmedia (Part One)

The Designer Monologues » Blog Archive » Transmedia (Part Two)

The Designer Monologues » Blog Archive » Transmedia (Part Three)

Umbran · Jun 22, 2010

Malcom Sheppard said:
Because it was easy to track user origins, we knew this was more true for gamers, than general users. So the counterargument that everybody on the internet is like this doesn’t work. They aren’t.

I'm not sure he's correct as he thinks, here. How people behave depends on what they feel their role or position is in the endeavor.

If you court someone for their expertise in a particular field, they will tend to act like an expert in that field. You've brought them there because you think they know more than you do about the field - so they're going to act like they know more than you. If, however, they aren't professionals that field, they won't tend to act like professionals.

Someone who acts like they know more than you, but is unprofessional about it - doesn't that sound like a jerk to you?

ggroy · Jun 22, 2010

Umbran said:
I'm not sure he's correct as he thinks, here. How people behave depends on what they feel their role or position is in the endeavor.

If you court someone for their expertise in a particular field, they will tend to act like an expert in that field. You've brought them there because you think they know more than you do about the field - so they're going to act like they know more than you. If, however, they aren't professionals that field, they won't tend to act like professionals.

Someone who acts like they know more than you, but is unprofessional about it - doesn't that sound like a jerk to you?

It is possible to come across "professionals" who behave and speak in a very unprofessional manner, such as in some areas of high finance.

Mark · Jun 22, 2010

ggroy said:
Article about why some companies are staying away from tabletop rpg gamers.

Why You Can’t Have Nice Things | Mob | United | Malcolm | Sheppard

That's EN World's eyebeams, IIRC.

ggroy said:
It appears to be talking about companies in the "transmedia" area, which don't want to embrace rpg gamers.

The Designer Monologues » Blog Archive » Transmedia (Part One)

The Designer Monologues » Blog Archive » Transmedia (Part Two)

The Designer Monologues » Blog Archive » Transmedia (Part Three)

And that's EN World's GMSkarka.

Perhaps someone could tweet them and they could join the discussion in this thread.

Cor_Malek · Jun 22, 2010

Well, one company, to be specific. And all his bullet points on how bad gamers are can be summed up by "well, d'uh?".

"Instead of having social conversations, they focused on concrete goals."
Really? RPG gamers being nerd-like? Unheard of!

"They related to content in a cynical fashion."
They probably played dwarfs a lot. SeewhatIdidthar? Explained further by point above and some of those below, but: a person roleplaying a fairy tale creature in fictional world of magic is either extremely romantic, cynical, or probably both. With a sprinkle of crazy.

"They dissuaded other users from getting involved with the content."
Banter, it might mean something, probably in specific context of that client, but I have no idea what. In most basic form, disproved by this site and forums, as well as almost every other RPG-related community I know.

"They resisted most desired behaviors (that is, the stuff that actually might make money)."
Most desired by your client. This does not mean desired by his clients. I'm actually quite flattered by this, as it proves that gamers are more intelligent (or rather less gullible) than his avarage customer.

"They complained all the goddamn time."
Gamers are accustomed to contesting rules of their chosen Universe, and if they don't like them - they change them. What the hell did you expect?
Also, some business models are based on idea of client suffering, but not having balls to complain which lowers cost of support. See point above.