companies staying away from rpg gamers

Maggan · Jun 23, 2010

Dausuul said:
then what's the point of your post?

Leaving aside the content of the blog post, I don't think eyebeams should be held to explain why he wanted to post a blog post of his own, on a blog of his own, discussing something he personally experienced.

It's a blog, people post stuff to blogs. That's the whole point of blogs.

/M

Vyvyan Basterd · Jun 23, 2010

Rechan said:
To reiterate what several people on page 7 are saying, I think that eyebeams' is directing his criticism on gamers when it is more apt to people on the internet. Look on the comments of any video on Youtube and you'll find toxic jerkwads.

I think alot lies in the perception of who the "jerkwads" are. The media presents the toxic complainer as the Worst. Customer. Evar. They see and portray toxic internet complainers as the Simpsons "Comic Book Guy." You often see this caricature portrayed as the "lonely loser, who lives in his parent's basement and plays D&D."

So, while the blog may have no actual merit, perceptions are that Tabletop RPG players* are lonely fat angry people who will slam your product no matter the relative value of it permeates the media and may be influencing who companies market to from outside our hobby. People like Erik Mona have a more realistic view of what actual gamers are like and will market to us, as will other RPG companies. But an uninformed producer looking in from the outside has this preconceived notion that we're all like the Comic Book Guy. And if that producer does any research into our market do you think his preconceptions are being diminished by what he discovers?

It may not be fair, and it may be insulting, but perception is reality.

*Understanding that to those on the outside TTRPG player = D&D player usually.

pawsplay · Jun 23, 2010

Rechan said:
So you think we should condone people being jerks? Honestly?

What is the alternative? Do you have some plan for getting people to stop being jerks? The way I see it, you can:

a) not condone people being jerks, not accept it, and be unhappy about it, and people will continue to be jerks, or
b) condone and accept it, come up with strategies for dealing with the reality of the situation, and people will continue to be jerks, but they will not bother YOU as much

Take your pick.

pawsplay · Jun 23, 2010

Vyvyan Basterd said:
It may not be fair, and it may be insulting, but perception is reality.

No, perception is truth, if it is compatible with reality. Perception that is not compatible with reality is irrational.

pawsplay · Jun 23, 2010

MrMyth said:
Whether I agree or not, it is downright disappointing to see how many people popped over to his post, apparently read only one or two lines, and then formed a complete opinion about what he was saying and why. This isn't necessarily the exact phenomonen he is talking about, but it certainly isn't a demonstration of our best side, either.

I read the whole article twice. Why are you saying people only read one or two lines? Are you spying on my computer or something?

mudbunny · Jun 23, 2010

[No message]

pawsplay · Jun 23, 2010

mudbunny said:
There are several billion people who believe in one sort of religion or another that would disagree with you there.

What?

Vyvyan Basterd · Jun 23, 2010

pawsplay said:
No, perception is truth, if it is compatible with reality. Perception that is not compatible with reality is irrational.

What I meant was your perception are your reality. Even the perceptions of a completely insane person is reality to that person. And the perceptions of the producer making decisions of who he will market to beomes everyone's reality in the released product.

The X-Men example above was a good example. If the producer of the movies perceived comic book fans as the best consumers to market to, then the movies would have held truer to the comics.

pawsplay · Jun 23, 2010

Leatherhead said:
That depends on what you mean by "ultimately."

I mean that the people who made the deliberate choice to create World of Warcraft knowingly worked in a genre created by D&D, that would not exist without D&D, and would have had difficulty taking off without D&D players.

I used to have an old CRPG game (a bad one called) Ancients: The Death Watch. "Like 3D Dungeon and Dragon!"

We're not talking beats of a butterfly wing, here, but conscious adoption of memes.

pawsplay · Jun 23, 2010

Vyvyan Basterd said:
What I meant was your perception are your reality. Even the perceptions of a completely insane person is reality to that person.

Well, I don't accept your radical subjectivism. In my reality, the perceptions of a completely insane person are not reality. Since I have just proven your reality and my reality are not compatible, I have just demonstrated that both our "realities" cannot exist simultaneously in all reality.

So either you are wrong, or there is no such thing as reality at all, and you should consider using a different word in order to be more clear.