New RPG Company Casting All Women for Genesys

Incenjucar · Jun 14, 2012

This sounds about as promising as "gamer snacks." Also potentially dangerous for attendees who take them at their word.

Hangfire · Jun 14, 2012

Wow, just....wow. So it's all about gaming, but takes place from 11 PM to 5 AM (yeah, yeah, I'm old). Just what kind of RPG is this anyway?

tentfox · Jun 14, 2012

It is pretty ridiculous that an RPG is essentially a casting couch for cosplay models. In fact when trying to find out about the RPG there is far more information about cosplay models than anything else.
However I find it ridiculous that people here are complaining about the event taking place in a bar and late at night. While on one hand we are trying to defend ourselves from the sexist stereotype, on the other we are perpetuating the other that we are introverted shut-ins. I at least applaud these guys for adding some diversity to RPG conventions.

TanithT · Jun 14, 2012

I am a gamer. Not a *thing* to be stared at, not an object to be objectified, not a 'hot chick' who is somehow not really human and not a full participant or a real gamer.

I would use much stronger language to state how deeply skeeved-out I am, and how angry I am at being treated like an object who only exists to be eye candy for the "real" (male) gamers. But since that is inappropriate to this forum, I will simply say that I hope these people will someday grow up enough to actually respect other human beings who enjoy the same hobby they do.

I have no problem with porn. What consenting adults do is cool with me. But it's not a good crossover with our hobby. It is very likely to make women who game feel even more marginalized, objectified, judged for their appearance in a way male gamers are not, and ultimately rejected as people and as gamers even as they are drooled over as objects of gaze.

TanithT · Jun 14, 2012

kitsune9 said:
What I would like to know is how they got so much money to put this together if they actually honored their contracts and plan to do this much PR for a rpg. I don't even think WotC or Paizo could afford this kind of budget from travel expenses alone.

I would be more inclined to say this is an elaborate stunt for rpg nerds to pick up pretty girls.

Read the proposal more carefully. This is likely to be an essentially online venture, and to contain marketing angles that are targeted towards what they believe to be the overwhelmingly single young male gamer demographic, including MMORPG and video game players.

I'm actually guessing they're going to hit the interactive video and online gaming market, though with some unique slants. Whether it will fly or not I do not know - and I assuredly hope it will not - but the demographics to make it work do exist. That's what someone in Marketing is saying, and that's where the investment money is coming from.

Blood & Bones · Jun 14, 2012

... I like pretty women as much as the next guy, but this smacks not only of creepiness but also of desperation to sell books. Role Players tend to be "smarter than the average bear," which means we can see through these types of tactics. It's insulting, not only to women, but also to the intelligence of male gamers.

TanithT · Jun 14, 2012

Blood & Bones said:
... I like pretty women as much as the next guy, but this smacks not only of creepiness but also of desperation to sell books.

I don't necessarily think books are their main target, though possibly they are trying to position themselves to snatch some of the tabletop market share that seems in dispute after WotC's poor management decisions dropped their sales considerably. I would not frankly be surprised if Hasbro cut their losses altogether, at a point that is likely to be sooner rather than later.

I say 'seems' because it's fairly obvious that Pathfinder is the logical successor. But I suppose if someone had an extreme case of optimism and a high opinion of their own product, they might see the current tabletop market state as an opportunity.

On their website they are looking to hire 3D graphic artists, and they refer extensively to online gaming and game mechanics. I am guessing that they want to do something they aren't seeing the other big tabletop companies currently doing, which is to say tie very closely into not just online gaming, but social media and live streaming. I am guessing they are going for a giant tie-in of tabletop + social media + online environment.

This is a marketing angle that absolutely none of the big gaming companies have hit yet, and I think FableStreams is gambling that this may be their chance to make their mark. The genuinely awful thing is that they could be right, because this really is quite a large marketing hole that no one else has even begun to properly exploit.

Consider how Farmville has done on Facebook, and think about that marketing tool as a tailored appeal to the single young male gamer demographic. They are using a crude and horrifically insulting approach, to say the least, but it does have a history in the industry - eg, convention booth bunnies. *sigh*

If this company has anything else done right, they could potentially go a ways. Assuming I'm right on the social media marketing angle, that is. I think I am.

Shemeska · Jun 14, 2012

I'm not sure if books are their primary target either (based on a brief discussion over email earlier this year when they inquired about my freelancing availability). But I can't say for certain, and respectfully to someone that was willing to pay me, won't be going into details of what was on their minds at that time.

reemul · Jun 14, 2012

Sounds like they should just skip a couple of steps and drop a line to Zak at the D&D With Pornstars blog and ask him who he knows in Miami. (Hey, it's a great old school D&D blog. And yes, the players in his home game are ... decorative.)