another rpg industry doomsday article (merged: all 3 "Mishler Rant" threads)

[Desdichado]

I also find that I don't think that's a crisis, particularly. I've already done it; migrated from being a consumer to primarily only a player, who only occasionally still buys stuff (most of that from Paizo anymore, but that's neither here nor there.) I don't care if there's an industry to support me nearly as much as I care about there being a hobby to support me. I don't need to find new products, I need to make sure I can find players (I'm good for now, but assuming, say, that I move out of the wasteland in which I live in the next few years, I've gotta start from scratch.)

Also; this so called pdf price wars thing is completely speculative. And most of his economic conclusions were questionable. To say the least. I think his final conclusions sound reasonable, but some of his reasoning to get us there was iffy.

 

[Erik Mona]

On second read, I found this statement in the original screed laughable:

---
In the adventure game industry, if a writer gets more than five cents per word, he’s doing well; at 10 cents per word, he is counted among the RPG demi-gods. At that point, the much, much, much better rates in fiction and other genres become more attractive and such opportunities open up, regardless of his or her desire to continue writing for games (a writer can earn 10 to 20 times or more this rate writing even poor fiction
---

If James Mishler knows of a fiction market that regularly and reliably pays 10 to 20 times RPG rates (that's $.50 to $1.00 a WORD) for "even poor fiction," he should probably be writing for that market instead of peddling niche PDFs and complaining about how he can't make any money off of it.

Hell, if he could post the link, I'm sure every freelancer here on EN World (myself included) would love to be writing for that company.

--Erik

 

[amysrevenge]

Well. I agree with some of the criticisms of the post, but there are some valid overall points too (wishy-washy enough?).

It could very well be that the era of the very small dead-tree RPG publisher is over. That doesn't have to mean the death of the entire industry, though. I wouldn't think you could even compare between small and large in this case. The factors would all be very different.

 

[gunboatnip]

Comparable products? I wonder about rpgs vs boardgames and videogames. I know that it's almost an apples to oranges things when talking about videogames becuase they have changed so much in so many ways. But what about boardgames?

Longtime lurker but first time poster here... I think the sentiment that the industry is changing is the correct one here. I'd say a comparable industry could be seen to be 'punk rock' if you would. It has had the same level of 'inflation resistance' as RPGs. You can still get a 7(45 rpm/33rpm 'single' for those that don't know.) record for $3-5 bucks today which was the price it was 20 years ago. Also you have the same diminishing market that RPG's have. Kids today are more into hanging out on myspace/going to the warped tour once a year then really supporting local bands. You have the big hitters in the music business(labels that release albums that sell 40k+ copies) but you also have a wide range of smaller labels/collectives what have you that are able to release records that maybe sell 1000 copies. Sure they're not making any one rich but with the right kind of marketing/hardwork you can definitely be able to support yourself doing it.

It seems like the niche market for many might be a totally valid way to create a viable business. I know in punk rock there is a lot of 'branding' that people buy into. Whether just buying a certain label's releases or subscribing to a single series. Maybe things like the Kobold Quarterly style subscription/direct support model is the future?

Sorry a head of time if this is rambling.

 

[ggroy]

Longtime lurker but first time poster here... I think the sentiment that the industry is changing is the correct one here. I'd say a comparable industry could be seen to be 'punk rock' if you would.

So in this "punk rock" analogy, would Green Day be the "WotC" of punk rock?

 

[BryonD]

We get a sunshine and bunnies article and we get a hail and earthquake article.

lol

I'll take Option C.

 

[Desdichado]

Yeah, I disagree. I don't know from punk rock, but I know some other niche genres of music that used to be mainstream and aren't any more (like synthpop) and very few of the artists make a "liveable income" off it. They moonlight as musicians. They don't quit their day jobs.

Which, frankly, is just fine. It hasn't hurt the fans any; they can get more good music than ever due to the opening up of distribution channels, specialist stores that sell via the internet, and mp3 downloads from Amazon, or iTunes or whatever. It may not be a golden age for the artists, but they do OK, and like what they do, and it certainly is a golden age for the fans.

I suspect "niche" industries like roleplaying games will migrate, eventually, to the same business model, really. In fact, arguably it already has.

 

[JeffB]

I generally Like James and his postings in varous internet foums- but I think in a few places he went off the deep end with this one.

I wonder how his own (as mentioned by someone else) extremely niche products color his viewpoints- No offense to him, but when his AGP products (JG stuff for C&C) was announced a couple years ago, there was alot of "big talk" about what was going to come out , and the reality is that the AGP products that have actually surfaced are far from the quality and type to be expected from those initial press releases and messageboard posts. Maybe AGP's issues have something to do with Bob (Bledsaw's) death, IDK, but AGP has failed to live up to expectations- combined with much of the "4E is WOW" and "young kids these days" blatherings - color me a skeptic.

 

[ki11erDM]

Maybe things like the Kobold Quarterly style subscription/direct support model is the future?

Sorry a head of time if this is rambling.

Yea i would really like to see the DDI numbers... with the backing it seems to be getting right now it must be going well...

 

[Raven Crowking]

Misses what WotC learned in their pre-3e survey -- Sell minis, and you make money.


RC