Improving the gaming industry

[William Ronald]

eyebeams: I recall that WotC will have several events, including demos, in October connected with the 30th anniversary of D&D. These events might serve as a model for what you proposed. Maybe more messageboards can have events like EN World Gamedays and try to promote them in their communities.

Both you and mythusmage make interesting recommendations, but I wonder who should do such tasks as branding and defining what RPGs are to the general public.

I think there is a need to try to draw in more gamers, but I think there are people willing to lend such an effort a hand.

 

[Arnwyn]

Also, I would argue that making sure that the total population of gamers is stable or growing is in the long term interest of current gamers. If there are fewer customers, then companies may leave the industry or reduce the amount of new products.

The long term interest of some current gamers, I'd say. Thankfully, it's irrelevant to me - my gaming fun does not depend on constant new products (or any new products at all, actually).

Neither does the number of players in the hobby. I, personally, am only interested in gaming with good friends, so I don't care about new entrants into the hobby (so I certainly don't care about catering to them - which, again, to me personally, is actually a suboptimal solution - due to the fact that IME catering to newcomers and catering to veterans is more often than not produces mutually exclusive results).

Of course, these are only my own personal (selfish) views as a consumer. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot more of me out there. Who knows?

 

[William Ronald]

If the number of game stores and comic shops have declined, where might be some public places to introduce people to gaming. One idea might be if companies could occassionally see about having an event at a bookstore that sells RPGs. (Borders sells RPGs, and usually has an area for coffee.)

Any other thoughts on the topic? Also, how do you explain gaming to the non-gamers in your life?

 

[Coreyartus]

Having read through this thread, I want to comment on some things that I gathered from various posts--

What should a Gaming Organization do?
Here are some ideas: 1) Provide awards for truly creative endeavors in gaming, to both manufacturers and to individuals who have made significant strides in the development of the gaming community, be it recruiting new gamers or providing places to game. These can be as simple as a plaque or a free trip to the GenCon of their choice, whatever. 2) Provide discount cards or instore specials valid at only the local level FLGS--this provides a sense of community and even the store owner wins. Store owners do this on their own, why not do it under the guise of a larger organization--it's still the same discount. 3) Send Press releases out to campus newspapers providing the connections between game store advertising and campus student bodies at the college level.

How do we keep the hobby growing?
Make connections with parents, not the kids. It's the parents that have the money. It's the parents that have the cars. It's the parents that will validate their child's participation in that "wierd hobby". The state of RPG's would be very different if parents drove their children to Wednesday night's RPG Club like they do Wednesday night's soccer practice. Older kids can make up their own mind about participation, but usually the tone is already set in stone: total geekville. Younger kids are more open and aren't worried about peers as much.

Where do we game without game stores?
Has anyone tried local campuses? Colleges would LOVE to have kids visiting their campus. There are literally THOUSANDS of community colleges and even community centers out there that are made for this kind of stuff. Latino centers, GLBT centers--they're not going to care what's happening as long as it involves the community and brings people together. Are we, as gamers, too embarrased to employ the same steps to acquiring gaming space as the local Bridge Club or Bingo Night?

Why are we so clannish?
We stick to what we feel comfortable with. Inexperience with a gaming system is embarassing. Period. No one likes to be embarassed. There are many, many people in our community that have spent lifetimes dealing with the stigma their gaming interest has caused. No one wants to be in a situation where they are brought up short among their fellow-stigmatized-associates. For as smart as we all are, at heart we are also just as insecure as the next person.

Why are adventures not money makers?
I think the key statement in the post I'm recalling whs that adventures don't generate enough profit. This is the biggest problem in industry today--and not just the RPG industry. Profit isn't enough anymore--it has to be a big profit or it's not worth it. Smaller RPG publishers are actually in a better position than larger ones now--they are still creating product from their hearts, not to feed the capitalism machine. Adventures do make a profit, just not enough for most people to feel "good" about. Thus, most publishers won't waste their time. And that's sad.

In summary...
All the thoughts about a shrinking RPG consumer base, and the inablity to sell product, and the implosion of GAMA, and the marketing-puppet that is RPGA... We are a small group of hobbyists. Albeit, larger than some, but still small. Our little hobby will never garner the interest that other games do because it takes too much thinking. You have to know tons of rules, and spend time reading, and organize schedules, and actually write things down... and even deal with people face-to-face in person... Who would want to deal with that unless you really do want to deal with that? It's so much easier to play a video game, or watch a movie, or go skateboarding. But we find the "boring" parts of the game to be part of the package, part of the fun, part of what we like about it. But most people don't.

I think our biggest problem is that we're trying to make the gaming industry into something it isn't. It is, in reality, a niche hobby driven by a relatively small consumer base when compared to other interests. We need, as an industry, to learn to accept that. It's okay. We need to embrace the small market and set our expectations accordingly. There is a finite-ness to the amount of growth one can expect in this hobby, and we've reached it. The boom has passed. What we should do now is concentrate on keeping what we've got, and enjoying the good times we have, and raising the caliber of expectations from our publishers. As long as they think we are simple consumers that will purchase whatever they throw our way, than that is all we will ever be. Until we change their perception, and have them look inward at what they've created instead of outward toward unachievable marketshares, our hobby will continue to get watered-down from every angle, and from every corner. Until it isn't there in any form that we can recognize.

My two coppers,

Coreyartus

 

[pogre]

I disagree that growing or even bettering the hobby is mainly the responsibility of consumers/gamers: What people need to spread the hobby is incentive. Games Workshop has the Outrider program with its built in rewards. WOTC should do something similar using the RPGA Dungeon Masters where they get credit for running events.

 

[Werther von G]

TV advertising is expensive. Hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars expensive. It is simply too expensive for gaming products at this time.As it is now, you generaly cannot expect the income form a product to cover the cost of a national network TV ad. When the price of advertising is relatively small compared ot the overall gross sales, then TV ads would be worth the risk.

The odd truth is that the Player's Handbook has already been featured in a TV spot. Granted, it was for Kenmore dishwashers, but still.

 

[crow81]

I started playing when I was in grade school. I played sporadically in high school and picked it up again in college. After college the real world called and my party split up. For ten years I was basically a lurker I would read the novels, buy source material now and then if it interested me but I just did not have time or luck to find a game to join. For the last three months I have been actively searching for a game in my area. Dumb luck let me to ENWorld. Recently I joined the RPGA and started going to the Living Greyhawk open gaming nights in my area. This isn't a perfect scenario but it allows me the ability to play and not feel guilty if I can't play every week.

The point of my ramblings is two fold

1) If the hobby is to survive we need to involve kids. Let’s face it they have the wild imaginations that many adults (gamer’s aside) lose. I think you have to gear the marketing, pricing, and intro material toward them

2)Availability I am lucky I live near NYC I found a regular flexible game near me. I think for the casual gamer the RPGA is great. I also think that many former gamers and interested people don't know about it. ENWorld is great but I feel like I found the oasis in the desert and the are many more still wandering the wastes.


To save the hobby we need to expand the base and broaden the appeal.

Just my thoughts on the subject

 

[William Ronald]

College campuses are a good place for gaming. I attended an RPGA event at a local community college.

Also, I would argue that it might be hard to get individual companies to focus on promoting gaming as a hobby as opposed to their products. It might help to have some company support for private efforts.

Coreyartus: I would argue that changing perspectives is important for the continued survival of our hobby. Fortunately, there are some positve developments. First, I think that companies are looking at relatively inexpensive beginning products. Secondly, I think people are seriously talking about the problems with our hobby. A good chunk of the thread about Ryan Dancey leaving GAMA addressed those issues.

 

[WizarDru]

- why is there no good introductory / basic version of DnD? The set of 3 core rulebooks is larger than the old Gutenberg Bible, and at times more difficult to understand, whether you know German or not, especially for not-yet gamers.
A version with only the four basic classes, limits on spells/powers available, maybe only for the first 10-12 levels or so etc. to get ppl going. Just a bit more then the very limited introductory box which only covers levels 1 and 2.

You mean, like THIS?

- if one of the problems of the industry is that once you have the game-books, you do not need to buy new ones, why is there not more focus onmodules, which are essentially the 'one shot' products that should generate cash?

Because modules, as I understand it, are not money-makers. Mega-modules make a better return, but 32-page modules simply don't sell that well. Add on to that the fact that there are plenty of modules already available. RPG games are a small margin market, at best.
Read this thread for more details, for example. BadAxe games took about a year to sell the initial 2000 copies of Heroes of High Favorwarves. Most new modules, according to Monte Cook and Jim Butler, probably sell between 300-500 copies, unless it's from a well-known publisher. Notice that WotC is only releasing two modules this year and only to support Eberron.

- the whole distribution thing sucks IMHO. Especially overseas, there IS no FLGS, and in any case, most FLGS's that exist are hardly the best places to attract new players to the game, as the air / look / feel of those places are often intimidating to anyone not already in some sort of game related hobby in the first place. There should be more effort put in the availability of adequate (in terms of range of items / choice) gaming material in 'regular' game and book stores.

I think a better choice would be to court appropriate shops to get them to become venues for such, not try and get every standard bookstore to carry every product. There's too much for them to deal with, frankly. D&D and a few of the bigger releases would work, but there just isn't enough shelf space outside of a FLGS or comic shop. The retail channel is a mess, no question, but I'm not sure, in this economy, how to fix it.

Personally, I think WotC's doing a damn fine job in trying to woo new players. We've got a brand new addition, a new campaign setting on the ground floor, an MMORPG coming based on that setting, and lots of publicity for the 30th anniversary of D&D. Lately, I've noticed every video game magazine I get has had a D&D advertisement in it, clearly meant to appeal to videogamers ("We invented GOD MODE.").

WotC has started up their young readers line of books, to attract young gamers from that vector, as well. That's more than anyone's done in quite a while to try and attract young gamers, frankly. And even if the second D&D movie is bad, it still gets the name out there, just like the D&D computer and video games.

. If alld20/DnD related companies got together and spent some cash to do a joint ad campaign, maybe they could summon up some real impact.

That sounds good in theory, but I have no idea how they could put it into actionable practice. I just don't think that there's that much money lying about in anybody's pockets, except maybe Hasbro.

 

[barsoomcore]

Talk about "redefining the hobby" is pointless. There isn't any defining authority so there's nobody who can "redefine" it.

You want to improve the industry? Write and distribute great products. In any industry, it's great products that make markets.

The publishing industry is a bad place to be right now, generally speaking. It's hard to make money in it, and the competition for shelf space is brutal. Bookstores are tough businesses to run, as well. And RPGs are a small market, where huge amounts of material is available for free, at a level of quality very close to that of many "for-pay" products.

The hobby is, as far as I can see, strong and vibrant. ENWorld seems to be proof enough of that. There's a zillion sites all over the internet where you can get all sorts of goodies, with more and more appearing daily. There's enough of a market for product that a few companies can make a profit -- I doubt that there'll ever be more. There's only so many people willing to spend money on this stuff.