Wierd Pete's lament in KODT #116 - is it true???

[The Hound]

I was going to post this on Kenzer & Co's (makers of Hackmaster, publishers of KODT) forum, but Enworld is much bigger and seems to have participation from a wider segment of the industry...

In the Knights of the Dinner Table (KODT) comic #116, June '06, on a panel on the bottom of page 22, Wierd Pete, a character who is a game store owner, states the foilowing as part of a rant/lament against mmorps:

"...I say they'll be the death of role playing as we know it. Sales on tabletop games are plummeting across the board - and people like you (referring to a customer who plays in mmorpgs) are the hammer driving home the nail..."

Is it true? Are sales of tabletop products dropping, and if so is it because of mmorpgs or other computer based games?

 

[Thunderfoot]

Not being an industry insider I can't give you sales figures and percentages, but based on what I saw at GenCon, the industry as a whole is doing pretty well. If anything I would think that the availablity of MMORPGs has sparked an interest in the more "quaint" habit of playing with pen and paper.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's also worth noting that White Wolf has two successful lines of RPGs based on MMORPGs.

 

[an_idol_mind]

Weird Pete is a parody. He, and just about every other character in KoDT, is primarily used as a joke of various gamer archetypes. I wouldn't worry about anything he says in a comic to be true.

 

[Treebore]

Yeah, he was just a parody of threads Jolly has seen around the various boards and of some people he has overheard talking.

Factual? How much of KotDT is ever factual?

 

[Numion]

Yup, the sky has been falling for N+1 years now, and still falling strong.

 

[Odhanan]

"...I say they'll be the death of role playing as we know it. Sales on tabletop games are plummeting across the board - and people like you (referring to a customer who plays in mmorpgs) are the hammer driving home the nail..."

Is it true? Are sales of tabletop products dropping, and if so is it because of mmorpgs or other computer based games?

For the last 30 years, sells of tabletop RPGs have been going up and down, by wave. It's possible that we are at the end of an upsided wave here, but it's too early (if ever possible) to say anything about the doom of RPGs or whatever. It's a bit like greek tragedies you know: the more you repeat the prophecy to people around you, and the more you try to actively avoid its occurence, the more you can be sure it's going to happen.

For instance, the more we compare tabletop RPGs to MMORPGs, the more we say we're doomed, the more newbies to the game would indeed compare these two uncomparable activities and opt for the easiest and quickest of the two, computer games. That's highly ironic IMO.

 

[ssampier]

I thought 1995 Gen Con was the death of the RPG. It was known as the Year of the Cards and RPG makers were barely breathing. TSR had about two years left.

d20, however, has been on the down-ward spiral since 3.5 was released.

 

[thundershot]

My sister, whom I introduced to gaming last year, STILL can't grasp the concept that it's not like a video game. When they find treasure, she starts calling dibs on things and grabbing the items like it was a video game. The other players get annoyed and roleplay it. "I'll be damned if you're claiming all of that. We split everything evenly." She even tries to claim things her CHARACTER CAN'T USE. When confronted, "I can sell it!" Eventually, someone's going to ICly attack her character.


Chris

 

[Silver Moon]

One of my best friends manages a comic book and gaming shop. His quote: "The industry is drying up, comics and gaming stuff is getting too expensive for the average collector and gamer. Too many people are switching over to video games for entertainment. I'm guessing we may go out of business this year." He said that back in 1992, and has pretty much been saying the same thing every year since. So I'd say Weird Pete is an accurate description of the store owner, although history has proven him (and my friend) wrong.