Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I'm sorry, but you're cutting out several steps here and ignoring some important fundemental differences:teitan said:WoW took away from table top gaming in the same way that Magic: The Gathering took away from the table top RPG audience. It appealed to a broadbase of people but primarily appeals to role players. The people who play WoW are the target audience of games like D&D or WoD and when WoW is pulling those people away then the target audience isn't there.
1) MMORPGs are available 24/7, pen-and-paper typically are not.
2) Pen-and-paper games have more social factors involved than even an MMORPG with voice chat.
It does not automatically follow that people happily playing pen-and-paper would switch over to an MMORPG, because there's a lot of major differences between the two experiences.
Now, someone who only can play one or the other a few hours a week total might have to make a choice, but for most people, that's not the case. People typically can spend many more hours on an MMORPG, because it is available at their convenience -- I can squeeze in a quick fight against the Horde before going to work or visit the auction house before going to bed. People (often working adults and parents) with limited schedules will find this to be an especially big advantage over clearing a large chunk of every Saturday for pen and paper gaming.
But at the same time, the social aspect is a lot less, even in the best case scenario in MMORPGs, and many people don't want to give that up. In my WoW guild, we lose several people on weekends, because they want to keep going with their D&D games rather than raid in WoW, for just that reason.
If people are choosing an MMORPG over pen-and-paper, instead of merely supplementing one with the other (which is my experience in five years of MMORPGs), it's because something's wrong with their pen-and-paper experience. And that's not the fault of the MMORPGs.
But again, there's been no link established between the sales drop-off and WoW, when other culprits, like a rate hike and the fact that it's a new version of a recently released product, seem to be more likely culprits.As to games like Arcana Unearthed/Evolved, the game's sales demonstrably diminished in my own store, as I said, it was anecdotal.
Whose is it then? Hobby companies certainly can produce value-priced introductory products instead of having a model that requires a $50-$100 barrier to entry. Instead, only a few companies bother with value-priced intro products at all, and those that do come around to them as an afterthought, years after launching the "main" (high barrier to entry) product line.This isn't the hobby companies fault
Look how many people started D&D with the Basic Set which, even by today's standards and at today's prices, is a cheap buy-in and a more complete product than the comparable (afterthought) products we're seeing with 3E.
In contrast, MMORPGs have had the model for years that you get a free month when you buy the product (some even longer), meaning that for a $15-$30 buy-in, you can play your brains out for a month (which people tend to do, when they start during summer and winter vacations) before dropping another penny.
For $15, you cannot get a month's worth of D&D in, unless you really, really love the few possibilities in the current version of the basic game.
If WoW, and MMORPGs, are to blame for anything, it's for showing that the business model that RPGs have used for the past 15 years or so is a lousy one for the consumers, who -- not surprisingly -- know it.