D&D 4E Who has rights to BoEF, and are they in on the 4e OGL

[Green Knight]

If you want kids to buy the game, make it something they don't think their parents want them to have!

That's hardly what I'd call a winning marketing strategy. After all, kids don't buy the stuff. Parents do, either directly or indirectly. And do you really want to market a product in such a way that it'll result in strife between the parent and child and the kid getting his stuff tossed out?

Plenty of stuff gets sold to kids without pissing the parents off in the process. There's no reason D&D can't be one of those things.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

It seems to me that in the case of video games, there's games marketed for adults (including teenagers, often) and games marketed at kids, and the overlap between them isn't all that high.

Maybe D&D should have a similar bifurcation. :shrug:

But D&D is not a genre of games - it is one game.

 

[Raloc]

Even though a lot of players come into the game at a young age, how much of the market that buys books is really comprised of young gamers? I know that in the case of video games, I started playing when I was about 4 yrs. old and now the industry is comprised of 99.3% (or something like that, it's over 99%) of gamers aged 18-33+. Should the industry pander to young gamers, who make up barely 1% of their market? That is a death knell.

I think probably the case with new gamers is that they're brought in by older gamers, who actually have the disposable income to blow on books/games.

 

[Desdichado]

But D&D is not a genre of games - it is one game.

When I started playing, it was two in print: B/X and AD&D.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Even though a lot of players come into the game at a young age, how much of the market that buys books is really comprised of young gamers? I know that in the case of video games, I started playing when I was about 4 yrs. old and now the industry is comprised of 99.3% (or something like that, it's over 99%) of gamers aged 18-33+. Should the industry pander to young gamers, who make up barely 1% of their market? That is a death knell.

I think probably the case with new gamers is that they're brought in by older gamers, who actually have the disposable income to blow on books/games.

The industry should not pander only to young gamers. But it must also make sure the game is accessible to new gamers. Until a person has their own income stream and a measure of personal privacy, parents can be considered a potential barrier to new gamers.

D&D as a game is not dependent on potentially objectionable content for its appeal. I did not get into D&D because I thought it would be a cool way to rebel against my mom. Young gamers may only make up 1% of the market place, but they also make up 100% of new consumers. Making the game inaccessible to people who have idiots for parents is not a good thing.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Desdichado]

Young gamers may only make up 1% of the market place, but they also make up 100% of new consumers.

The funny thing about making absurd exaggerations when you actually have no idea what the number is is that someone will come along and call you on it.

I've seen tons more new gamers who were adults (spouses, girlfriends, friends, etc. of current gamers) than new kid gamers in the last ten years or so.

Are kids picking up gaming today? I have no doubt about it. Are they 100% of new gamers? Not bloody likely.

 

[PeterWeller]

Wait, people actually bought that book and used it as a legitimate and serious supplement to their game? I thought it was a sort of FATAL thing, a joke that managed to actually get published.

 

[DonTadow]

I doubt any book like this will be allowed under 4e. This seems to be the type of product that gives dungeons and dragons a bad name. I'd even go as far as to say that if anyone tried to come out with it, they'd be tied up in legal monroe for a long time. I've met people who wanted to play that game but it never seemed to be an acceptable playstyle to me.

Take ghettopoly stripopoly, games some small company decided to come out with for adults. Hasbro shut both of these games down quickly, even stopped a shipment traveling over seas. This happened despite the hundreds of variations that are allowed to be produced all over the world.

 

[Shroomy]

I always found it funny that the BoEF was the one (and only) OGL supplement that I could always find at Borders, no matter where I went.

 

[Horacio]

The funny thing about making absurd exaggerations when you actually have no idea what the number is is that someone will come along and call you on it.

I've seen tons more new gamers who were adults (spouses, girlfriends, friends, etc. of current gamers) than new kid gamers in the last ten years or so.

Are kids picking up gaming today? I have no doubt about it. Are they 100% of new gamers? Not bloody likely.

Anyways, youngs are the future of the RPG market. Marketing D&D to 30s-40s only would be (IMHO) almost suicidal, a smaller market, with far less buying power (teenagers have more disposable income for games that busy parents in these times...) and less future potential.

Even if teenagers aren't 100% of new gamers, D&D should (IMHO again) continue to aim for young people as their target. Old gamers don't need that marketing anyways, and other adults (pouses, girlfriends, friends, etc. of current gamers) will be brought to the game by gamers, not marketing.