Wizards aiming younger audience

[mgbeach]

If wizards really want to aim at children they just have to not lead them as much. .

haha! I love the smell of minis in the morning

 

[The Little Raven]

I'm a little surprised the big marketing push for that age bracket didn't come in the form of a specialized minis game. The key to making money off of kids in that age range is having something they will nag mom for at Wal Mart

This isn't a big marketing push. This is a person, having run games for kids at her local game store, writing up something to help other people run games for kids of the same age bracket and Wizards posting it on their site because its cute.

 

[mgbeach]

This isn't a big marketing push. This is a person, having run games for kids at her local game store, writing up something to help other people run games for kids of the same age bracket and Wizards posting it on their site because its cute.

Oh I know this isn't.. was just saying I'm surprised that they haven't done something like that. With stylized minis maybe a little more kid-friendly.

I love this little module and I'm going to try to run it for my niece Sarah this weekend.

 

[Logan Shadowhand]

This isn't a big marketing push. This is a person, having run games for kids at her local game store, writing up something to help other people run games for kids of the same age bracket and Wizards posting it on their site because its cute.

Actually, it is. Susan J. Morris, who wrote the article, is an employee of WotC, specifically the managing editor of the FR novel line (she's done some writing as well).

Not that I think this is a bad strategy for WotC. Gaming parents need some sort of "introductory" RPG to help teach their kids the hobby they grew up with. My 6-yr-old son loves playing with my plastic minis and hanging around the table on game nights before he has to go to bed. I finally decided to produce my own game, and have played it several times with my son and his friends over the last month or two. It takes a lot of concepts from 4E and removes the math by using opposing die rolls and health statuses instead of hit points.

 

[Hussar]

Actually, it is. Susan J. Morris, who wrote the article, is an employee of WotC, specifically the managing editor of the FR novel line (she's done some writing as well).

Not that I think this is a bad strategy for WotC. Gaming parents need some sort of "introductory" RPG to help teach their kids the hobby they grew up with. My 6-yr-old son loves playing with my plastic minis and hanging around the table on game nights before he has to go to bed. I finally decided to produce my own game, and have played it several times with my son and his friends over the last month or two. It takes a lot of concepts from 4E and removes the math by using opposing die rolls and health statuses instead of hit points.

Think about what you just said. She's a managing editor - not anyone in marketing or game design or really anything to do with advertising or pushing the game at all.

In other words, she brought this to someone in the office's attention because she happens to work in the same building. This is most certainly not a marketing thing.

 

[nedjer]

Wait . . . what?

Working out the interpersonal interactions going on with a 6 year-old playing a roleplaying game are enough to melt a psychologist's brain.

No education authority would allow a 'lesson' or 'game' which had not been checked against developmental theory, designed by qualified staff, met Inspectorate standards and been made open to verification to be taught in a UK school.

If WotC or anyone else wishes to promote RPG events for kids at stores, or anywhere else, a very clear set of guidelines about child protection, parental consent and supervisory boundaries should be packaged. To protect the game/ brand and to put the relevant forms or apps into organisers' hands (as they won't run events if the admin is too much). This may be a pain in the neck but it's the way to establish brand integrity in the eyes of many parents.

How you approach certain game events like death, disease, violence v's alternatives needs thought through, as kids of 6-8 don't have the same concrete understandings and cultural 'buffers' available to them as older kids. For many 6-year-olds the distinction between fantasy and reality is not nearly as fixed as for a 12-year-old or an adult.

Have to leave it there. The haggis is out on the table

 

[Steel_Wind]

Working out the interpersonal interactions going on with a 6 year-old playing a roleplaying game are enough to melt a psychologist's brain.

No education authority would allow a 'lesson' or 'game' which had not been checked against developmental theory, designed by qualified staff, met Inspectorate standards and been made open to verification to be taught in a UK school.

If WotC or anyone else wishes to promote RPG events for kids at stores, or anywhere else, a very clear set of guidelines about child protection, parental consent and supervisory boundaries should be packaged. To protect the game/ brand and to put the relevant forms or apps into organisers' hands (as they won't run events if the admin is too much). This may be a pain in the neck but it's the way to establish brand integrity in the eyes of many parents.

Blah blah blah.

Without putting too fine a point on it - sounds to me like a pile of bureaucratic crap. (And I'm a pretty left-wing leaning Canadian - which to most Americans makes me a frikkin' communist!)

It certainly isn't motivated by any reasonable concern of litigation -- as there is no reasonable potential cause of action in the offing, near as my professional judgment can discern.

If a client asked me whether or not such packaging and warning MUST accompany their products - I'd say "HELL NO", in certain and clear terms.

That would be my answer within Canada, for sure. And while I'm not licensed to practice outside of Ontario, I'm pretty damned sure the same common law principles would apply in the USA and the U.K., as well.

This "protect the children" knee-twitchery is used to justify all sorts of crap. And those who would suggest such elaborate and misplaced concern is a pile of crap (that would be ME) -- are often derided for their cavalier attitude towards the health and safety of "the children".

Well I've got four of my own. One safely grown up, the other less than a year from 18, and two more
safely and happily growing. This sort of psychobabble "concern" is just pure nonsense, imo.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Aiming at a younger audience is a really good idea IMO. When I was a teen I played RPGs to go do cool stuff I couldn't in real life. Now that I'm more or less grown up I can afford to go out and do cool stuff for real, which is even better. As a result an every-weekend-and-then-some hobby has turned into something I do only once in a great while. Sure RPGs are great for adults too, but there are definitely strong additional reasons for kids and teens to play.

(edit)

After actually reading the article, I'm even more impressed. Awfully good idea. They should be aiming at parents rather than teachers though. I started D&D when I was 10, and my mom was my DM for about a year. It was a really good experience.

 

[Mark]

I started D&D when I was 10, and my mom was my DM for about a year. It was a really good experience.

There's your commercial: a mom DMing for a couple of kids, the kids then go on to college where one of them is DMing for a bunch of friends, then one day the kid, now grown up, is DMing for his kids with the mom, now grandmother, joining in while visiting. Generations of gaming.

 

[Mark]

Why would I kid about how hard I work to ensure upcoming generations of gamers are playing?

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...ds-aiming-younger-audience-2.html#post5165384