Sean K. Reynolds talks RPG salaries, puts his on record.

[Jd Smith1]

Sometimes. Hard to predict. It's usually about even.

Really? I'm surprised.

That's interesting.

 

[Morrus]

Really? I'm surprised.

That's interesting.

Let me double check. Mythological Figures had 2.4K backers. 1086 were PDF backers. Just under half. You can check some other KS campaigns yourself if you like. A sample of 1 isn't very useful.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Let me double check. Mythological Figures had 2.4K backers. 1086 were PDF backers. Just under half. You can check some other KS campaigns yourself if you like. A sample of 1 isn't very useful.

I'll take your word for it. I expect you're presenting a reasonable median.

From what I see here and in my gaming circles, pdfs seemed to be the preferred venue. Obviously, there's a lot more old-school buyers than I thought. That's interesting.

 

[Morrus]

I'll take your word for it. I expect you're presenting a reasonable median.

From what I see here and in my gaming circles, pdfs seemed to be the preferred venue. Obviously, there's a lot more old-school buyers than I thought. That's interesting.

People like to have shiny things.

 

[Jd Smith1]

People like to have shiny things.

That's as good an explanation as any. It certainly explains why the dice manufacturers stay in business.

 

[Morrus]

That's as good an explanation as any. It certainly explains why the dice manufacturers stay in business.

It's a sure way to boost a KS. Dice and miniatures. I don't have much insight into the profits on that approach though.

 

[Myrdin Potter]

Even if you are in the top 5% of wage earners, you see about a doubling of your income over the span. Only the very top end of wage-earners see a 10x rise over their careers.

There is an exercise for the reader in unpacking that "professionals" only refers to the top 1% or so - everyone else... isn't professional? They're amateurs?

I work in a profession (accounting / finance) and the starting salaries today are $70 to $0K where (in USD, I started in Canada) I started at below $13K. A few years of experience gets you over $100K now.

I live in Silicon Valley now which has a pretty inflated numbers, but have facilities in much cheaper areas and they still are $50K to $60K starting salaries. That won’t be 10x 20 years from now unless inflation gets extreme but looking back 20 years and what I was paying people for entry level positions to today I see most 5x to 8x.

That ties in pretty well with the lawyers and bankers I work with and the engineers as well (engineers tend to start higher but their rise is smaller).

All of these discussions are essentially from industry people saying pay us more. Industry is an aspirational tag, RPG is more a hobby business. The salaries listed are 2x or so over the period and ended at entry level for cheaper areas of the country for recognized professions.

All the while numbers of gamers are up and the market is better. Does not make sense to me to not work somewhere else and make a lot more money.

My RPG hobby freelancing brings in $2K a year and I am an accountant, not a designer that really even tries.

 

[Morrus]

Chris Sims added some data.

 

[billd91]

Wow - that's a stiff drop to go to Paizo. Granted, they're not a branch of a big corporation, but that's only a few annual raises away from what I made as a starting tech writer in 1996. And I live in Wisconsin, not the west coast.

 

[Zaukrie]

Um... no.

Data from 2015 - Median income workers see a rise in their income of about 38% from ages 25 to 55, with most of that rise packed in the first decade. From age 35 on, income tends to flatten out for median range workers.

Workers in the top 5% will see a rise of about 250% over the same 30 year span. Those in the top 1% will see a rise of about 1450%.

Most folks don't so much as double their salaries, much less see a 10x increase.

Which is a massive problem......